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We're going to abandon the typical format for reviews here to try and mix things up a bit. Today, we're going to take a look at L.A. Noire and explain why it may very well be both one of the best games of 2011 and why it will fall well short of that mark for some.
Typically, I love the open world direction that most Rockstar published titles tend to have. Grand Theft Auto IV? Amazing. Sure the main plot elements were a bit hit and miss and it's actually slightly gimped when it comes to player freedom compared to say, GTA: San Andreas, but it's still a fantastic sandbox title. Red Dead Redemption? Absolutely loved it and still do to this day. Why? Because you can just go and do whatever you want in the game world and have fun doing it.
L.A. Noire is a bit of a different direction for Rockstar and game developer Team Bondi. It presents itself as an open world title but places quite a few restrictions on the player to the point it's actually a quite linear experience. Surprised? I was. Don't get me wrong here, I still find the game to be amazing and I'll explain all of that in a minute, but if you go into L.A. Noire with the mindset that you can go and do whatever you want, you might find yourself to be supremely disappointed.
Enough about that though, let's touch upon the things the game does right. Los Angeles in the 1940's was a time of insane amounts of crime and corruption and Noire captures this beautifully. The game presents itself as a series of cases from main protagonist Cole Phelps' role as he goes from a mere beat cop up to one of the most respected detectives on the force. You, as Cole, will solve a string of homicide cases, each with their own unique twists while simultaneously tying them all together into what might be the case of the century. From there it's on to the Vice squad and tracking down a string of deaths tied to illegal narcotics.
It's hard to really dive into the depth of these cases without giving too much away but the gist of it is this. The start of each case is presented with a black and white scene showing a small snippet of the crime taking place. Cut to the police station where your commanding officer sends you and your partner at the time on your merry little way to investigate and gather clues. Once at the scene of the crime, gameplay tends to consist of interviewing witnesses, gathering clues, and figuring out from those clues where you need to head to next.
It's a trail of breadcrumbs that will lead you down dead ends, persons of interest, and ultimately, if you are any good at your job, the charging of the suspect you feel committed the crime based on the evidence and confession if you're really good. That's the quick version of a case but it's essentially what each one really comes down to.
Gathering of clues requires a keen eye for detail, singling out the items in an area that actually tie in with your case. You manipulate the objects with the analog stick as they're held in your hands, as further clues are often hidden inside or on sides of objects that aren't readily visible. In the cases of homicide Phelps can inspect each body, examining arms and hands, moving the body's head to the left and right to check for injuries, and a person's pockets for identification or clues. Sometimes, yes, the victims are nude and clues are even written on their lifeless bodies. Morbid? Yes. A sense of realism that you're dealing with a mentally disturbed serial killer? Yes. Not every object points you in the right direction and not every person has a clue on every appendage. But it's this attention to detailed inspection that will really come into play in later missions and it will become second nature to investigate everything less you miss a key piece of evidence.
Jumping from location to location yields more breadcrumbs, persons of interest, and suspects that are taken into custody for further questioning. The game is really a number of smaller games in one. There are car chases throughout the city, though they are fairly scripted, much as they were in GTA 4 where objects and vehicles will block off certain paths and the person or persons you're chasing will always take the same route. Chases on foot either result in Phelps shooting the runner dead, tackling him to the pavement if you manage to get close enough, or having the suspect be stopped by your partner blocking the path with the car. Again, it's always interesting but you always know how it's going to end up. The rooftop chases are quite enjoyable though and can get the adrenaline pumping as you leap from roof to roof, up and down ladders, and having it end in a glorious gun fight as you duck out from behind cover.
This is actually one of the issues I have with the game. It's fun, but it tends to be a bit formulaic. It seems as though whenever there's a suspicious person you would like to talk to, or who happens to be in the area, they don't just come peacefully. You almost always end up chasing them until it gets to the point where you're going, "Oh, there's a person of interest we need to talk to. I bet he's going to run... Yep, there he goes!" Perhaps that's just a minor nit-pick there.
All of that takes a back seat to questioning and interrogating suspects and persons of interest. Thanks to the absolutely mind-blowing facial animation technology at work in L.A. Noire, it's (dare I say) a joy to get to ask questions in this game. Seriously, it's that good. Players can tell if a suspect is lying simply based on the way in which they respond. As is the case in real life, people often have tells that indicates when they're hiding something or flat out lying and that is certainly the case in this game too.
A little nervous tick here and there, a glance off to the side when answering, a slight smirk, a nervous gulp are all shown but it's up to you to pick up on them. I mean it when I say this, but there has not been facial animation like this in any game to date and there probably won't be anything that comes close to it for some time to come. Picking apart a person's tell is a true joy and successfully picking up will lead to confessions and a more solid case to build off of.
The entire presentation package is honestly one of the best I've seen in any game. It's like the old crime series of yesteryear (Dragnet), Sin City, Grand Theft Auto, and Hollywood in general all got together, had a few drinks, spent a night together in Mexico, and birthed L.A. Noire nine months later. It's just a shame that it isn't perfect. I mean, it could be! It really could be but it falls short in a few key areas.
Keep in mind this is probably all just personal preference but isn't that the point of a single person's review? The game is linear. Really linear. The city of L.A. is presented to you and your eyes go wide, that is until you realize you're actually confined to select areas of the city for any given case. The restrictions don't end there either. As a detective, you're bound by the law. Do not think for a moment that you can just whip out your weapon whenever you damn well please. There are specific times when you can use it and the game dictates that quite strictly.
Side missions are merely dispatch calls that come in as you and your partner are driving from one location to the next. These calls are often a bit off the beaten path and again, typically involve a shootout. I actually found that most of the gun battles in the game have come from the side missions. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, most every side case so far has included a gun battle in some shape or form. They all have their own mini stories but far too often the end result is the coroner being called to cart off the fresh stiff you just nailed with your pistol. Why does everyone have to run in this game? I don't get it.
I would have loved to have seen more gun battles and longer fist fights. I honest would have. Gun battles aren't anything new to the genre but tossing them in to the main story more often would have been fun. Oh, and how's about letting my partner drive during the car chases? He's the one who always gets to lean out the side and try to shoot the suspect's tires. I would like a turn doing that too but alas, the game does not allow for it.
The game is also option limited. You are not allowed to take out your weapon when you want to, only when the game says you can. You cannot disable the game's mini map, nor even change from a behind the car view when driving. I don't know if this was a deliberate design choice or done for some other reason unknown to anybody outside of Team Bondi. It's not a game breaker but it does make me scratch my head as to why these features are absent from the game. There is, however, a cool black and white mode that further sucks you in to the time period and the whole "noire" aspect.
From my experience it's also almost impossible to charge the wrong person with a crime. Again, I said that was in my experience. In talking with others it seems as though it is possible to charge the wrong person with a crime, so this is certainly something that warrants a second play through.
The story, as mentioned, is broken down in to a series of crimes. Interactions between characters and even your partner further the story along for both the case you're currently involved in and your own story as Cole Phelps, big shot on the force, war veteran, and devoted family man. Phelps doesn't take any crap and is as "by the books" as you can possibly get even if his partners aren't always the model of sainthood. Back story is also conveyed through a series of flash back scenes that play between cases. These scenes show the player what life was like for Phelps back during the war and characters shown in these scenes actually come into play throughout the game.
Newspapers scattered at and around the crime locations provide further back story, but not for Phelps. These papers may never be discovered and you really would not miss much as far as the main story goes. Does it provide a wealth of back story that coincides with what is presently happening in your investigations? Yes. Are they necessary to solving the cases? No they are not. It's just something placed within the game world that tells a story without force feeding it down your throat. It's story on your time, when you want it.
The short of it is this. The game has exceptional presentation, beyond exceptional facial animations, a story that will pull you in and (if you're like me) kill off hours at a time before you know it. Can it be improved? Absolutely. Will you regret picking up this game? Not at all. Team Bondi did an amazing job here and anybody with half of an interest in calling themselves a “gamer” need to play this game immediately. And now, for the sticklers of the old format, a quick rundown of the various aspects of the game.
GameplayPick up clues, question witnesses and persons of interest, get in a chase or two perhaps a gun fight, interrogate, charge, rinse and repeat. That's the abridged version but each aspect of the game has been given a tremendous amount of detail that will require a sharp eye and solid evidence gathering.
Phelps' notebook is his best friend and thus it is subsequently your best friend as well. Think someone is lying to you? Prove it. Call them out on their crap and single out the piece evidence that proves they are lying through their teeth. Screw up and they'll be more than happy to mock you for your stupidity.
Fortunately, if you are genuinely stumped in an area or line of questioning, simply use one of your saved up intuition skills to narrow down your response options, poll the Rockstar community to see what everybody else selected, or find additional clues at a crime scene. These abilities are limited and only earned as you rank up. Ranking up is achieved by earning experience from successfully questioning persons of interest, finding landmarks, finishing side missions, and more.
Crimes are typically varied and sometimes connected, especially in the homicide cases that take up most of the game. There is quite a bit of thinking involved, so if you prefer a bit of mindless gameplay, it's best to look elsewhere. You can't just coast through the game and expect miracles. Cases are punctuated with questioning, clue finding, puzzle solving, gun fights, fist fights, car chases, foot chases, and the sort of over the top investigations that only a noire style thriller could give you.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as going through the investigation steps to build a solid case against a suspect and dropping the hammer of justice on them to close the case. Each case is wrapped up with a rating out of five stars, a summary of how many questions were answered correctly during your investigation, how many clues were found, a dollar total of damage done to the city, yourself, and your car, and a short blurb saying what you could have done differently or what you did right. All of these factors go into your final grade for the case and may spur you to go back and replay a case later to see if you can do better.
Oh, and don't even think about going on a little crime spree. First off, you can't use your gun so you're limited to just using your vehicle. Pedestrians aren't the speed bumps that they are in other Rockstar titles either as they will quickly get out of your way making hitting them with your car quite difficult to do. It's possible, just difficult.
You're a detective, not a criminal. Remember that.
That said, I can't just give a glowing testimonial to the game without pointing out the flaws. The game is a bit formulaic. Some people are going to become bored with the game early on and never come back to it, which is unfortunate. It's not so much that it's the gameplay that will draw people in, it's the experience. Experience of the thrill of the successful case, the experience to see how it will all tie together in the end, experience that you are actually playing through an interactive movie. Whoa, crazy isn't it? It almost feels like this is what something like Heavy Rain should have been. Heavy Rain was considered brilliant by some but ultimately it was nothing more than a movie you were a spectator of with an occasional QTE thrown your way to make it feel like you were "playing." L.A. Noire feels more like a movie you're directing, producing, and staring in all at once.
If you don't like the game, take a break from it for a day or two and then return to it fresh. If need be, do this for each case so that the gameplay never feels too repetitive. Treat each case as an episode in a crime drama and, when taken in doses, will make for one thrilling season. With the game already stretching in to the "teens" for total hours played already, it is a fairly lengthy experience. Those just sticking to the story elements will manage to knock out the game a bit quicker. Just as obvious is the fact that those tackling side quests and hidden bonus items will be playing for quite a few hours beyond the norm.
Each location shown throughout the story is visually unique, from the darkened back alleys where dirty dealings take place, to unique apartments full of dead druggies, to everything in between. It's actually quite amazing how unique and appropriate everything in the game looks. Again, it's a very believable city with very believable locations.
The only real complaints I have is that car damage modeling could have been much, much better. Perhaps it's because cars of the era were built like tanks in comparison to modern vehicle, but it really just seems like a huge step back compared to GTA 4's car damage modeling running on the same game engine.
There is some pop in, some, not much. It never really became too distracting as it always happened at distance and never right in front of my vehicle. Shadows are a bit awkward here and there as the engine does not produce the best soft shadows in the world. This is really only an issue when examining a piece of evidence and blocks, actual blocks of shadow are visible when the view zooms in really tight. Another minor complaint is the very visible line between distant textures and close textures that is really only seen while driving on a road. Again, this is simply a minor complaint.
Textures are generally quite sharp and rather detailed. There are a few occasions, such as the blood stained interior of a car in an early case, which looked just horrible. It was a pixelated mess that marred an otherwise great looking title. Players are animated well but when compared to the stellar job done on the facial tech, you'd wish that more attention was paid to say a character's hands which sometimes seem too stiff and "action figure" like.
Ah yes, I'd be a poor reviewer if I didn't also mention the uh, slightly spotty AI I've come across. There was one occasion where my partner decided to jump up onto a wall and get stuck on a tree branch as he was trying to follow me around a school. It wasn't a big deal as he magically unstuck himself after I got into the car to begin the trip to the next location. Other AI sometimes stood in awkward positions thanks to the environmental geometry and less than perfect path finding in that area. No big deal and certainly nothing really game breaking, at least not yet.
Period appropriate music plays over the radios both in your car and throughout the city. Phone calls are a bit muffled and lack clarity. This isn't a bad thing. Remember that we're talking about the late 40's here. Technology then isn't what it is now and I think the team did a great job with this attention to detail.
If there's a sore spot in the audio it's the fact that the NPC's are beyond limited in what they say. If you stand around in the station for even a minute, you will more than likely end up hearing the same line over and over and over and over again. I get it, you want a .45 so you can take out someone in one shot! Out on the street? You'll quickly tire of hearing someone look at you and proclaim, sometimes to nobody in particular, how they think you're the big hero cop from that caught the murderer. It's neat but get some new lines, please!
Other audio glitches include the absence of car doors shutting in some cases and some lines of dialogue being cut a little short in places.
ControlsThere really aren't any major complaints about the controls. Everything feels responsive whether you're on foot or in a vehicle. Actions such as mantling walls, and jumping over low objects and small gaps are accomplished automatically by Phelps provided you're running in the appropriate direction. Fights are fun and movement feels quick and responsive.
Cars are actually easier to control than in GTA 4. I actually had some difficulty controlling the cars initially since they seemed more responsive and less weighty than the more modern cars in GTA, but I quickly adapted and was taking corners like a champ.
The only sore spot in the controls is that the cover system sometimes didn't want to let me duck out of cover as quickly as I would have liked. A minor issue given how rare big gun fights occur in the game.
-----
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Audio: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Bottom Line
A great crime thriller marred by a few issues that keep it just shy of perfection. A must play experience for gamers if only to see the MotionScan facial technology at work and to experience what life was like in a slightly stylized post-war Los Angeles.
This review of L.A. Noire for the Xbox 360 was made possible thanks to Rockstar Games who kindly provided Total Gaming Network with a review copy. The game is also available on the PlayStation 3 and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB for blood and gore, nudity, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs, and violence.
Typically, I love the open world direction that most Rockstar published titles tend to have. Grand Theft Auto IV? Amazing. Sure the main plot elements were a bit hit and miss and it's actually slightly gimped when it comes to player freedom compared to say, GTA: San Andreas, but it's still a fantastic sandbox title. Red Dead Redemption? Absolutely loved it and still do to this day. Why? Because you can just go and do whatever you want in the game world and have fun doing it.
L.A. Noire is a bit of a different direction for Rockstar and game developer Team Bondi. It presents itself as an open world title but places quite a few restrictions on the player to the point it's actually a quite linear experience. Surprised? I was. Don't get me wrong here, I still find the game to be amazing and I'll explain all of that in a minute, but if you go into L.A. Noire with the mindset that you can go and do whatever you want, you might find yourself to be supremely disappointed.
Enough about that though, let's touch upon the things the game does right. Los Angeles in the 1940's was a time of insane amounts of crime and corruption and Noire captures this beautifully. The game presents itself as a series of cases from main protagonist Cole Phelps' role as he goes from a mere beat cop up to one of the most respected detectives on the force. You, as Cole, will solve a string of homicide cases, each with their own unique twists while simultaneously tying them all together into what might be the case of the century. From there it's on to the Vice squad and tracking down a string of deaths tied to illegal narcotics.
It's hard to really dive into the depth of these cases without giving too much away but the gist of it is this. The start of each case is presented with a black and white scene showing a small snippet of the crime taking place. Cut to the police station where your commanding officer sends you and your partner at the time on your merry little way to investigate and gather clues. Once at the scene of the crime, gameplay tends to consist of interviewing witnesses, gathering clues, and figuring out from those clues where you need to head to next.
It's a trail of breadcrumbs that will lead you down dead ends, persons of interest, and ultimately, if you are any good at your job, the charging of the suspect you feel committed the crime based on the evidence and confession if you're really good. That's the quick version of a case but it's essentially what each one really comes down to.
Gathering of clues requires a keen eye for detail, singling out the items in an area that actually tie in with your case. You manipulate the objects with the analog stick as they're held in your hands, as further clues are often hidden inside or on sides of objects that aren't readily visible. In the cases of homicide Phelps can inspect each body, examining arms and hands, moving the body's head to the left and right to check for injuries, and a person's pockets for identification or clues. Sometimes, yes, the victims are nude and clues are even written on their lifeless bodies. Morbid? Yes. A sense of realism that you're dealing with a mentally disturbed serial killer? Yes. Not every object points you in the right direction and not every person has a clue on every appendage. But it's this attention to detailed inspection that will really come into play in later missions and it will become second nature to investigate everything less you miss a key piece of evidence.
Jumping from location to location yields more breadcrumbs, persons of interest, and suspects that are taken into custody for further questioning. The game is really a number of smaller games in one. There are car chases throughout the city, though they are fairly scripted, much as they were in GTA 4 where objects and vehicles will block off certain paths and the person or persons you're chasing will always take the same route. Chases on foot either result in Phelps shooting the runner dead, tackling him to the pavement if you manage to get close enough, or having the suspect be stopped by your partner blocking the path with the car. Again, it's always interesting but you always know how it's going to end up. The rooftop chases are quite enjoyable though and can get the adrenaline pumping as you leap from roof to roof, up and down ladders, and having it end in a glorious gun fight as you duck out from behind cover.
This is actually one of the issues I have with the game. It's fun, but it tends to be a bit formulaic. It seems as though whenever there's a suspicious person you would like to talk to, or who happens to be in the area, they don't just come peacefully. You almost always end up chasing them until it gets to the point where you're going, "Oh, there's a person of interest we need to talk to. I bet he's going to run... Yep, there he goes!" Perhaps that's just a minor nit-pick there.
All of that takes a back seat to questioning and interrogating suspects and persons of interest. Thanks to the absolutely mind-blowing facial animation technology at work in L.A. Noire, it's (dare I say) a joy to get to ask questions in this game. Seriously, it's that good. Players can tell if a suspect is lying simply based on the way in which they respond. As is the case in real life, people often have tells that indicates when they're hiding something or flat out lying and that is certainly the case in this game too.
A little nervous tick here and there, a glance off to the side when answering, a slight smirk, a nervous gulp are all shown but it's up to you to pick up on them. I mean it when I say this, but there has not been facial animation like this in any game to date and there probably won't be anything that comes close to it for some time to come. Picking apart a person's tell is a true joy and successfully picking up will lead to confessions and a more solid case to build off of.
The entire presentation package is honestly one of the best I've seen in any game. It's like the old crime series of yesteryear (Dragnet), Sin City, Grand Theft Auto, and Hollywood in general all got together, had a few drinks, spent a night together in Mexico, and birthed L.A. Noire nine months later. It's just a shame that it isn't perfect. I mean, it could be! It really could be but it falls short in a few key areas.
Keep in mind this is probably all just personal preference but isn't that the point of a single person's review? The game is linear. Really linear. The city of L.A. is presented to you and your eyes go wide, that is until you realize you're actually confined to select areas of the city for any given case. The restrictions don't end there either. As a detective, you're bound by the law. Do not think for a moment that you can just whip out your weapon whenever you damn well please. There are specific times when you can use it and the game dictates that quite strictly.
Side missions are merely dispatch calls that come in as you and your partner are driving from one location to the next. These calls are often a bit off the beaten path and again, typically involve a shootout. I actually found that most of the gun battles in the game have come from the side missions. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, most every side case so far has included a gun battle in some shape or form. They all have their own mini stories but far too often the end result is the coroner being called to cart off the fresh stiff you just nailed with your pistol. Why does everyone have to run in this game? I don't get it.
I would have loved to have seen more gun battles and longer fist fights. I honest would have. Gun battles aren't anything new to the genre but tossing them in to the main story more often would have been fun. Oh, and how's about letting my partner drive during the car chases? He's the one who always gets to lean out the side and try to shoot the suspect's tires. I would like a turn doing that too but alas, the game does not allow for it.
The game is also option limited. You are not allowed to take out your weapon when you want to, only when the game says you can. You cannot disable the game's mini map, nor even change from a behind the car view when driving. I don't know if this was a deliberate design choice or done for some other reason unknown to anybody outside of Team Bondi. It's not a game breaker but it does make me scratch my head as to why these features are absent from the game. There is, however, a cool black and white mode that further sucks you in to the time period and the whole "noire" aspect.
From my experience it's also almost impossible to charge the wrong person with a crime. Again, I said that was in my experience. In talking with others it seems as though it is possible to charge the wrong person with a crime, so this is certainly something that warrants a second play through.
The story, as mentioned, is broken down in to a series of crimes. Interactions between characters and even your partner further the story along for both the case you're currently involved in and your own story as Cole Phelps, big shot on the force, war veteran, and devoted family man. Phelps doesn't take any crap and is as "by the books" as you can possibly get even if his partners aren't always the model of sainthood. Back story is also conveyed through a series of flash back scenes that play between cases. These scenes show the player what life was like for Phelps back during the war and characters shown in these scenes actually come into play throughout the game.
Newspapers scattered at and around the crime locations provide further back story, but not for Phelps. These papers may never be discovered and you really would not miss much as far as the main story goes. Does it provide a wealth of back story that coincides with what is presently happening in your investigations? Yes. Are they necessary to solving the cases? No they are not. It's just something placed within the game world that tells a story without force feeding it down your throat. It's story on your time, when you want it.
The short of it is this. The game has exceptional presentation, beyond exceptional facial animations, a story that will pull you in and (if you're like me) kill off hours at a time before you know it. Can it be improved? Absolutely. Will you regret picking up this game? Not at all. Team Bondi did an amazing job here and anybody with half of an interest in calling themselves a “gamer” need to play this game immediately. And now, for the sticklers of the old format, a quick rundown of the various aspects of the game.
Gameplay
Phelps' notebook is his best friend and thus it is subsequently your best friend as well. Think someone is lying to you? Prove it. Call them out on their crap and single out the piece evidence that proves they are lying through their teeth. Screw up and they'll be more than happy to mock you for your stupidity.
Fortunately, if you are genuinely stumped in an area or line of questioning, simply use one of your saved up intuition skills to narrow down your response options, poll the Rockstar community to see what everybody else selected, or find additional clues at a crime scene. These abilities are limited and only earned as you rank up. Ranking up is achieved by earning experience from successfully questioning persons of interest, finding landmarks, finishing side missions, and more.
Crimes are typically varied and sometimes connected, especially in the homicide cases that take up most of the game. There is quite a bit of thinking involved, so if you prefer a bit of mindless gameplay, it's best to look elsewhere. You can't just coast through the game and expect miracles. Cases are punctuated with questioning, clue finding, puzzle solving, gun fights, fist fights, car chases, foot chases, and the sort of over the top investigations that only a noire style thriller could give you.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as going through the investigation steps to build a solid case against a suspect and dropping the hammer of justice on them to close the case. Each case is wrapped up with a rating out of five stars, a summary of how many questions were answered correctly during your investigation, how many clues were found, a dollar total of damage done to the city, yourself, and your car, and a short blurb saying what you could have done differently or what you did right. All of these factors go into your final grade for the case and may spur you to go back and replay a case later to see if you can do better.
Oh, and don't even think about going on a little crime spree. First off, you can't use your gun so you're limited to just using your vehicle. Pedestrians aren't the speed bumps that they are in other Rockstar titles either as they will quickly get out of your way making hitting them with your car quite difficult to do. It's possible, just difficult.
You're a detective, not a criminal. Remember that.
That said, I can't just give a glowing testimonial to the game without pointing out the flaws. The game is a bit formulaic. Some people are going to become bored with the game early on and never come back to it, which is unfortunate. It's not so much that it's the gameplay that will draw people in, it's the experience. Experience of the thrill of the successful case, the experience to see how it will all tie together in the end, experience that you are actually playing through an interactive movie. Whoa, crazy isn't it? It almost feels like this is what something like Heavy Rain should have been. Heavy Rain was considered brilliant by some but ultimately it was nothing more than a movie you were a spectator of with an occasional QTE thrown your way to make it feel like you were "playing." L.A. Noire feels more like a movie you're directing, producing, and staring in all at once.
If you don't like the game, take a break from it for a day or two and then return to it fresh. If need be, do this for each case so that the gameplay never feels too repetitive. Treat each case as an episode in a crime drama and, when taken in doses, will make for one thrilling season. With the game already stretching in to the "teens" for total hours played already, it is a fairly lengthy experience. Those just sticking to the story elements will manage to knock out the game a bit quicker. Just as obvious is the fact that those tackling side quests and hidden bonus items will be playing for quite a few hours beyond the norm.
Graphics
The graphics, namely the facial animations, are quite good. The city feels adequately alive with pedestrians dotting the sidewalks and various buildings and cars driving to places unknown. Really, it's the attention to detail that really shines in the game. Without going into too much detail myself, Team Bondi has done a remarkable job here. No area, be interior or exterior, ever feels barren. There's always something to catch your eye, even if it's an innocent looking box of dish detergent. It may not be Crysis or Witcher 2 levels of visual splendor but just the fact that the city feels believable and alive more than makes up for a few shortcomings.Each location shown throughout the story is visually unique, from the darkened back alleys where dirty dealings take place, to unique apartments full of dead druggies, to everything in between. It's actually quite amazing how unique and appropriate everything in the game looks. Again, it's a very believable city with very believable locations.
The only real complaints I have is that car damage modeling could have been much, much better. Perhaps it's because cars of the era were built like tanks in comparison to modern vehicle, but it really just seems like a huge step back compared to GTA 4's car damage modeling running on the same game engine.
There is some pop in, some, not much. It never really became too distracting as it always happened at distance and never right in front of my vehicle. Shadows are a bit awkward here and there as the engine does not produce the best soft shadows in the world. This is really only an issue when examining a piece of evidence and blocks, actual blocks of shadow are visible when the view zooms in really tight. Another minor complaint is the very visible line between distant textures and close textures that is really only seen while driving on a road. Again, this is simply a minor complaint.
Textures are generally quite sharp and rather detailed. There are a few occasions, such as the blood stained interior of a car in an early case, which looked just horrible. It was a pixelated mess that marred an otherwise great looking title. Players are animated well but when compared to the stellar job done on the facial tech, you'd wish that more attention was paid to say a character's hands which sometimes seem too stiff and "action figure" like.
Ah yes, I'd be a poor reviewer if I didn't also mention the uh, slightly spotty AI I've come across. There was one occasion where my partner decided to jump up onto a wall and get stuck on a tree branch as he was trying to follow me around a school. It wasn't a big deal as he magically unstuck himself after I got into the car to begin the trip to the next location. Other AI sometimes stood in awkward positions thanks to the environmental geometry and less than perfect path finding in that area. No big deal and certainly nothing really game breaking, at least not yet.
Audio
The voice acting is superb. It's a wonderful feeling when you can play through this game and not only see how pissed off someone is but hear it quite clearly. The facial animations wouldn't mean much of anything if the voice acting and audio clarity weren't there to back it up. Fortunately, it's the whole package deal here.Period appropriate music plays over the radios both in your car and throughout the city. Phone calls are a bit muffled and lack clarity. This isn't a bad thing. Remember that we're talking about the late 40's here. Technology then isn't what it is now and I think the team did a great job with this attention to detail.
If there's a sore spot in the audio it's the fact that the NPC's are beyond limited in what they say. If you stand around in the station for even a minute, you will more than likely end up hearing the same line over and over and over and over again. I get it, you want a .45 so you can take out someone in one shot! Out on the street? You'll quickly tire of hearing someone look at you and proclaim, sometimes to nobody in particular, how they think you're the big hero cop from that caught the murderer. It's neat but get some new lines, please!
Other audio glitches include the absence of car doors shutting in some cases and some lines of dialogue being cut a little short in places.
Controls
Cars are actually easier to control than in GTA 4. I actually had some difficulty controlling the cars initially since they seemed more responsive and less weighty than the more modern cars in GTA, but I quickly adapted and was taking corners like a champ.
The only sore spot in the controls is that the cover system sometimes didn't want to let me duck out of cover as quickly as I would have liked. A minor issue given how rare big gun fights occur in the game.
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Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Audio: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Total Gaming Network Score: 8.5/10
Bottom Line
A great crime thriller marred by a few issues that keep it just shy of perfection. A must play experience for gamers if only to see the MotionScan facial technology at work and to experience what life was like in a slightly stylized post-war Los Angeles.
This review of L.A. Noire for the Xbox 360 was made possible thanks to Rockstar Games who kindly provided Total Gaming Network with a review copy. The game is also available on the PlayStation 3 and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB for blood and gore, nudity, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs, and violence.