L.A Noire

[Monk]

The new game coming from Rockstar is a detective/crime thriller. A lot of hype has been made over the game's attempts to make faces look much more dynamic and real in their expressions and as they speak. But really, that's not why I'm so interested:




One look at the game sets it far apart from just about anything else in the mainstream. The only thing that comes close visually is the Mafia series, and that's a very good thing. As the hype for this game starts to build I find myself really anticipating its release.

Anyone else feeling this game?

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping it will be a worthy successor to the first Mafia game.

The setting could be fantastic.

CR

[Graphic]

I'll start getting hyped when I can see some gameplay.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Those faces don't look very good.

[Monk]

Those faces don't look very good.

Heh that was my reaction, which is why I'm much more interested in the setting and supposed plot of the game.

[_Tristan_]

Time to re-read some James Elroy...

[Mailman653]

I just placed my pre-order yesterday. I'm glad to see that you start from a regular beat cop and work your way up. I thought they were going to just place you on the top at the very start. Plus its nice to be on right side of the law for once

[Krusader]

Think I'll buy this when the price drops, unless people I know say its the best thing since sliced bread.
And yes, faces did not look that good compared to what I'd believe with the hype.

[econ21]

I was momentarily excited by this game - it looks one of the most innovative of late - but then found out it was console only. Oh well.

[Fragony]

I was momentarily excited by this game - it looks one of the most innovative of late - but then found out it was console only. Oh well.

Almost all of Rockstar's game make it to the pc eventually, wouldn't get too worried

[Hooahguy]

For a console game its graphics arent that sharp.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Yeah, I'm somewhat surprised by the graphics. They don't look like Red Dead Redemption quality. Also, I don't think that game ever made it to PCs.

CR

[Mailman653]

IGN video review

[econ21]

That's a nice review, Mailman. I would definitely pick up the game if it gets ported to the PC. Like the review says, its unlikely we'll play anything else like it any time soon.

[Fragony]

Sounds really good, when it comes to the authenticity of gameworlds Rockstar is an absolute master. Setting is endlessly appealing for me, who didn't adore Chinatown or LA Confidential? Exactly.

[naut]

Almost all of Rockstar's game make it to the pc eventually, wouldn't get too worried

Hmm. Not always. RDR is console only. If Rockstar doesn't have a simultaneous launch there is no PC launch.

[johnhughthom]

I've dreamed of a game like LA Noire for years. I tried to keep away from most of the hype as most games I've been excited about in recent years have been a huge disappointment, but most of what I have seen looks good. The city map gives the impression it's a huge gameworld which eases one of my main concerns, that it would be a very small, self contained storyline. The pre order bonuses are a bit of an annoyance though, I couldn't care less about bonus cars/clothes etc, but missions for pre-ordering for a particular site is a step too far in my opinion. I'll just have to borrow my nephews PS3 now...

[Mailman653]

I've been playing for a few hours and the following is just my opinion of it so far:

I wish I could have spent more time as a beat cop and had a little more free roam time. One of the NPC's joke that he spent 5yrs on the job before making detective and it seems like Cole (player) got there in five minutes.

The map looks huge but then it doesn't. It's hard to give an approximiation, but it kind of seems like half the size of map in RDR? But there are an insane number of streets and side streets and dead ends, etc, that feels like it's just one massive place to explore. I have a hard time deciding if the map really is huge or if just looks that way because of the sheer amount of streets.

I kind of don't like that feeling that it seems that you're always on duty, working. From what I've seen, you just go from case to case with a cutscene to set up the next one. There isn't a, case closed, let me drive around or go into a bar or just visit my house kind of thing.

Interrogations, hunting for clues is fun! But as one of the reviews I've read, it seems like no matter how much you screw up, it seems as if you'll still solve the case. There was one or two instances were I found a piece of evidence that felt that if I didn't find it, it would have changed the outcome, but unless I replay the mission to test that theory out, it's just speculation on my part.

Lastly, for a game that looks and feels realistic, and this is kind of related to the previous comment, it's like you can't do wrong. For example in RDR, if you were in a hostage situation, and the hostage dies, the mission/story keeps going and you just take a hit to your rep or whatever. In this game, a hostage always has to live, and if they don't, you fail the mission and can choose to do it again. I guess I can choose not to do it again and just pretend that I screwed that one up, but the way the game seems to be set up, you gotta play it and "save the day" so to speak, all the time.

I'm enjoying the game so far and all the above is just small nitpicking, I don't consider any of the above damageing my game experience to the point where I just drop the controller and decide it's not worth my time.

[Veho Nex]

Played it for about 6 hours yesterday and I have to give it a 6/10

Its cool running around as a detective and stuff but I wish you could do random cop stuff like pulling over a speeder or responding to a random dispute. They have about 40 side missions you can do while driving around town and I did about 30 of them during the first true free roam mission. Only solved about 12 cases in the time I played and it gets very repetitive. There is a lot of random stuff you can 'examine' that has nothing to do with the mission or if you don't examine it at the perfect angle you will never know its a clue.

The graphics are Ok, I definitely think that GTA4 or RDR had better looks. There were a lot of times where peoples heads would disappear and slowly grow back or random body parts would suddenly start growing.

The faces are meh, they look incredibly exaggerated when they are lying and its very simple for the first 8 or so missions to tell whether or not to doubt/lie them. I dont see the super realistic face captured motion that was flaunted in the trailers.

Driving is a lot of fun in some of the old cars and is a pain in others. Also the map is huge, its a blast to just drive around 1940's L.A.

EDIT: Also, some of the missions are really easy to figure out.

A spoil of one of the first missions

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Like when you find a car full of blood and you find a note for a pig in the back. My first guess was a husband running away from home and trying to make it look like he was killed. I was right on the money.

The side missions seem to have held more of a challenge for me because my first instinct is to wound them with a bullet and you fail the mission, where if you let the crook run he might die in the end anyways but you complete the mission.

[Mailman653]

I don't know about the other divisions but Homicide was deffintely fun.

[Mailman653]

L.A. Noire Coming to PC

[Drunk Clown]

Oh happy days!

[rajpoot]

Just read the announcement on Gamespot myself. Great news.
Although I guess this means that RDR won't be coming to PC, which is sad.

[Montmorency]

A thought-provoking piece on LA Noire.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/.../full/la-noire

[Mailman653]

Rockstar "Will Not Publish Team Bondi's Next Game"

[LeftEyeNine]

Just finished it today on my PS3.

Wow, what a game. It even haunted my nights.

Animations were spectacular, ambience was spectacular, fiction is spectacular, what more else is to say ?

For someone like me digging 20th century USA (Boardwalk Empire, anyone ?) the game is a gem. Indeed, I was beaten by the intelligence of the game at points which only required intelligence to beat and I liked that.

L.A. Noire is a cornerstone in adventure games, I think, especially with that outstanding motion scan technology brought into play. That extra changes a lot about your interaction and immersion within the games having such structure. I hope it turns out as an industry standard eventually.

For my final words on the game, what a great actor John Noble is - he simply managed me to hate him.

Bravo Team Bondi, Bravo Rockstar. I am stunned.

[econ21]

Excellent, LEN - I am glad the game meets the high expectations many had for it. Roll on 11th November for the EU release date for the PC.

[LeftEyeNine]

Yeah, econ21, I've noticed that. I'm definitely getting that one just to give out my kudos for this digital beauty. What's more it's a complete edition.

I just can't get enough of 30-40's USA.

[Greyblades]

Oh man did I love this game; great atmosphere, characters, story and even a rather effective combat system.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The story kind of bugs me though, the whole cole is an adulterer kind of came out of nowhere, there was almost no foreshadowing, no way to avoid it and the woman wasnt even all that attractive. Anyone else having conflicted feelings on the ending?

[johnhughthom]

Oh man did I love this game; great atmosphere, characters, story and even a rather effective combat system.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The story kind of bugs me though, the whole cole is an adulterer kind of came out of nowhere, there was almost no foreshadowing, no way to avoid it and the woman wasnt even all that attractive. Anyone else having conflicted feelings on the ending?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I actually quite like the ending, if I had have read about it before playing it I would probably have said it sounds lame. I take it you mean the playing as Kelso? Or did you mean Phelps dying? I guess after Red Dead Redemption I was kind of expecting that myself. I think the Elsa angle was more about how Phelps was struggling with "his demons" from the war and couldn't talk about it with his wife.

For me, one thing that I didn't like was how many people you end up killing, it was supposed to be a more realistic game, but you still end up killing about a hundred people, and that's without doing the street missions. My biggest gripe was the homicide desk, I worked out the killer in the second or third case. It mentioned agency bartender, there had been one of those in the first case. And as the cases went on every one involved a bar. That seemed like very weak writing to me, there was no option to ask about it and as the desk went on I enjoyed it less and less as it became clear that it was going to be the bar tender.