L.A Noire Review

Rockstar Games’ 1940’s crime thriller is not only an evolution for video games but a lesson that hard work truly pays off.

To begin, it should be stated that L.A. Noire goes a long way in blurring the lines between video games and film. It goes as far as superseding other titles like Heavy Rain in certain regards while simultaneously retaining traditional core game play mechanics. It is apparent that the “game” in “video game” is not all but forgotten and L.A Noire shines as a result.

From the outset L.A. Noire oozes a sense of class and mystery found in the stylised menus and takes one to a time long since passed but never forgotten. Taking inspiration from classic noire literature and films such as L.A. Confidential, Team Bondi and Rockstar Games have produced a perfect recreation of 1940′s Los Angeles, baring a few creative changes in terms of exact size and authenticity of specific landmark designs.

Los Angeles was advertised as a place for dreams to be realised, a new start after the events of World War II and hope for a brighter future, the true American dream if you will. However L.A. Noire shows the player that such a utopia is far from reality and there exists traces of a seedy underbelly where murder, lies and deceit are nearly as common as the 1940′s jazz music booming through the radio.

The game’s protagonist, Cole Phelps played by Mad Men’s Aaron Staton, was previously a war hero during World War II and on his return to the United States becomes a member of the LAPD. Cole is no pushover despite his demeanour and movie star qualities and gets his hands dirty when necessary but it is part of his character to rather ask the tough questions, piece together information and make use of his notepad instead of using brute and deadly force. The game does not let Cole take out his gun at will, and the use of such only occurs during confrontations with criminals. Furthermore gone are the days of running down innocent civilians, the game penalises you for doing so, through the repercussions of receiving a worse rating at the end of a case. L.A. Noire takes you on a voyage as a law abiding enforcer and expects you to act accordingly throughout.

Phelps commences his duty as a regular patrol cop, slowly proving his worth as a capable crime fighter, who rises through the ranks from Traffic to Arson Department, with each successive career victory. The game consists of nearly two-dozen cases and each case plays out like a chapter in a noir novel. After the name of the case and an initial cut scene introduction, Cole appears in the briefing room and is ordered by his superior to investigate a crime which has taken place. Each case (mission) flows one after another in a linear fashion. L.A. Noire in this regard differs from other Rockstar Games, whereby starting a mission does not require you to drive to different contacts on the map. Emphasis is thus on a more cinematic, story driven experience.

It is during these cases where the gameplay changes drastically from other Rockstar titles. Upon arriving at a crime scene Cole is presented with, in some cases a body, evidence scattered all around and possible witnesses or perpetrators to the crime. The player is expected, like a true detective to scour the scene of the crime for any worthwhile evidence that could help find those who are responsible for such dastardly deeds.

Upon finding evidence, the moving of the left analogue stick in different directions will cause the camera to zoom onto the finer details of the evidence. For example doing so on a discarded gun hidden in a street dustbin will result in discovering the make and model of the gun. Cole will then write the newly found evidence in to his notebook. Upon finding enough evidence, the player can interrogate all available suspects and/or witnesses.

Through the use of innovative technology known as MotionScan, Team Bondi individually scanned in every single actor’s face, resulting in unmatched realism not seen in any other video game to date. The sense of realism is truly something to behold and almost makes any other video game appear terribly outdated in this regard.

The actors themselves are an important part of the overall experience, offering magnificent performances. From guilty and excessive blinking to a genuine smirk all is captured ever so faithfully as a result of the MotionScan technology.

During the interrogation scenes, the player will ask a question from Phelps’s notebook and be presented with three options: Truth, Doubt or Lie. The latter requires evidence to back up such an accusation made by Cole. The game’s cases proceed from holding your hand early on to presenting a legitimate challenge as the cases unfold. If you are unsure of the correct answer in the latter stages of the story, “Intuition points” (which are earned throughout the game) can remove false answers, resulting in the player having a greater chance of choosing the correct answer.

While one can read the mannerisms of the suspects a majority of the time, such a system is not flawless sadly. Sometimes the performances are slightly exaggerated which either makes the suspect appear to be clearly guilty or at other times confuse the player into thinking the suspect is guilty when they are in fact not for example. Furthermore each case has essentially the same outcome regardless of whether you are correct in reading the suspects for most of the questions or not. The only difference lies in the potential change of the actual journey leading to the uniform outcome and a better or worse case rating.

L.A. Noire offers more in terms of actual gameplay, than merely the “interrogation” scenes, that are seen as the games selling point. During the numerous cases, players are thrust into exciting car chases, shootouts and the chasing of suspects on foot that is very reminiscent of Rockstar’s most successful franchise to date, Grand Theft Auto.

While these gameplay additions can at first appear to be repetitive throughout the game’s 15-20 hour storyline experience, there is enough variety to keep the gameplay satisfying yet compelling despite L.A. Noire’s formulaic nature. For instance, the on foot chasing scenarios start out as an ordinary chase through mid town in the one case while in another; Cole chases a suspect up a 100 foot movie set complete with exciting jumps and turns.

Furthermore there is more to L.A. Noire, which serves to not only lengthen the experience after the central storyline cases are complete but to retain a sense of longevity for those who like to free-roam the streets of L.A. From the 40 street crime missions that you discover from radio dispatch while roaming the streets in a police vehicle to collecting numerous film reels, newspapers (of which contains the classic “spinning newspaper” graphic and a cut scene explaining the headline in question), discovering important Los Angeles landmarks and spending hours roaming the meticulously detailed map of Los Angeles – L.A. Noire is packed full of replay value.

In terms of graphics, the game truly excels for the most part. The HD visuals are spectacular and one can see the evolution from Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. From the character models of the main actors (not to forget the aforementioned Motion Scanned facial features) and every single pedestrian for that matter, the different era specific cars driving around town, and the general vast size of Los Angeles – L.A. Noire definitely impresses.

More over one of the most awe-inspiring aspects of L.A. Noire visually is the immense attention to detail. Team Bondi has taken great care, capturing the “look” of the 1940’s from the exact clothing of the era to the impressively detailed indoor areas ranging from ordinary suburban houses to hotel rooms. The Décor and accompanying props in these indoor locations gives an unmatched feeling of believability to the world.

A further example of the smallest sense of detail L.A. Noire offers comes from actual gameplay. During a case, Cole fist fights a suspect, while this is happening, Cole’s hat falls off, a table and chair gets knocked over, and the suspect who gets knocked out by Cole crashes against a nearby cabinet and realistically stumbles over an open drawer.

As unbelievable the graphics are in L.A. Noire, there are still some minor issues, while not game breaking, are still clearly visible. Like other open-world titles L.A Noire suffers from streaming issues like pop up and the occurrence of “disappearing cars”, furthermore there are minor frame rate issues when in heavily populated areas. These issues while noticeable do not heavily detract from the overall experience.

Lastly the sound of L.A. Noire deserves just as much praise as the gameplay and visuals. The soundtrack by Andrew Hale encapsulates the time period of the game perfectly and is worth many listens if you are a fan of video game soundtracks. Furthermore L.A. Noire offers licensed soundtracks from the era which the player can listen to while driving around Los Angeles, however unlike Grand Theft Auto, the player cannot change radio stations, whereby being unable to select their specific favourite track in the moment.

The sound department in L.A. Noire matches that of the visuals in terms of sheer attention to detail, from the amazing voice work of the acting talent, to the thousands of pages of dialogue recorded for both main characters and pedestrians, the volume and effort is astounding. One will be walking down the street and hear thousands of random comments from pedestrians, some are just plain rude for instance “are you drunk mister or are you just cracked?”, while others seem to fit in with the storyline of the game as a whole, for instance a random NPC recognised Cole after being promoted to Homicide and acknowledged him as “the famous cop who has won medals.”

L.A. Noire is a game half a decade in the making. After being shrouded in mystery until last year, not much was known about the title. With each new titbit of information released the anticipation grew, but could it truly life up to the hype?

The answer is: Yes. L.A Noire, despite some minor flaws has managed to produce one of the most authentic Noir experiences to date, including that of literature and film. From the combination of both revolutionary technological advancements and a familiar yet recognisable core, Team Bondi and Rockstar Games have created another  dark atmospheric masterpiece, which should be experienced not only by fans of Rockstar but by those who enjoy mature and immersive video gaming.

What are you waiting for? Go and experience the dreams and mysteries of 1947 Los Angeles, in stores now!

Rating :    9.25/10

-