I'm going to say this right now. I love Rockstar Games. I have yet to play a bad game made by them. In fact, Red Dead Redemption (released in May of 2010) is one of my favorite games of all time. I didn't think that Rockstar could make a bad game. And then I played L.A. Noire. It was released in May of this year for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and I had really high hopes for it, since it was a Rockstar game, and so many people had given it rave reviews. I, on the other hand, couldn't even finish the game.
L.A. Noire takes place in L.A. during 1947 and puts you in the shoes of Cole Phelps, a veteran from World War II, as he rises through the ranks of the LAPD. You start off as a Patrolman. This phase of the game serves as the tutorial. Eventually, you become a traffic detective, then you are promoted to homicide, vice, and finally arson detective.
The game has three phases of gameplay. The first is investigation, where you will search a crime scene for clues. Basically, if you see something on the ground, you can pick it up and inspect it. Cole will say whether or not it's a clue. It is nice that the game lets you know that all of the clues were found by having the music fade out, but investigations can be long and painstaking. The second phase of the game is interrogation, where you interrogate suspects or people that might have information regarding the case at hand. This phase is the trademark of the game, where the technology really shows. Once you ask the interrogatee a question, you have to closely watch their face as they tell you their answer, and then you either trust them, doubt them, or accuse them as lying. The only hint you have as to which option to pick is the person's body language. The faces in L.A. Noire are so realistic, that they look real. Every twitch on a face is visible, thanks to the 30 cameras used for motion capture on human faces. If a person starts looking away, then they're probably lying, and these are the things you'll have to look for. Unfortunately, the interrogations aren't as fluid as they could be, as the interogatee sits back and relaxes after each question, and then immediately changes their tone depending on what you say next. The third and final phase of the game is the gunplay, which plays exactly like Grand Theft Auto, or Red Dead Redemption. Like the old saying goes, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.
Like I said, I couldn't finish this game. To be specific, I stopped playing half-way through. It's not that it was hard, it just got boring, and began to seem repetitve. The Patrolman and Traffic cases were very fun to me. Each Traffic Case was wildly different and I always felt like a genius if I could figure out what happened. Unfortunatley, the uniquity stopped with the Homicide cases. Each case was essentially the same. This makes sense, since all 7 homicide cases dealt with a serial killer (cleverly based off of the Black Dahlia killer). But, I felt like I was playing the same segment over and over. Find a dead body, blame the spouse, find the real killer. Then the last homicide case reveals that everyone you imprisoned was innocent and that it was a serial killer. If you're thinking that that was a spoiler, it's not, as Cole Phelps constantly says that the suspects were innocent and that it was the serial killer. The last homicide case was also a failed attempt at innovation, as it was a scavenger hunt. There was no investigation or interrogation. You were given an excerpt of a poem that hinted at a landmark in L.A., and you had to go to that landmark and find another poem excerpt that hints at another landmark. This part of the game was terrible, as I didn't know anything about L.A. landmarks, so I had to go to the in-game landmark list and read each and every landmark description untill I found something that might match the poem. It was very boring, akin to researching for a school report. Regardless, I did enjoy the lack of investigation and interrogation, as those segments of the game just got very repetitve, and eventually boring.
As for the story, I actually did enjoy what I did manage to see. Cole's backstory was very interesting, as you learned about his experiences in World War II. There were also newspapers hidden throughout the game that would show you a video when you picked them up. These videos showed another story of an L.A. resident named Courtney who is a World War II veteran who has become a drug dealer while going through med school. Courtney's story was very interesting, and would intersect with the main plot at certain times. After I returned the game, I did look up it's Wikipedia page to read the plotline, and it was amazing. I just couldn't suffer through the gameplay to experience it.
One thing that definitely impressed me was how well the in-game L.A. was re-created. Rockstar actually used photos of 1940's L.A. to create the in-game map, and it shows, as you could probably use L.A. Noire's road map as a road map today. Of course there are a few differences due to time. The culture of 1940's L.A. was also done well. Everyone is celebrating America's victory of World War II and trying to get into movies. The 1940's is when L.A. became a cultural hotspot for America, and it shows. The cars and fashion match the timeline well too.
But, a game isn't used to show off cities and cultures. A game is supposed to be played and enjoyed. A good game shouldn't get boring and repetitive half-way through. In my opinion, L.A. Noire is not a good game. A lot of people would disagree with me, but that's just how I feel about it. The story and setting was great, but the gameplay just couldn't save it. The gunplay was fun, but L.A. Noire isn't about shooting. It's about investigating and interrogating. The flagships of this game were a failure to me, but I was able to enjoy them for some time. I don't think you should disregard this game when looking for something fun, but it's not something I'd buy. Try finding a place to rent it. There is a chance you'll like this game. I just didn't.
Final Score: 2 out of 5
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