L.A. Noire might have come out last year, but that doesn't stop it from still deserving high praise. I love this game by far my number one game of all time.
Because it's my goal to join the Police force and serve my country, LA Noire is one of the most important games I’ve ever played.
It’s not perfect. In some areas it can be downright scrappy. It asks as many questions as it answers. And not everyone will buy into its ideas. But as the product of a medium striving to match film and TV, it’s a brave, if flawed, move into a new chapter of game narrative. A brilliant marriage of new technology and traditional gumshoe storytelling, LA Noire is a game of transition.
It’s fitting, then, that the game is set in the late 1940s, an era which saw the winds of change sweeping throughout the world. The war was over. Soldiers scattered to the corners of the Earth were returning home. Those coming back to Los Angeles found a city bathed in the grotesque glow of Hollywood. Moneyed men and movie stars had been getting rich while young soldiers were dying in the dirt abroad. All G.Is had to return to was another dead end job and crowded housing, spending their evenings in crummy bars with cheap whisky and cigarettes. Forgotten in the shadows of the bright studio lights.
For Cole Phelps, though, things are different. A lieutenant returning from the heart of Okinawa, Phelps finds himself the subject of a meteoric rise in the Los Angeles Police Department. From beat cop to detective in less than a year, Phelps’ becomes the LAPD’s golden boy with the Silver Star, grabbing headlines of austerity for an organization struggling with accusations of corruption.
It is Phelps’ progression through the ranks of the LAPD that forms the backbone of LA Noire’s tale. Structured like a television series, each episode features a self-contained case for Phelps to solve, while the overarching story slowly unfurls. A challenge that video game writers have historically faced is maintaining a compelling tale for so many hours, while simultaneously wrapping the story around straightforward game mechanics (usually shooting things). While you will have the odd gunfight, LA Noire tackles the problem beautifully, allowing each case to breath within its own episode and slowly teasing out the details with measured, methodical game play.
It’s the layers built on that core that turn it into something that’s oddly familiar, yet quite unlike anything else. The shell of the game is a painstaking recreation of Los Angeles circa 1947, which can be explored by jumping into a gorgeous 40s chevy and driving the streets, just like any Grand Theft Auto title. While the cars look the part, the handling is deliberately loose and zippy. On the surface, LA Noire appears to bear comparison to GTA and Red Dead Redemption, but the rhythm and details of LA Noire are profoundly different to Rockstar’s previous oeuvre.
It is sleuthing, deduction and interrogation which represent LA Noire’s beating heart. After being handed a case, you must drive to the crime scene, hunt out clues and follow any leads that are revealed. For instance, the very first case has you investigating an abandoned vehicle, its inside painted in blood but with no body or owner to be seen. As Phelps, you must canvas the scene, identifying pertinent evidence. As you walk near an object that can be investigated, a suggestive piano tinkle and controller rumble draws your attention. You find a steel pipe stained with blood. Having picked up the object, you can turn it over in your hand to have a closer look. A brand name is etched on the metal: “Instaheat”. That gives you a lead to follow, and the wallet of the missing car owner supplies an address. Both clues are jotted into Phelps’ notebook, your most important piece of equipment.
One thing you will notice as you search a crime area is that Team Bondi is clearly hot on accessibility. When you first arrive, a crime scene will tend to be raw, allowing you to pick through the evidence. Run into a dead end, though, and you can ask your irascible partner for advice. After a while other officers will kneel down in front of important clues, nudging your eye towards it. Finally, the technical bods on scene will lay down yellow markers next to crucial evidence. Phelps is the hero, but he can’t solve a case without the advice of the coroner on hand, or the helpful voice of dispatch on the end of a telephone, supplying addresses and other essential tidbits of information.
When you track down a crucial witness, it’s time to put the screws on. This is where LA Noire’s remarkable technology comes to life. Much has been said about Team Bondi’s new facial animation system called “Motion Scan”, a motion capture technique that picks up the tiniest detail of an actor’s performance and translates it to a game character. Seeing it in action is genuinely astounding, with the tiniest flick of an eye or curling of the lips clearly visible.
Motion Scan isn’t just technical bluster either. Interviewing witnesses and suspects is an integral piece of LA Noire’s framework. As you talk to an interviewee, you will have a list of questions related to the evidence you have found. As your subject replies, you have to study them in order to decide if they are lying or not. While any lie is deliberately oversold by the actor as they sit pouting or shifting their eyes from side to side, it’s not always simple to extract the truth. Often you will do well to catch the lie early from tone of voice, or a quick glance sideways. You have three tones of response for Phelps to choose from: 'Truth' if you believe them, 'Doubt' if you feel they’re holding out, and 'Lie' to accuse them of deliberate misdirection. If you accuse them of lying, you are expected to follow up with hard evidence. Get your response wrong, and the subject will clam up, depriving you of essential evidence.
It’s deeply impressive stuff, and quite unlike any other conversation system we have seen. It is genuinely frustrating when a subject sends you astray. There is the odd issue, however. Quite often the distinction between 'Doubt'' and Lie' is too opaque. And because your response is only guided by tone, there can be occasions where you are unsure of exactly what you’ll end up accusing your witness of. Given that you can back out of a 'Lie' response if you don’t have the right evidence, I found myself choosing 'Lie', just in order to see what route the conversation would take and backing out if it wasn't the question I was hoping for. It’s an unnatural hitch in an otherwise remarkable system.
Once all clues have been found and all witnesses interviewed, you then have a handful of leads to investigate and new locations to visit. While LA Noire will massage disparate leads into definable lines of investigation, it’s not always a one way street. Missed clues or a fluffed interview can leave you without crucial evidence, and while there is no fail state outside of action scenes with the story carrying on regardless, a scrappy investigation will lead to a poor end of case rank and a chewing out by your superior officers. In some cases there is even a chance of accusing the wrong suspect, and failing to extract a confession can result in you throwing an innocent man to the wolves.
Quite where the story branches as you play through is unclear, which is terrific in delivering a seamless experience, but LA Noire will no doubt spark interesting debate over the conflict between authorial control and player interaction in video game stories. The episodic nature of LA Noire allows each case to unfold in its own way (with some prescribed guidance, of course, maybe a little too much) but the overarching story will remain intact. This throws up a certain level of dissonance once or twice, when you can’t help but question your own input. It’s impossible to surmise without spoiling the plot, but the creators have undoubtedly bent the rules to tell the story they want to tell. Whether or not you find that a copout is up to you.
Personally, the thrill of the new and brilliance of execution allows me to forgive the odd fractured moment. I am loathe to use the word ‘immersive’ lightly, but in terms of stepping into Phelps’ shoes, in terms of playing a role, LA Noire stands alone. Much of that is down to the technology, but that technical stuff is useless without brilliant acting and dialogue. LA Noire has both. Aaron Staton of Mad Men takes on the role of Phelps and he is superb at conveying the character’s naive sense of nobility, a man of apparent high moral standing in a world of crooks. But every single character you come across is played with the same aplomb, caught in a time of high racial, social and economic tension. The writing is superbly understated, with a staunch refusal to slip into video game or detective noir cliché. And it also refuses to pull its punches. Some cases are uncomfortably gruesome, with Phelps having to inspect defiled corpses. However, it’s all dealt with in cold stoicism; these scenes aren’t in there for shock value, they are there to tell a tragic story of needless violence and are dealt with in suitable fashion.
It’s this bravery to commit to an idea, a sense of purpose that sets LA Noire apart. Some players will no doubt find it difficult to settle into its sedate rhythm, and those looking for manic action will be better served elsewhere. But what a marvelous advert LA Noire can be for the eclecticism of video games, taking familiar mechanics that have been honed down the years and molding them into an ambitious drama of exceptional impact. With that ambition comes rough edges, issues that need closer investigation. However, on the strength of this case, I can only hope the rest of the industry follows LA Noire’s lead.
It's more then a game to me. It's a masterpiece. Few games have impacted me and I thank Rockstar and Bondi for the seven long years it took them to make a game that to me, defines a true work of art.
-Snelling
It is sleuthing, deduction and interrogation which represent LA Noire’s beating heart. After being handed a case, you must drive to the crime scene, hunt out clues and follow any leads that are revealed. For instance, the very first case has you investigating an abandoned vehicle, its inside painted in blood but with no body or owner to be seen. As Phelps, you must canvas the scene, identifying pertinent evidence. As you walk near an object that can be investigated, a suggestive piano tinkle and controller rumble draws your attention. You find a steel pipe stained with blood. Having picked up the object, you can turn it over in your hand to have a closer look. A brand name is etched on the metal: “Instaheat”. That gives you a lead to follow, and the wallet of the missing car owner supplies an address. Both clues are jotted into Phelps’ notebook, your most important piece of equipment.
One thing you will notice as you search a crime area is that Team Bondi is clearly hot on accessibility. When you first arrive, a crime scene will tend to be raw, allowing you to pick through the evidence. Run into a dead end, though, and you can ask your irascible partner for advice. After a while other officers will kneel down in front of important clues, nudging your eye towards it. Finally, the technical bods on scene will lay down yellow markers next to crucial evidence. Phelps is the hero, but he can’t solve a case without the advice of the coroner on hand, or the helpful voice of dispatch on the end of a telephone, supplying addresses and other essential tidbits of information.
When you track down a crucial witness, it’s time to put the screws on. This is where LA Noire’s remarkable technology comes to life. Much has been said about Team Bondi’s new facial animation system called “Motion Scan”, a motion capture technique that picks up the tiniest detail of an actor’s performance and translates it to a game character. Seeing it in action is genuinely astounding, with the tiniest flick of an eye or curling of the lips clearly visible.
Motion Scan isn’t just technical bluster either. Interviewing witnesses and suspects is an integral piece of LA Noire’s framework. As you talk to an interviewee, you will have a list of questions related to the evidence you have found. As your subject replies, you have to study them in order to decide if they are lying or not. While any lie is deliberately oversold by the actor as they sit pouting or shifting their eyes from side to side, it’s not always simple to extract the truth. Often you will do well to catch the lie early from tone of voice, or a quick glance sideways. You have three tones of response for Phelps to choose from: 'Truth' if you believe them, 'Doubt' if you feel they’re holding out, and 'Lie' to accuse them of deliberate misdirection. If you accuse them of lying, you are expected to follow up with hard evidence. Get your response wrong, and the subject will clam up, depriving you of essential evidence.
It’s deeply impressive stuff, and quite unlike any other conversation system we have seen. It is genuinely frustrating when a subject sends you astray. There is the odd issue, however. Quite often the distinction between 'Doubt'' and Lie' is too opaque. And because your response is only guided by tone, there can be occasions where you are unsure of exactly what you’ll end up accusing your witness of. Given that you can back out of a 'Lie' response if you don’t have the right evidence, I found myself choosing 'Lie', just in order to see what route the conversation would take and backing out if it wasn't the question I was hoping for. It’s an unnatural hitch in an otherwise remarkable system.
Once all clues have been found and all witnesses interviewed, you then have a handful of leads to investigate and new locations to visit. While LA Noire will massage disparate leads into definable lines of investigation, it’s not always a one way street. Missed clues or a fluffed interview can leave you without crucial evidence, and while there is no fail state outside of action scenes with the story carrying on regardless, a scrappy investigation will lead to a poor end of case rank and a chewing out by your superior officers. In some cases there is even a chance of accusing the wrong suspect, and failing to extract a confession can result in you throwing an innocent man to the wolves.
Quite where the story branches as you play through is unclear, which is terrific in delivering a seamless experience, but LA Noire will no doubt spark interesting debate over the conflict between authorial control and player interaction in video game stories. The episodic nature of LA Noire allows each case to unfold in its own way (with some prescribed guidance, of course, maybe a little too much) but the overarching story will remain intact. This throws up a certain level of dissonance once or twice, when you can’t help but question your own input. It’s impossible to surmise without spoiling the plot, but the creators have undoubtedly bent the rules to tell the story they want to tell. Whether or not you find that a copout is up to you.
Personally, the thrill of the new and brilliance of execution allows me to forgive the odd fractured moment. I am loathe to use the word ‘immersive’ lightly, but in terms of stepping into Phelps’ shoes, in terms of playing a role, LA Noire stands alone. Much of that is down to the technology, but that technical stuff is useless without brilliant acting and dialogue. LA Noire has both. Aaron Staton of Mad Men takes on the role of Phelps and he is superb at conveying the character’s naive sense of nobility, a man of apparent high moral standing in a world of crooks. But every single character you come across is played with the same aplomb, caught in a time of high racial, social and economic tension. The writing is superbly understated, with a staunch refusal to slip into video game or detective noir cliché. And it also refuses to pull its punches. Some cases are uncomfortably gruesome, with Phelps having to inspect defiled corpses. However, it’s all dealt with in cold stoicism; these scenes aren’t in there for shock value, they are there to tell a tragic story of needless violence and are dealt with in suitable fashion.
It’s this bravery to commit to an idea, a sense of purpose that sets LA Noire apart. Some players will no doubt find it difficult to settle into its sedate rhythm, and those looking for manic action will be better served elsewhere. But what a marvelous advert LA Noire can be for the eclecticism of video games, taking familiar mechanics that have been honed down the years and molding them into an ambitious drama of exceptional impact. With that ambition comes rough edges, issues that need closer investigation. However, on the strength of this case, I can only hope the rest of the industry follows LA Noire’s lead.
It's more then a game to me. It's a masterpiece. Few games have impacted me and I thank Rockstar and Bondi for the seven long years it took them to make a game that to me, defines a true work of art.
-Snelling
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