L.A. Noire

 L.A. Noire is the latest release from Rockstar Games and it represents a dramatic shift in game play styles from Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV, the two Rockstar games released prior. Team Bondi are the developers responsible for this change. While not a part of Rockstar (although the publisher did contribute heavily in production) they have created an enthralling and intricate period piece unlike anything you could have experienced before. Set in late 1940's Los Angeles, L.A. Noire follows the story of Cole Phelps, a returning lieutenant that served in the pacific theatre of WWII, as he makes his way through the various desks in the LAPD. Team Bondi use their setting to great effect with the incorporation of legendary L.A. figures such as the Black Dahlia and gangster Mickey Cohen as key figures in the story as well as using it create an atmosphere that perfectly embodies film noir. Drugs, corruption, murder, sex and moral ambiguity all feature and the game can even be played in black and white, should you really crave to relish the sublime story in as fitting a tribute to film noir as possible.

At the outset it cannot be stressed enough that this game is completely different from other  Rockstar games, despite what their advertising would suggest. The core gameplay of GTA is the shooting and for the most part that is completely absent here. There are a few action sequences placed sporadically throughout the story but they are in general short and by no means the main draw of L.A. Noire. At its most basic L.A. Noire could be likened to a point and click  adventure. The foundation of the gameplay is focused on searching through crime scenes for evidence  to further your case and it is very methodical but straight forward in its pacing. While you will have to do some searching around the scene, external hints will point you in the right direction and once a scene is exhausted of information the forboding music that plays during investigation will disappear, ensuring you wont be going around in circles. There is phenomenal detail present in some of the clues you can pick up, and it really helps to                      immerse the player in the case and feel as though you are in fact in a universe that is alive even outside of the investigation.

Following the collection of clues the player will usually be tasked with the examination of a witness or suspect. It is in these sequences that L.A. Noire really shines and presents a style of gameplay that is vastly different than anything else on the market. Using collected evidence or just your own intuition, the player will engaged in a series of questions with the suspect and must determine whether they are telling the truth or not. This can be done through analysis of the gathered evidence or simply through observation of the suspect. Observation is key in L.A. Noire and it it’s the whole crux of the games main gimmick; the motion captured faces. Characters faces animate in a way never before seen in a video game. It truly is staggering the amount of detail and nuance that can been seen in characters expressions and it allows for the interrogation of characters to become a more precise affair then simple evidence collection. You will look out for distinctive tweaks in a characters expression to determine their innocence; shifting eyes, furrowed brows, wry smiles, all contribute to your examination of a person and your judgement can lead to a successful arrest or a failed accusation.

L.A Noire does a good job of keeping the events flowing. Even if you managed to fail at every interrogation the game will still press forward and never force you to redo a failed examination. You will simply not receive as much information as was possible but every case remains open for completion until the very end. It is possible to become frustrated by this as it will force you to get more wrong answers down the line as you simply cannot prove someone wrong but it does lead to an ever evolving case and there is more than one way to gain most of the vital information throughout an investigation so a wrong answer does not mean all is lost.  Of course better performance will garner better conclusions and every case is rated from one to five stars based on how well you may or may not have done. All of the  cases can be done again once complete so there is some replay ability in L.A. Noire but the cases tend not to have the same zest they had the first time around. Yes, there is the possibility of different dialogue options or end results but the conversations will be mostly the same so it can be a little tedious to go back through looking for changes.  
 
Team Bondi have also done an excellent job at making the cases somewhat suspenseful. There were very few times where I knew what the probable outcome of the case would be from the outset. For the most part I found myself as enlightened as Cole at the discovery of the curiously high insurance policy or internal family feud. Its no surprise the best cases stay away from cliché motives but some do fall into them and as a result can become a little redundant towards their conclusion. Considering there are only seventeen or so cases where your hand isn’t being held through them the odd lesser case does stick out. The story overall is highly polished and flows together nicely from desk to desk so even an uneventful or flat out boring case wont deter the need to play and see what the sprawling story turns into.

Graphically the game looks great, at times. The main characters faces look excellent but some of the single scene characters evidently did not receive as much attention, which stands out at the time but is quite miniscule over all. The clues up close are very high resolution but the area around them will usually look quite muddy and pixelated. The city itself does a good job of seeming alive. There is plenty of traffic on the roads and all the cars look well, but the pedestrian population appears to be much less then I remember fro GTAIV. Its not such a huge issue as you wont spend most of your time on the streets anyway. The game has some noticeable frame rate issues at times and it does experience some texture pop in while driving at high speeds but the game performs well in the crime scenes at that’s about all it needs to do.

There are forty side missions available that get called in over the radio while in a police car, usually while driving to a scene in a main case. They are akin to the ambient missions seen in Red Dead Redemption and last about a minute each. I found them completely unnecessary as they serve no real purpose in the game other than something else to fill the world with and the fact that they are for the most part action style segments which don’t perform so well in L.A. Noire. The game has a very deliberate pace and your character has a noticeable weight to him, making shootouts that may require quick and precise movement frustrating. A similar cover system to Red Dead and GTAIV is used but its doesn’t feel as responsive as either and just made me wish I could go back to searching for clues under no pressure.

L.A. Noire is a game that deserves your attention. The story and voice/face acting are definitely worth experiencing and the gameplay is accessible. Although the slow pace of L.A. Noire may eventually put off some people looking for a 40s GTA its definitely one of the best games of the year so far and in terms of its motion capture technology has the potential to be one of the most ground breaking games in recent memory.

Score: 8/10                                Check out my blog at whereisthegame.com. Not much on it at the moment but it will expand to game commentary and videos and all such nonsense! Please comment if you like this review! Thanks!