L.A. Noire Review
L.A. Noire
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Team Bondi
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Released: May 17, 2011
Score: 4 out of 5
Since GTA III came out way back when on the PlayStation 2 Rockstar has had a pretty set archetype for the games it makes. When you think of a game from Rockstar you think of an open world sandbox game. L.A. Noire stays true to its maker by also being an open world game. Even though it was developed by Team Bondi -who have been working on it for about 7 years- the game still has a GTA feel to it.
The game opens with great cinematic credits just like in GTA IV. In the opening credits you are introduced to the main character Cole Phelps. Phelps is a street cop working the streets of LA who starts making his way up the ranks as you solve more cases around town.
Los Angeles is a huge city that has been recreated based on the actual LA, and it looks beautiful. In the city you go from waypoint to waypoint to carry out your missions. But unlike in the GTA series you do not go to mission givers to start your missions. Instead L.A. Noire is a very linear game where each mission is broken into cases.
Each case starts like an old pulp based on the time in which the game takes place. In a short cinematic you see a glimpse of the crime taking place. You are then instructed to go to the scene of the crime to look for clues and take witness testimonies to try and solve the crime. Here is where the game starts to break from the GTA mold.
When you get to the scene of the crime the game turns into a modern version of an old PC adventure game (i.e. The Secret of Monkey Island). You walk around looking for clues, which isn’t unlike pixel hunting in those old games but now in a 3D space. When you come across a clue your controller rumbles and you will also hear a prompt in the game music. Pressing A or X (depending on which system you are playing on) you then interact with the clue to gather facts about the case. On a very rare occasion you will have to solve a small puzzle to understand the clue. You scan the scene at the start of almost every case and this is easily my favorite part of the game.
Once you have searched every nook and cranny for clues you then talk to any witnesses to further gain knowledge of the crime. While talking to people you are introduced to the biggest thing that sets L.A. Noire apart from any game before it. Every character’s entire face has been recreated based on an actual person and looks more real than any game character ever has. It is a bit jarring to see such life-like faces at first, but this leads to the best lip-syncing of videogame characters I have ever seen. While the faces look odd on the bodies they are attached to at times, they are still amazing overall and it is something I hope to see in more games as the technology improves.
After getting all the facts from people and clues you then go out looking for the crime doer. While looking for said person many different things can happen to you. You can get into fights with people, which is a real weakness of the game. Fighting degrades down to 3 button presses; one to block, one to punch, and one to grapple. It feels more like a rhythm game as you try and block punches and then get yours in when you have a free shot. I did find, however, that simply button mashing will more often than not get the job done.
Another occurrence will be chases, both on foot and in a car. These are very fun with scripted events that will happen around you. Sadly though you will see how scripted these events are if you fail and have to start them over. Chases on foot can sometimes feel like you are in autopilot with your character climbing, jumping, and in some cases turning all on his own with you just holding the up button.
You will also have to interrogate any suspicious people to get more clues about the crime. Along with looking for clues at crime scenes this is the other biggest part of the game. You will ask the person questions and then figure out if they are telling the truth or lying, either by doubting what they are saying or presenting evidence to prove them to be lying. If you have played any of the Phoenix Wright games on the DS you will feel right at home as it is very similar to that game. While I loved looking for clues, I grew to detest this part of the game because it is all too easy to make the wrong choices while interrogating people.
Even though it is very easy to mess things up while interrogating people you don’t need to worry about ever failing a case. This is something I loved about L.A. Noire, if you start doing things wrong you will just have to go down a different story path to get to the end of the case. I loved that it is impossible to fail a case because it helps ease the pain of doing bad during interrogations. No matter what you do you will always end up solving the case.
Second Opinion: Video Review by Stuart Gould
