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LA Noire


The Ghost of Tom Joad

  

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  • 2 weeks later...

OMG I'm pumped for this game. It's like CSI meets GTA. I love the CSI games for xbox, but this one is much, much more interactive. Looks like it has quite a bit of replay value since the questions you ask can change the game completely.

On a side note, does anyone remember the old sierra games where you earned points based on things you do? I used to love trying to get 100% but it was pretty much impossible.

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OMG I'm pumped for this game. It's like CSI meets GTA. I love the CSI games for xbox, but this one is much, much more interactive. Looks like it has quite a bit of replay value since the questions you ask can change the game completely.

On a side note, does anyone remember the old sierra games where you earned points based on things you do? I used to love trying to get 100% but it was pretty much impossible.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

A preview:

...

First of all, L.A. Noire is unlike any game that Rockstar have released. People expecting “GTA in 1940s Los Angeles” will not find the experience they think they’re going to find. And that’s not a bad thing at all. The most striking aspect for me was of course the facial animations, courtesy of the MotionScan technology used in the development of the game. It was really funny playing one specific mission and recognizing an actress from a popular television drama. I won’t spoil who it is or what show she’s from, but it just proved to underscore the fidelity with which the characters’ faces are portrayed on the screen. Beyond that though, you also don’t feel like you’re just seeing these actors playing a role. You really see them as the characters in the game – you’re not distracted by their celebrity. One last comment on the facial animations: some people were concerned about the game falling into “Uncanny Valley,” because of how realistic they look. I would not worry about it. Not only does the game have great facial animations, they also blend in seamlessly with the rest of the character model, in my opinion.

Now with it being a private event (and already knowing the lengths to which we had to go to keep the game away from other prying eyes), I will be unable to go into great detail on specific gameplay elements or storyline items (which I wouldn’t want to spoil for anyone anyways). However, here are some other general impressions:

The fighting mechanic feels greatly improved over GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption. There is a bit more of a tighter control than what you’re used to as a GTA or RDR fan. This is a welcomed change. Also, the ways that Rockstar devised to keep you within the borders of the map are clever, and believable. They actually specifically asked me to not divulge the details of this, but I will just say it works, and it’s feasible and realistic.

Speaking of the map, it is frigging huge. One of the Rockstar reps, when giving us the demo of the Red Lipstick case, told me it’s the biggest map that Rockstar has ever made, larger than San Andreas, GTA IV or Red Dead. One of the first things I did when I gained control of a vehicle was set a waypoint on the most southeast corner of the map, drive there, then set a waypoint to the most northwest corner of the map, and drive there, timing myself. It took me 12 minutes. Now you might not find that amazing but consider that the cars in the game go much faster than the horses in Red Dead Redemption. That, plus the fact that three or four times in that drive I had my siren on and was absolutely screaming down the road for a long straight stretch, equate to a frigging huge map. Also, think about the map in RDR – it has large patches of open fields and plains. In L.A. Noire, every bit of the map is packed with streets filled with buildings, cars and pedestrians. This is downtown Los Angeles, after all!

The interrogation and investigation aspects are a breath of fresh air in a landscape dominated by stale first-person-shooter mechanics or banal sports game controls. You have the option to turn musical cues on and off for an added level of difficulty. The musical cues come in the form of a three-note piano progression that plays if you get near a piece of evidence Cole can pick up. Personally, I could not imagine being able to play the game with those musical cues disabled, but I also see how one could find them distracting, taking you out of the experience somewhat. Maybe when I play again I will attempt to play without those musical cues and see what happens.

Interrogation is difficult. It (thankfully) does not follow a specific formula. Your gameplan has to change with each person with whom you are interacting. It’s not a matter of “shifty eyes means lying – accuse them of lying” or “they’re smiling and making eye contact – they’re telling the truth!” You really need to observe the character throughout all of your interactions with them and finally make a judgment call based on your knowledge of them and their personality. Make a wrong move, and you’ve just shot yourself in the foot, possibly resulting in a premature end of a conversation, which then results in you having to find your next lead by taking a more circuitous route perhaps.

The music in the game is stunning – it sets the tone just right. I'm a huge jazz fan and so whenever I was driving around in a non-police car, the presence of that music just served to put me further into the world in which I was playing. The immersion level in this game is just great.

There were a few quirks in the game that made me go “Hmm…” but I am not going to go into detail with those now. There might be some of them that are addressed by the final build of the game and so I do not want to call attention to them unnecessarily. I will be doing the review of the game for TeamXBox, so look for that to arrive next month.

All in all, L.A. Noire is a stunning experience. There is nothing like it on the market now, nor has there really ever been something that attempts so much and seems to excel at it across the board. I was speaking with a few of the Rockstar guys as they were packing up my PS3 on Sunday, just about how many little subtle nuances there are to the gameplay. There is something special there, and I look forward to expanding on those things next month in my review.

...

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OMG I'm pumped for this game. It's like CSI meets GTA. I love the CSI games for xbox, but this one is much, much more interactive. Looks like it has quite a bit of replay value since the questions you ask can change the game completely.

On a side note, does anyone remember the old sierra games where you earned points based on things you do? I used to love trying to get 100% but it was pretty much impossible.

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Don't think it will after reading that preview.

Sounds fantastic, I just don't think people who usually enjoy murdering citizens and running over prostitutes will have as much fun since you are playing as a police officer.

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