A brilliant idea but a closed world and poor logic close the case early for this game.
Older games involving crime scenes would call for a mouse to roll over every inch of the screen and click on everything until a desired object was found. That can be the set-up with the game's options (music and vibration clues for PS3), but turning all that off can make a crime scene realistically elusive. Crawling through alleys, searching cramped houses, picking up empty bottles or squinting for shell casings, the player can most certainly thrust themself into the role of crime solver completely. Environments are beautifully detailed and evidence can be bloody and realistic, including close-ups of nude female corpses (this game is not for kids by a longshot) with body parts that can be manipulated and inspected more closely. I've thoroughly enjoyed going over every little paper scrap and bottle in a crime scene and was elated finding a knife hidden in an alley or other pieces of evidence that was outside of the obvious view.
After collecting evidence, Q&A's of witnesses and potential suspects follow to develop further leads. Rockstar did an incredible job focusing on kinesiology to give the player cues of deception. Subjects will give overt hints like avoiding eye contact and fidgeting to more subtle hints like licking their lips, swallowing, or twitching their eyes to suggest something was not right with the uttered statement. Some statements are true (no visual cues), some are downright lies, which the player then has to counter with discovered evidence, and others are just doubtful statements that the subject is confronted on. Responding correctly to a statement will lead to further information or clues. If the wrong response is given, there is a chance that clue or route of information is permanently disabled, so a lot of times you only get one shot at some elements of the case.
It's the similarity of the elements of "lie" and "doubt" that I believe are actually damaging to the game. Both are displayed to the viewer with twitches and other visual cues, but whether something is a lie or just doubtful sometimes depends on the script rather than the logic of retained evidence. I had a subject act all nervous after telling me about his wife. I had no reason to not believe him, so I selected doubt for my reaction, and it was the wrong response. Truth wasn't working either, so I called him a liar. The problem was when a subject is called a liar, collected evidence must be selected to negate the statement. None of the evidence applied to the subject's statement. A check online revealed I was supposed to confront him about an unhappy marriage because he had rope. The rope was integral to the case, but the question I asked and statement he made had nothing to do with it. Sadly, I would encounter this situation several times, thus being sealed from pertinent case information when I didn't feel like it was my fault. Real interviews and interrogations can last hours and I understand that doesn't translate well to entertainment, but a single question to toggle success or failure of certain investigations elements doesn't translate as very entertaining either, much less realistic when you should be able to follow up on a question. If the answer doesn't make sense and it's important to the case, then the gameplay is skewed and, overall, soured. After a while, the game becomes trial and error rather than actual thinking. Some interviews flow smoothly and logic applies properly, but others are pure guessing games because the difference between doubtful statements and lying are imperceptible. Considering interviews and crime scenes are the centerpiece of the game, my overall feelings on LA Noir are soured.
Adding to this frustration is, after just a few cases, the game is the same actions over and over. Crime scene, evidence, interview, lather, rinse, repeat. The action sequences are a nice change but they're short, heavily scripted and, typically, inconsequential and quite easy. Foot pursuits and vehicle pursuits usually terminate with the suspect stopping, regardless of how closely they were pursued. Fistfights are slow and sluggish and not much of a challenge at all. I'm a big strategy and story gamer, playing Total War or an RPG for months on end, so it takes a lot to make me say this: this game is boring.
The vast expanse of 1946 Los Angeles sprawls across the game map begging for exploration, but, for some reason, exploration is not part of the game. This would have been a wonderful element to break up the case monotony, but instead entire blocks of painstakingly detailed and historically accurate city remain unseen because there is no reason to see them. As one case is finished, the screen goes black then the title of the next one begins, with the protagonist getting the assignment. There's no driving around to level up skills and weapons or just engage in detailed city-style events. Street Crime incidents can be intercepted via police dispatch but they're also scripted events with the same people popping up in the same place or the same car pulling out in front of you every time. They're also very short, and have no bearing on the surrounding game world. The gunfights are fun but they're over before they get hot and foot pursuits end with a bag guy taking a hostage for a close targeting challenge. After playing several street crimes, I started to ignore them on the radio. The game dictates whether you can pull your gun or swing a fist in the event of the story case or street crime, so you can't go running about creating havoc on your own. Why build such an open world then close it to the player? Combine the scripted Street Crimes with the knowlege of how each case ends after a single play-through, and LA Noir has absolutely zero replay value.
I've had extensive criminal investigation training in my life and I'm very pleased with Rockstar's idea and attempt of a crime game. Setting the game in the 1940's allows more freedom to knock badguys around, not have to wait for Miranda for statements or search warrants for non-consent house searches, etc., and makes the story more colorful and entertaining. They did a superb job introducing a type of game that no one else has played before, but the substance is sorely lacking. The cases are, individually, interesting, the graphics are spectacular, but I felt like I was stuck on a train going through LA and could not get off. I was losing interest altogether after the halfway mark. They could have cut the production time greatly by just building the game world around the scripted areas, since those are the only parts of the game worth exploring. Better yet, they could have followed their formula in Red Dead Redemption and provided more random events to encounter. LA Noir is not a bad game by any means, but for the first time in a long time Rockstar has failed to reach their full potential. Hopefully their next gaming venture, GTA5, meets the expectations and abilities of previous titles.