L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Nice review, Kingkilla. I agree with your general impressions of the game. I'm still not done with it, but right now I'd give it a solid 8/10. Phelps is a bum. I find myself wanting to smack him sometimes when he gets hostile during interrogations.

[Jukeman]

My final review of LA Noire. Very long, but extremely little to no story spoilers involved.

Spoiler

After doing everything possible in the game (minus the DLC that is sure to be more of the same). The game falls short of a GOTY candidate imo. While an excellent first shot at it, the game misses on a few areas.

As a cinematic driven game, choosing to mask the game's linear....ness with a sandbox coat was a miss in my book. Because of that, and the Rockstar name, the game was inevitably going to be compared to open world games like GTA and RDR. Because of that, the game felt extremely limited and I felt handcuffed by the gameplay. I basically couldnt do anything . Outside of investigations, there is more or less nothing to do. You walk around, you drive, maybe do a street mission if youre really bored. Collecting film reels and cars felt more of a last second add on when they realized they hadnt put in enough toys for the sand box. This is why many gamers feel that the world/map of LA Noire is wasted, a set piece game is what was called for for this movie based adventure game.

The investigative game play was done very well in my opinion. Very detailed objects of interest. But the teasing of random items became annoying by the end of the game. I played with rumble on, so when trying to clear a map of all clues, picking up 2 bottles, 4 cups, and a useless trumpet seemed like a cheap way to lengthen the time of play.

The acting, voice work, facial animations, and general body physics were top grade in gaming to this day. Story aside, the actors employed for this game did an astonishing job. Sometimes they played up their facial movements for questioning, but that could be understood for the sake of the gamers. Had the actors been instructed to go all out, Im sure people would complain about the difficulty.

Back to the game's handcuffing. Missions are extremely linear, especially action scenes. This is made painfully obvious in chasing scenes where the suspect gets random speed bursts and/or super physics to prolong a chase. The game even "force-holsters your gun for you" as you can only shoot when the game says you may. That is as linear as it gets folks. I know you play an officer of the law, but this is the game policing the gamer. That along with cat like pedestrians who jump out of the way of moving vehicles with ease, and you have yourself a true, 100% adventure game. Also, the fact that you can literally get every single interrogation question wrong in the game and still complete it is another testimony to the game's lack of dynamic game play. The game may adjust to your failure, but in the end, it doesn't. You still get the story information necessary for the subsequent case/ or overlying case. Some may argue that it wasnt Rockstar's intention to make an open world dynamic game and you get what you get with LA Noire, but then why bother making such a detailed world for so little payout?

I know Ive made it pretty clear that I hate the main protagonist Cole Phelps but I dont think I could stress this enough. He is the same note throughout the entire game with little to no character development (is there such a thing as character regression?). His 5 partners, highlighted by Vice Detective Roy Earle had more interesting aspects than he. The fact that they left 99% of Cole's personal life in the dark from the player who is controlling him was a giant miss-fire by Team Bondi and Rockstar. The only reason I sympathized with Cole throughout the game is because I was Cole. This isnt a knock on the actor. Cole is played great for what he is, even though he seemed a little bi-polar during interrogation scenes. Almost every supporting cast member was more interesting that Cole, especially his Military Unit Squad mates Courtney and Jack.

The arching storyline for the game needed a better focus. I know this was more of a case by case game, but without that major story line from beginning to end, the game fell apart after vice desk. I know the "drug case" may be considered the over arching story, but that just means that Traffic Homicide Desks were absolutely pointless (even though they were awesome). The newspaper videos served as the glue of the main story. As you did cases pertaining to homicide, you got a paper "reminding" you of what the overall game is about. That seemed cheap to me but I can understand why it was necessary.

I know I may have painted an extremely negative picture over the game, but to be clear, this is a fantastic adventure game. It may have casted it's net too wide by trying to be a sandbox adventure game though with little to no...sandboxyness? With a good story, fantastic acting, and innovative investigative game play, this game will be a great stepping stone for sequels and well developed DLC for LA Noire and other titles looking to explore the genre. I have full confidence that Rockstar will comeback, and absolutely blow the door off of the next LA Noire (esque) title, using this as a stepping stone.

I said it was long didnt I? Anyway, I'm officially moving on from this one. See you next April Rockstar!

Nice read and review, pretty much my impressions so far with the game.

[aukevin]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Got the platinum, final game time was 1d 9h 45m 8s.

Congrats! I'm almost there, just 26 more gold film reels, the Moose trophy, and the $47k damage one I believe.

[Giants4Natic]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Finished the game last night. Also played the Naked City and it was a good case as well.

Ending was very good and felt just right for the Noire appeal.

I need to finish 8 more side missions and find all 50 reels along with about 30 more cars. I am at about 75%

[ChubbyBanana]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Anyone have any ideas for a quick way to grab the 47K Damage Trophy?

Sorry if it's been discussed earlier in the thread.

[TheDutchDad]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Is the Black Dahlia case in this game? I'm only up to the Silk Stocking Murder.

[goh]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Glitchy + 1 save slot + unskippable scenes =

Anyone have any ideas for a quick way to grab the 47K Damage Trophy?

Sorry if it's been discussed earlier in the thread.

Pick a vice case and hop in the fire truck in the next lot over.
Drive on the sidewallk.
Derail the trams.

Is the Black Dahlia case in this game? I'm only up to the Silk Stocking Murder.

Not paying much attention huh??

[TheDutchDad]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Glitchy + 1 save slot + unskippable scenes =



Pick a vice case and hop in the fire truck in the next lot over.
Drive on the sidewallk.
Derail the trams.



Not paying much attention huh??

Sure I am. And I know this game revolves around that, but what I want to know if the ACTUAL Black Dahlia murder, of Elizabeth Short, chopped in half is in this game.

[SPTO]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Kingzilla I pretty much see where you're going with your review and I agree with most points though I knew this wasn't going to be your typical sandbox game so I could live with what we got that way. As to your impressions on Phelps:

Spoiler

I agree that his partners were far more interesting than he was but I don't buy into the idea that he regressed. I gave my impressions of what I think of Cole and the way the story unfolded after finishing the game and I stand by them.

I think as a "first ever" in the world of video games Team Bondi and Rockstar did a great job. It's definitely not the GOTY everyone was touting it as but with a few adjustments here and there I can see more games of this type being undertaken. I give LA Noire a solid 8.5 out of 10.

[goh]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Sure I am. And I know this game revolves around that, but what I want to know if the ACTUAL Black Dahlia murder, of Elizabeth Short, chopped in half is in this game.

You do see every reference to it is in past tense? So no it's not in there.
Unless it'll be a DLC case later.

Spoiler

In the game world I would guess Roy and the captain worked it. Roy mentions they used to be partners. I'd like if the DLC had Roy as the main character.

[SPTO]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Spoiler

In the game world I would guess Roy and the captain worked it. Roy mentions they used to be partners. I'd like if the DLC had Roy as the main character.

Spoiler

It'd be quite different to play as a seedy cop who's willing to break the rules.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Having a tough time figuring this out. Im trying to get all the newspapers, Ive got 12/13, and according to the Rockstar Social Network Im missing #2 (Alienist Fontaine Provides Help to Troubled Vets) and its on the kitchen counter in The Drivers Seat case. I've looked at the paper a few times, watched the cinematic and it still doesnt pop telling me Ive found the newspaper. Is there no direct connection between the covers shown on the rockstar website and the ones in the game? Are they not in order as to when you would find them on the rockstar website? Im baffled at the moment.

Yeah, they're something messed with that showing. In game, you can look at the cases, though, and if you see one with a gray newspaper icon, that's the one you gotta look at.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

My final review of LA Noire. Very long, but extremely little to no story spoilers involved.

Spoiler

After doing everything possible in the game (minus the DLC that is sure to be more of the same). The game falls short of a GOTY candidate imo. While an excellent first shot at it, the game misses on a few areas.

As a cinematic driven game, choosing to mask the game's linear....ness with a sandbox coat was a miss in my book. Because of that, and the Rockstar name, the game was inevitably going to be compared to open world games like GTA and RDR. Because of that, the game felt extremely limited and I felt handcuffed by the gameplay. I basically couldnt do anything . Outside of investigations, there is more or less nothing to do. You walk around, you drive, maybe do a street mission if youre really bored. Collecting film reels and cars felt more of a last second add on when they realized they hadnt put in enough toys for the sand box. This is why many gamers feel that the world/map of LA Noire is wasted, a set piece game is what was called for for this movie based adventure game.

The investigative game play was done very well in my opinion. Very detailed objects of interest. But the teasing of random items became annoying by the end of the game. I played with rumble on, so when trying to clear a map of all clues, picking up 2 bottles, 4 cups, and a useless trumpet seemed like a cheap way to lengthen the time of play.

The acting, voice work, facial animations, and general body physics were top grade in gaming to this day. Story aside, the actors employed for this game did an astonishing job. Sometimes they played up their facial movements for questioning, but that could be understood for the sake of the gamers. Had the actors been instructed to go all out, Im sure people would complain about the difficulty.

Back to the game's handcuffing. Missions are extremely linear, especially action scenes. This is made painfully obvious in chasing scenes where the suspect gets random speed bursts and/or super physics to prolong a chase. The game even "force-holsters your gun for you" as you can only shoot when the game says you may. That is as linear as it gets folks. I know you play an officer of the law, but this is the game policing the gamer. That along with cat like pedestrians who jump out of the way of moving vehicles with ease, and you have yourself a true, 100% adventure game. Also, the fact that you can literally get every single interrogation question wrong in the game and still complete it is another testimony to the game's lack of dynamic game play. The game may adjust to your failure, but in the end, it doesn't. You still get the story information necessary for the subsequent case/ or overlying case. Some may argue that it wasnt Rockstar's intention to make an open world dynamic game and you get what you get with LA Noire, but then why bother making such a detailed world for so little payout?

I know Ive made it pretty clear that I hate the main protagonist Cole Phelps but I dont think I could stress this enough. He is the same note throughout the entire game with little to no character development (is there such a thing as character regression?). His 5 partners, highlighted by Vice Detective Roy Earle had more interesting aspects than he. The fact that they left 99% of Cole's personal life in the dark from the player who is controlling him was a giant miss-fire by Team Bondi and Rockstar. The only reason I sympathized with Cole throughout the game is because I was Cole. This isnt a knock on the actor. Cole is played great for what he is, even though he seemed a little bi-polar during interrogation scenes. Almost every supporting cast member was more interesting that Cole, especially his Military Unit Squad mates Courtney and Jack.

The arching storyline for the game needed a better focus. I know this was more of a case by case game, but without that major story line from beginning to end, the game fell apart after vice desk. I know the "drug case" may be considered the over arching story, but that just means that Traffic Homicide Desks were absolutely pointless (even though they were awesome). The newspaper videos served as the glue of the main story. As you did cases pertaining to homicide, you got a paper "reminding" you of what the overall game is about. That seemed cheap to me but I can understand why it was necessary.

I know I may have painted an extremely negative picture over the game, but to be clear, this is a fantastic adventure game. It may have casted it's net too wide by trying to be a sandbox adventure game though with little to no...sandboxyness? With a good story, fantastic acting, and innovative investigative game play, this game will be a great stepping stone for sequels and well developed DLC for LA Noire and other titles looking to explore the genre. I have full confidence that Rockstar will comeback, and absolutely blow the door off of the next LA Noire (esque) title, using this as a stepping stone.

I said it was long didnt I? Anyway, I'm officially moving on from this one. See you next April Rockstar!

I understand a lot of your points, but other than the LA setting, I never felt like this game tried to be a sandbox game. SPTO got the nail right on the head when he said that the R* publishing would be both a blessing and a curse for this game. Obviously this game reached a much wider audience with the connection to R* than it would have if it simply developed and published the game itself, but on the flip-side people have come to automatically associate R* with sandbox games and LA Noire is anything but. It is a linear, story-based based through and through.

The map itself is more about immersion and creating an atmosphere instead of touting a sandbox, open-world feel. The way I feel about the map is that for the cases it acts as an over-arcing link and for the overall game is simply a central setting, a "living level" if you will. Personally, I think if the game had simply limited locations for each individual case (ie: Alan Wake) it would have hindered the game's atmosphere and total immersion. What better way to get into the shoes of a detective than to drive to the crime scene and then to seek out and interview persons of interest. I understand that people feel slighted because its a big, "open" map and want to throw random sandbox quests in there, but that's not what this game shot for.

This game is a linear game, I think that's very clear. Its a cinematic, story-driven game. The holstering/non-holstering makes sense in the context of the game. I somewhat agree with you about the car chases. I enjoyed them overall and they were very cinematic, but the scripted traffic was annoying on some chases. Still, it was a pretty cool moment to pull up beside a car, pop their tire, slam into their side and watch their car flip up on its roof. The chase scenes really aren't much different from other games, either. GTA chases were scripted and pretty linear too from what I recall, so it seems like a choice that developers make. I mean, its not much fun when all the chases end within a couple seconds.

I played with rumble off, but as far as I know that option simply let you know when something could be picked up, whether it was relevant or not. If all you could pick up were clues, what's the point? This game did a wonder job of drawing the gamer in because it actually makes the gamer think beyond the context of the game and make considerations and connections that aren't nearly as obvious (or pointed out at all) like in other games. In the beginning, I did the same thing you did - I would pick up apples and cups and furniture polish, but as the game went on I started to consider the crime and actually look for real clues and not just tap A while I walked around the crime scene. I thought the game did an awesome job of freeing the gamer up as far as the actual investigations go. Sure, you have your notebook you can go over, but the notebook doesn't collect everything and in the end it is up to the gamer to connect the dots and make the right accusations. If you were to get everything wrong, you wouldn't have nearly the same (or as much) information as clues to go on and would charge the wrong person, most likely. It wouldn't make sense for the game to "fail" you if you charged the wrong person because that **** actually happens and hell, getting chewed out by the captains is enough of a "fail" scene for me, haha. Again, I thought this was a great job to immerse the gamer in the game because it pushes you to think outside of the game.

Cole Phelps...some storyline spoilers

Spoiler

As far as Cole's character goes, he's definitely a love him or hate him type of guy. I think Bondi did a wonderful job with their cast of characters, actually crafting some deep, flawed and realistic characters in this game. I don't think Cole regressed. Once he hit arson he seemed humbled and started to change his ways, so to speak. I think he developed wonderfully over the different desks. Traffic he was still doe-eyed and looking for a break to get that chance. Once he hit homicide he seemed like he was gunning to make a name for himself. The flashbacks reinforce his character because I felt like he was a bureaucrat with his "the right way" and "my way" attitudes. Vice was the peak of this, but we all know what happened there. I don't think Bondi misfired with excluding Cole's family life. From his interactions with all his partners, he didn't talk about things he wasn't proud of which was the war and his family. Focusing on the affects on Cole's personal life misses the point in the story, though. He was a fall-guy, that's it. Roy took the opportunity because he was an ***-hat and was pissed at Cole for not letting him recoup his lost money in The Set-Up. The point was that the LAPD was yet another crooked organization in the city. It was a smart move because it showed that the LAPD would go after their own, no matter how big of a hero he was. Not only did that take care of the Chief's prostitute scandal, but it also controlled the public's awareness of the corruption in Vice.

With the newspapers and the over-arching story, I felt the game as a whole was more about veterans trying to readjust back into civilian life than simply about the jacking of morphine. It was mentioned more than once and it seemed to be a pretty significant point as the game went on, especially with the way Ira was presented.

I definitely agree with you about the animations and the facial scans. Bondi definitely set the bar with both. The interrogations and interviews were great and it felt like you were actually watching an actor act instead of a NPC talk in a video-game. As the game went on, I think the performances got better as the interviews increased in difficulty.

Overall, the most important aspects of the game I took away was that the story is fairly deep when it is considered, but I can see how it can be put in the back of some people's minds because it isn't as obvious as most other games. It does a good job of intertwining and connecting desks and cases, not on major plots, but on subtle and carefully constructed themes and points. I feel Cole is similarly constructed, too. The game is a great linear, single player experience if the player chooses to enjoy it for what the game goes for, instead of what the gamer expected it to be. I found the cases/investigations riveting and the action sequences to be cinematic and fun. Like you said, this should provide a great basis for similar games and I look to forward to see how the technology is implemented in the future.

[Burns11]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

Anyone have any ideas for a quick way to grab the 47K Damage Trophy?

Sorry if it's been discussed earlier in the thread.

Quickest case is Driver's Seat in traffic

Spoiler

Grab the receipt from the trunk, address from wallet,matchbook from house, use phone, question Morgan, go to Morgans to end.

Some people say firetruck is easiest, but it's slow and a bit more tedious. I ran around colliding with cars head-on, if you are going an estimated 25mph it will disable the car you hit but barely damage your own. After 5 or 6 cars yours will die and you can grab another from the backed up traffic.

[TheDutchDad]

Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)

You do see every reference to it is in past tense? So no it's not in there.
Unless it'll be a DLC case later.

Spoiler

In the game world I would guess Roy and the captain worked it. Roy mentions they used to be partners. I'd like if the DLC had Roy as the main character.

The reason I asked too was because there is a case names "The Black Ceaser." Wasn't sure if that was it.