L.A. Noire takes place in Los Angeles post-World War II. Players
assume the role of Cole Phelps, a decorated war hero who continues
serving his country by signing up with the L.A.P.D. You start off as a
street cop but quickly climb the ranks of the department. As you solve
cases, you advance to homicide, vise, and eventually arson investigator.
Each new title comes with a new partner, who helps with investigations,
fights, and arrests.
Immediately, you’ll notice the massiveness of the game. Rockstar has
successfully recreated a dark and gritty 1947 Los Angeles, but it still
has that tinseltown charm. The sheer size (it takes about 30 minutes to
drive from one side of town to the other) and attention to detail of the
environment is remarkable. The cars, buildings, and music are all true
to the era, making it easy to become immersed in this crime-stricken
city.
The game has 21 “Story” missions. Each follows the same basic format:
a crime is committed, and you must investigate the scene by finding
clues, questioning witnesses, and interrogating suspects.
L.A. Noire uses a new technology called MotionScan. This
groundbreaking technology features 32 HD cameras surrounding the actors,
allowing their actions and facial expressions to be transferred
directly into the game. While this hi-res 3D recreation of the face is
nice to look at, it serves an even bigger purpose in the game.
Much of L.A. Noire revolves around an interrogation system that
relies on recognizing facial expressions and body language. The subtlest
eye shift could determine whether a suspect is telling the truth or
feeding you lies. While it can be frustrating trying to know the
difference, the realistic interrogation is a unique feature that
wouldn’t be possible without MotionScan.
Although the interrogation system is a fun part of the gameplay,
there is ultimately no penalty for selecting the wrong choice. While
making an incorrect decision may lead to a different (often longer)
path, the final outcome remains the same. The only benefit to making the
correct choice is an increase in experience, which allows you unlock
new outfits (some are pretty snazzy) or gain intuition points, which can
be used during an interrogation or crime scene. But it’s highly
unlikely that you’ll ever need to spend them.
Herein lies the problem with L.A. Noire. To put it simply, it’s too
easy. There is no penalty for wrong choices or missing clues (which is
pretty hard to do considering the control vibrates and you hear chimes
whenever you near one), and players have no real motivation to
interrogate a suspect correctly—unless you consider being chewed out by
the chief motivation enough.
Aside from the repetitive investigation and interrogation that takes
place, each case usually requires some form of gameplay action. This
action is usually in the form of a car chase, foot chase, hand-to-hand
fight, or shoot-out. Sometimes a couple of these are mixed together, but
those are generally the action sequences you can expect to find at
least once during a case. Again, there is no real penalty for failing
these (which is also pretty hard to pull off since the AI seems
pre-determined on when to speed up to get away and slow down for you to
catch it). The worst case scenario is you completely lose the suspect,
fail that part of the mission, and restart from that exact point.
The entire game is basically spoon fed to you. The clues are clearly
marked at the crime scene and the ones that aren’t as easy to find are
made easy with the controller vibrations. The action sequences require
no skill. Basically, the chase scenes have you follow the suspect. All
the jumping, stair climbing, and pole sliding is done for you. You
simply have to move toward the object and it performs the action
automatically.
While L.A. Noire is technically a sandbox game, those looking for the
complete freedom that exists in previous Rockstar games (Grand Theft
Auto and Red Dead Redemption) will be disappointed. You are a
responsible cop, so you won’t go on errant rampages killing hundreds of
innocent civilians. You are given some leeway from the main story by
performing side missions (responding to calls heard over the police
radio), taking the time to collect the 90-something cars in the game and
even trying to find all the landmarks within the city. While far from
the typical Rockstar game freedom, these goals should suffice. After
all, the main driving force in the game is the story, and it’s a very
good one.
Don’t let the easy gameplay scare you away. L.A. Noire is very
story-driven, relying heavily on the acting and the script rather than
the action gameplay typical of Rockstar titles. Here is where the game
excels. With Mad Men’s Aaron Staton playing the role of Cole Phelps and a
cast comprised of over 300 actors, L.A. Noire’s performance is
top-notch. In fact, the story, acting, and graphics are so compelling
that it sometimes feels more like you’re watching a movie than playing a
game.
The story is intriguing, albeit a little slow at first. L.A. Noire
takes an old school approach toward its storytelling. It’s a much slower
approach, similar to older movies, with a heavy emphasis on detail. It
is that attention to detail that sets L.A. Noire apart from other games
and makes it enjoyable to play.
qwewrwrq 