The lure of LA Noire finally pulls me away from Duke Nuk For...

Well, it had to happen eventually.  I was still feeling pretty torn, and part of me could have happily stayed up another 2 hours for some post-LA Noire Duke related fun... But still, I went to bed at a reasonable time so my wifes happy... Meh!
 
So how does LA Noire compare to Duke Nukem Forever?  From a basic first impressions point of view?  Well, I can't make a direct comparison, Duke is a very old school FPS shooter with some tongue in cheek humor and interesting mini-games.  LA Noire plays rather like an interractive crime thriller.  
 
They're both games though so comparisons can be made.  The first thing that strike you is that LA Noire comes on two disks and has a chunky, thick instruction manual - and Duke come on one DVD and has a thin, explains the controls manual.  I know it's subtle and not something to make a judgement on - but it sets the scene it gives you an idea of what to expect.  DNF - Pick up and play fun, LA Noire - more depth and content.  
 
So I dived into LA Noire and two games immediately sprang to mind, The Sabotuer by Pandemic and Rockstar's famous 'Red Dead Redemption' but without the horses.  The driving mechanics are classic Rockstar open world, but that's really where the similarities start to end... The typical Rockstar gameplay model is blown apart, no longer are we grabbing missions, killing people and blowing things up, rinse and repeat... The first sequence you are thrown into is a crime scene investigation.  I have to say at this point, I can imagine the typical Rockstar player, even the typical Duke Nukem Player might get a little frustrated.  It's a slower pace, it isn't so much exciting as 'interesting'.  IT's enjoyable, but you get a different flavour of flow from playing it - more the sort of flow you get from watching a detective programme on the television or reading a novel... Rather than the intense 'Guitar Hero' style of flow you get from fast paced FPS.  
 
I have to say I enjoyed the change of pace, it feels like a game you can play over a cup of coffee while other people are in the room, and you can chat and socialise while playing - it's not that intense for the most part, but really - that makes a nice change.  Once you start moving around town and investigating cases, you pick up on another difference - you can't injure people it seems by crashing into them - and you are penalised for harming civilians if you do... To me this is a sense of Rockstar growing up a bit and trying use their classic open-world model in a new way.   Let's face it - being able to do anything, was something of a novelty, but I think we've all grown up a bit now and having to drive carefully keeps you more in character.  You can't pull your gun out and start shooting people at random either - again a good thing... Even when I rescued some woman from a man with a gun - the fact that I killed him, rather than disarmed him... This gave the mission comeplte points, but it showed a rather solemn cut scene and suggested that a more successful outcome would have been if you had arrested him.
 
Before long, you're a detective and it's starting to feel like a real who-dunnit, the cases are interesting and the aesthetics have a real cinematic quality to them everything feels very polished and well thought out - although I wonder whether the investigating items parts and questioning people might becmoe tedious... but then they might introduce more elements of complexity to it, so it's hard to say.
 
All in all, I love both DNF and LA Noire - but part of me wonders it I'm in something of a minority - I can see LA Noire not really apealing to the the DNF 'Kick ass and chew bubblegum' player... Possibly not even the classic GTA / Red Dead player either... It's a thinkers game, it's interesting, fun even - but it's slower paced and more cinematic.  It's absorbing in the same way a novel is.   Duke however is fast paced, a little mindless at times and although it's polished, I think LA Noire has more than a clear edge in production terms - but then I think it needs it because of the type of experience Rockstar are trying to give the player with LA Noire.
 
I think LA Noire feels more 21st century too, it feels like the developers are really trying to do something new with the game, with Duke I think the developers are trying to bring an existing game format fowards with new elements of gameplay - but essentially it's a tried and tested formula.  Some of the early parts of DNF seem quite old school from a gameplay point of view.  There are times when if you forgot about the graphics and audio you could actually be playing Duke Nukem 3D or even Wolfenstein... That's no bad thing of course.  I like both titles, both are good at what they do, but they do different things...

Well, it had to happen eventually.  I was still feeling pretty torn, and part of me could have happily stayed up another 2 hours for some post-LA Noire Duke related fun... But still, I went to bed at a reasonable time so my wifes happy... Meh!
 
So how does LA Noire compare to Duke Nukem Forever?  From a basic first impressions point of view?  Well, I can't make a direct comparison, Duke is a very old school FPS shooter with some tongue in cheek humor and interesting mini-games.  LA Noire plays rather like an interractive crime thriller.  
 
They're both games though so comparisons can be made.  The first thing that strike you is that LA Noire comes on two disks and has a chunky, thick instruction manual - and Duke come on one DVD and has a thin, explains the controls manual.  I know it's subtle and not something to make a judgement on - but it sets the scene it gives you an idea of what to expect.  DNF - Pick up and play fun, LA Noire - more depth and content.  
 
So I dived into LA Noire and two games immediately sprang to mind, The Sabotuer by Pandemic and Rockstar's famous 'Red Dead Redemption' but without the horses.  The driving mechanics are classic Rockstar open world, but that's really where the similarities start to end... The typical Rockstar gameplay model is blown apart, no longer are we grabbing missions, killing people and blowing things up, rinse and repeat... The first sequence you are thrown into is a crime scene investigation.  I have to say at this point, I can imagine the typical Rockstar player, even the typical Duke Nukem Player might get a little frustrated.  It's a slower pace, it isn't so much exciting as 'interesting'.  IT's enjoyable, but you get a different flavour of flow from playing it - more the sort of flow you get from watching a detective programme on the television or reading a novel... Rather than the intense 'Guitar Hero' style of flow you get from fast paced FPS.  
 
I have to say I enjoyed the change of pace, it feels like a game you can play over a cup of coffee while other people are in the room, and you can chat and socialise while playing - it's not that intense for the most part, but really - that makes a nice change.  Once you start moving around town and investigating cases, you pick up on another difference - you can't injure people it seems by crashing into them - and you are penalised for harming civilians if you do... To me this is a sense of Rockstar growing up a bit and trying use their classic open-world model in a new way.   Let's face it - being able to do anything, was something of a novelty, but I think we've all grown up a bit now and having to drive carefully keeps you more in character.  You can't pull your gun out and start shooting people at random either - again a good thing... Even when I rescued some woman from a man with a gun - the fact that I killed him, rather than disarmed him... This gave the mission comeplte points, but it showed a rather solemn cut scene and suggested that a more successful outcome would have been if you had arrested him.
 
Before long, you're a detective and it's starting to feel like a real who-dunnit, the cases are interesting and the aesthetics have a real cinematic quality to them everything feels very polished and well thought out - although I wonder whether the investigating items parts and questioning people might becmoe tedious... but then they might introduce more elements of complexity to it, so it's hard to say.
 
All in all, I love both DNF and LA Noire - but part of me wonders it I'm in something of a minority - I can see LA Noire not really apealing to the the DNF 'Kick ass and chew bubblegum' player... Possibly not even the classic GTA / Red Dead player either... It's a thinkers game, it's interesting, fun even - but it's slower paced and more cinematic.  It's absorbing in the same way a novel is.   Duke however is fast paced, a little mindless at times and although it's polished, I think LA Noire has more than a clear edge in production terms - but then I think it needs it because of the type of experience Rockstar are trying to give the player with LA Noire.
 
I think LA Noire feels more 21st century too, it feels like the developers are really trying to do something new with the game, with Duke I think the developers are trying to bring an existing game format fowards with new elements of gameplay - but essentially it's a tried and tested formula.  Some of the early parts of DNF seem quite old school from a gameplay point of view.  There are times when if you forgot about the graphics and audio you could actually be playing Duke Nukem 3D or even Wolfenstein... That's no bad thing of course.  I like both titles, both are good at what they do, but they do different things...

 
what a odd choice of games to compare....I was ultimately disappointed in LA Noir.  Not really much of a game,  Story was kinda gibberish, and pointless.  DNF feels too dated (which how could it not really), and any nostalgic value it has or tries for seems to fall short.

If you want a great story and a game with actual depth I sugguest L.A. Noire. also, about the people that say the story is crap in it I don't think have actually played it at all. Just five minutes from playing it and seeing the story unfold is a far better feeling than just mindlessly blowing things up IMO.

I've just finished LA Noire, and I'll definitely need a palate cleanser before I play Duke. Film buffs will fall in love with either one, of course; Duke is a pitch-perfect parody and homage to late 80's/early 90's action films as well as the last fifteen years of video games, and LA Noire captures its own source material (namely, the noir films that inspired it) just as well.

If either game appeals to the minority demographic these days based on what I've seen, it's Duke. LA Noire fits into the thrill-ride mentality of modern gaming while still electrifying the brains of those who want to say "games are art." Duke is actually a challenge and a throwback, two things that automatically make it more geared towards the more classic gamer definitions, not to mention its graphic language and exploitation focus.

DNF is crap compared to LA noire even if they are different games. LA noire is very good at what it is, DNF is not.

If you want a great story and a game with actual depth I sugguest L.A. Noire. also, about the people that say the story is crap in it I don't think have actually played it at all. Just five minutes from playing it and seeing the story unfold is a far better feeling than just mindlessly blowing things up IMO.

I kind of agree with whoever is saying that people not giving a shit about LA Noire's story aren't really trying hard enough (not that you really need to try at all).

I just finished the main story yesterday, and I kinda sat there, stonefaced through the credits, pretty much blown away by the whole thing.

Not to spoil, but the tying together of all those threads, the idea of the (in-the-end) single crystallizing decision (and the fascinatingly flawed characters) behind everything, the tragedy of seeing the dirtbags who skated just rubbing salt in the wound at the end (pre-credit scene, in the church) - amazing.

Not only was there an interesting and captivating story (plot, point A-point B-point C) being told, but these characters felt real, felt lived in.