It’s here and it’s real! The first facial motion tracking video game in history and of course the cutting edge leap in graphics technology has been provided to us by Rockstar. Along the same lines as hollywood’s ‘rotoscoping’ which utilizes actual video footage to align graphically enhanced imagary, L.A. Noire provides facial acting and expressions to allow our dick to discover the truth in the midst of homocide crimes.
It’s 1947, and RockStar along with Team Bondi delivers what looks like a beefed up GTA style engine for the cinematic and motion picture-esk storyline for the PS3 and XBOX 360 which brings nostalgia and the origins of Hollywood to mind. Hence the word Noire in the title.
Jazz, corruption, and bars provide the surrounding for a cops and robbers set of scenarios for the GTA 3rd person shooter style enthusiast but it doesn’t stop there. Along with a set of objectives that expand the relatively monotonous undertones of games like GTA, L.A. Noire includes private investigative tasks.
This includes clue finding, interrogation, analysis of the facts and summarizing these results to solve crimes, along with the action packed melee combat techniques best known in Hollywood’s original films and most seen in bar brawls or detective films during this period in time.
L.A. Noire is searching for an ‘epic’ replacement to the homebrew yesteryear variety, by pushing the envelope on action and suspense and throwing a nostalgic twist by using yesteryear as the backdrop. Interesting.
Feeling a bit like the original Max Payne’s great storyline, but with more interaction where puzzle solving is concerned, L.A. Noire looks like it might just hit the mark. Most people will probably never make the correlation that this is a game set in 1947, yet the scoring track sounds like a 2011 epic smash hit motion picture. Actually I take that back, the presentation of the score feels that way, but thinking back to my film history classes, I’d have to reflect that the score is applicable to both present and past.
Aaron Staton (Mad Men, Descent, August Rush) provides the voice acting for Cole Phelps, a decorated World War II Veteran who has the skills and wits about him to get the job done as you undertake the job as a rookie police officer. As you start out earning your rank, your first missions as a beat cop bring you to some pretty bloody capers.
Additional lead voice acting on the female side is provided from actress Alexa Alemanni also from Mad Men with an additional fan base from her roles on West Wing, and Criminal Minds TV series.
As Phelps, you work your way up the department ranks, first as a traffic cop and then finally homicide. The most glorified Hollywood role still helmed by the highest paid actors in history to this day. It’s hard not to feel a bit of Brando or John Garfield when watching the release trailers.
Along with homicide, you can work in vice or arson departments depending on the caseload. It seems pretty open and sand box style like GTA 4, yet the storyline adapts itself to fit the experience Cole Phelps undertakes. We are not 100% sure if this is going to be unlike Max Payne where you had to follow a storyline from beginning to end without any real way to divert from the plotline, or if you have the options to start other cases and move any way you wish with each case. My bet on this would be it’s the latter.
With each case you solve, you collect files and information that eventually will uncover the masterminds of L.A.’s organized crime mobs. So with each case you have your own set of action, clue finding, and questioning of witnesses. You track leads with the typical and always suspenseful following a suspect or accomplice without having your cover blown (always fun). Then there’s the interrogating where the menu design appears to be a quick button mash selection during a characters exposition selecting to probe them that they are lying or accepting what they are saying as the truth.
It’s clear from what the trailer has portrayed that this is a menu driven conversation style game, and you keep your options for questioning based on conclusions from evidence inside your handy journal just like any good Columbo would do. Similarities to the crime solving techniques in the C.S.I. series of games, L.A. Noire expands on this structure to include much more involvement when it comes to actual cutscenes.
Interaction, and more options instead of point here, click here which can be fun for a CSI solve, but basically Rockstar has pushed the limits of this template into another invention of its own. The overall animation design looks exceptional, and does not appear as if they cut any corners on realism of characters expressions or dialog, probably both for the sole reason of being able to have the storyline read well in order to solve objectives in the game, as well as releasing a nice properly finished product, the voice acting does not appear to have left much to be upset about.
In order to implement such a nice smooth conversation and acting style with the characters instead of the typical mock up ‘dummy’ style characters with minor expressions that almost match the mouth which we’ve seen in hundreds of games, is a new technology for the gaming industry called motion scan.
A common tool used in Hollywood films these days, mostly appreciated in projects like Pixar films, or Jame’s Cameron’s Avatar, this new edition to ‘rotoscoping’ a characters texture map and skeleton brings thousands of more intricacies into a readable format. Utilizing 32 High Def cameras to capture actors performances, even the blink of an eye is no longer programmed it’s recorded and presented like reality. It’s like playing a television show, and you can control it. All in all, it appears like it will be one of the first A list motion picture video games encapsulated with real detective work and action paced gameplay.
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L.A. Noire Trailer Review and Videos
Jazz, corruption, and bars provide the surrounding for a cops and robbers set of scenarios for the GTA 3rd person shooter style enthusiast but it doesn’t stop there. Along with a set of objectives that expand the relatively monotonous undertones of games like GTA, L.A. Noire includes private investigative tasks.
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I love this game for so many reasons, yet the few irritating drawbacks infuriate me. The atmosphere, music, facial expressions, and story are amazing. I want to advance through the game as quickly as possible to find out how things progress. However, the completely hit-or-miss interrogation sessions and rooting through garbage can crime scene investigation have me sick enough to quit.
The facial expressions and voice acting are just as incredible as advertised. I knew going into this that picking up on facial ticks and eye darting were key to detecting inconsistencies in testimony. Still, no matter how you play it, there’s no way to tell whether you should believe, doubt, or catch the witness in a lie. Some of the lying is completely obvious, yet you still lose for not selecting the correct choice between “doubt” or “lie”. I don’t mind doing more investigation to solve the case, but I hate feeling like a failure when the game gives me no other options or assistance.
I also tired of the same old crime scene investigations. You move from area to area, waiting for the controller to rumble so that you can investigate. Sometimes its evidence worthwhile, but more often its just a bottle or an ashtray worth nothing. Often times you find yourself re-examining an area after all other evidence has been found, as if you’d missed something the first time.
It pains me to write this review. I had this preordered, and had been counting down the months to its release. I still find it an amazing piece of entertainment, pushing the boundaries of what a video game can be. Yet some of the elements are just not implemented in a way that can be considered fun, or an attainable challenge. When you don’t know why you’re getting things wrong or misinterpreting information, there’s no reason to hone your technique or continue. I’ll probably just finish this up with a strategy guide so I know how to answer the interrogations.
Thanks for the review HotDish… incidentally, there’s a full walkthrough right in the members area for all to use, and updated based on any new findings, however it IS complete if you get stuck.