Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 - Roads

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 166 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 166
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 166
  3. Negative: 56 out of 166

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  1. Mars0112
    Sep 30, 2018
    0
    Life is Strange 2 - it's agitation with undisguised hatred of white Americans and Republicans in particular. DONTNOD absolutely clumsily raises controversial issues and does not analyze them at all. Here everything is divided into black and white, with the drama built mediocre. The main character, who must show the severity of life of Mexicans, is in fact extremely stupid, and he himselfLife is Strange 2 - it's agitation with undisguised hatred of white Americans and Republicans in particular. DONTNOD absolutely clumsily raises controversial issues and does not analyze them at all. Here everything is divided into black and white, with the drama built mediocre. The main character, who must show the severity of life of Mexicans, is in fact extremely stupid, and he himself creates situations that give rise to stereotypes. All policemen are villains, honest hard workers are villains. Behind all this policy lies an extremely mediocre game, incapable of adult reasoning. Is racism bad? Absolutly! But why do you say this directly without concomitant analysis? This is kindergarten...DONTNOD clearly considers his fans idiots.… Expand
  2. Kenocartel
    Oct 20, 2018
    0
    Feels more like a far-left ideological propaganda piece than a game. I'm not averse to political themes as long as the developers let the players make up their own minds. This game does no such thing. It is written with the sole purpose of indoctrinating people to left wing causes, rather than provide opportunities for players to think critically and independently. Now we know where theFeels more like a far-left ideological propaganda piece than a game. I'm not averse to political themes as long as the developers let the players make up their own minds. This game does no such thing. It is written with the sole purpose of indoctrinating people to left wing causes, rather than provide opportunities for players to think critically and independently. Now we know where the NPC meme came from, because no independent thinking person could play this game without having his or her intelligence insulted.… Expand
  3. DAYZAD_1
    Oct 26, 2018
    1
    Первая часть лучше, саундтрек просидает, количество персонажей с за содействием намного меньше, нет таинственности, контраст персонажей намного меньше, в первой части девушки с оружием, матюками и перемотки времени, здесь два брата , без ничего, просто ходят,озвучка ужасная, но графон во 2 части получше, анимация немного лучше и всё.Первая часть лучше, саундтрек просидает, количество персонажей с за содействием намного меньше, нет таинственности, контраст персонажей намного меньше, в первой части девушки с оружием, матюками и перемотки времени, здесь два брата , без ничего, просто ходят,озвучка ужасная, но графон во 2 части получше, анимация немного лучше и всё.
  4. DeadEye_GR10
    Jun 14, 2019
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sych a stupid way for the dad to die,they could find something more logical… Expand
  5. Enado
    Oct 14, 2018
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The writing is so bad and uninspiring on the current climate in America, it could be considered satire.

    Bad white cop kills angelic mexican father protecting both sons. Sons go on the run and find a store. Store is run by a bad racist drumpfh supporter who accuses the main character of stealing. "You're the reason we need to build that wall." Is an actual line said. Hero white blogger that protests saves the day. That's episode 1 in a nutshell. This makes Life is Strange 1 look like a masterpiece.

    That being said, the money management and music, and puppy we're the only good things about this episode.    … Expand
  6. Taronn93
    Nov 22, 2018
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm seriously disappointed, but just to be fair i'm going to list pros as well first.

    Pros:
    -Graphics are awesome, fits the game really well.
    -Music is good as well.
    -The world overall is better than it was in the first game.

    Cons (going to talk about all of them below in more detail)
    -Weak Story
    -The character we play is not the main character of the story.
    -No controllable special ability for the players.
    -None of the characters were interesting or likeable or relatable , because nothing in the story is
    interesting or likeable or relatable. The character we play is the worst. There are choices that made without the player, and he makes the most irrealistic, stupid choices ever. By the end of the story he will either get himself killed or goes to jail. His decision making is worse than Chloes, which is not an easy task but the writers managed to do it. But at least Chloe was a likeable rebelling teenager. Sean is just stupid.

    So... Why is the story weak? For multiple reasons. First of all, its forced on us, and the first major decision made it very obvious that all the choice in this game are going to be illusions of choice.

    Examples:
    -Dad gets shot no matter what you choose.
    -There is no option to stay or run away, its forced on us to run away.
    -Our character gets kidnapped no matter what we choose. There we don't even have a choice to explain properly that we didn't stole anything, the only choice we have is to try to go away as soon as possible which makes our character look bad.

    There is one thing in common with these choices: Racism. Racism thats also forced into the story and makes it much worse than it would've been originally. Its like rewriting the first Life is Strange where everyone around Max and Chloe are sexist and we have to listen to sexist remarks through 5 episodes.
    The dad gets shot because the cop is a scared racist, the kids got bullied on multiple occasion in the episode because everyone apparently are racist in this story, Sean gets kidnapped because the old man is a racist...

    So, there comes the second and the third con together. Our character is not the main character of the story (which already made it worse), its Daniel. Daniel, who also got the special ability. A special abiltiy that the player can't control like we did it with Max, which made awesome puzzles for the game possible. Our character is just a side character who is there to help Daniel get through his story. We can only control Daniel's power through cutscenes where our side character make the main character calm down.

    The first game brought up these things: Corruption, drog abuse, psycho teacher, friendship, time travel, choices that were meaningful enough to save a person's life in the story.

    The second game bring up this thing: Racism. That's it. All the things thats happening to our side character is because of racism. The bully kid was racist, that's why we knocked him out, the cop was racist thats why he was afraid of two mexican kids and that's why he shot the father for no good reason.We had to run away because all the other cops who arrived are assumably racist as well and we would've been accused of killing the cop (which is not wrong by the way, just not the way they think). The old man at the gas station is racist thats why we get tied up even if we don't steal anything,

    They just proved with this game that not continuing the story of Max and Chloe was a mistake. Majority of the people cared about them and we don't care about Daniel and Sean, and no, its not going to change if the first episode couldn't change our mind, because most of us are most likely not even going to buy the second episode. This game should be cancelled and make a game about the story of Max and Chloe as i said above.    … Expand
  7. StormPrincess
    Jan 28, 2019
    0
    This is the propaganda pieace of sh@t, Tha whole game in few words:
    Trump is a bad guy
    mexicans are cool guys
    White peoples are mess
    GoGoGO
  8. Hallowsend666
    Oct 18, 2018
    0
    This is a terrible follow-up to Life is Strange, Before the Storm and even Captain Spirit.

    Basically nothing that made people fall in love with the previous games is left here. This is an empty shell that clearly has the name "Life is Strange" attached to it to make people pick something up they would not have bought otherwise. Instead of a great, engaging and lovingly told story you    This is a terrible follow-up to Life is Strange, Before the Storm and even Captain Spirit.

    Basically nothing that made people fall in love with the previous games is left here. This is an empty shell that clearly has the name "Life is Strange" attached to it to make people pick something up they would not have bought otherwise.

    Instead of a great, engaging and lovingly told story you are bombarded with political messages all the time (which I agree with, but that is not the point). Where Life is Strange drew it strength from subtlety to make you think this here offers nothing in comparison - you get told what is correct.

    Apart from the politics the characters are weak, the voice acting is sub par and not even the music can compare to the first season - it is a shame when a previous title in the series completely destroys the facial animations and lip sync in this one.

    The plot is you wandering around with your brother (not really a spoiler since that happens after 20 minutes) with forced interactions and "on the nose" tests on morality. I find it hard to believe that this is actually the same team that created Life is Strange - the story quality in this one is so far below the first one that it hurts. This is enforced by that not only the whole triggering event but also almost every single decision taken by the characters is stupid beyond belief and can´t be explained just by their age.

    Speaking of decisions, none here matter at all - I can live with narratives not branching wildly. But when I have the option to walk away from a fight and I choose to just leading to me being insulted again and then starting the fight away its just lazy. This is basically true for every major decision offered - there is not even a slight variation.

    I would have not expected Dontnod to fail so hard.    … Expand
  9. LadyLarunai
    Nov 14, 2018
    1
    The writing has gotten so much worse than the first series of episodes which is saying a lot as the characters in the original were bland character cutouts, the world feels unrealistic and fake like its trying to hard to push ideas that do not reflect in real life, the whole thing feels uninspired and other games have done the themes better
  10. Veiled
    Sep 28, 2018
    0
    Es una panfletada política insoportable, un lavado de cerebro importante por parte de los sobrevalorados Dontnod que solo disfrutaran los llorones de Tuiter. Ni siquiera merece la pena perder el tiempo con porquerías toxicas como esta, le doy un 1 por que me siento generoso. Es el mes de Forza, Assassin's y Red Dead, no deis dinero a juegos tóxicos.
  11. Snail1204
    Nov 29, 2019
    4
    Start off I'm am not from the US.

    But this game is very political and tries to show the extreme cases that happen very rarely, with showing the far right and no other right wing thinking people. And then the left but Jo far left. Very much a political propoganda game, or at least episode 1, I will keep playing to see where it goes

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Best PS4 Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. Games Master UK
    Nov 1, 2018
    81
    It makes you want to see where life leads them next. [Issue#336, p.85]
  2. Cubed3
    Oct 29, 2018
    60
    Episode 1: Roads sets Life is Strange 2 up for potentially great things, but the entertaining moments are extremely fleeting in what is clearly intended to be an emotionally-driven adventure that works to set the tone for what is to come, with particular value placed on the story of brotherhood. The supernatural element at play as the main plot device is interesting, but it again only works to serve as a teaser for what is lying further down the road for the brothers. Not as gripping as season one, but this short episode does its job.
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  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Oct 28, 2018
    80
    A consistently strong introduction to the Diaz brothers and their plight. We only want the best for them but know full well things are going to get worse over the course of the season. [Issue#155, p.88]
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