Adnan Riaz's Reviews
FIFA 20 has Volta at the center of its marketing and successfully introduces a mode that has real potential, but it's not the experience that reinvents the franchise.
Life Is Strange 2 took full advantage of the conclusion for Episode 3: Wastelands with a story that fully fleshes out Sean's character and his relationship with Daniel. Just as the first three episodes showed the sacrifices that Sean made to protect his younger brother, Dontnod pulled no punches in Episode 4: Faith by pushing him to the limits both mentally and physically.
Episode 3: Wastelands might be a shorter experience compared to past episodes, but that doesn't stop Dontnod from pulling off an excellent story at the halfway point of Life Is Strange 2.
Bouncing off from the fantastic work in Episode 1: Roads, Dontnod builds on the relationship between Sean and Daniel in more than one way.
The Council might have stumbled its way across the finishing line in Checkmate, but that's not enough to take the shine off of the title.
When The Council debuted with The Mad Ones in March 2018, there was limitless potential behind the episodic title.
When players are able to reach the intriguing finale Burning Bridges poses, the final decision shows that the battle lines have been well and truly drawn.
FIFA 19 is an impressive continuation of the series, which tweaks the experience in different places and once again offers players a plethora of modes to enjoy.
Episode 1: Roads is a shining example of a developer that has built on the success of the first title and only continued to improve with the experience it has under its belt in episodic gaming.
Clash of Carrots had the potential to be a real diamond in the rough, but it quickly becomes apparent that it's not when its novelty begins to fade.
Daedalic's fixation with transhumanism takes State of Mind and puts it in a similar bracket as many of its counterparts that have created an advanced tech-infused world.
It can't be said enough that Ripples is fantastic for its story and feels more like a penultimate episode for how well it is structured and executed.
Hide and Seek is a frustrating experience through and through, mainly for the potential that is wasted due to technical issues and other minor problems.
The Mad Ones is one of the strongest openers in episodic gaming to date.
Despite the lack of new content, The Majesty of Colors Remastered puts its browser-based days behind it, excels with its minor and noticeable improvements and does nothing more than make its narrative poignant and memorable for the player.
Simulacra might not be perfect, but it highlights that the found phone horror concept is one that has a significant amount of potential.
Dontnod Entertainment's first effort at cracking the choice-driven episodic format in a video game almost results in a near-perfect experience, which is shocking when you consider how well they've grasped the concept, created a solid structure for each episode, distributed a variety of subplots across five episodes and executed the series at the same — or even higher — level that a veteran developer like Telltale Games has done for many, many years.
Life Is Strange deserves every ounce of recognition it receives; it offers a compelling story that's heartwarming, poignant and powerful, but some people may also look back on it and remember it as the sleeper hit of 2015. Memorable characters, fantastic acting, unique visuals and a well-executed story are among the few things that have solidified Life Is Strange as not only one of the best titles of 2015, but also one of the video games that everyone must experience for themselves.
With Episode 4: Dark Room finishing on a brilliant cliffhanger, Dontnod will no doubt be firing on all cylinders as they head towards the finish line for Life Is Strange with some serious momentum behind them.
Dontnod created a stroke of genius with the ending of Episode 3: Chaos Theory, leaving an open-ended cliffhanger that is nothing short of the best jaw-dropping conclusion to any episodic title to date. The music, pacing, writing and voice acting surpass all expectations set for the series so far, providing enough substance for Life Is Strange to become a serious contender for GOTY.