La Noire Review - Imaginative titles was never my forte
Story
La Noire is as a grand homage to the Noire genre with a well written story that feels right at home with films like LA Confidential. Unfortunately, the excellent narrative is straddled with gameplay elements which, while fun at first, tend to become repetitive and make for an overly passive experience.
You play as detective Cole Phelps, a WWII veteran out to make a name for himself in the LA Police department. Over the course of the game, you will be assigned to different assignments, including traffic, vice, homicide and arson. Each assignment comes with a new partner., all of whom have distinct outlooks on life, ranging from the seen it all before homicide detective, to the moral ambiguity of vice, to the just hanging in there till retirement depression that is arson.
Not every case you investigate will be tied directly to the game’s overarching narrative, but even the stand-alone ones are well written and peppered with intriguing characters. This is especially important because Cole isn’t the most likable of protagonists. In fact, he is kind of a self-righteous prick for much of the game.
Gameplay
From the outset, the game's primary problem is that it rewards passivity. For example, when given the choice of driving to a crime scene or riding shot gun with your partner, the game practically encourages you to let your partner take the wheel, whereby you will simply be warped to your destination. To do otherwise is to risk losing points for any property damage you cause while in route, not to mention the points you will lose for accidentally running over a pedestrian repeatedly.
Players should know upfront that LA Noire has more in common with the point and click adventure games of yore than it does with modern open world games. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but gamers looking for the next GTA should look elsewhere.
The game largely consists of two phases: investigation and interrogation. When investigating an area for potential clues, the controller will vibrate when Cole approaches an object he can interact with. Just because Cole can interact with an object doesn't mean it will lead to a meaningful clue. The problem with this system is that the game makes this determination for you, essentially taking you out of the active experience of being a detective. Just once, I wish Cole would have let me pick up one empty beer bottle without rudely dismissing my investigative skills as irrelevant. Damn it Cole, there is this thing called DNA evidence, aka semen, and if this wasn’t the 1940s you would know that that shit is everywhere.
Cole's dismissive attitude aside, exploring the crime scenes or other areas of interest is a real treat. The attention to detail is quite well done. Areas are filled with just enough personal items to make them feel like living environments. You can tell that a lot of time went into building these set pieces.
The second game mechanic is interrogation. The facial animation technology that makes the whole thing possible needs to be seen to be believed. The technology the game employs allows for super realistic facial expressions that truly capture the actors, well, acting. This goes beyond voice acting, this is the real deal.
When conducting an interrogation you will need to judge based on the evidence at hand and the suspect’s demeanor whether they are being truthful. I have no issue with how the game deals with Truth or Lie responses, but the Doubt option caused me considerable frustration. Sometimes Doubt means what you would expect it to mean, mainly, I doubt what you're saying but I have no evidence to disprove you, while other times “Doubt” means I believe you because you have absolutely no reason to lie to me, but please tell me more information. Recognizing when “Doubt” really means prod for more information can be incredible frustrating.
Completionists need not fret, the game offers a bevy of menial tasks for you to complete that serve no purpose other than pad your gamer score with the sweet release that only earning achievement points can provide. There is a decent variety of side content for you to engage in such as stand alone street crimes, rare car collecting, and discovering famous city landmarks, however, many of these activities outlive their welcome rather quickly.
Verdict
While I poke fun at the mechanics, both the investigation and interrogation sequences are a lot of fun.
My play through lasted around 30 which included playing the main quest to completion with some light to moderate dabbling in side quest indulgence. The game's ending is bound to leave some disappointed but without spoiling anything, I think it is very true to the Noir genre, which is after all what the game is striving to achieve. Although the mechanics are not perfect, the story is well written, and the experience sufficiently novel and entertaining that anyone interested in the game should not hesitate to pick it up.
