Nerd Mentality

XBOX 360 REVIEW - L.A. Noire

Posted June 6th 2011 by Frankie Aguilar.

Since Grand Theft Auto 3 came out in 2001, bringing sandbox gameplay and consequence-free violence to a main stream audience, Rockstar games has had a license to print money. Their machine has been built mainly upon freedom, or the illusion of it, and their attention to the stories interwoven into the worlds they create has had people constantly salivating for the next Rockstar game. Considering all that, hearing about a film noir style game with some revolutionary new technology called MotionScan implemented to bring real life facial motion to the in-game characters had me super pumped. I had visions of playing a hard boiled detective with his own moral code that ran parallel to his duties as a law enforcer, hanging out in seedy clubs and taking on corruption for his own reasons. Driving around in ‘40s era cars, shooting tommy guns and all in the seedy under belly of Hollywood/Los Angeles...what could be more awesome? Three discs later, I know I played a good game, maybe even a great one, but I still have some reservations.

Before anything else, I feel I have to comment upon the use of this aggrandized MotionScan technology. L.A. Noire, being a game relying heavily upon your ability to detect when a suspect is lying, makes the facial motions of the characters all too important. MotionScan uses 32 surrounding high definition cameras to capture facial expressions of the voice actors from every angle in order generate very lifelike facial motions in-game. This technology isn't really as revolutionary as people made it out to be, but that doesn't make it any less spectacular. Seeing people shift and twitch under your deductive scrutiny and actually have that affect your line of questioning is a shining example of actually utilizing a technology to its fullest. Where people got the idea that this game was going to be beautiful based solely on the MotionScan however, is beyond me. If there's one place where Rockstar has categorically underachieved it's in the graphics department. They build these massive and intricate worlds and make them muddy brown, annoyingly vibrant or a gaudy mixture of both. L.A. Noire, set in the early Hollywood days of Los Angeles and based on a real life 1947 map should be beautiful and fun to drive around. Instead, it ends up being exceedingly mundane, leading players to prefer to stick to the main story line which, thank goodness, is pretty wonderful.

You take the role of Cole Phelps, a modest LAPD officer and war hero. The paradigm of the good cop, Phelps seems to be working to rid the shadows cast on him by the war. From the get go, Phelps' ironclad moral code and attention to detail is on display when he manages to turn a seemingly dead end murder case into a sure-fire conviction. This case sets the precedents for the play style of the rest of the game, easing you into all the the intricacies of the game as a sort of laissez-faire tutorial. Gameplay here is all about style, attempting to submerge you in both the 1940's era as well as film noir culture. While examining crime scenes, a low-key brassy jazz groove comes on, hitting you with musical trills and controller vibrations when you come close to clues. When you approach and select a clue, you physically manipulate the objects, looking for more in depth hints (serial number on guns, names of interest in notes, etc.). When you've discovered all the necessary clues around your crime scene, the jazz riff concludes rather dramatically and you're free to start the real meat of the game: the questioning.

The excellent execution of the MotionScan aside, the questioning portion of the game is a bit all over the place. What it boils down to is the ability to choose between Truth, Doubt and Lie in judgement of your suspect answers to your questions, and while that may seem pretty straight forward, early on the game in pretty unforgiving. The gray area between Doubt and Lie is much, much further than you could imagine, leading you more often than not to irritate your suspect out of cooperation. The facial cues would lead you to believe that everyone is lying all the time, but things as simple as "doubting" an alibi can lead Phelps to create insane hypotheses out of thin air. As time passes you get a better feel for your detective work, but it always represents a challenge, especially when choosing who to charge between different suspects.

You'd think it'd be insane to review a Rockstar sandbox game and not mention the overwhelming amount of fun you can have not playing the main story, but L.A. Noire is devoid of many of the things people have come to expect from the company that brought us GTA. Don't expect to bust a cap in randon peeps' asses whenever you feel like blowing off some steam--your gun is only usable during scripted events. And don't expect to drive any of these great looking ‘40s era cars off any sweet jumps, or power slide around corners because all but the best cars in L.A. Noire handle less effectively than cement trucks. I know that the lack of utter mayhem, or physics defying car simulation play into the aura of the game, but it's just a little bit weird.

Where L.A. Noire truly shines is its cinematic feel. With its case-by-case gameplay, relatively small recurring cast and short intense action sequences, L.A. Noire truly feels like an epic and intricate crime serial that you're playing through. As you make your way through the ranks of the LAPD the cases gain a depth to them, even putting you head-to-head against a possible Black Dhalia copycat killer. The pacing of the game overall is brilliant but seems a bit disjointed at times. For reasons I won't explain (for fear of spoiling the overall feel of the end game) the climax of the L.A. Noire from a case standpoint seems to come a bit too early. Overall, it's an interesting plot device and fits into the overall narrative of corruption and collusion throughout but I personally would have preferred that big "ah-ha!" moment a little closer to the actual end of the game.

When it comes down to it, L.A. Noire is a great game with a ton of nit picky issues which, if you think about it, is something you could say about just every Rockstar game. Much like Red Dead Redemption, it was nice to see them step out of the shadow of GTA and implement their obviously successful model up against some legitimate story telling. The few issues I had were more stylistic than anything. I felt a monochromatic appearance to parts of the game would have gone further to instill the "noir" feel, but that's more a symptom of placing the game in L.A. than anything else.  Also, Cole Phelps himself is less hard-boiled than he could've been, playing, the straight cop amongst a police department filled with corruption. More edge would've done more to elevate his character amongst Rockstar's leading character pantheon, but his need to make up for his past sins is justifiable, if not a bit boring. I chalk all the minor misfires up to the creation of a new series and the use of new technologies and a brand new engine. I'd love to see this series shift to New York or Chicago, but for now, the bright and shiny L.A. streets will do just fine.

Tags: Xbox 360, L.A. Noire

Posted in: Reviews, Gaming

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