Let's get the positive stuff out of the way first. The animation is surprisingly good; even the facial animation. That's a hard thing to nail down in video games, but in True Colors, the characters are as expressive as they're needed to be. There's no uncanny valley effect here, no dead eyes, and the performances are full of convincing, subtle little gestures... it's great! That's a big leap from the first game (incidentally, that's the only other LiS entry I've played).
Unfortunately, everything else is dreck.
Much like the first game, the core mystery within the story is actually quite compelling, but it's ultimately drowned out by the surrounding rampant, maudlin melodrama. I was hoping the passing of the torch to a new developer would put an end to the heavy-handedness and complete lack of subtlety that often rears its ugly head in Dontnod's games, but nope. If anything, it's even worse here. True Colors is like an episode of Dawson's Creek where all the emotions are turned up to 11 and everyone is ordered to act hysterical all the time. The cast is shouting, or crying, or generally telling the player how deep their pain is.
Early on in the story, the main character 'treats' us to her own rendition of Radiohead's Creep. The song that the band themselves hate. The song that prompted Thom Yorke to write My Iron Lung, a critical swipe at the song that almost landed them squarely in one-hit-wonder territory. The song that they never perform live anymore. I'm not saying Creep is a bad tune or anything, but at this point, it's more a meme than anything. And yet here's Alex Chen, poor and perpetually tormented Alex Chen, regaling us with how poor and perpetually tormented she is by performing Creep on an acoustic guitar. That scene is the first major warning sign and True Colors starts as it means to go on.
I could go on. The main culprit or antagonist or what have you becomes obvious early on. There are long stretches, particularly in the last chapter, where interactivity is taken away and you might as well be watching a movie. The pacing is generally poor, with events screeching to a halt in chapter 3 as the cast engages in a real-life tabletop RPG in order to cheer up the spirits of the shitty kid whose dumb actions in the first chapter are responsible for all the tragedy in the first place. This sequence should last 15 minutes tops, but it goes on for what felt like two hours, and it is utterly excruciating. Oh, and there's a revelation in towards the end involving a family member of the MC that is pure contrivance. It is laughable.
I completely checked out by the end of chapter 3. By chapter 5, I was browsing the internet while the game was running in the background, occasionally pressing some button on the controller to advance the narrative. I'm so indifferent to the game that I can't even think of a zinger to end on. Some way to neatly wrap up this written piece.
...
...
...
Alex Chen has the worst fucking super power ever
Unfortunately, everything else is dreck.
Much like the first game, the core mystery within the story is actually quite compelling, but it's ultimately drowned out by the surrounding rampant, maudlin melodrama. I was hoping the passing of the torch to a new developer would put an end to the heavy-handedness and complete lack of subtlety that often rears its ugly head in Dontnod's games, but nope. If anything, it's even worse here. True Colors is like an episode of Dawson's Creek where all the emotions are turned up to 11 and everyone is ordered to act hysterical all the time. The cast is shouting, or crying, or generally telling the player how deep their pain is.
Early on in the story, the main character 'treats' us to her own rendition of Radiohead's Creep. The song that the band themselves hate. The song that prompted Thom Yorke to write My Iron Lung, a critical swipe at the song that almost landed them squarely in one-hit-wonder territory. The song that they never perform live anymore. I'm not saying Creep is a bad tune or anything, but at this point, it's more a meme than anything. And yet here's Alex Chen, poor and perpetually tormented Alex Chen, regaling us with how poor and perpetually tormented she is by performing Creep on an acoustic guitar. That scene is the first major warning sign and True Colors starts as it means to go on.
I could go on. The main culprit or antagonist or what have you becomes obvious early on. There are long stretches, particularly in the last chapter, where interactivity is taken away and you might as well be watching a movie. The pacing is generally poor, with events screeching to a halt in chapter 3 as the cast engages in a real-life tabletop RPG in order to cheer up the spirits of the shitty kid whose dumb actions in the first chapter are responsible for all the tragedy in the first place. This sequence should last 15 minutes tops, but it goes on for what felt like two hours, and it is utterly excruciating. Oh, and there's a revelation in towards the end involving a family member of the MC that is pure contrivance. It is laughable.
I completely checked out by the end of chapter 3. By chapter 5, I was browsing the internet while the game was running in the background, occasionally pressing some button on the controller to advance the narrative. I'm so indifferent to the game that I can't even think of a zinger to end on. Some way to neatly wrap up this written piece.
...
...
...
Alex Chen has the worst fucking super power ever
Reviewed on Mar 30, 2023
3 Comments
Considering what you wrote about the first game, I think you're better off giving True Colors a wide berth.
Yes that seems like the prudent choice 😄
Ghost_Of_SAS
1 year ago