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First of all, let me just say that Rockstar have done a great job with L.A. Noire. It’s a well-thought-out, fun game with a lot of interesting things to do. Don’t, however, think for a moment that it’s perfect.
You play Cole Phelps, a decorated ex-Marine who served in the Pacific during WWII. He starts out as a patrol cop, and works his way up the chain.
The main feature of this game is the new facial animation software. And it IS good. Very good. The interrogation scenes are rendered in the game engine, so you know it’s not just mo-capping. Trouble is, it’s too realistic. For me, at least. I’m not really all that good at reading people. I’m also very good at lying. I have NO idea whether they’re lying to me or not. You get the hang of it pretty quickly, and get to recognise the kind of thing people are saying, but if you’re like me, you’re always going to have trouble working out what’s going on.
Given that it’s a Rockstar game, driving is a major part of the gameplay. You always have your partner with you, so you can happily tell him to drive and skip the intervening time, but it is, of course, more fun to do it yourself. This, unfortunately, is where the driving model comes into play. It’s a little too... unforgiving for my liking. It’s very similar (may even be the same one) to the model in GTAIV, which didn’t really feel like GTA to me - the fun was blasting around unrealistically, not having to worry about taking a corner properly. However, considering that in L.A. Noire you’re penalised at the end of the case for how much damage you’ve done to cars, the city itself, and most importantly, the people, it encourages you to slow down and take it easy. The missions aren’t going anywhere. The only time you have to hit the accelerator is if you’re in a chase scene - of which there are many.
AI cars, however, could use a little work. The siren does little. Where in GTA, other cars would strive to get out of the way when you were bombing down the road in a police car, in this it’s a little more haphazard. They don’t seem to care too much, and in many cases will actively drive in front of you. I’ve torn wheels off other cars simply because they drove into me while I was at speed. Ah, yes. There’s no handbrake, so you’re stuck with normal brakes. These are about as effective as clinging onto the wheel with your teeth to slow down. They’ve been the cause of many a crash so far.
The characterisation is good - cutscenes between the cases fill in background about Cole’s past in the Marines, something he refuses to talk about during the game proper. It really does make you start to understand why he’s the way he is. In the early game, I found myself wondering why he’s such a dick sometimes - he’s rarely polite to anyone, for example. When he calls in for assistance (to find an address, track a numberplate, etc.), he yells down the phone, being unnecessarily snippy. When he accuses someone of lying, he practically tears them a new hole. I have yet to actually complete the game, but I can already see the cutscenes leading towards explaining WHY he’s like that.The cases so far have been believable and well-structured. People react the way you’d expect to events and the way you present them, and the investigation method is, while a little clunky at times, pretty good. The controller vibrates and there’s an audible chime whenever you stray near enough to something to investigate, and you close in on it to see it in more detail. The clunky comes in when you’re actually twisting objects around to look at them. There’s not a lot of freedom of movement in the wrist, and it can be VERY awkward finding the relevant details to zoom in on. Again, though, it vibrates when you see it, so it could be worse.
My first impressions, however, were ones of awe - it’s on three discs. Three. Assuming dual-layer DVDs, that’s 25.5GB of potential gameplay. Wow. This should really be epic. Of course, once I’d finished the first couple of cases, I noticed that my completion counter was already above ten percent, so maybe some of the discs are extras? I won’t know until I get there.
Ultimately, though, I’m really enjoying L.A. Noire. It’s an excellent game, and hugely entertaining. I’m at work at the moment, and I’m counting the minutes until I can get home and play it again. Now THAT is the mark of a good game.
I may also want to go and play Minecraft. But that’s another matter.
Until next time,
CSquared
http://gamegrill.blogspot.com/
Tags: L.A. Noire, Cole Phelps, Rockstar, 360, XBox, PS3, GTA
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