this has to be one of the most impressively-worked-on post-production videogames I've ever seen ... it has been over 4 FULL years and still , the developer(s) continue to work on improving this already-good game

with that out of the way , we continue to the actual review of the game itself ... one that is well-worth checking out (the game , not the review)

this game is all about using physics to get through various levels .. sounds simple ? keep reading
the puzzles are 2-fold , meaning that every level has a kind of "achievement-related" solution aside from simply passing that level
the music (so far for me) is a little relaxing piece of wonder
the graphics (simple as they seem compared to modern games) are easy to the eye and mind ... simple & effective in adding to the game's overarching atmosphere
the part that really got to me .... was the few words that are written in the game

that , i prefer to leave to you to figure out on your own ...

well , clearly so much work has been put into this nifty interesting piece of cyberpunk beauty ... far from your typical 2D sidescroller with little cutscenes but a rich storyline & sure enough a big stack of surprises around several corners !
if you're a story-driven , this is for you .. if you're up for some interesting download-worthy soundtrack , I dare say the bundle including it with the game was quite a good deal for me ..
this game is different from -i think- every other game I've played before in several aspects ... the ease in its interface , the non-existing glitches & bugs (aside from ONE time the menu got a little buggy on me , nothing game-breaking or even game-damaging) and i can't say i encountered such an open-world game before where enemies actually stay dead throughout the entire playthrough ... just wow

the only downside that I can think of is the lack of Cloud Saves
unfortunately , i don't know how to get around that one or the reason for it to begin with since I see this as a much more worthy game of getting its place on Steam's servers for cloud saving than so many other games ... not claiming to know the inside workings of how a game gets to have cloud saves on Steam but i just wish this one was among them

in terms of story , I could say this one follows typical guidelines .. but aside from the hilarious voice acting & odd quips that effectively turned this game into a gory dark comedy if anything , it is overall a nice game if all you want is zombies to shoot at (in terms of price/value , this one's quite cheap that it's hard to pass it up for .99%) ... until the discomfort of terrible design comes :/

I'm not talking about technical issues such as bugs or glitches but the very necessary step of picking/upgrading/buying weapons before every stage ... as far as a game that WORKS (isn't straightforward trolling) this section of Dead Effect hangs in-between by all means !!
i have never suffered this badly to scroll between weapons in a game in my life :(
i don't know if this is how it was intended to be but if it is , it's hell of counter-intuitive ...

AND I LIKE THIS GAME ... not only is it one of my first ever to get on Steam but in overall , i really like it ! i just can't recommend this to other people because i don't think other people will agree with me because the stuff that breaks this game in my opinion far outdo the stuff that make it a nice game :/ and there are so many other zombie games out there that haven't suffered this kind of awful design in decades (and i literally mean
decades , with S for plural .. die-hard zombie gamers will definitely understand what door I'm knocking on here)

I'm not a guy for walking around with no real action until I "find something" .. more of a " objective + player = done " type of guy here (unless I'm playing with friends , then I can keep doing crazy antics forever and laugh about it xD)
but this isn't a multiplayer ...

so this game with all its positive reviews ... well , I was skeptic ... especially considering its size and the fact I'm on metered data with only 40 gigabytes for everything (that's Facebook , browsing , videos , music & a smallish civil work for which I'm constantly downloading & uploading files etc .. plus I'm a music addict so go figure a 1/4 of my data plan took out by 1 download) ... downloading this baby killed my plan for a couple movie marathon nights with a friend but I figured I'll just have to download it someday and the friend canceled the movie night anyway so I figured just what the heck xD

if I want a deep & impacting story , I look up movies usually ... movies have sequels so I can keep going with the story as it goes on

making a sequel for a game isn't as easy .. so it's a hell of a wait to have a game's part 2 done ... I'm not that guy

or as an alternative , I do games that tell the story briefly but effectively with more of ME included in the run and less waiting for cutscenes to be over with ... that is unless the game is a part of a movie franchise (yeah I'm looking at you , Aliens : Colonial Marines) ... why am I saying this ...?

Life is Strange is just ... should I say a marathon of choices ? I don't go over a game AGAIN only to get the alternate ending unless that game is like ... a blooming bullet to my brain ... and I don't get impressed easy

now around every corner in Arcadia Bay , there's a choice and I'M THE ONE AT THE WHEEL ... choices all over the place ... so many pictures to take ...
I'm not even with a gaming laptop , just a lame old pc that's been troubled since it encountered Windows 10 but I kinda like my old pc ... despite my no-so-bad screen I find myself having to take the resolution to 1152 x 648 which is the lowest variation of 16/9 ... what's a picture to me if not a blurry one :/
but I'm a story dude , not an eye-candy dude ...

so just how did this game really captivate me like this is beyond me !
every choice I made , I did knowing I can't have regrets ... I didn't even think that choices from episode 2 would still have effect on my 1st playthrough of episode 4 !! this was kinda crazy for me and I SO wanted to know all the other possibilities ... but they're seemingly infinite !! I don't even remember most of the choices I made but I often found myself rewinding just to see what would happen if I'd chosen the other option(s) then go back to my original choice ... I was never so FURIOUS like when I found a cutscene taking me through multiple choices then BOOM , I'm stuck with these choices unless I'm up for starting a new save or restarting the chapter ... I felt kind of cheated for a girl with rewinding powers and ... oh what the heck , I'm just ranting ...

I rant when I get emotional ... and I would just sit back and listen to Super Max play her beautiful guitar in her room for I don't care how long ... I just didn't think games like this existed ...

YES , it's NOT entirely an open-world life simulation , you do have somewhat limited options ... you can't just choose to leave Arcadia Bay behind and blow the world up with your awesome powers , take over the world's economy and stuff like that .. but ...

this game tells a story ... and folks , the story can really get to you if you let it

and I never planned to review a game because I don't usually have anything to add over what the other reviewers say so I just wrote a blah blah review of some other game for the profile badge or whatever it's called ...

this one's different though .. and even for a guy who longs for whatever comedy & laughs I can find , this piece , full of drama as it is ... I just had to write about my experience here

no regrets , no shame ... from now on I'm a Dontnodder
and yes , I did cry .. how did they know I would cry ..?
how are Max's pictures just so beautiful ...?
THANK YOU , Dontnod !
just ... really ... thank you for making this game
and players , thank you for playing it ..
btw , beware the insane plot twist at the end of episode 4 ... DO NOT PLAY EPISODE 4 IF YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO FOLLOW IT UP WITH EPISODE 5 like .. INSTANTLY !! (that is unless you're that much into the suspense of waiting after a cliff-hanger)