Mixtape is a musical portrait of teenage life

Playing Mixtape is like playing a video game version of a high school movie. Kids banter about the meaning of life and the theme songs that would play when they walk in a room. They’re worried about looking cool at a big party. They’re obsessed with finding booze. But under all of those tropes is a meaningful story about nostalgia, friendship, and teenage angst — and it’s all backed by a great soundtrack packed with classic hits. Mixtape takes place over the course of a summer day. You play as Stacey Rockford, a music obsessive and recent high school graduate. Rockford is leaving her sleepy California suburb for New York City the next morning on a quest to become a music supervisor, and she and her two best friends — the low-key Van Slater and the rebellious Cassandra Morino — are whiling away the day before a big party in the evening. Rockford, Slater, and Cassandra really feel like a trio of teenagers. For one thing, a lot of the game is spent hanging out in their bedrooms and lazing around. They bullshit with each other about music and life, their futures and dating, and whatever else is on their minds, all with the inflated self-confidence of teenagers who also know they have no idea what the hell they’re doing. …