L.A. Noire

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Russic

You only picked out the bad parts of the review. He liked the game a lot but claims it had some obvious flaws.

I dunno..Like I said, I'm conflicted on this one - when I see the words repetitive, redundant, unsuprising, drags, recycles, plus these two gems: "less of a detective, more of a page turner", and "I'm reminded I'm playing a game", all on the first page, I get nervous.

Second page:
"ten cases in I knew what to expect"

"All this leads to a final interview with a suspect in the police station interview room, where even screwing up completely still leads to an arrest"

"L.A. Noire falls short, though. Despite great performances, some killer dialogue, and one of my favorite game soundtracks in years, L.A. Noire left me cold"

"The various elements never come together at the same time to create something spectacular"

Sounds like either an immense departure from GTA and RDR, or maybe it's not very good but got good reviewer marks for the effort in trying to escape the Rockstar game mould.

It almost sounds like a souped up Mafia II - luscious, but vapid.

Sounds like a rent first title, that's all I'm saying, whereas RDR for example, looked like (and pretty much was) a slam dunk out of the gate.

Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say in a roundabout way, is reading that review it really sounded like the reviewer had to try a bit harder than I expected to like it, even as a self-professed fan of the genre.

[Hockeyguy15]

Maybe read more than 1 review before you make your choice. IGN has the worst review of the game and in my opinion that site hasn't been very accurate in the past.

[Igottago]

I'm actually more interested in this now that I've seen/read some reviews. Looks to be fairly well done. At the very least attempting something different and with a more in depth narrative is a good things for games. I'm well beyond the point where I get excited about the typical game that is about shooting aliens. IMO the best games of this generation have come from Rockstar, so its probably worth a play through.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Sounds like a rent first title, that's all I'm saying, whereas RDR for example, looked like (and pretty much was) a slam dunk out of the gate.

Pretty much what I was thinking, don't think I'll just blindly buy this one, gonna rent er first. That's disappointing to hear they're distancing themselves from Rockstar games with this one, that makes me want to play it less.

This one's got my interest a bit but over-all isn't really turning my crank. I like having my crank turned.

[Hockeyguy15]

I've heard that the first 7 or 8 cases go pretty quick, then the rest of the 21 take 1-2 hours each. I don't think I would want to rent that, you'll just be trying to rush through to finish.

[Meelapo]

I think I'm going to go with the PS3 version once I finish Bulletstorm to get the increased trade value from EB Games.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I've heard that the first 7 or 8 cases go pretty quick, then the rest of the 21 take 1-2 hours each. I don't think I would want to rent that, you'll just be trying to rush through to finish.

so you rent the game for a couple days and if you like it then buy it and continue your save game

[Yamer]

So I just bought the game and have played it for about an hour. So far I'm torn.

The first 3 cases/missions are all introductory fluff, just getting you familiar with the game mechanics and introducing new features. The fourth case introduces you to interrogations. Here is where I knew I would have the problem with this game. I'm not going to tell you how to do it, but so far I have made the wrong choice twice. This is partly due to me not knowing what to look for, or what the game wants me to do. With the first question, the witness gave me no indication whatsoever that I needed to make a certain choice on the response (Truth, Doubt, Lie). Nothing in what she said, nor how she acted, gave me an idea of how to respond properly...hence I have 'failed' (used lightly because even if you do choose incorrectly the game progresses, just not the way it was meant to be done).

I can see this being an issue as I get further, and if this is the beginning and the lowest difficulty in discerning the truth then I am going to have some massive frustrations later on. There is very little instruction on what to look for and when to look for it.

As far as the look and feel of the game, those are two different animals. The characters facial animations are outstanding. You can definitely tell that they put a lot of effort into this aspect. The textures, such as modeling and the city, are pretty average...somewhere between GTA IV (basic) and Red Dead Redemption (amazing). With the expense and effort placed on motion capturing the facial expressions, you can understand if the graphics and effects take a back seat.

As far as how it feels, I would liken it to Mafia II. The cars are ultra responsive, and they are all legitimate models from the era (a Pontiac is a Pontiac for example). There are only 2 speeds when walking/running...and those are the two. So you can't stroll or sprint, it's either a fast walk or a full-on run, which can make detailed searching a little trying....although the controller will vibrate when you can examine something. It also says that music/chiming will play when you are onto something, but I haven't heard anything besides a crescendo sound when you have found all the clues.

The gun play reminds me very much of Mafia II. Actually, in the limited gun play so far it is extremely underwhelming. Of course, this probably isn't the feature of the game you are supposed to remember, but from what I have read it plays a large enough role that it should feel more refined. It's your basic cover/fire concept. There is an aim assist that doesn't always seem to work, so you are better off lining up your shot and waiting in cover till the baddie pops his head out.

The reviews I have read that when the story is pieced together, it is jarring. Only 4 cases in and I finally and quickly understand what they mean. Flashing back and forth is a theme I need to start getting used to. If all the cases tie in, then it may save itself. Also the game is quite linear, so you aren't going to be going all over the city on your own to do things other than complete challenges. It's a vast 1947 LA that you will probably only find yourself exploring for your own personal reasons.

This is just a first impressions review, but my first impression is 'meh'. Maybe as I get used to it and begin to understand what they want, as well as adjusting my critical thinking skills, this game may yet hit a home run. It has all the potential, despite its average gameplay. Clearer instructions and a bit of a tutorial would have been nice too.

[Hack&Lube]

The actual forums I trust which have good level headed gamer don't give this game very high marks.

They complain the driving and shooting is boring. It's like GTA and Mafia II but more rigid and boring. The atmosphere is lacking because civilians etc. will not react to the player unless they are directly attacked or driven over. They don't look up and run when you start shooting, etc. The biggest problem claimed is that the difficult doesn't ramp up and it's more like the player is going through an interactive movie and isn't fun. Then again, people liked that Rain game right? You can pick up almost everything but the relevant items will automatically appear in your notebook when questioning someone so it requires no critical thinking. Almost every path will lead to a scripted success anyway.

This isn't my own experience but what I've gathered from a few other forums. I think the general feeling is that it is too easy and there are no consequences. If you mess up a case, you just go back to the last checkpoint. With all their millions of dollars, I wish that developers would have consequences and branching stories for games. IE: If you fail a case, it negatively affects your career or criminals that get away with the crime will continue doing more crimes, etc.

[Yeah_Baby]

Text based mystery games in the 80s were way better.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Text based mystery games in the 80s were way better.

I don't remember them costing $60 either

[Yamer]

I certainly regret buying it.

[3 Justin 3]

I'm glad I didn't buy it. My brother bought it today and I've been playing his copy (he is on disc 2, I'm on disc 1).

I'm on my third traffic case and I'm already semi-board. It is impossible to fail a case because you just replay it until you get it right, which is really annoying, because I heard there are like 8 ways to end a case, but it looks like they lied and there is only 1, like always.

It's an interesting game, but definitely not my cup of tea. I'll continue on with it, but I would say it is a Rental, and not a Buy. My brother is almost Vice already, if he isn't already.

[Hockeyguy15]

I'm enjoying it.

Just finished the traffic case about the hit and run, I won't go into detail because I don't know how to do the spoiler thing. I know what they mean about having multiple ways to solve the case, I ended up finding a key peice of evidence that broke the case. I think if I wasn't able to find this I would have had to do more work, possibly an interrogation.

When it comes to what Yamer said about interrogations/questioning people I don't find it as hard as he does, not to say that it is easy though. I think I have missed 3 questions, all because I didn't select "doubt" which puts pressure on a person of interest and can cause them to crack and give you more info. You can't just rely on the persons facial expressions because some are very subtle, I find you also have to use common sense and think "is what this person is saying really making sense to me?".

The gun-play is fine in my eyes, I don't think they wanted this to be the star of the game since a real cop wouldn't really want to engage in gun play. I think the gunplay is fine for the times we need it and I don't think it makes the game any worse.

The driving is fine, it can get a little boring during the cases though. Damage to property and running over people causes your rating on the case to go down so I find myself just letting my partner drive to avoid this. Once I finish some more cases and go to free roam I will drive around since I won't care about it screwing up my rating on a case.

Justin is right you cannot mess up a case so bad that the person gets away. Out of all the cases I have done I have only missed 1 peice of evidence (the hit and run case) so I haven't screwed anything up bad enough to fail because of that. I have failed 5 times, 3 of them however was by choice because I killed a civilian during a car chase and didn't want to screw up my rating. The other 2 were during a shootout with a suspect, and I failed twice because I wasn't sure if I was trying to incapacitate the suspect or kill them.

I think a majority of the people complaining about this game are probably kids with ADD. Granted it does have some flaws...The flashbacks do seem a little out of place but I know they are trying to give us a back story about Phelps so I will reserve judgement on that for now. I think we were mislead on the multiple endings for each case. We do have some choices to make that can change what happens in a case, so far I have come across two cases where things can go differently (one being the hit and run case, the other being the abandoned car in the train yard) but you will still come to the same end point. Also I don't know how much replay value it will have once I finish since I will know the outcomes of each case. Unless you are a 100% completion junkie I can't see wanting to play this game over and over, maybe if you got a bad rating on a case and wanted to find what you missed.

I'm glad I bought the game because I am having fun with it. Like I said I think most complaints are from kids with ADD that just want to run around causing chaos in the city. This game is a lot slower paced and even though it is pretty linear I am enjoying collecting evidence and investigating these crimes. It reminds me of the old police quest games and I liked those, so maybe that's why I like this one too.

[Yeah_Baby]

I'm still intrigued by the game. However I don't feel the need to run out and buy it this week. Maybe next pay day.

[Esoteric]

Yeah, I just finished up the hit and run case last night.

This game is awesome. I don't understand the hate for it. Superior voice acting, unique gameplay elements - I love it.

It's really great to go in, grab the evidence, find something that was previously missed by the first team on response, interview witnesses - really awesome.

I find reading people to be pretty easy. I've been able to figure out most people in the start fairly easily. They tend to have a nervous tick, avoid eye contact - pretty simple (and fun) to figure out IMO.

I highly recommend this game to anyone that wants to try something new. This reminds me in a way of Heavy Rain, which was my favorite game of 2010.

[Hockeyguy15]

^^ Did you find the SPOILER (knife)?

[Esoteric]

Sure did

I decided it was a good idea to take a look around the entire premises before talking to the witnesses.

[Hockeyguy15]

I missed one item of evidence...I will have to play that one again later and try and find it.

Also another SPOILER (Did you go an arrest the guy for the hit and run, as well as go and watch the wife get shot and chase the other guy down?)

[Yamer]

I started to get the hang of interrogations last night, although there are still some instances where your only real option is to guess.

Spoiler!

In 'The Fallen Idol' case when you interview Jessica Hamilton at the hospital, she acts the same on all four questions, but one of them is the truth.

When you accuse someone of lying, the game stretches a bit with the evidence you have collected.

Spoiler!

Proving someone was at the crime scene because there was a receipt with their name on it? The only thing it proves is that the receipt was there.

Fortunately, I have figured it out a bit and the game is becoming slightly more enjoyable. I went back and replayed the first 'Traffic' case and it had a different resolution when I did it 100% correct. I think I will retract my statement about purchasing it, but there are still some flaws that set it back.

I would still complain about the driving and shooting, and that isn't due to ADD. It just seems like it was an afterthought to the real feature this game showcases, motion cap facial animations (which are freaking amazing). This wouldn't be such a big deal because as I said, this isn't the part of the game you are supposed to be coming away remembering. The unfortunate part is that there is a large enough portion of the gameplay devoted to gunplay (the driving you can skip, but still hear all the important conversations with your partner). A good chunk of the 'Street Crimes' I have responded to have involved me shooting someone. And trying to maintain a good line of sight while you try to pull off a 'warning shot' can have you cursing. I would expect the gunplay to play a large role in the finale as well. The shooting is tolerable, which should be enough to finish the game.

I haven't used any intuition points yet, although I did try to once. When I accused someone of lying, it said I could use intuition to eliminate all the unusable evidence in my list...but when I tried by pressing L1 (Xbox) nothing happened. It's too bad you can only collect and keep 5 at a time. I am on rank 9 and I have basically lost out on 4 intuition points. I hope that once you max out your rank you can still receive XP that allows you to accumulate intuition, because I have a feeling I will need more and more of them as I progress.

My initial frustrations made me doubt this game, but that would be for the most part a lie. Proof? I played the game until 2 AM. The truth would be that it is a unique game that requires you to experiment a bit and not get too caught up in being wrong.