Do you ever get the feeling that something was created specifically for you? That's what L.A. Noire
makes me feel. See, I love the era of between the 1920s and 1940s. The
cars, the women, the simplicity, the music, fashion and radio. Films
like Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Hoodlum, The Godfather
appeal to me because they take me back to a time that I would wish to
visit should I ever get a time traveling DeLorean. Video games have
scratched the itch of experiencing life during the era ( Mafia and The Saboteur
come to mind), but as fun and exciting as those games were, I found
that their action got in the way of enjoying the atmosphere. L.A. Noire does the complete opposite.
Team
Bondi's game was a long time coming. Originally announced as a
Playstation 3 exclusive back in 2007, the game was often delayed and
nearly forgotten until Rockstar decided to publish it and launched a
meaty advertising campaign to promote it. Now that the game is on the
shelves, we can see why the game took so long to develop - Team Bondi
has utilized a new facial animation tech that is not just out of this
world, but sets a new standard for believable-looking video game
characters.
L.A. Noire
is an adventure game set in a recreated Los Angeles from 1947. The main
protagonist of the game is Cole Phelps, a World War II veteran who has
joined the Los Angeles Police Department in order to clean up the
streets and mete out justice. Cole is a do-gooder, and his strong sense
of justice and duty tends to put him at odds against the older, gruffer
police officers and detectives. Throughout the course of the story, Cole
will rise through the ranks of the LAPD, starting off as a lowly beat
cop and later being promoted to the department's Traffic, Homicide, Vice
and Arson divisions. Crimes can take any form: domestic violence,
blackmail, murder and even classic insurance fraud.
The game is
divided up into individual cases that must be solved in order to move
on. Each case is accompanied by an introductory cutscene (complete with
titles) that show the crime in progress. Phelps and his partner are then
tasked by the captain to visit the scene of the crime. The player must
scrounge the scene for various clues and take statements from witnesses,
all of which will create leads for Phelps to follow up on. When
examining the crime scene, you can pick up various objects and use the
Left analog stick to manipulate the object. Items such as purses,
matchbooks, shoes and even corpses hold the clues Phelps needs to solve a
case. When the scene has been thoroughly examined, Phelps and his
partner must travel around town to witnesses and anyone related to the
victim.
When questioning witnesses, Phelps can put forth a number
of questions about the crime in an attempt to gain a response. Some
people my tell the truth, but many will lie and its up to you to know
when and how to call them out of their lies. This is were Team Bondi's
new facial tech comes into play. Because catching the tells on people's
faces is integral to the game, instead of modeling and animating faces
by hand, Team Bondi utilized a series of cameras that film a real
person's head and neck while they speak their lines. These facial
recordings are fed into a computer and then brought into the game,
resulting in the most realistic looking faces ever in a video game.
You'll know when someone is lying - their eyes will shift erratically,
they'll open and close their mouths, you can see them swallow repeatedly
and they'll look around to avoid your gaze. It's insane to see how
incredibly real it all looks. It's not perfect - the animated bodies are
a little stiff and don't quite match the finesse of the faces - but
damn, this is one hell of a tech demo.
When you put forth a
question about the crime, you have three options once the suspect has
given an answer. You can believe the statement to be true, doubt it or
you can call it a lie. When you accuse the suspect of lying, they will
become angered and you will have to present a piece of evidence that
proves their lie, otherwise you'll have to back out of the accusation
and run the risk of having the suspect clam up. This is why it is
important to examine every detail. While you cannot fail to solve a
case, screwing up the investigation means it will take longer to figure
out. The greatest penalty for failure is having the captain give you a harsh dressing down for screwing up. Other than that, there is no severe game ending penalty for failure. After the case is solved, you are given a one to five star rating
based on several factors (car damage, property damage, number of
questions successfully asked, number of evidence collected). If you're
not happy with the result, you can always replay the case for a better
score.
Although L.A. Noire is primarily an adventure game and features game mechanics akin to the Phoenix Wright series, the game also sports an open world a la Grand Theft Auto. However, unlike GTA,
you cannot rampage through Los Angeles, spreading murder and mayhem at
every turn. As a police officer, your job is to uphold the law, not
break it, which means you won't fire your gun until the game lets you -
usually during shootouts. When you are allowed to point a gun at a
fleeing suspect, you'll need to keep the reticule focused on him until
it fills up, at which point Phelps fires a warning shot into the air.
I feel that this is an important thing to point out. L.A. Noire is NOT Grand Theft Auto.
If you were walking into this game thinking you're going to riddle Los
Angeles with bullets, you're going to be severely disappointed. L.A. Noire
is a slow, methodical open world police procedural and all action takes
a back seat to police investigation. While there is action sequences in
the game, they are overly simplified. Weapons have infinite ammo and
there's a one button run-to-cover function. While cruising the streets,
police dispatch with randomly call all cars to deal with a crime in
progress. Pressing X during these dispatches will cause an icon to
appear on the minimap, showing the direction of the crime. These side
missions are totally random and will call upon you to halt criminal
activities such as stopping a bank robbery, preventing someone from
jumping off a roof, stopping a gang fight and saving a hostage (these
end up being the trickiest action sequences). Once you complete your
tenure as a Traffic detective, you'll unlock a free roam mode where you
can tackle small crimes, locate famous landmarks and collect hidden film
canisters.
Let's talk about the game's presentation. L.A. Noire
drips atmosphere. From the hardcore recreation of Los Angeles (Team
Bondi poured over archival photos of the city) to the period-specific
make up and hairstyles the actors have been given and licensed music,
this game has everything I've ever wanted in a period piece. The game's
score, composed by Andrew Hale (of the band Sade) is wonderful and is a
few notes away from sounding like something from Chinatown
and the sultry, sexy slow jazz is perfect for the game. The game's cast
is made up of familiar actors and famous character actors. Cole Phelps
is portrayed by Mad Men's Aaron Staton and he does a fantastic job as the naive cop who moves further into the shady and seedy depths of Los Angeles.
L.A. Noire
is a boon for the adventure genre and the technology used to give the
in-game characters life has set a new standard for digital actors. I'm
really excited to see what other developers can do with it. Creating
endearing and realistic characters have always been thwarted by the
Uncanny Valley, but as this new tech gets refined and streamlined, that
may become a thing of the past. Team Bondi has announced DLC for L.A. Noire
in the form of new cases to play through, but I wonder how far they'll
go with them. The actors will have to be called back in to record and
film new dialog, which could mean that it will take longer in between
DLC releases. But then again, they've probably already completed
development on all scheduled DLC. Oh, and for the record? Team Bondi
needs to do a DLC case based on the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? How awesome would that be?
L.A. Noire
is available on the PS3 and Xbox 360. While the PS3 version fits on
one Blu-Ray disc, the Xbox 360 version comes on three separate discs.
During my time with the game, I did not experience any graphical issues
or glitches during the game, save for a few pop-ups. While I am deeply
enamored with the game - I realize that most people aren't like me so
I'll mention it again: it may not be for everyone. It's not an action
game and it may not appeal to those who are a fan of open world games
like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row.
That said, I don't think this is a game that shouldn't be missed. You
should experience it in some capacity because it is a technical marvel.
What is also great about the game is its attraction to casual audiences.
Since the game's release, I've had two of my female friends (both
married and don't play many video games) tell me how much they're loving
it. See? You can make a game that appeals to everyone without
sacrificing quality or dumbing down anything.
