But respect and admiration for an effort don't mean much if the execution does not work correctly. So, with that in mind, does LA Noire's differing approach to video games and facial scanning technology allow it to gain more than just some admiration for an effort?
STORY
Okay, so obviously this game's story is a callback to film noir and takes place in 1940s Los Angeles. We've known that for quite a while (with the title). But, little to no information has been given about the overall storyline and whether there's a connection to things that you do. Well, there is. You play as Cole Phelps, a veteran from Okinawa who decides to become a cop to make up for stuff done in the war.
You start out in regular patrol and move your way up from there and eventually the cases that you're involved in get more complex and puzzling. It's really fun to see where a case is going to go. Many of the cases are also based on real-life cases from the same time period, including a series of cases based around the notorious and unsolved Black Dahlia killer. The way that ends is actually really clever.
Cole Phelps is, for the most part, a great character though I still would put John Marston ahead of him for a few reasons that I don't want to spoil (for either of them). The partners are also great and each have distinctive personalities that will get you to either like them or hate them by the time you get through. You'll feel a nice sense of camaraderie with most of them by the time you move onto bigger things with a new partner.
As for the main story, it's definitely strong but I wouldn't necessarily label it as the best in the medium. The problem is that it really starts to pop up so late into the game and the clues that you found beforehand hinting at it will be almost completely forgotten by that point. I understand that they wanted to build things up properly but they could have baited me a little more beforehand. Until the last 25% of the game, I was going through not even seeing any sign of a greater story.
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| LA Noire doesn't pull punches with content. |
So LA Noire's story has a few rough spots, but for the most part it has great execution, slowly revealing information about Phelps to get you to like him more and it makes a sympathetic and compelling character and while the story comes in pretty late, when you do see it coming in, it's quite an enjoyable and well-written story of corruption and greed.
GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN
As I said above, you start out as a simple patrolman and Team Bondi uses this to slowly ease you into the main portion of the gameplay: investigation and interrogation. They also ease into chases, fist-fights and shootouts but the main thing is the investigation.
Basically the design works like this: you go to the crime scene and investigate, looking for clues, then you go to a location specified by a clue and either look for more clues or interrogate someone. For finding clues, you have a few tools to help you which can be turned on or off in the options menu. You can have investigation music playing which will stop once you've found every clue and you can have your controller vibrate whenever you approach a clue. I turned the vibration off and kept the music playing.
The main problem with investigations is that it can be difficult to figure out what is relevant to the case. Cole, thankfully, will voice outloud that something is irrelevant but not until you attempt to examine an object. This means that you'll go through the area looking at EVERYTHING to see if it's a clue. I guess this is how it's done in real life, but it can make investigating tedious. Think of it like "button-mashing" for detective work.
For interrogation you ask questions which differ based on who you're asking. After they answer, you try to discern whether they are telling the truth, lying, or you have doubt either way. If you accuse someone of lying, make sure you back it up with some evidence. Otherwise this could cause them to shut-up and you could miss out on some important information, such as a potential suspect name or a location. The interrogations never feel overly frustrating because the faces usually sell it so well. If you don't branch a question correctly it's your fault.
For both investigation and interrogation you can use intuition points which are gained as you gain ranks. For investigating, using an intuition point will highlight clues in the vicinity and for interrogation, they work like lifelines in a game show, eliminating answers or allowing you to ask the PlayStation or Xbox community for help.
You technically can't fail any cases but that's okay. The reason it's okay is because you'll have to spend more time on cases until you do solve them and you'll get a lower score at the end of each case. The scores are judged by how many clues you find, how many questions you correctly branched and how little damage you did (car damage, city damage, and injuries to civilians).
As for the other elements, shooting is alright. It's obvious not as much attention was put to this as the other parts of the game, which is understandable given that it's not about the shooting. It uses a cover-system similar to Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption but not quite as refined.
Driving is also a big part and it's something that you need to be careful with because of your score. The problem is that the driving controls are pretty loose which can cause quite a few unintended accidents. Luckily the score is pretty lenient with accidents and you can have your partner drive. There are also car chases where your partner attempts to blow the tires on the other car.
Fighting and foot chases are also a part of the game and the fighting system is more like Grand Theft Auto IV. For the foot chases there are a couple of kinds. The first is just chasing until something gets in his way or you can tackle him. These are for people that you NEED alive. For those you don't need alive you can either shoot them or fire a warning shot.
As for collectibles and extras, there are quite a few. Over 40 street level crimes to resolve, 95 cars to find and attempt to drive, 50 film canisters with films which are all from around the 40s and 50s (no you can't watch them), 13 newspapers which are part of the clues that hint at a larger story at first and fill in gaps, and 30 landmarks to find. All these add up to 100% completion.
The main story will take you between 15-18 hours. But it's a nice game to go back to once you figure out the main arc involved and if you want 100% completion, it's going to take you a good bit of time. At the end of the day, LA Noire has some great concepts and they almost all work great, though the game can get repetitive at points especially before the main story arc becomes clear.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
For those who want to know how the faces look in this game, I've got one word: Incredible! The faces in the game react just so realistically. The muscles and wrinkles move and shift just the way you would expect them to in real life. Sometimes this actually works against it. Sometimes it looks too real but not real enough at the same time. I can't really explain it better but if you've ever seen a full CGI movie, you probably have experienced that.
As for Los Angeles, Team Bondi used over 180,000 photos and maps to recreate 1947 Los Angeles and it shows. Everything looks authentic and matches my vision of what 1940s Los Angeles would look like. The cars look correct, the city looks correct and feels right, everything just clicks.
You are also given the option to play in either color or black and white. This was a cool feature and a great callback to noir films both new and old. I tried out both though I primarily played the game in color, however I do plan on going back and doing an entire playthrough in black and white.
Soundwise, the standout is the soundtrack. It feels like a soundtrack made in the 40s and it fits the mood and enhances the game to a remarkable degree. Voice acting is also great though every now and then someone doesn't sound quite right but at its best, it's able to be listed among games like Mass Effect and Uncharted. Aaron Staton does an outstanding job as Cole Phelps.
While the voice acting is great, every now and then there's a problem with the shift in emotions. I see this in a lot of games but with this one it stood out a bit more when it happened. People will break down in tears and then out of nowhere be able to have a straight face to answer questions, even kids. It led to a few unintentionally funny moments.
CONCLUSION
LA Noire has been compared quite a bit to Heavy Rain and the comparison is not without merit at all. They share two similar styles of design and storytelling. However, the main difference is that Heavy Rain, while it had great set-up and concepts, had a lot of problems in its execution with plot holes and some laughable voice acting. LA Noire succeeds where Heavy Rain faltered with a story that, while it has problems and one case of character derailment, for the most part succeeds and is both compelling and interesting.
It's clever with great dialogue and some great design and gameplay concepts which for the most part succeed. The game gets a little tedious and repetitive at points but it still manages to pull you through as once it starts getting repetitive, there's always something to pull you back in.
For those of you who want something that isn't just about shooting, this is one game that I would recommend you to pick up. For those of you who are fine with shooters, I would still recommend a rental, as it provides some interesting ideas that might make you want to try something new.
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