L.A. Noire Review: Game of the Year To-Be?

Writing an L.A. Noire review is actually a daunting task. It's difficult to capture how impressive this game is, without the added assistance of video clips and an abundance of screen shots. Even then, I have a sneaking suspicion that L.A. Noire is simply one of those rare video game titles you truly have to play--not only to believe the hype, but to treat yourself to a truly revolutionary title.

When it comes to the "Game of the Year" award offered by various gaming magazines and websites, I have little doubt that the epic L.A. Noire will be a front-runner for the title. Dozens of publications hand out this prestigious label: Game Informer, IGN, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to name a few. It is an award typically given to video games released during that year which represent the pinnacle of excellent or a revolutionary update to the gaming industry.

L.A. Noire released on May 17^th, 2011, after months of high anticipation and considerable hype within the gaming community. Currently available for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, a PC version of the title is due during the third quarter of 2011. Developed by Rockstar Games, L.A. Noire has a very similar feel to the Grand Theft Auto series also produced by the folks at Rockstar.

L.A. Noire: Music, Graphics, and Gameplay

L.A. Noire is truly a buffet for the senses. The music is absolutely fantastic, and up to par with hit movies and TV shows in the film noir genre. The sound effects are just as phenomenal, and they're absolutely crucial in L.A. Noire; many cues and clues are given with chimes and music soundtrack changes, and the game designers managed to blend those elements together fluidly. The graphics are equally impressive, especially the application of facial expressions and body language of the game characters to indicate potential honest vs. false responses to questions. One of the most highly anticipated elements of L.A. Noire was the motion capture technology used to accurately portray facial expressions and subtle physical gestures. And believe me, Rockstar Games did not disappoint, even if the technology isn't perfect yet.

You see, that's the role players have in L.A. Noire--investigator, detective, and human lie-detector. The protagonist is Cole Phelps, a cop with a heart of gold who truly believes in the pursuit of justice even in a city as corrupt and complicated as Los Angeles in the 1940s. As the story progresses, Phelps goes from being a newly enlisted World War II veteran and rookie cop, to detective and the point man in various investigations and interrogations. Clues are all over the place in this highly elaborate, obviously researched era and city; citizens of Los Angeles should be pleased that the game designers have rebuilt their city within the L.A. Noire world with such obvious passion.

The controller vibrates when you get close to something important, making it difficult to miss those crucial clues, which is one aspect of L.A. Noire I was a little disappointed with. Finding all clues in each mission/case improves your final score, but the game is prone to spoon-feeding these clues to the player, instead of allowing the player to hang themselves if they choose to be inefficient investigators. That being said, missing a clue can be a huge problem; one great feature of this game is the interview and interrogation elements, which are crucial to every case. You talk to the in-game characters, and you must read body language and facial expressions to guess whether or not the suspect is speaking honestly. If you want to accuse them of a lie--and you'll need to, fairly often--the game requires you have a piece of evidence to back-up that claim.

L.A. Noire is pretty unforgiving if you fudge an interview, though completely botching the task will cause you to fail the case and reload at a previous stage of the task. However, if you do complete the interview--and you just don't get every question correct, leaving you with nagging doubts about the rest of the story--all you can do is reload your save, and do everything over again. Brutal for sure, but this does lend considerable re-play value to those of us not committed (or obsessive) enough to reload the game repeatedly until we have every interview completed flawlessly.

The L.A. Noire World

The L.A. Noire version of Los Angeles in 1947 is elaborate, down to the gritty details. It isn't just crime scenes that are full of the tiny elements which really pull the scene together. The homes of victims and suspects are often messy, cluttered and full of personal effects. Some of these are clues, or non-clue decoy items, but there are also piles of dishes in the sink, photographs on the wall, and folded laundry in a basket. These details make the dark, crime-ridden world of L.A. Noire much more vivid, fully submerging the player into the everyday life of Cole Phelps.

The characters within L.A. Noire were paid just as much attention to detail as the scenes you investigate. The fashion is painstakingly recreated, by someone who obviously studied the era at length, and everything from the cars, to advertisement billboards, to the railroad cars are impressively accurate for the era, if not perfect. Pairing this with the stellar soundtrack and sprawling recreation of Los Angeles in '47, and players are truly transported back in time.

The "Mature" Rating

L.A. Noire certainly lives up to the ESRB's rating of "Mature." The crime scenes are grizzly, and the player is frequently confronted with naked corpses sprawled out on the ground. But this video game was intended to be dark, capturing the horror and intrigue of the era, in true film noir fashion. The storyline, though disturbing at times, is absolutely compelling; I was riveted, and completely committed to solving the crimes as Cole Phelps, though a few of the resolutions are less than satisfying--but such is the case with the twisted, troubling world of murder and justice. If such dark elements aren't your thing, look elsewhere, but I found it worth enduring that darkness, for the sake of the overall, gripping atmosphere of this title.

L.A. Noire Score: 9.5

If L.A. Noire doesn't blow away the competition for the "Game of the Year" awards, I will be completely shocked--and disappointed. Every few years, a video game is released which truly reinvents the gaming industry, and challenges what players can expect from a virtual world. L.A. Noire is absolutely one of these epic titles, the kind that lives in infamy indefinitely, and has players asking each other, "Where where you when you first played L.A. Noire?" There is a huge replay value here, plus plenty of non-linear side missions to keep you interested and actively involved in your Los Angeles surroundings. Fans of the game are already hoping for a sequel or two, even if that means exploring new eras and leaving Cole Phelps behind in 1947. With the incredible audio and motion capture technology-fueled characters--plus the stellar voice actor cast, which includes Aaron Staton from "Mad Men" among others--L.A. Noire is simply one video game no true gamer should miss. Buy it, rent it, borrow it--whatever it takes it step back into time, and experience this revolutionary title for yourself.