Yet again, Rockstar has redefined the open-world action title.

User Rating: 8 | L.A. Noire PS3
Yet again, Rockstar has redefined the open-world action title. L.A. Noire takes a slower, more detail oriented approach to the genre, and the result is a game unlike any I have seen before.

The player takes on the role of Cole Phelps, a World War 2 veteran and police officer who is quickly promoted to detective. The game is made up of twenty one different cases, many of which don't have much relation to one another. Unlike most storylines which play out like movie plots, L.A. Noire may be more easily compared to a television series, with each case representing a single episode. Some cases have points that cary over to the next, but many completely stand alone. This unique approach to story telling actually gives the game a more epic feel, since you aren't following just one arch, but instead following an entire career path of Phelps. It is also good to see a main stream game that has you follow the path of one of the good guys who is trying to uphold the law.

Each case usually begins with Phelps driving to a crime scene where he must search for clues. Many of the cases revolve around murders and often not even the victim's name is known, so it is entirely up to the player to put the case together. The payoff from discovering a key piece of information can vary greatly. It can be very rewarding to take several bits of information and put the puzzle together on your own. However, other times the game will literally spoon feed you the information if it doesn't think you pieced it together on your own fast enough, leaving you not feeling like much of a detective at all.

When you aren't searching a location for clues, you will most likely be interrogating suspects or witnesses. These conversations can range anywhere from exhilarating to downright frustrating. When questioning a person, you most not only listen to them speak, but watch for tells that give away if they are lying. Some people are blatantly obvious when they aren't telling the truth, while others hide it better. After a person is finished speaking, you have the choice the believe what they are saying, doubt them, or flat out accuse them of lying. If you choose to call them liars, you must have evidence in your notebook to back it up. Sometimes several different bits of evidence basically point to the same thing, but choosing the wrong one will still count as an incorrect choice, which can be annoying. Interrogations early in a case can be more difficult as well, since it is hard to tell if someone is telling the truth or not when you haven't had much time to gather facts yet.

Even though the game is quite unique, it doesn't change the fact that almost every case ends in only one of three ways; a foot chase, car chase, or shoot-out. No matter where in the city you are, the foot chases always feel identical to the last. The car chases are often more difficult than they should be because you can easily tell that the suspect's vehicle is locked onto rails and if you miss a narrow gap, you may not have enough time to back up and still catch the fleeing person. The shoot-outs provide the most variety since they usually send you into unique locations. The problem that arises here is the clunky controls that often work against the player. Often I found myself leaving cover when I didn't mean to or hitting the wrong button which resulted in my death.

One particularly odd design decision is the complete lack of any difficulty. If you fail an action sequence three times, you are given the option to skip over it. If you keep messing up interrogations, the game will eventually just tell you the next step. There isn't any real motivation to successfully solving the cases, since you proceed to the next regardless of the outcome. In one instance, I arrested the wrong guy. My superior told me to clean out my locker because I was being demoted back to traffic. After the loading screen, the next case started and I was still a homicide detective like nothing had happened.

The graphics look fairly good overall. The environment does a great job of selling the 1940's atmosphere. Occasionally, you will run into some poor textures, but they aren't too common. There is one place where L.A. Noire raises the bar for the entire industry; facial animations. Every possible inch of a person's face is animated and you can literally read the emotions off of them. Every tiny little nuance of a persons face that you didn't realize was missing from video games has been covered. It is no exaggeration at all to say that L.A. Noire makes Mass Effect's characters look like the Muppets.

Anyone looking for an open-world title that tries something unique needs to give L.A. Noire a try. The slower pace will certainly turn off the more action oriented, but the Hollywood quality script and amazing character interaction needs to be experienced by any gamer.