Review: L.A. Noire

Sorry for the delay, but here is my review of L.A. Noire.

This is most definitely an interesting piece.  Rockstar, the creators of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, set out with L.A. Noire to create the interactive equivalent of film noir, the genre to which black-and-white detective films such as The Big Sleep, Out of the Past (which I was delighted to see is actually playing in theaters across the game world of L.A. Noire), and The Maltese Falcon belong (if you've not seen any of those, I highly recommend you do).  In typical Rockstar fashion, they did so by recreating the entire city of Los Angeles as it may have appeared in 1940, because they like doing a lot of work.  Once again, that painstakingly detailed torture they have put themselves through has worked; though far from perfect, L.A. Noire is a fantastic example of interactive storytelling and investigative gameplay.

Rockstar hit the film noir, hard-boiled detective feel
directly on the head.  

L.A. Noire tells the story of Cole Phelps, a former marine who now serves as a policeman in the streets of L.A.  The game follows his rise to glory in the LAPD as he begins uncovering many levels of corruption within the system through his work in the homicide, vice, and arson departments.  Though the story takes a while to go from disconnected cases to a unified metanarrative, it covers a lot of ground, involving several twists, mysteries, and fascinating characters, and is truly entertaining and impacting in many ways.  Unfortunately, it largely fails in its depiction of the main character.  The picture of Cole that is given to the player in the first half of the game is suddenly and dramatically altered about halfway through, and since we get next to no understanding of his personal life outside of the occasional war flashback, there doesn't seem to be any good reason for it.  It implies character depth without actually developing any.  But the story just runs with it and expects us to accept it, culminating in a jumbled character journey for the protagonist that stands out as the jagged piece of gravel in the bed of polished gems that is L.A. Noire's story.  This does not ruin the story - it is still an exceptional and well-written tale that expertly mimics its filmic inspiration - but it does leave a rather empty feeling by the end (though that could be argued to be the point, considering the genre, but Cole's lack of real development made it ring hollow to me).

L.A. Noire has a particular visual element that really does define the rest of the game.  The game generally looks good, nothing to write home about, but the hugely publicized facial technology in the game creates some of the most realistic faces yet to appear in gaming.  This is accomplished by filming an actor from many angles with HD cameras to capture every little facial movement.  I think I agree with David Cage that the technology is a temporary solution, but that does not change the fact that it is really freaking impressive.  This does mean that the facial textures aren't quite as detailed as they could be (you won't be seeing the pore-revealing detail of experiences like Heavy Rain), but that hardly matters; the eye twitches, eyebrow movements, and subtle facial cues are extremely impressive, and they allow the game to do things we can expect to influence the industry for a long time to come.

Actor John Noble on the left, and his character in
L.A. Noire, Leland Monroe, on the right.  Yeah.  

The obvious thing this technology allows is easier connection to the characters.  They just seem more human than they may have without the detailed facial expressions, and everyone has a completely different face since they were all taken from real actors.  There is a level of non-verbal acting that has rarely been possible in a video game, allowing characters to make a strong impression even in only a few minutes of screen time.

However, the biggest effect of the L.A. Noire's technology is the ability to base gameplay not on systems and rules, but on observation of voices and faces.  This manifests itself in interrogation sequences not unlike Phoenix Wright's courtroom sequences in some ways, but much more dynamic.  Rather than simply scrolling through the character's words and finding contradictions or weak spots, the player must actively and carefully watch the character for signs of lying or discomfort.  The player must decide to believe or doubt the person being questioned, or if there is evidence that directly contradicts something they can simply accuse the person of lying and present the evidence to back them into a corner.  This creates an interesting and realistic experience that would not have been possible without the detailed facial movements, and has interesting implications for how video games can create non-combat-related gameplay.  There are also real consequences for messing up these interrogations, such as missing a vital clue or even charging the wrong person, making the game worth playing over to see what changes if less mistakes are made.  This often leads to frustration, as the answer is not always apparent, but there is always one right answer, and a chime lets you know if you got it right or wrong.  But once you get used to using facial cues rather than systematized rules to progress, it gets much easier and a lot more interesting.

In fact, combat and other action-oriented sequences take up a surprisingly small portion of the L.A. Noire experience.  Driving is a large part of the game, obviously, and high-speed pursuits, while sometimes frustrating, are exhilarating and no less of a spectacle than a well-directed chase scene in an action film.  Similarly entertaining is the ability to turn your siren on at any given time and cruise down the street while the good citizens clear your way.  Mostly, at least; sometimes the drivers in this game seem like complete idiots, and stop signs in 1940s L.A. definitely don't work quite like they do today if the A.I. traffic are any indication.  But still, the driving is great and the pulse-poundingly intense car chases never fail to impress.

In all seriousness, why does Rockstar insist on RB/R1 as
taking cover?  It just doesn't work as well as a face button.

Shootouts are the most disappointing part of the gameplay, but they are definitely not terrible, and they are a small enough part of the experience that it will not have much of a negative impact on your experience.  The cover system is similar to that found in Red Dead Redemption, but it is actually more clunky and difficult to accurately control.  I would often try to round cover or switch to the other side of a doorway, only to find myself standing in the path of a bunch of bullets instead of actually moving anywhere.  What's more, the right trigger both fires your weapon and makes you run.  You can imagine the confusion that tends to cause, aside from the fact that it severely limits the application of both actions.  In addition, the game's painstaking attention to detail falls a short here; namely, there is no way to take someone alive in a shootout.  You must always kill them.  For what the game is, this adoption of straightforward shooter rules seems a bit out of place.  If the game spent more time on shootouts I might take bigger issue with their shortcomings, but in the 25+ hours of gameplay I only spent about 2-3 of those hours in combat, so it's really not a huge deal.

The city of Los Angeles is absolutely huge, and the player will spend a lot of time traversing it.  Many landmarks have been faithfully recreated and can be discovered, and the architecture, music, and 95 specific types of cars from the time period and location have been perfectly recreated to make the atmosphere of the game spot-on.  The world definitely seems inhabited as well, with many people walking the streets and even talking about recent events such as Cole's cases.  There is even an option to play the game in black and white, a feature I turned on a few hours in and never went back; it made the entire game feel like I was playing a classic movie.  Exploring the city is fun not only because of the atmosphere, but because there are a total of 40 street crimes that will be called in on the radio every so often.  These are short and simple, usually consisting of a shootout or car chase, and can occur anytime you are driving around the city.

All in all, L.A. Noire is a game that stands as an example of what gaming can be, and though it wobbles a bit with the steps it takes forward, new ground is being covered and is well worth exploring.  Considering Take Two has said the game's sales make it a "powerful new franchise," here's hoping to a sequel where they can iron out the wrinkles and further develop the game's more groundbreaking elements.