Re: L.A. Noire (PS3/360)
I started playing this again this weekend. The atmosphere of the game is really great and the patrol 'tutorial' I always thought was a fun, strong introduction to the game. I've kind of always thought that the map itself is just as important a character as Cole since it is essentially acts as an open world hub for a game that is linear and straight forward. Cole himself is the glue connecting these cases and crimes to 1940s LA developing the city from mysterious Golden City of the Stars to a seedy underbelly pent up with corruption. Thus far on my re-playthrough I am halfway through Traffic Desk and have relegated driving duties to Stefan. This has allowed the game to become more immersive and the cases more focused to me. 1940s LA is beautiful and a pleasant distraction, but the open world is fairly devoid of anything to do. Outside of police work anyway. I've yet to tackle the street crimes, but that's the agenda for tonight's game-time. As police you can become as familiar with the streets, locations, and smaller criminals as much as you want. The need to play this open world similar to GTA or RDR never really feels necessary because you're police and not some unbound civilian or at-large criminal.
As a detective Cole is merely police. Career-driven, golden boy police. I know some have complained about the lack of development of Cole, but there's more than enough to lay down the groundwork for his image. The military flashbacks and quips while driving between case locations provide more than enough insight and development for Cole. The big character twist in his arc isn't so much a personal betrayal as much as it is a smudged moment for a career shield being polished. It breaks away from his character mold that the game keeps throwing at you and that's the impact.
While the narrative and overall game design is impressive the individual cases all feel tight and evenhandedly constructed. You feel as much a part of the city and as important working on a Traffic case as you do a Vice Case. Homicide Desk itself is one of the most entertaining and immersive experiences of last-gen. From start to finish it is a thrill ride and the hunt for clues with the entire City as your crime scene is exhilarating. From crime scene to interview to shoot out or chase or interrogation the process is fun. At times the thought of wanting a more open-ended system comes screeching in, but I can't fault the game for wanting to have tight cases and even the open-ended ones seem to be addressed one way or another.
I think its easy to forget how good this game is when you haven't played it in a while, but man this game is really good.
I started playing this again this weekend. The atmosphere of the game is really great and the patrol 'tutorial' I always thought was a fun, strong introduction to the game. I've kind of always thought that the map itself is just as important a character as Cole since it is essentially acts as an open world hub for a game that is linear and straight forward. Cole himself is the glue connecting these cases and crimes to 1940s LA developing the city from mysterious Golden City of the Stars to a seedy underbelly pent up with corruption. Thus far on my re-playthrough I am halfway through Traffic Desk and have relegated driving duties to Stefan. This has allowed the game to become more immersive and the cases more focused to me. 1940s LA is beautiful and a pleasant distraction, but the open world is fairly devoid of anything to do. Outside of police work anyway. I've yet to tackle the street crimes, but that's the agenda for tonight's game-time. As police you can become as familiar with the streets, locations, and smaller criminals as much as you want. The need to play this open world similar to GTA or RDR never really feels necessary because you're police and not some unbound civilian or at-large criminal.
As a detective Cole is merely police. Career-driven, golden boy police. I know some have complained about the lack of development of Cole, but there's more than enough to lay down the groundwork for his image. The military flashbacks and quips while driving between case locations provide more than enough insight and development for Cole. The big character twist in his arc isn't so much a personal betrayal as much as it is a smudged moment for a career shield being polished. It breaks away from his character mold that the game keeps throwing at you and that's the impact.
While the narrative and overall game design is impressive the individual cases all feel tight and evenhandedly constructed. You feel as much a part of the city and as important working on a Traffic case as you do a Vice Case. Homicide Desk itself is one of the most entertaining and immersive experiences of last-gen. From start to finish it is a thrill ride and the hunt for clues with the entire City as your crime scene is exhilarating. From crime scene to interview to shoot out or chase or interrogation the process is fun. At times the thought of wanting a more open-ended system comes screeching in, but I can't fault the game for wanting to have tight cases and even the open-ended ones seem to be addressed one way or another.
I think its easy to forget how good this game is when you haven't played it in a while, but man this game is really good.
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