Xbox One Reviews L-N

Though they were more interactive stories than games, I enjoyed the first Life Is Strange and its prequel. I was drawn in by their leisurely pacing, thoughtful storytelling, and chill music. The first two installments featured female leads in small-town school situations. Life is Strange 2 is about two brothers living with their father in Seattle.

This game is a work of art. The people appear lifelike and the acting is quite good. The dialog seems natural and the character reactions are uncanny. The older brother Sean reminds me of the one in Jurassic World, but the younger one looks like Pinocchio without the nose. The scenery is gorgeous and I like how the story works its way through various seasons. There are lawn decorations around Halloween and later there's a snowy Christmas village.

The incident that sends everything into a tailspin feels very contrived. The boys are dealing with a trouble-maker kid next door when a trigger-happy police officer arrives and chaos unfolds. For the remainder of the game the two brothers find themselves on the run from the law.

Apparently the brothers are part Hispanic and the white people in this game are hell-bent on making their lives miserable. The brothers are desperately trying to escape to Mexico. The game goes out of its way to mock the concept of a traditional American family. Why does Square Enix hate this country so much??

The story doesn't ring true, but the game is even worse! I hear a lot of people referring to certain games as "walking simulators" and now I know what they're talking about! You spend most of the time watching the brothers wander slowly down roads and through forests, occasionally stopping to have long, heart-to-heart conversations.

During the parts of the game that give you some freedom of movement you're reduced to performing tedious chores like collecting items, doing laundry, or preparing dinner. You can examine items lying all over the place but frankly I never found it worthwhile. I guess it's supposed to flesh things out but it feels like a time-waster.

During conversations pressing different buttons selects two or three responses, but they all seem to lead to the same result. It feels as if the game is steering the narrative and you're not really having much impact. I was disappointed with the soundtrack. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't notice it. In the previous games the music really stood out.

Like Is Strange 2 feels stretched long beyond its lengthy running time. Locations are heavily re-used, especially during flashback sequences. There are a few exciting moments but in between are long, barren stretches of tedium. If the previous games gradually sucked me in, this one pushed me away, causing me to bail about half-way through. © Copyright 2025 The Video Game Critic.

Maximum Football is brought to you by our friends from the Great White North (Canuck Play Inc). So what kind of football is this exactly? Well it's not a CFL game and it's obviously not an NFL-licensed title. You might say it's college if not for odd teams like the Birmingham Mustangs and San Antonio Eagles. Frankly, I think this is just the Canadian version of what they think American football is. Kind of like a Dollar General version of Madden.

I love the load screens which displays funny status updates like "event staff cleaning stadium", "officials have approved playing surface", and "inflating footballs". Oh those wacky Canucks! Wait a minute - inflating footballs?? Tom Brady would absolutely hate this game!

The game doesn't look half bad. There are a variety of generic stadiums, and the snow games at night look quite festive! Except for the crowd noise, the audio is understated to say the least. If you listen closely you can hear a distant band practicing at a nearby highschool. The muffled PA announcer has apparently fallen into a well. Somebody should really throw that poor guy a rope. Maybe later.

The interface for choosing plays is so streamlined you'll select a play when you don't mean to! It only takes a single button press! Problem is, the offense always chooses before the defense, giving away your strategy when playing a friend. During kickoffs, make sure you adjust the kicking arrow upward ("make it erect" says Sudz) or you'll perform a lame squib kick.

After the ball is hiked, all bets are off. Sometimes the screen shifts in a disorienting manner. Sometimes a running back will pass clear through a defender. When throwing on the run, the quarterback may perform a double lutz! Upon catching the ball, a receiver might stop in his tracks, as if he can't believe he actually caught the damn thing. Then when tackled, he turns into a mannequin. Oh well, at least the hits are hard, unlike that pussy Madden game.

The designers seemed to bury the instant replay feature, probably because they don't want to call attention to the glitches. And this isn't even the first version of Maximum Football! There were two more editions before this! Wow.

For all its quirks, Maximum Football is actually quite playable and arguably more entertaining than Madden. It's very offensive-minded, so it's pretty easy to bust a big run or complete a long pass. I'm willing to cut the developers a little slack because they are Canadian after all. Each work day it's all they can do to avoid getting mauled by a bear or trampled by a moose. And that's just their morning commute! © Copyright 2022 The Video Game Critic.