I'm often known for talking about games that change the way that type of game will be played forever, a genre defining game that raises the bar and puts the competition to shame, one that wont be topped in a long time. L.A Noire is a game of two halves and though whilst one half is good but not genre defining the other half is by far the best experience I have ever had of that particular genre. You see because L.A Noire combines the raw talent of a studio that has never released a game before, with the masters of sandbox gaming that is Rockstar games, and what the result ends up being is not a game that could stand up on its sandbox appearance, but something that ultimately dominates the classic adventure game genre.
You play as Cole Phelps, an ex-marine come police officer. When he and his partner solve a murder case using sheer intuition, Phelps is promoted to detective and lands himself with the big boys to help crack down on the major crime in 1947 Los Angeles.
As the game unfolds you begin to see how some odd coincidences are linked, how some trustworthy people are attributed to some pretty shady goings on and ultimately unravel a plan that is to change the face of L.A.
Its dark, its gritty and its definitely not safe for kids. This is a world before political correctness, this is before women had much of a say in anything, this is post war America and its about as grim as it gets. The characters themselves reflect this as there is not one you inherently like, even Cole starts as a goody two shoes cop that is wound too tightly, before becoming something much worse over the course of the game. Others are corrupt, some have foul attitudes and perspectives that today would probably get you locked up and others are just down right despicable; but each one is absolutely believable.
Noire is extremely clever at what bits of its story it tells you at what times, because you see it has three narratives to follow at any one time. One of Detective Phelps, solving crimes on the streets of L.A; one of Marine Phelps and what happened to him and his comrades in the war; then finally the story of medical student Courtney Sheldon and his attempts at trying to help a friend of his. How each of them is presented and when they are presented makes L.A Noire a complete mystery to the end, with a finale that if you can manage to tie all the pieces together will make you feel like a detective yourself.
The game doesn't treat you like you're stupid, it knows you are an intelligent human being and that's what makes it so enjoyable to experience.
Noire's gameplay is distinctly split into two genres. Classic Rockstar sandbox gameplay and an evolution of the old adventure game formula of point & click to solve mysteries.
I'll start with the sandbox as that is the weaker of the two genres. Now whilst 1947 L.A has been painstakingly recreated to great detail and accuracy, there is actually very little to do in the world itself, much like Mafia II. There are only three things to do in Los Angeles and they are doing main missions, doing side missions or searching for collectible cars.
The shooting mechanics are a little on the minimalist side, though this is no huge problem as there aren't an awful lot of gunfights in the main story (and most take place towards the end of the game) and what is there is sufficient and well implemented. Driving is also very simplistic, though this definitely helps due to the tight and crowded roads of L.A.
The adventure game genre comes into play during crime scene investigations and interrogations of witnesses & suspects. The game is split into four main sections, these are Traffic, Homicide, Vice & Arson; though the gameplay never changes between these four sections, which can become repetitive.
Much of the game will be spent walking around crime scenes looking for clues, whether they be ones to pick up and inspect or whether they be questioning someone to see what they know. The game does give you a gentle hint as to where to find objects to inspect and you can also use a mechanic to help you with both evidence collection & questioning called 'Intuition'. You can only have five intuition points at any one time and you gain one each time you rank up, to rank up you simply complete objectives in cases.
Questioning & interrogation is something quite unique to L.A Noire as it is a mechanic solely based around its usage of motion capture (which I will cover later on). It requires you to read the response from the character by not only how they say things, but what their face does whilst they say it. You can choose to either believe what they say, doubt it which will threaten them without hard evidence needed, or outright claim that they are lying meaning you will need to provide evidence to support that claim. If you chose incorrectly then the investigation is relatively unaffected, however it makes it more reliant on evidence you can compile, if you answer correctly then you'll be able to progress through the investigation at a much faster speed.
L.A. Noire is a slow paced game that requires a large amount of patience and concentration to be played properly which could put potential players off, however if you allow yourself to become invested in the story and its unique gameplay then its not as noticeable and comes naturally.
L.A. Noire presents itself extremely well. As soon as you boot the game up you can tell when it is set thanks to the soundtrack and accurate visual representation of the time period. In terms of visuals, L.A. Noire looks good, but it doesn't stand out from the crowd due to some low resolution texturing, pop-in and jaggy edging on many objects. The main effort of the games visuals has been put into the motion capture. Any time a character in the game moves it has been acted out by motion capture actors, providing some of the most realistic looking people in video games. When a cut scene plays and the lighting is done just right, you could easily mistake it for a live action film. The interrogation mechanics are based entirely around this motion capture which makes it one of the most unique experiences in a video game and is truly hard to understand unless you have witnessed it yourself.
The sound of L.A. Noire is one of my favourite parts, not only is the soundtrack authentic but so is the sound of cars, guns and even accents that characters speak in. It screams 1940's at you and its almost like looking back in time. Performances from voice actors are also top quality, though I found that they are often mixed a little quietly and were easily overpowered by other sounds so I had to play with subtitles on to know what they were saying at times.
L.A. Noire is a great game in every sense of the word, though its shortcomings in the sandbox gameplay department really hinder it from being something truly amazing; alongside the repetitive gameplay and some occasional story pacing mishaps. However these don't stop it from being a game you should absolutely go and play, right now.
I hope L.A. Noire will bring about similar games, as the classic adventure game is a genre has has been gone for far too long.
L.A. Noire – 8/10
+Dark, Gritty and Simply Brilliant Story
+1940's Los Angeles
+Amazing Motion Capture
+Excellent Detective Based Gameplay
-Empty Sandbox
-Repetitiveness
