Review: L.A. Noire
This stellar detective story from Team Bondi and Rockstar Games is a bold, cinematic step forward in the evolution of the HD-gen adventure game genre.
- May 16, 2011 09:00 AM PT
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I've been racking my brain this past week for the phrase to best describe Detective Cole Phelps, L.A. Noire's fedora-clad gumshoe and ostensibly infallible leading man. I've toyed with "straight-laced," which seems too two-dimensional a descriptor, and I briefly considered "haunted," but it comes across as needlessly tragic. The word I keep coming back to is "driven" -- driven by his unshakable morals, driven by a deft intellect, and driven by the demons borne during the events of his tour in World War II Okinawa.
It's this drive that synonymously relates and separates Phelps to and from previous Rockstar-published protagonists. Brendan McNamara, developer Team Bondi's founder and L.A. Noire's writer and director, paints the detective as a "golden boy" crime buster and war hero at first blush, channeling L.A. Confidential's determined Detective Edmund Exley more than Red Dead Redemption's quick-drawing cowpoke, John Marston. Opting for his notepad and pen over a Colt .45, Phelps' most dangerous weapons are his cunning and ambition. But like Marston and sociopathic ex-soldier Niko Bellic before him, the detective is a product of his blood-stained past deeds. And over the course of Noire's 21 core cases, he’s tasked with confronting and, hopefully, conquering them all.
Touted as an atmospheric "detective thriller," Noire is a very different beast from publisher and co-developer Rockstar's previous open-worlders. Sure, it features many of the same cinematic staples ever-present in the studio's impressive oeuvre, such as run-and-gun shoot-outs and an ample amount of tire-stripping car chases, but Noire is more Tex Murphy than Grand Theft Auto, employing players' intuition before the speed of their trigger fingers. The two core gameplay features -- crime scene investigation and witness/suspect interrogation -- are tense affairs that demand every ounce of the player's attention. Investigations call for a keen eye for vital clues, as well as plenty of patience, as each scene is littered with inconsequential red herrings. Rife with telling evidential details and "aha!" moments, these investigation sequences manage to be engaging without tottering into tedium, and present a thoughtful approach to (and evolution of) the HD-gen adventure game.
The interrogations are even more demanding, pitting players face-to-face with civilians and criminals who regularly lie, mislead, and withhold important information. These sequences smack of a more mature and grounded take on Phoenix Wright's melodramatic cross-examinations, but when players aren't presenting hard evidence to debunk bogus claims, they’ll have to use their instincts to determine if said suspects are telling the whole truth. It's more challenging than it sounds -- due in no small part to the endlessly impressive MotionScan facial animation technology -- and the hard-boiled script really comes to life with some of the most convincing performances I’ve yet seen in a video game.
Comments [11]
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- May 20 2011 at 06:51:34:PM PST
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I found almost nothing boring about this game. The facial expressions are staggering, and it was great that they could make a game where character models weren't recycled. Sure, the investigations became a little repetitive after a while, but the interrogations were fun the whole way through.
As to your comment about not being able to choose between "good cop" and "bad cop" - this isn't that type of game. You're a police officer, not a free-shooting vigilante. You're not supposed to be able to kill civilians (I'm sure you noticed that if you ran them down, it reflected poorly on you at the end of the case), you're supposed to be catching murderers.
I consider myself a hardcore gamer as well, and I immensly enjoyed this game. For you to say that only nerds would like it is like so much drivel we hear from so many children who think they know what gaming is. If you want to stick to the vigilanteism, then by all means, wait years for the next GTA or Saint's Row game. I enjoy them as well, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a game like this. The graphics are astounding, the gameplay is incredible, and, even though this game has a few places they can improve on, it's a step in the right direction for this genre. If you don't like it, then return it.
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Ordinarily I wouldn't attack someone's personal opinion, but due to your assertion that only "nerds" would play this game, I'll make an exception. You're an idiot, and your opinion is stupid. This game was always clearly presented as what it is: a cop game. You're a cop. You do things that a cop would do. Not that a sociopathic murderer would do. Don't get me wrong, I love the GTA games as much as the next guy. But this isn't that. If you didn't do the absolutely minimal research it would have taken to figure that out, that's your problem.
Side note: you alone don't get to define the meaning of the term "hardcore". Don't act as though you do.
Also, fantastic review, Mr. Herring. I'm really excited to play it.
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i got this game yesterday .. played n for the first 2 hr off game play i was bore out of my mind .. if ur a nerd than this is the kind of game u want to play .. if ur a die hard gamer like me then dont get this game .. it's just a waste of money .. it's not worth $65 .. no multi-player no co-ed online .. u can't even pick from begin a bad cop are good cop .. u can't kill anyone but the bad guy .. this game is for pig .. worst rockstar game ever .. story suk .. face expression suk .. game play suk .. i give it a 2.5 .. it's not a fun game to play at all .............
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i got this game yesterday .. played n for the first 2 hr off game play i was bore out of my mind .. if ur a nerd than this is the kind of game u want to play .. if ur a die hard gamer like me then dont get this game .. it's just a waste of money .. it's not worth $65 .. no multi-player no co-ed online .. u can't even pick from begin a bad cop are good cop .. u can't kill anyone but the bad guy .. this game is for pig .. worst rockstar game ever .. story suk .. face expression suk .. game play suk .. i give it a 2.5 .. it's not a fun game to play ..
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Just finished the "Fallen Idol" mission, which was fantastic and really shows the game's full potential.
I think one of the more impressive things is the way LA Noire engages the gamer. Contemplating who is guilty/innocent, telling the truth or lying, evaluating motives, and then reevaluating what might really be going on in each case as levels progress isn't something I'm accustomed to in video games.
If Rockstar had failed to engage the players, the game could have come off as a to-do list of errands or a scavenger hunt. So far, this effect hasn't set in, and I don't think it will as long as the cases remain chalk full of variables and grow in complexity and detail towards the conclusion.
Great chases too!
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Awesome review. looking forward to buying this game at midnight tonight and rushing right back to my apartment to play it.
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I'm pumped! Gotta do the grind, finish my last class, then it's home w/ some Noire tomorrow night!
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I AM NOT IMPRESSED. LOOKS LIKE JUST MORE REPETITIVE CRAP FOR 60 BUCKS. WHERE IS THE SAN ANDREAS FUN OF GTA AT? LOSERS
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