Before Playing:
I've known about L.A. Noire for a very long time. I never bothered to give it a shot because I didn't think it looked like something I would enjoy. I've never been into the whole "hard-boiled" old timey detective sort of thing. I've always found that genre to be kind of boring. Any time I am channel surfing, I skip over shows like that without even giving them a second thought. Heck, I don't even like the holodeck Star Trek episodes where Picard is cosplaying as Dixon Hill. They are boring. The whole thing just does not appeal to me for some reason.
Understandably, I held off on playing L.A. Noire for as long as I possibly could. I wasn't completely close-minded to playing it, though. I always figured I would play it "some day" because it gets such good reviews. I remember buying this from a used game store about four or five years ago because it was cheap. It's sat in my collection ever since.
Why did I finally decide to give it a chance here in 2025? My son pressured me into it. That's right, my five year old really, really wanted me to play L.A. Noire. He's been obsessed with my game collection lately, looking through my cases and discs and asking me "what's this? what's this?' over and over again. L.A. Noire was a title he had a particular interest in (probably because it has three discs). When it came time to decide on a new game to start up, this was an easy choice.
Before we dive in, I want to tell you all that I can't believe how old this game is. I still think of L.A. Noire as a relatively new game, but it actually came out in 2011. It's 14 years old. I swear, as I get older, my perception of time is becoming more and more distorted.
Story:
I'll be sitting here all day if I recap the entire plot of this game, so I'll just give a brief rundown. You play as Cole Phelps. Cole is a street cop. As you play the game, Cole becomes famous in the police force for his crime solving skills. He starts to rise in the ranks. He becomes a detective. Then he moves onto homicide, vice, and eventually arson. Through a series of flashbacks, you learn about his time as a soldier in World War II.
Cole catches wind of a twisted crime scheme among various LA officials. He finds out some of his war buddies are involved. All the flashbacks tie together in the end. The game's climactic ending leads to a surprise twist. Well, not too surprising for anyone who has played the Read Dead games. Rockstar is not afraid to kill off a protagonist, that's for sure.
Although this is just the basic gist of the game's main story, there's still a lot I am glossing over. This is a game filled with mini stories. All the little crimes and mysteries you have to solve along the way. If you are a fan of the hard boiled detective story, you are probably going to love this.
Gameplay:
I was shocked to see how much this game resembled Grand Theft Auto. Like seriously: this could have been a GTA game set in the 1940s. The map, the driving, the game mechanics; it looks and feels just like a GTA game. The feeling doesn't go away when you get out on foot, either. The combat mechanics are very GTA-like as well. The controls, the aim mechanic: everything.
The map is big and filled with hidden landmarks to view and cars to steal. The city of LA doesn't feel quite as busy as the cities in GTA games. There also is not as much senseless violence. People tend to dive out of the way right before you're about to run over them. Additionally, there is not as much to do. Collectibles, which include newspaper articles and cars to unlock, are sparse. I mainly just found myself tackling the main story missions. Every once in a while a street crime will become available to solve. These are basically sidequests that involve chasing a suspect (either on foot or in your car) or shooting them. Honestly, these missions are very quick and easy. And they all begin to feel like the same thing after a while. They are just so easy. They almost became a joke in my mind each time one would pop up. Luckily this is not the main focus of the game.
The main focus of the game is the crime solving. Normally, you arrive at the scene of a crime. You walk around and examine all clues. You check out the body and the surrounding area. You talk to witnesses and people at the crime scene. Often, you are given a nudge in the direction of where to go. The location of a person of interest will be written down in your journal. Follow it in order to reach your next destination. Often, you can search for clues in the vicinity of the person you are questioning. These clues help move the plot forward. They can serve as evidence and they often unlock new questions to ask from the suspects.
When questioning a suspect, you need to watch their body language and find out if they are lying or not. It makes this crystal clear both on the box and in loading screens. To be honest with you: I never really figured this mechanic out. Oftentimes, someone would be looking down and away and I would think for sure they were lying, but they were not. Other people would look me straight in the eye and I would guess that they were being truthful but they were not. It often seemed to me that even playing by the game's own rules, it seemed like a 50/50 chance I was going to guess correctly. My percentage for correct guesses was probably very bad. Luckily the game does not punish you for making incorrect decisions while you are questioning a suspect. The story moves on regardless. It doesn't really matter if you are right or not. While this turned out to be a good thing for me, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that it felt a little cheap. What's the point of collecting all these clues, questioning all these people, and surveying all this evidence if it didn't even matter if you solved the crime or not?
I'd say there are about 20 to 25 "missions" in the game. Maybe more, maybe less. Each crime takes somewhere in the range of one or two hours to finish. Again: maybe more, maybe less for some. I found myself getting fatigued pretty quickly. I wasn't digging the story, which is probably a motivating force for some people. And the gameplay was boring. I lost count of the number of times I fell asleep while walking around a crime scene and collecting evidence.
I also got stuck all the time. A clue in the notebook would say "investigate the school." I'd go to the school, walk around for about 20 minutes (with nothing on my map and nothing in my notebook about what to do next), and I wouldn't be able to find anything. I nearly had to look online for help. I understand they want you to discover stuff yourselves, but come on. Just giving you this enormous area to explore, and then vaguely waving your hand and saying "here" just isn't enough for me. I think for this particular mission, I ended up finding clues in the trunk of a car that was parked in the parking lot. I only discovered this clue because it vibrated when I walked past. Nothing else indicated this is what I needed to do. Nothing on the map, nothing in my journal telling me too look at this car. And there are cars everywhere. How did they expect you to discover this aside from blind luck? And then at the end of the day, the evidence barely matters because it doesn't even matter if you are right or not when accusing the suspect of the crime. There are no consequences to being a crummy crime solver.
Another reason I became fatigued was because of the gameplay. The combat is a cheap copy of Grand Theft Auto. The driving, the targeting, everything. The street crime missions are almost all the same. Enemy runs. You chase. You catch. You fight. Every once in a while you'll get a straight up combat mission like fighting enemies who are holed up in a building. And then there is the golden "tail enemies in your vehicle" mission. Don't get too close, or you'll be spotted! Once you reach your destination, it turns into one of the two mission types above.
I understand why people would like this game, but honestly, I struggled from time to time.
Graphics:
At least the game looks good. The setting of 1940s Hollywood is pretty awesome. It seems very authentic. I was digging the vibe and the atmosphere the whole way through. I enjoyed the look of the black and white cutscenes that play when you pick up a newspaper - even if I did find them boring to watch.
I've read a little bit about this game, and apparently the face mapping they did with the actors was some kind of revolutionary thing back in 2011. It seems common now, as I've seen this technique used in many games. But if this was indeed a trailblazer back in 2011, I have to give it props for doing its thang and being so influential.
Sound:
The sound is probably the best thing about this game. This may be a first, coming from me. Usually I care about the sound the least. But while I may not have had a great time playing this game, I can at least recognize how awesome the sound is. The game is filled with all kinds of songs of the 40s on the radio. The characters talk like its the 40s. The presentation of the game is like the 40s. The chatter in the background when you are walking through the police station makes everything feel so busy and alive. Rockstar really nailed the look and feel of this type of game, I have to give them that.
Overall:
As you can tell, my thoughts on the game are mixed. I loved the presentation. The music and graphics are great. The 1940s atmosphere of the game is pulled off masterfully. Was the game actually fun to play? Debatable.
While I think my overall impressions of the game are positive, and this game will likely be getting an above average review score, I don't think this is a game I am ever going to play again. Like I said before, the whole hard-boiled detective gig really isn't my thing. Collecting clues and questioning suspects may be fun to some, but I was bored out of my mind half the time playing this. The characters are very wordy, and there is a lot of time spent sitting around and watching.
I actually think the GTA-like aspects of the game are the best things about it. Driving around the city, taking in the sights, answering the call when there is a street crime in progress. A lot of these are repetitive, and they can be pretty easy, but at least I was having fun when I was playing them. More fun than talking to people and looking at notes in a notebook.
I'm a lot lower on this game than most people. Again, I think this is an above average game. I will be giving it a C+, which is above the Mendoza Line. But people online tend to really love this game. I'm more like: eh. I appreciate what its trying to do. It is just not for me.
THE GRADE:
C+
For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click
>HERE<
No comments:
Post a Comment