While it certainly has a few of its own issues, "L.A. Noire" is a fantastic and unique game and an absolutely stunning debut from developer Team Bondi.
First and foremost, the open world representation of 1947 Los Angeles featured in "L.A. Noire" is a staggering creation to behold. The attention to details — from things as grandiose as street names and Hollywood iconography all the way down to things as inconsequentially small as written LAPD documents — lend a deep sense of authenticity to the game. Even real life events of the period like the Black Dahlia murder and gangster Mickey Cohen make cameos within the game.
Players take control of Cole Phelps — a World War II veteran turned LAPD officer — as he attempts to clean the Los Angeles streets of crime. The cases in the game are divided into four desks of investigation: traffic, homicide, vice and arson. Each case works as its own self-contained story, but there are threads of a consistent story line that run all the way to the end.
One of the more interesting aspects of solving crime in "L.A. Noire" is that the evidence rarely feels completely foolproof. It is absolutely possible to put innocent people behind bars, and the game doesn't force the player to restart if this happens; it simply continues with the story.
Police corruption ran deep during that time in Los Angeles's history, when newspaper headlines and confessions were more important than the objective truth, and "L.A. Noire" really makes the player feel that firsthand.
As the title indicates, the game's cases are inspired by film noir and detective procedurals, which were popular throughout the 1940s. The dramatic lighting throughout the game's various crime scenes, the femme fatale love interest, the numerous flashbacks and the lonely jazz that comprises much of Andrew Hale's fantastic score all really help sell the filmic inspiration for the game and the gritty, urban feel of the period.
While Rockstar Game's open-world environments have been leaning further away from anarchistic sandboxes and more toward storytelling tools with each release, "L.A. Noire" is the most controlled experience yet. There are very few side activities of note, and players hoping to draw their firearm whenever they want will have to look elsewhere.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's just that large, open cities in games come with the stigma that they should then feature lots of nonessential content for players to waste time with, whereas "L.A. Noire" focuses on what is actually a linear story line.
The fact of the matter is "L.A. Noire" is more akin to the point-and-click PC adventure games of old than to "Grand Theft Auto." Hardboiled detective work is the crux of the game, and that doesn't involve gunning people down in the streets.
Divisive as it may be, that is what is so remarkable about such a big budget game as "L.A. Noire." The drama of its story isn't carried by shootouts or action set pieces but rather by investigating the game's environments and questioning suspects.
When questioning suspects, players attempt to discern whether the subject is telling the truth, not being completely open or flat-out lying. To achieve this gameplay mechanic, Team Bondi has crafted its own hyper-advanced facial scan technology, which captures video of real actors' facial performances and maps them to the character models' faces in the game. The effect is simply jaw-dropping.
The characters of "L.A. Noire" are by far some of the most expressive in any video game. The uncanny valley of modeling human emotion in 3-D animation still prevails in the end, but "L.A. Noire" is fighting tooth and nail to pull itself out of it. Even being able to say that it gets close to overcoming such a hurdle is an astounding achievement.
While it can be a bit jarring to see the dichotomy between such intimately detailed faces attached to much less intricate body animation, the incredible level of realism it lends to the game more than makes up for any awkwardness.
The facial animation also makes the game's interrogations engaging and organic experiences. Rather than abiding by some arbitrary set of game rules, characters who are lying are given away by things as subtle as breaking eye contact or biting their lower lip. There is no teaching required, as interrogating suspects is simply instinctual and, as such, forces the player to always be on his or her feet. It's not the deepest conversation system to be implemented in a game, but it is certainly one of the most intuitive.
It's worth noting that "L.A. Noire" is an incredibly slow-paced game, occasionally to the point where it becomes mundane and repetitive. Players who don't enjoy exploring game environments methodically will likely find the game completely tedious. But when the game is at its best, its story line, performances and chase sequences come together in ways that are absolutely gripping.
Anyone interested in the concept of video games as a storytelling medium simply must play "L.A. Noire." Though its narrative does lack consistent driving emotion and it does fall apart somewhat toward the end, the moment-to-moment writing, acting and intrigue are of a high enough caliber that playing "L.A. Noire" is not only exciting in and of itself but also exciting for what it means for the future of video games.
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