L.A. Noire

Whilst L.A. Noire includes many impressive action sequences, it should not be described as an action game. As the detective assigned to solve crimes, your first duty is to visit the crime scene and search for clues, then to interrogate witnesses and suspects. After working as a patrol cop, you start as a detective on the Traffic desk, before moving to Homicide, then Vice, and finally Arson. This is one game where shooting first and asking questions later would get you nowhere.

The main focus of the game centres around your interaction with characters, and this is where L.A. Noire really shines. Using the new technology MotionScan, actors do not simply lend their voices – their entire performances are captured and placed in-game, and it’s an immense achievement. Once you see the end result, there is no going back. Play any other game and the facial animation will seem inferior. Every wrinkle, every blink, every smirk, it’s all caught and used in-game, and it is incredible. The characters in the game look just like their real-life actors, down to the tiniest detail, and you’ll see many familiar faces in L.A. Noire (including about half the cast of Mad Men).

But what’s the reason behind all this impressive new technology? Well, it enables you to perform real detective work. You can’t start dialogue with a suspect then put the controller down and go to make a cup of tea. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss vital details and facial tics that can give away whether or not someone is lying to you. In any conversation, you are given three options: Truth, Doubt and Lie. If you think someone is being straight with you, select Truth. If you think they aren’t giving you the whole story, select Doubt. Finally, if you think someone is flat-out lying, and you have the evidence to prove it, select Lie. It sounds simple, but interactions can be so subtle that selecting the right option can take some real thought. Select the wrong options, and characters are less co-operative, and you’ll have less of a chance to truly understand the motive and story behind a crime. L.A. Noire is perhaps the most meditative game ever made - there simply is not anything quite like it.

Aside from this dialogue-based core, the game perfects all the aspects that we as gamers have come to expect from a Rockstar project. Driving mechanics are flawless, gunplay is intuitive, as is the cover system, and character controls work well, apart from the occasional frustration that comes from attempting to face a clue at a crime scene. Furthermore, whilst you can’t run around gunning down innocent civilians, the realism of the open world experience remains. Crash into another car and you’re going to see some serious damage. Drive too fast on the sidewalk without your siren on, and you can kill someone by running them down. Causing damage affects the rating you receive after solving a case, so the incentive is there to keep carnage to a minimum.

Yet, despite all that L.A. Noire does well, and the new and intuitive gameplay that it has introduced, the game never quite feels like it reaches the dizzy heights of GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption. After a while working in a certain department, the game starts to feel very repetitive in places. This doesn’t last long, however, as you soon move to another desk. Completing cases and solving street crimes all goes towards “ranking up”. This in turn earns you intuition points, which work in a similar way to life-lines from Who Wants to be a Millionaire (to use an awful analogy). Essentially, spending them can eliminate interrogation options to leave you with only a right or wrong answer. They can also reveal the locations of clues at crime scenes. But all this ultimately seems pointless; an unnecessary system for rewarding gamers who are reluctant to completely let go of what they feel a game should entail. Personally, I completed the game without paying any attention to ranking up or intuition points.

The constant nods to the stories of famous detective novelists such as Raymond Chandler, and an atmosphere reminiscent of films including Chinatown, The Third Man and L.A. Confidential, all go towards recreating the seedy world of 1947 Los Angeles. You can even play in black and white to complete that film noir feel. The jazzy soundtrack is incredible too, as you’d expect from a Rockstar game. Unassigned cases are also a nice addition. There are 40 one-off, single-scene crimes to respond to over your police radio, and these all go towards creating a more lively, crime-ridden city, even if they can get somewhat repetitive. No other game developers know how to create a world quite like Rockstar. We saw it with Red Dead Redemption, and we see it with L.A. Noire.

L.A. Noire transcends the normal boundaries of what makes a game a game, but it’s not perfect. While some will surely love the clever plot, it never quite reaches that satisfying payoff, but it’s not without some amazing twists and turns along the way. Furthermore, despite the unmatched facial animation, you never feel that emotional connection to the characters which makes you truly care about what happens to them. Ultimately, L.A. Noire is bold and ambitious, and Rockstar Games and Team Bondi have succeeded in nearly every way. If you’re looking for a new experience, pick it up now and enjoy the sleazy, corrupt world of Hollywoodland.

L.A. Noire is out now on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

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