There has to be something auspicious about the launch of L.A. Noire being so close to the recent announcement by the U.S. Government that video games are now officially sanctioned as art because playing through the first 8 hours of L.A. Noire certainly feels like a living breathing work of art. RockStar Studios, infamously known for their ??Grand Theft Auto?? Series which has been a continual burden on parents everywhere with game play concepts including stealing cars, trafficking drugs, murdering prostitutes and stealing their money, and running over innocent civilians with a taxicab. However, RockStar Studios is growing up in the world. Last year?s ??Red Dead Redemption?? was a beautiful take on the old classic genre of Western. It was a beautiful desolate world filled with broken dreams, great voice acting, and a wonderful cast of characters and scenery. It was listed on several award lists for ??game of the year?? and even won some of those titles. L.A. Noire is the most recent venture for RockStar Studios and Team Bondi and I have to say it?s their most successful to date.
The plot of L.A. Noire is you play as Cole Phelps, an ex-military officer who joins the LAPD in order to ??right the wrongs?? he committed in World War 2. As you progress through the core of the game you start off as a simple beat cop thwarting petty small crimes until finally you make the case that lands you a job as a full investigator. It?s a wonderful ride through the ranks in an authentic 1947 Los Angeles during the height of life with a full cast of characters, plot twists, and enough action drama to make CSI team eat their hearts out.
The game play consists of three prime elements:
Driving, Shooting, and Interrogation. As you drive from one objective to another you will see beautifully rendered 1940?s vehicles and locations, while listening to the smooth jazzy tones that flow out of your speaker system. Claudia Brucken does an amazing job of providing excellent vocals during a period which would be considered the ??boring part of the game?? while monotonously driving from one point to another. During the heightened car chases the music has an exciting feel, tense, and full of energy. One big difference between Grand Theft Auto and L.A. noire is you cannot haphazardly kill innocent people by running them over. The game play animation just simply shows them as jumping out of the way and allows them to avoid a nasty-car fate. (I mean, you are supposed to be a ?good guy? after all) In fact damaging other vehicles with your own will take away your score upon the chapters? completion.
The shooting/action portion of the game is probably its weakest point. For the most part it?s the simple standard fare that has been seen in many third-person shooters in the last decade. The classic crouch, cover, shot approach. There are quite a few rooftop jumping, water-pipe climbing, shooting wildly across an open park on foot-chase scenes, however if you are looking for the type of blow-up action that was in Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto don?t look here.
The third and absolute BEST part of this game however has got to be the investigation/interrogation sequences. During the beginning of each chapter as a new case is presented to you, you are given a brief synopsis of the crime, the witnesses, the victims, and the possible evidence. As you work your way through the case you will have to search every nook and cranny of the crime scene and other places of interest in order to uncover more evidence which can later be used to help your case. These items can be anything from sales receipts, to knives, to glasses, to wallets, etc. Then during the final phases of each investigative sequence there is usually an interrogation that takes place amongst the victims, witness, and possible perps. Rockstar utilizes a new technology called MotionScan, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. What this creates is an absolutely realistic portrayal of facial animations that can accurately express whether or not someone is lying or telling the truth. Never before in any form of entertainment have I seen such perfection of duplicating human expression and traits in a digital form. And I thought Jurassic Park was impressive when it first came out. Due to this accurate portrayal of human emotions the interrogation sequences are one-third presenting evidence to counter contradictions, one-third blind grasping for straws, and the final third reading faces, like you would as a real detective.
The last and final thing I have to talk about is just the unique authentic feel of the game. I?ve already mentioned the locales and the cars but everything down to the details of the accents used to the fibers of the hats that they wear; everything in the game lives and breathes 1947 L.A. Punctuating the steady flow of music and excellent crime-drama writing is the voice work of Aaron Staton (madmen), Michael McGrady(southland), Sean McGowan, Andrew Connoly, Greg Grunberg (heroes), Adam Harrington, and many other wonderful performers. Every line is executed and with the combination of the facial expressions captured with the MotionScan technology the entire game feels like one perfect movie.
L.A. Noire is an A+ example of how videogames are more than just bleeps and bloops but are now a full on form of artistic expression.
The plot of L.A. Noire is you play as Cole Phelps, an ex-military officer who joins the LAPD in order to ??right the wrongs?? he committed in World War 2. As you progress through the core of the game you start off as a simple beat cop thwarting petty small crimes until finally you make the case that lands you a job as a full investigator. It?s a wonderful ride through the ranks in an authentic 1947 Los Angeles during the height of life with a full cast of characters, plot twists, and enough action drama to make CSI team eat their hearts out.
The game play consists of three prime elements:
Driving, Shooting, and Interrogation. As you drive from one objective to another you will see beautifully rendered 1940?s vehicles and locations, while listening to the smooth jazzy tones that flow out of your speaker system. Claudia Brucken does an amazing job of providing excellent vocals during a period which would be considered the ??boring part of the game?? while monotonously driving from one point to another. During the heightened car chases the music has an exciting feel, tense, and full of energy. One big difference between Grand Theft Auto and L.A. noire is you cannot haphazardly kill innocent people by running them over. The game play animation just simply shows them as jumping out of the way and allows them to avoid a nasty-car fate. (I mean, you are supposed to be a ?good guy? after all) In fact damaging other vehicles with your own will take away your score upon the chapters? completion.
The shooting/action portion of the game is probably its weakest point. For the most part it?s the simple standard fare that has been seen in many third-person shooters in the last decade. The classic crouch, cover, shot approach. There are quite a few rooftop jumping, water-pipe climbing, shooting wildly across an open park on foot-chase scenes, however if you are looking for the type of blow-up action that was in Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto don?t look here.
The third and absolute BEST part of this game however has got to be the investigation/interrogation sequences. During the beginning of each chapter as a new case is presented to you, you are given a brief synopsis of the crime, the witnesses, the victims, and the possible evidence. As you work your way through the case you will have to search every nook and cranny of the crime scene and other places of interest in order to uncover more evidence which can later be used to help your case. These items can be anything from sales receipts, to knives, to glasses, to wallets, etc. Then during the final phases of each investigative sequence there is usually an interrogation that takes place amongst the victims, witness, and possible perps. Rockstar utilizes a new technology called MotionScan, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. What this creates is an absolutely realistic portrayal of facial animations that can accurately express whether or not someone is lying or telling the truth. Never before in any form of entertainment have I seen such perfection of duplicating human expression and traits in a digital form. And I thought Jurassic Park was impressive when it first came out. Due to this accurate portrayal of human emotions the interrogation sequences are one-third presenting evidence to counter contradictions, one-third blind grasping for straws, and the final third reading faces, like you would as a real detective.
The last and final thing I have to talk about is just the unique authentic feel of the game. I?ve already mentioned the locales and the cars but everything down to the details of the accents used to the fibers of the hats that they wear; everything in the game lives and breathes 1947 L.A. Punctuating the steady flow of music and excellent crime-drama writing is the voice work of Aaron Staton (madmen), Michael McGrady(southland), Sean McGowan, Andrew Connoly, Greg Grunberg (heroes), Adam Harrington, and many other wonderful performers. Every line is executed and with the combination of the facial expressions captured with the MotionScan technology the entire game feels like one perfect movie.
L.A. Noire is an A+ example of how videogames are more than just bleeps and bloops but are now a full on form of artistic expression.
