Game: L.A. Noire
Console: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: Team Bondi
Release Date: 17th May 2011
Conceptually different to anything that Rockstar Games had published before it, L.A. Noire saw the company team up with independent Australian developer Team Bondi to make a film noir inspired video game set in 1947, which allowed players to take the role of a detective and solve crimes around the city of Los Angeles. With much more investigation, deduction and attempted atmosphere than previous Rockstar titles, there's less violence required and no opportunity to kill people other than those that the game wants you to.
The game's story takes the main character 'Cole Phelps' from being a lowly Beat Cop, through traffic crimes, homicide and arson cases, and Vice Squad matters. While the crimes may differ, the main gameplay routine remains the same throughout; investigate crime scenes and any evidence left there, question suspects arising from investigation, and then repeat the Investigate/Question cycle until the case is solved. Sometimes there are action sequences where Cole must apprehend a suspect, subdue them, or shoot his way through a building but these are few and far between.
Overall the game is pretty cutscene heavy; arriving at any story locations will trigger a short arrival cutscene, as will interviewing suspects. The investigation portion of gameplay allows you to roam around crime scenes and locations relevant to the case searching for clues which are indicated with a chime on the soundtrack when discovered (although this can be turned off). Some items can be further investigated by rotating them or taking a closer look, and others are completely irrelevant. All main pieces of evidence must be discovered before the next part of the case can be accessed, but missing minor clues only impacts on your final case rating.
Once all evidence has been uncovered the questioning portion of gameplay commences, in which Cole asks questions of suspects and witnesses from clues written in his notepad, and attempts to determine whether their statement is the truth, doubtful, or a lie. The NPCs facial expressions and movements are the main indicator of which option is correct, although it's not blatantly obvious. If the player chooses to accuse the suspect of lying, a piece of evidence to prove the lie must be selected from Cole's notebook. The main problem with this system is that it's a little ambiguous as to whether doubt or lie is the correct option. In one case, I chose to present evidence that a suspect's last statement was a lie (something about a pair of glasses) and ended up accusing them of being a murderer.
In addition to the somewhat passive gameplay modes of investigation and questioning, there are action sequences which see Cole attempting to apprehend or subdue suspects. There are 4 main types of action sequence in the game; non-violent on foot, when a suspect flees instead of staying to be questioned. Weapon based on foot, where a building contains multiple armed suspects to be killed. Brawling, where players engage in a fist fight to subdue a suspect, and vehicular action sequences which require ramming or tailing a suspect's car.
Any story case action sequence can be skipped if failed 3 times (I'm not sure why you'd want to), but none of them are too hard. The cover based shooting mechanic of the weapon based on foot sequences is similar to that of GTA IV, which isn't too surprising considering Rockstar helped with the development of the game, as well as publishing it. The lock-on system can be troublesome at times, but it's something that takes a little getting used to, rather than being a problem.
The city of L.A. itself is large and feels very much in character for the era, with plenty of 1940s cars, buildings and landmarks. It takes a considerable amount of time to drive from one end of the city to another, and this adds to the immersion as well as giving you the feeling of being just one cop in a huge city. There are plenty of buildings that you're allowed to enter (for missions at least, free roaming is more limited) and the people of Los Angeles will take notice of you, even if it is a little too often.
While I won't be discussing the plot explicitly in this review, I do have a few general complaints of the storyline. Firstly a lot of cases tend to end abruptly, just as you start trying to piece together what might have happened; coming across incriminating evidence at the residence of a suspect who then runs off only to be apprehended leaves you wondering why you were even trying to do any deductive reasoning. The ending of the game also follows this pattern, but on a grander scale. There's no real resolution or closure to the plot and many fans were left disappointed by this.
Graphically the game is very impressive with extremely detailed facial models in interrogations and questioning, and a good level of interactivity with many of the items which are scattered around crime scenes. The musical selection is enjoyable and fits well with the time period; there's a wide choice of radio shows and music to listen to in vehicles as well as the soundtrack itself. The voice acting is of particularly good quality and matches well with the motion captured facial expressions to deliver a realistic conversational experience.
Overall L.A. Noire delivers a generally immersive and enjoyable film noir-like experience in look, atmosphere and story. While gameplay can seem fairly linear at times, there is the odd case where you have to choose who you want to charge out of two suspects, and interrogations can be challenging in a positive sense. In truth L.A. Noire succeeds neither as a detective style game (due to linearity and premature case endings), nor as a police style video game (gameplay wise at least), but as film noir style experience which gives you a taste of 1940s Los Angeles without any sugar coating.
Rating: 80/100
Grade: B
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