Slow Paced Done Right
I was surprised to see Rockstar doing LA Noire. While it is their style to do gritty openworld games, I never thought it would turn out quite like this. I'll admit, I had sever doubts when I picked it up for the PS3, but it's one of those game I found hard to put down, for the first 20 hours or so.
Gameplay: If there's one thing I loved about LA Noire, it was the methodical, steady drive of gameplay, the first three deparments you're allowed to visit were amazing, it wasnt until the fourth that I started having problems. The GOOD: I found the interrogations to be my favorite part of LA Noire, the character interaction is excellent and characters react the way you would expect them to in real life situations. Aside from characters, the gunplay is tight and smooth, while sometimes frusturating, it never seems broken. The driving works well too, giving you up to i think it was 60+ cars to find and drive around the city. Chases were also among the game's highlights, fun, fastpaced driving trough the streets of LA in two words: totally awesome. The BAD: Not much as far as gameplay goes, a few minor problems with the coverbased aspect, and while the shooting was incredibly generic, it was not at all boring. For a game that only lets you pull your sidearm when the story calls for it, it did an excellent job.
Story: A gripping, strong crime drama that tapers off toward the end. While you'll be on the hunt for murderers and corporate leaders looking to take advantage of the city, the story still flows smoothly (until the end).
Graphics: Usually one of my complaints in a videogame, but not this time. The facial capture used is incredible and I find myself bored by other games bland character features. However, this also can be a problem, as the rest of the world looks pretty bad in comparison. I can't complain, though, because it still is an amazing looking game, and just look at the fuckin faces, its fuckin incredible!
Sound: Not my favorite part of LA Noire, but decent. The guns sound good, the cars sound great, and the soundtrack cosists of music highly appropriate for the era. The voice acting is superb as well, so again, no complaints.
Overall LA Noire is an interesting sandbox adventure game with some coverbased shooting mechanics that makes me wonder what it would be like if other developers put this kind of time into their work. Definately a great game, I wouldn't say excellent, but it's most surely worth your time.
