Developer: DONTNOD Entertainment
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tested on: PS4
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit – Review
With the Life is Strange series being immensely popular, DONTNOD Entertainment now released a new game set in the same universe called The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Chris is a big fan of superheroes and villains and incredibly good in telling his own stories. He even has a “secret” alter ego. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit has been developed by DONTNOD Entertainment and published by Square Enix. In Captain Spirit, we were able to relive a bit of childish innocence as we followed Chris on his adventures as a superhero!
Story
Chris is an imaginative 9-year-old who lives alone with his dad after his mom passed away in an accident. Chris loves making up stories and drawing them. He really loves superheroes and is actually secretly one of them. His imagination is incredible and he has an amazing alter ego called Captain Spirit. Although Captain Spirit exists more in Chris’ mind, his imagination makes him real.
Today there is no school as it is Saturday, so Chris has all the free time to play. At breakfast, his dad promised that they were going to buy a Christmas tree after the basketball game. Chris has a few tasks that he has to complete and is also planning a very awesome battle with his rival! So this won’t be a boring day at all! Pieces of backstory are hidden all around the game so to find out more about what happened to for example Chris’s mom you need to read everything you find. If you read everything you will also understand a bit better what is happening in the conversations. The story bit that you don’t read is mostly brought by conversations or Chris’ monologues/thoughts.
Graphics
The graphics in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit are in the typical style we know from the Life is Strange series. They are realistic with a touch of cartoony. Characters are well designed and have great expressions. Only the crying face is a bit weird as the tears blend in a bit with the face but it’s still clear enough that you know that they are crying.
Fantasy elements are really well designed. When you see the real environment after the fantasy environment, you can clearly see that they used the elements from the real environment really well. Although you only get to see Chris’ house, it’s very well designed with small details included. The house looks lived in and not just cleanly designed.
Sound
Music in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is really nice and has the same kind of feel to it as the music in the Life is Strange series. The music isn’t always present during the game as sometimes just sound effects take over but the music often kicks in at the best time. Sound effects in the game are really well done. From creepy noises that the villains make to simply the sound the microwave makes. Voice acting in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is nicely done. The voice actors are really convincing with their emotions and you can hear the anger or sadness in their voices.
Gameplay
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is an adventure game where you play as Chris a.k.a Captain Spirit. Today is Saturday so Chris has a day off of school and has all that time to play. He has a list of tasks, or a list of “my awesome things to do”, that he wants to accomplish. These tasks each have a cute drawing and a bit of explanation on what you need to do. Most tasks require you to find things around the house first before you can complete it. You can complete the game without finishing all the tasks but where is the fun in that? You would miss out on a lot of story if you end the game early. Luckily you can always go back to the last save file if you accidentally end the game early.
To interact with objects or persons you need to look at them and select what you want to do with the button linked to that action. However to be able to select the different actions you sometimes need to wiggle around as it doesn’t always make the options pop up for the thing you want. This happens quite often when there are multiple objects you can interact with, next to each other. Once you select an action it takes effect. If you select to use the walkie-talkie then Chris will start using it. Sadly there is no cancel button if you happen to press a button by mistake. There are even some moments that you need to suddenly pick up the phone but miss it because you can’t cancel an action.
With some objects, you have an awesome option to use Captain Spirit’s power. When you select this option, your controller starts to vibrate which is a nice extra to immerse yourself in the game. When Chris walks around he is quite slow so sometimes it can be a bit slow to get to where you want. Luckily you don’t have that far to go since only Chris’ house and garden are available.
There are some choices that you get in conversations but they don’t influence the game too much. Only a bit of conversation gets changed because of your choice. The tasks that you need to complete sometimes have a bit of a puzzle linked to it. To solve these puzzles you literally need to look everywhere and look at everything. Which in these kinds of games often is a must since you also receive more background information this way. There are even some Easter eggs included in the game some more obvious than others. One of them is a really obvious appearance of the Hawt Dawg Man who you can find in all of the Life is Strange games but in Captain Spirit, he makes a really obvious appearance in the form of a game and a comic.
Conclusion
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a hella awesome game. Just the innocence of a child and his imagination. His fantasy is also the way he copes with what is happening around him. Captain Spirit has the same kind of emotional feel to it as the Life is Strange series. The developers have said that there are even hints to Life is Strange 2 in the game. So if you’re a fan of the Life is Strange series, The Awesome Adventures of Captain spirit are definitely for you. If you just like one of the games or even if you haven’t played any of the games yet give Captain Spirit a try as it’s completely free and awesome.
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