L.A. Noire – Game Analysis & Review
By Patrick Newman
Developers: Team Bondi, Rockstar Games
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Director: Brendan McNamara
Writer: Brendan McNamara
Composer: Andrew Hale
Engine: In-house engine (a combination of facial motion capture and animation software), Havok (Physics Engine)
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: May 17, 2011
Genre: Open world, third-person shooter, action-adventure
Mode: Single-player
Rating: ESRB: Mature
Game developer Rockstar is a name that has become synonymous with its core franchise – the mammoth Grand Theft Auto series – and that has created a lot of assumptions about what gamers should expect from a Rockstar project, most notably extreme violence, free-roaming environments and cartoonish humor that occasionally skirts satire. L.A. Noire feels like a deliberate attempt by the developer to break new ground, and it succeeds on almost all counts. More influenced by mysteries and thrillers than by films like Scarface or Heat, L.A. Noire excels first in its wonderful re-creation of 1940’s period details, secondly in its employment of new MotionScan technology, and thirdly with a gameplay structure that seems intent on engaging the brain instead of littering the screen with mindless action. Though it can be a little inconsistent and falls short of perfection, I’d be hard-pressed to find a game crafted with as much care and attention to detail as L.A. Noire.
The film begins in a postwar Los Angeles and casts Mad Men alumnus Aaron Staton as Cole Phelps, a stern up-and-comer in the police force. He begins the game as a beat cop, but over the course of the story he ascends to the rank of traffic cop, homicide and vice detective, and finally an arson investigator. New partners, each with a distinctive personality to contrast with Cole’s wound-up countenance, are assigned with each bump in rank, and they assist in the many gameplay challenges, including (but not limited to) turning over crime scenes, engaging in fisticuffs, questioning suspects about crimes in and out of the precinct, and backing him up during brutal gunfights.
The game’s storytelling desperately tries to rise above the medium’s norms and stand toe-to-toe with cinema’s classics, and for my money it’s come the closest of any game yet made. Though it can’t help but enact tried-and-true cop movie clichés and steal from other films (one of the most egregious plagiarisms being an Irish-lilted police captain that’s lifted straight out of L.A. Confidential), the gameplay’s innovative design makes it feel less like cop vs. corruption conspiracy #874 and makes the player feel like they’re approaching these scenes and twists for the first time.
Aiding in that effort is a motion-capture system not unlike the technology employed by James Cameron for Avatar, which casts professional actors in every speaking role and tracks their every movement in the face and body, allowing for a fully expressive performance that ensures nothing the actors are doing is lost in translation. It even manages to sidestep the creepy, doll-like “Uncanny Valley” effect by avoiding the extremely detailed, scrubbed quality of the environments and characters of Zemeckis motion capture movies, which have been panned viciously for this reason. Truly, it is L.A. Noire’s new MotionScan technology that elevates the game past a rote procedural and makes the player feel much more immersed.
The tech is used to greatest effect when engaging in the games many Q&A sequences and interrogations – modes which require the player’s full attention, in that reading the facial expressions and body language of Persons of Interest becomes a vital step to solving crimes and making collars. Using evidence to bolster questions, reading the AI character like one would read anybody’s responses to questions asked in real life, lends the game a real feeling of realism. When this gameplay element is combined with the city-roving gameplay that falls more in line with “traditional” console-based mob epics (Mafia, True Crime) it makes a powerful combination.
The freedom of choice that makes Grand Theft Auto so popular is absent here, as there are only a handful of side missions and hidden cars to mix things up, but its visual beauty and innovativeness do plenty to ensure those classic free-roaming titles are rarely missed. What’s more, the recklessness of Grand Theft Auto would be a poor fit for the story and character of L.A. Noire, where being calm and paying attention reap the greatest rewards. The city is rendered beautifully and with some degree of faithfulness to history, as famous Los Angeles landmarks can be found to level up Phelps’ rank. For its success in creating a highly-detailed world of cops and perps, and innovative new gameplay mechanics with which to traverse that world, L.A. Noire is a landmark title.
[hana-flv-player video=”http://videos.punchdrunkgamer.com/videos/LAN_Launch_MULTI_US_720_WEB.flv”
width=”500″
height=”430″
description=””
player=”4″
autoload=”true” autoplay=”false”
loop=”false” autorewind=”true”
/]
