What I've always wanted
Do you ever get the feeling that something was created specifically for you? That's what L.A. Noire makes me feel. See, I love the era of between the 1920s and 1940s. The cars, the women, the simplicity, the music, fashion and radio. Films like Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Hoodlum, The Godfather appeal to me because they take me back to a time that I would wish to visit should I ever get a time traveling DeLorean. Video games have scratched the itch of experiencing life during the era ( Mafia and The Saboteur come to mind), but as fun and exciting as those games were, I found that their action got in the way of enjoying the atmosphere. L.A. Noire does the complete opposite.
Team Bondi's game was a long time coming. Originally announced as a Playstation 3 exclusive back in 2007, the game was often delayed and nearly forgotten until Rockstar decided to publish it and launched a meaty advertising campaign to promote it. Now that the game is on the shelves, we can see why the game took so long to develop - Team Bondi has utilized a new facial animation tech that is not just out of this world, but sets a new standard for believable-looking video game characters.
L.A. Noire is an adventure game set in a recreated Los Angeles from 1947. The main protagonist of the game is Cole Phelps, a World War II veteran who has joined the Los Angeles Police Department in order to clean up the streets and mete out justice. Cole is a do-gooder, and his strong sense of justice and duty tends to put him at odds against the older, gruffer police officers and detectives. Throughout the course of the story, Cole will rise through the ranks of the LAPD, starting off as a lowly beat cop and later being promoted to the department's Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson divisions. Crimes can take any form: domestic violence, blackmail, murder and even classic insurance fraud.
The game is divided up into individual cases that must be solved in order to move on. Each case is accompanied by an introductory cutscene (complete with titles) that show the crime in progress. Phelps and his partner are then tasked by the captain to visit the scene of the crime. The player must scrounge the scene for various clues and take statements from witnesses, all of which will create leads for Phelps to follow up on. When examining the crime scene, you can pick up various objects and use the Left analog stick to manipulate the object. Items such as purses, matchbooks, shoes and even corpses hold the clues Phelps needs to solve a case. When the scene has been thoroughly examined, Phelps and his partner must travel around town to witnesses and anyone related to the victim.
When questioning witnesses, Phelps can put forth a number of questions about the crime in an attempt to gain a response. Some people my tell the truth, but many will lie and its up to you to know when and how to call them out of their lies. This is were Team Bondi's new facial tech comes into play. Because catching the tells on people's faces is integral to the game, instead of modeling and animating faces by hand, Team Bondi utilized a series of cameras that film a real person's head and neck while they speak their lines. These facial recordings are fed into a computer and then brought into the game, resulting in the most realistic looking faces ever in a video game. You'll know when someone is lying - their eyes will shift erratically, they'll open and close their mouths, you can see them swallow repeatedly and they'll look around to avoid your gaze. It's insane to see how incredibly real it all looks. It's not perfect - the animated bodies are a little stiff and don't quite match the finesse of the faces - but damn, this is one hell of a tech demo.
When you put forth a question about the crime, you have three options once the suspect has given an answer. You can believe the statement to be true, doubt it or you can call it a lie. When you accuse the suspect of lying, they will become angered and you will have to present a piece of evidence that proves their lie, otherwise you'll have to back out of the accusation and run the risk of having the suspect clam up. This is why it is important to examine every detail. While you cannot fail to solve a case, screwing up the investigation means it will take longer to figure out. The greatest penalty for failure is having the captain give you a harsh dressing down for screwing up. Other than that, there is no severe game ending penalty for failure. After the case is solved, you are given a one to five star rating based on several factors (car damage, property damage, number of questions successfully asked, number of evidence collected). If you're not happy with the result, you can always replay the case for a better score.
Although L.A. Noire is primarily an adventure game and features game mechanics akin to the Phoenix Wright series, the game also sports an open world a la Grand Theft Auto. However, unlike GTA, you cannot rampage through Los Angeles, spreading murder and mayhem at every turn. As a police officer, your job is to uphold the law, not break it, which means you won't fire your gun until the game lets you - usually during shootouts. When you are allowed to point a gun at a fleeing suspect, you'll need to keep the reticule focused on him until it fills up, at which point Phelps fires a warning shot into the air.
I feel that this is an important thing to point out. L.A. Noire is NOT Grand Theft Auto. If you were walking into this game thinking you're going to riddle Los Angeles with bullets, you're going to be severely disappointed. L.A. Noire is a slow, methodical open world police procedural and all action takes a back seat to police investigation. While there is action sequences in the game, they are overly simplified. Weapons have infinite ammo and there's a one button run-to-cover function. While cruising the streets, police dispatch with randomly call all cars to deal with a crime in progress. Pressing X during these dispatches will cause an icon to appear on the minimap, showing the direction of the crime. These side missions are totally random and will call upon you to halt criminal activities such as stopping a bank robbery, preventing someone from jumping off a roof, stopping a gang fight and saving a hostage (these end up being the trickiest action sequences). Once you complete your tenure as a Traffic detective, you'll unlock a free roam mode where you can tackle small crimes, locate famous landmarks and collect hidden film canisters.
Let's talk about the game's presentation. L.A. Noire drips atmosphere. From the hardcore recreation of Los Angeles (Team Bondi poured over archival photos of the city) to the period-specific make up and hairstyles the actors have been given and licensed music, this game has everything I've ever wanted in a period piece. The game's score, composed by Andrew Hale (of the band Sade) is wonderful and is a few notes away from sounding like something from Chinatown and the sultry, sexy slow jazz is perfect for the game. The game's cast is made up of familiar actors and famous character actors. Cole Phelps is portrayed by Mad Men's Aaron Staton and he does a fantastic job as the naive cop who moves further into the shady and seedy depths of Los Angeles.
L.A. Noire is a boon for the adventure genre and the technology used to give the in-game characters life has set a new standard for digital actors. I'm really excited to see what other developers can do with it. Creating endearing and realistic characters have always been thwarted by the Uncanny Valley, but as this new tech gets refined and streamlined, that may become a thing of the past. Team Bondi has announced DLC for L.A. Noire in the form of new cases to play through, but I wonder how far they'll go with them. The actors will have to be called back in to record and film new dialog, which could mean that it will take longer in between DLC releases. But then again, they've probably already completed development on all scheduled DLC. Oh, and for the record? Team Bondi needs to do a DLC case based on the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? How awesome would that be?
L.A. Noire is available on the PS3 and Xbox 360. While the PS3 version fits on one Blu-Ray disc, the Xbox 360 version comes on three separate discs. During my time with the game, I did not experience any graphical issues or glitches during the game, save for a few pop-ups. While I am deeply enamored with the game - I realize that most people aren't like me so I'll mention it again: it may not be for everyone. It's not an action game and it may not appeal to those who are a fan of open world games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. That said, I don't think this is a game that shouldn't be missed. You should experience it in some capacity because it is a technical marvel. What is also great about the game is its attraction to casual audiences. Since the game's release, I've had two of my female friends (both married and don't play many video games) tell me how much they're loving it. See? You can make a game that appeals to everyone without sacrificing quality or dumbing down anything.
