Here's looken at you kid....
There are many words one could use to sum up their experiences with L.A Noire.
Fantastic, Refreshing, Complicated, Boring, Original, Inspired, Repetitive, Classic, Compelling.. . the list goes on and on. Anyone and practically everyone who has played this game has a well formed opinion as to why it ranks the way it does. So here comes my two cents to add to the fedora.
Personally I found the game play to be refreshing. I am all too aware that mystery games are not by any means a "new thing" but it certainly feels that way with how fantastic the game play feels almost instantly. I will confess that originally when I was told about the concept and that of all publishers it was Rock Star who was releasing the title I was… intrigued for better or worse. Even with the ending and major plot points being spoiled for me, I was still salivating at the thought of spending evenings in the oh so vintage 1940 setting of Los Angelas solving one case at a time.
In L.A Noire you play the role of the war hero Cole Phelps, a rising star of the L.A.P.D who seems to have a knack for solving crimes big or small as well as a bit of a chip on his shoulder for reasons that are unknown to the player until deeper into the story.
Throughout the course of the game and during any given case you collect clues from crime scenes, investigate people of interest, interrogate suspects, and at times find yourself shoved into various heart pounding scenarios until you eventually solve the mystery in question and make your way up the ladder that is life with a badge.
There are 4 "desks" to mark your progression in the game; traffic, homicide, A.D Vice, and finally arson. Each one with a very distinct type of theme to help move your character as well as the story along all be it from time to time at a less than quickened pace.
Controls: Personally I found the controls to be somewhat awkward at first, It has been some time since I had sat down to play an X360 title so it is quite possible that it was simply getting used to that "new driving" experience. I did find the camera to be clunky from time to time squishing me against the wall for a oh so special close up of Cole's pretty all be it serious face. Another issue that I noticed with the controls would be the aiming feature. While yes I can understand how some may enjoy the auto target feature, as a former fragger I could not help but feel slightly belittled at the idea that I needed my shots to be pre determined.
Lastly I found that it was not uncommon for the controller to be less than responsive to my commands. While that may have simply been an issue with the X360 version or my controller I found it frustrating that at times it would take too long to achieve cover, or that I would linger for too long.
Video: The cut and scripted scenes of the game were gorgeous to say the very least. The dark and frankly… Noire style of videos were always a treat for me personally. I enjoyed every cut scene, every blast to the past, though from time to time it did seem slightly too fuzzy or too dark but I am certain that these points were intentional.
Music: I'm not even sure where I can begin to praise the score for this game. Every thing from the classic 1940's music to the creeping tones of suspense as you dive head first into crime scenes. The music was personally one of my favorite traits to this game, granted I'm a sucker for music from that oh so golden age of sound.
Characters: Here's where things get somewhat tricky. While I enjoyed many of the characters that tagged along with Phelps I couldn't help but feel that some of them were somewhat… one dimensional, lacking much if any kind of motive to why they behaved the way they did. Mind you I wasn't expecting some lengthy dip into L.A Noire lore but I was hoping for more than what I got as far as Coles side kicks were concerned. Also in regards to Phelps I can't help but feel if they had given his personal life some more highlights in the game some events would have had more weight and meaning to them. Though one thing is for sure, the bad guys were fantastic. I have to say that I have no complaints about the nefarious population of this setting.
Story: I wanted to give this story a 10, trust me, I spent much of my time attempting to justify why and how I could convince people that this story was perfect. But honestly it is far from that. There are many plot holes as well as lack luster events that leave many, including myself that at times cannot help but feel somewhat cheated. Perhaps during my time cruising the crime riddled streets I missed out on one or two events that would clue me in to these subtleties that I feel were missing but somehow I doubt that. I did like their references to the infamous Daliah case as well as many other historical goodies about the time period other than it took place towards the end of WW2.
I enjoyed the flash backs to Coles past quite a bit as well, it was nice to see what had happened to cause Cole to behave the way that he did towards many people who would often bring up his history or time spent in the war. Though I will say that I did not enjoy my stint in playing other characters in the slightest, and without giving away too much I feel that its placement in the game was… inaccurate, and had it happened at a different point of time it might not have bothered me quite as much.
However, one thing that I would feel horrible about leaving out would be a special shout out to the villains of this game. While I will not go into detail about who they are, I WILL mention that a RockStar does a great job of making you at very least strongly dislike the "bad guys" and as a matter of fact, some of the climax characters I couldn't help but down right loath. Though to be fair this game had its fair share of forgettable bad guys, there are a few who will stick out in your mind for one reason or another.
Combat: Yep there was combat, granted it was not exactly of a typical Rockstar fashion that their games I had come to expect from them in years past but I found that to be refreshing. If a combat dragged on for too long, or you didn't quite manage to catch a bad guy during a chase scene it would often give the player an option to continue along with the story regardless. Now I'm not exactly sure what effect this had on the game if any because I REFUSED to take the easy way out. But I imagine in addition to loosing points to your final score at the end of the case that perhaps you find yourself down a slightly different story path, if only for that one case.
Choices: While these didn't come up as often as I thought they would you from time to time would be given a choice who you wanted to put away based on the evidence you had collected and the aftermath of interrogation. Again a feature that I would not mind revisiting in a second attempt at the game and I quite enjoyed.
Exploration: I loved traveling the streets of L.A Noire about as much as I love walking around sharp gravel bare footed. I found that the map was exhausting and more often then not so many cars and people would jump in front of me that I would just end up skipping past any and all possible drive/exploration time. While I don't mind exploring typically I wasn't a fan of taking the long way while going to and from crime scenes. Again I believe this caused me to miss out on some content which is unfortunate.
All in all I would highly recommend L.A Noire to anyone and everyone who has a X60, PS3 or PC. Will this game be remembered through out the years of gaming as a aesthetic perfection.. defiantly no. Will it forever be lodged in my memory as a great way to spend my evenings. Yes, with out a doubt.
So to sum things up, if you don't decide to get this game your going to regret it. Maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but someday.