I have to be honest, I am really struggling with Life is Strange: Before the Storm as a gaming experience. I just cannot connect with Chloe as a character for some reason which could be a result of knowing where she will end up in the original Life is Strange game or just the heavy handed way in which the opening episode tried to force an emotional connection between her and me as the player with . The story itself is fine as we get to see a young Chloe form a relationship with the mysterious Rachel Amber as well as seeing the immediate after effects of losing her father in a car crash. I had hoped that episode 2 ‘Brave New World’ would help in giving me a stronger connection to Chloe and the story. Sadly it only served to strengthen all the issues I have with this prequel mini series.

*Spoiler warning for player choices from Episodes 1 and 2 ahead*

So the climatic ending to episode 1 saw a angry Rachel kick over a trash can that she was burning photographs of her and her father in after discovering that he was possibly having an affair which has led to setting the forest are alight. Episode 2 has us catching up with both Chloe and Amber in the office of Blackwell’s Principal Wells in trouble for them both ditching school. Rachel is with her parents whilst Chloe’s mother is by her side. Just the visual of having Chloe’s mum in her waitress uniform in comparison to Rachel’s parents of whom her father is the DA for Arcadia Bay serves as way to see the class structure at work in the time to just reaffirm that Chloe is only there because of her scholarship compared to those with money such as Rachel’s family.

One of the big reasons I am struggling to connect with Chloe compared to how I managed to effortless connect to Max in the original game, are the player choices I have to make. This sequence is the story’s way of strengthening the growing relationship between Amber and Chloe as they literally take turns in taking the blame for ditching school. It is made very clear that Chloe is on her very final chance with the school with Principal Wells fully trying to lay all the blame on Chloe because of her disciplinary history over the star student with the well placed in society parents. Amber however steps up, and tries to take all the blame, which considering was actually her idea in the first place, impresses Chloe whilst showing a glimmer of rebellion to her father. However the game then offers some event changing player choice as the result of Amber taking the blame will see her not suspended from school but removal from the school play that night, something Amber has worked hard to prepare for and something that Chloe knows is very important to her. So the player can either let Amber take the blame or make a scene in order that the Principal changes his mind about punishing Amber and instead finally expels Chloe from Blackwell Academy.

The issue here for me is that my player choice was not made based on the emotion of the scene but more on the fact of having played the original game and knowing that at some point Chloe is expelled from the school at some point anyway, so even if I were to let Amber take the blame, it was still happen anyway down the road so I had Chloe take the blame. This then leads to Amber thinking Chloe is more badass but also the side effect of having to deal with Chloe’s mum turning evermore towards David who again mistakenly tries to be the father figure in laying down some discipline such as ordering Chloe to empty her pockets on the hood of his car in the school car park right after the meeting believing she has drugs on her, which after clearing out her locker Chloe has a joint in there. Again my player choice her to either do as told or to rebel and even hide the joint is still based on what I already know from the first game and not the emotion of this situation so there is no connection for me here at all, just going by the number to help happen what I already know will be the outcome.

To see the relationship with Amber grow is a highlight of the story and in episode 2 it is only getting more intense and stronger between them. Both characters are feeling the need to escape Arcadia Bay and now with Chloe seemingly having nothing left after been expelled from school, David moving into her home and tension with her mother at an all time high alongside Amber struggling to deal with the truth of her father’s affair pushing them closer together. I did like how the junkyard has become their place to go to escape it all for now despite the really overly complicated mini game which has Chloe searching for parts to help fix and clean up an old truck killing the mood somewhat. The exchanges between Chloe and Amber lead to player choices that can drive the intimacy of this relationship to the point where you can really understand why Chloe is feeling the loss of Rachel in the first game so hard. Episode 1 rushed this aspect far too much for me, but now after sequences have played out, their connection is very clear and understandable with both their lives putting them on a path together which allows the player to feel a part of it enough with choices and options to be taken along the way.

The main problem I have with this episode as with the first one is that of pacing. At three hours long this was painfully slow at times to get through and the forced lingering moments where the game will suddenly pause to play something from the soundtrack, which is an awesome playlist all the same, is truly starting to grate on me. The story moments are well written and great to experience but the sheer amount of padding and filler moments in between them just grind the pace to an annoying crawl at times. I also really hate the “back chat” moments where Chloe can manipulate a person by using her special power of picking out a word in a dialogue exchange in order to illicit a negative response is beyond cringe right now which alongside some mundane puzzle solving such as scaring a bird in order to distract a pupil so you can kick in a sprinkler to make the gardener leave his shed taking up ten minutes it really did not need to.

Episode 2 does give us a chance to see more aspects to Chloe’s life as we see her relationship with Frank lead to a rather dark scene in the story which again is a neat set up to events in the first game. These moments where Chloe interacting with characters we know from the original are enjoyable, but the slow pace drags the momentum down between them far too much for me. The story itself is solid as life at the school and beyond start to unfold far more in this episode than the opening but I cannot help but feel that due to this being only a three part mini series, more attempts have been made to make each episode longer then they needed to be to make them feel fleshed out. The story does not need this, if it is to focus on Chloe and Amber then do so and stop putting in rubbish objectives such as the five minutes needed to help Amber’s mother set the dinner table, I mean come on is it really a three step process to lay the table and why did anyone think that would make either a fun or worthwhile section of the game to do?

Chloe can still tag things by drawing graffiti on specific things during the game serving as collectibles and yes it is still weird that the pen never seems to run out just as it is really strange for all the objects Chloe picks up such as the items needed to fix the truck in the junkyard have the animation of Chloe putting them in her pockets which is lazy corner cutting steps which just feel stupid, I mean how does Chloe fit a whole car battery, beach towel and Christmas light bulb in her jeans pockets at the same time, such is the baffling mechanics of this episode at times.

The big story moments are real game changes when they happen and I do feel that some of my player choices have both immediate and long term consequences after I have made them but due to this being a prequel story, none of them really seem to matter as in the end, I already know how those choices will play out from the first Life is Strange, so instead of feeling like I am making them happen it just feels as though I am ticking the boxes in the right order. We do get to understand more about Chloe and where she is when Max returns and it was nice to see less of Chloe’s need to refer to her leaving as much in this episode as the opening. I just want the pace to get to the story parts faster, stop trying to make me feel the same emotions as the first game but forcibly recreating similar lingering moments with music because it is far too obvious what the game is trying to do and therefore fails to have the desired effect.

With just one episode to go now, I have really not enjoyed this prequel story as much as I either expected or hoped to. The character elements are working well and it can be intriguing at times to see in motion what I know will be the outcome when Max comes home. I hope the finale just focuses on Chloe and Amber and cuts out the padding to just tell the story instead of sticking in mechanics from the first game just to do so. But my struggle to enjoy this is greater than the reward of playing it and I cannot help but feel disconnected from Chloe’s story far too much to get the most from this prequel.

I hope episode three brings this series together in a more satisfying way.

I have always been a fan of South Park since it first aired and watched seasons of the TV Show, the films and just about everything I could absorb about the franchise. The Stick of Truth was the most immersive South Park experience a fan could have and boy did they really go all in with the humour and willingness to not compromise and even go further with their humour for the game. The game was also a very solid RPG with fun turn based combat and gear systems then made this a very serious game. Now we are back with South Park the Fractured but Whole with the focus moving from that of fantasy and magic to the world of Superheroes. It is time to come on down to South Park and see some friends of mine…

Fractured but Whole is a direct continuation from The Stick of Truth with the main character players get to be, still the ‘New Kid’ who has only just moved to South Park. Our hero lives in the same house just a couple of doors down from Eric Cartman, the town is the same with the familiar shops and roads and locations as the first game and it took mere moments to be immersed once again in the world of this little old mountain town. That immersion is absolutely key for players to get the best from the South Park games and how both Stick of Truth and Fractured but Whole manage to do this so quickly for fans is a real joy. I love how the switch from the magic and fantasy world in the first game into the sudden universe of superheroes is made so effortlessly. By effortlessly I mean it is simply a case of the kids deciding they are done playing ‘that game’ and Cartman moves the group into playing superheroes as kids would, and having the New Kid just left standing in Cartman’s back yard whilst all the other kids have left is genius.

Cartman or ‘The Coon’ quickly summons his superhero team of ‘Coon and friends’ together to their secret hideout, his mum’s basement, to reveal that a cat is missing but the reward for finding the cat is just what they need to kick start their own Superhero film franchise. However The Coon tells the team that a rival superhero team, Freedom Pals is also looking for the cat in the hopes of using the reward money to begin their own superhero billion dollar film franchise so the race is now on, to fight crime and to find the missing cat. But of course, in order to gain our superpowers we must first have an origin story which The Coon is happy to oblige. This is where players can start to create their superhero persona by choosing their starting powers of either speedster, blaster or super strength. This sequence really sets the tone for things to come and got to be honest here, genuine laugh out loud moment for me right away.

It also serves as a great tutorial for the brand new combat system in the game which although it retains the traditional turn based combat that, has now been updated tremendously. Still turn based but now characters have three super-moves to use based on their powers to use in combat. But now you also have more movement in combat, something taken from more modern and recent JRPG style games so the combat area acts like a grid or chessboard and characters can be moved within this grid as depending on how much movement area they have and if there is an empty space to move to. This new mechanic allows for a much deeper fight as moving to either avoid an impending enemy attack or to reposition in order to maximize your own attack adds a new level of strategy to the combat and is a most welcome addition. I really love the new supermove that each character has that builds up during the combat and is boosted by hitting A to recover from an enemy attack. The ultimate move meter can only be used once by your team once it has built up so deciding when to use it can change the flow of a fight depending on what ultimate moves your team has. The animations for some of the ultimate moves are beyond crazy funny with some genius selections for some of the characters. Summons are still present and there are four that can be collected throughout the game and are triggered just like using a consumable so are limited in uses and combined this is perhaps the most refined combat you could have in an South Park game which is yet again surprising. In a game that parodies so much, it takes the combat and RPG elements very seriously and just as in the first game, is a rich and deep side to the game that makes it all the more satisfying to play.

Another new element to the game is the Crafting system, which allows the player to use the junk and scrap collected all over to craft new items such as consumables like food which serve as health packs to crafting brand new gear in the form of new costumes and artifacts. The gear system is used to increase your ‘Might’ level with new slots available as you level up and more powerful artifacts can be crafted based on recipes found or obtained during gameplay. The artifacts can boost your attributes depending on what powers you have equipped as moves whilst also increasing health, so picking what artifacts can bolster your own powers can really help in the later battles in the story. As you grow stronger and level up you will be given the opportunity to change your origin back story in order to access new powers, something The Coon is unhappy about letting you do which can result in having different power moves in combat to call on. You can edit the moves available as well outside of combat so you can really start to customise your Superhero persona in almost every way.

Of course the next important thing about a superhero after your powers is deciding what your superhero costume is and boy does Fractured but Whole offer you a full dazzling array of outfits to pick from. Some are clearly inspired by the comic book worlds of DC and MARVEL with some brilliant takes on some of the well known heroes from both but all have that awesome “made at home from anything lying around” style to them. Some can be found by discovering ‘Coon and Friends’ chests scattered around the town with some requiring some puzzle solving to access and some are rewards for winning fights in and around the main story and some will require a certain crafting level to create. You can even mix and match different parts from different outfits to create your own and each piece can have a colour chosen for it. It is staggering just how much players can customise their own superhero from appearance right down to their powers making this a real joy to just play around with till you find the hero you want to be.

Being a South Park game there is of course plenty of cultural references and social commentary thrown in such as social justice warriors, racist cops and labelling. Now after playing Stick of Truth, I had expected more moments of gasps and ‘oh now you didn’t’ but to be honest, nothing was really all that shocking this time around. That is not to say that it is tame by any means and there are some moments that will leave you open mouthed at times, but this is very much a South Park experience with the volume turned up to 11 with the freedom a video game can have to really push the limits of what you can get away with. That said, if you never played the Stick of Truth (which by the way you get for free for purchasing Fractured but Whole before January 2018) then this could well be rather shocking but in true South Park tradition never leaves you feeling uncomfortable with the humour if you are familiar with the show. The main campaign came in at 25 hours for me, which is a lot of South Park and the amount of side stuff to do along with the main story itself will give you plenty of things to do with things to collect and the town to explore.

But that 25 hours can drag at times, not to an annoying degree but there are times when you do feel as though you have seen and done it all especially with the random fights that pop up although,  it never really get old fighting sixth graders, ninjas, crab people and the Raisin Girls but there is a point in the later stages of the game when you have fully leveled up, have all the artifact slots available that I felt all I could really do was to complete the main story but should you complete the main story and still have things to find and collect do not worry, as you go right back into the world after the story ends thankfully.

Overall I really loved my time with Fractured but Whole as it once again allowed me to return to South Park as a fan and be completed immersed in the world in a way that is only possible in a video game. Every aspect to the first game that I loved has been enhanced and improved for this game. The combat and RPG elements have all been brought up to date and the very fact that until January, it comes packaged with The Stick of Truth just makes it the most complete South Park experience a fan can have right now. I relished the new buddy system that allows you to summon an ally to come help solve a puzzle to access new areas and the time bending “farting powers” is pure genius at times. I would say though that this will suffer the same replay issue as The Stick of Truth in that once you have played through it and learned all the jokes and big moments that they will lose their impact on subsequent playthroughs .

But the sheer excellence in the writing, design and execution of this game speaks volumes for the potential to do more and with story based DLC in the future for Fractured but Whole, there are plenty more laughs to be had. I even returned to The Stick of Truth and you can instantly feel the improvements made over it but it still holds its own today. It has been a long wait for this sequel which originally was supposed to come out last year but the wait has been worth it. I am still amazed at just how credible the gameplay is which loses nothing from all the humour thrown in on top.

Still the most satisfying South Park experience you can have as a fan and so many laugh out loud moments that I am eagerly awaiting the DLC and I am still refining my superhero character in appearance and powers after completing the main story because the amount of options is crazy fun. There really is no better time to revisit Cartman and pals then right now!