L.A. Noire - Tell the truth, punks

[AridMonk]

Wow, cant believe there isnt a thread on this already!

Some info, shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia:

The game takes place in 1947 Los Angeles, a city of glamour, fame, and wealth, but also where crime, vice, and corruption are rife. The player assumes the role of Cole Phelps, an LAPD officer who rises through the ranks of the department. He has joined the police force to "right the wrongs" he committed during the Second World War. He starts off as a patrol-man, then advances to traffic detective, homicide, vice, and finally arson investigator. Each rank gives the player a partner who will help Phelps in his investigations, fights, and arrests.

The game blends investigative elements such as mystery and crime solving with fast paced action sequences including on-foot and car chases as well as gun-play. In addition to the storyline missions, the player can work on optional side-investigations following a call from dispatch. The player can also travel on foot, as well as in different vehicles.

So, La Noire came out yesterday (at least in the UK), and I opened mine up this morning. After reading a couple of the reviews, I must admit I was more than a little skeptical, but when my little silver tray slid into my console, and the title screen and music popped up, I knew I was in for a treat.

The music, is by far the best thing about this game. Plinky plonky pianos and symbols give walking round crime scenes looking for murder weapons a real sense of unease and mystery, and lend to the games already grim settiing.

The investigative sections, too, are very good. With the face recognition software the Team Bondi/Rockstar have used, you really are able to try and figure out whether or not the suspects are lying to you, whether it be by shifty eyes or twitchy mouths or whatever. Sometimes it is wayyyy too obvious though, the person you are interviewing is basically having a stroke they are twitching so much, whereas others are a lot more straight laced and harder to figure out. If you do accuse them of lying however, you have to have the hard evidence to back it up, otherwise they clam up tighter that a nuns nastys.

So forumites, what're your opinions?

[TheV3ng3ance]

Looks like an interactive movie like heavy rain trying to scrape in cash by promoting it self with gimmicks and being "different" which automatically makes it "good".

[Inquisitor Lok]

Im loving the game so far. Im about 3/4 of the way through it i think? (Well ive gotten to vice, and after that is arson which ive been told is the last set of cases so im assuming 75%) Its quite addicting and really gets you involved. The only issue ive had with the game is some of the dialogue responses (Namely the doubt ones) which sudden make your character yell at the person and accuse them of murdering the suspect over the stupidest things (like a pair of glasses) But overall its a hell of a lot of fun.

The best case ive done so far is the last Homicide one. Easily the most entertaining and innovative one.

Also it gets harder to read people as the game goes on, atleast from my experience.

[TheDividedGod]

I was shocked that I had heard NOTHING about this game essentially right up to the release. A friend of mine picked it up for the 360 and we've been having a blast. in a nutshell, it's an old-school action/adventure rpg, with a huge part of the game being devoted to the mystery/detective/case-solving mechanic, which includes various dialogue choices geared towards getting different responses out of the subjects you are interviewing, ferreting out lies, etc. and it's all built on the GTA-third-person sandbox style of gameplay. As has already been mentioned, the soundtrack is awesome, as is the highly detailed rendering of L.A. city streets - the game map looks like civil engineering schematics. Anyways, it really is more of an oldschool action/adventure game along the lines of the old lucasarts point-and-click stuff, just with a modern game engine. The only time gunplay really comes into the mix is during the random dispatch calls, when violent crime occours somewhere else in the city and you can choose whether or not you want to take the call. Going apeshit and running down civvies and damaging things will ruin your day, as it heavily affects your ratings when you finally figure everything out and close the case. Solving cases with more ingenuity (that is, not fucking up any interviews and hitting all the suspects with all the right questions, catching them in all their lies, etc.) will gain you exp and eventually get you promoted, which moves the plot along. We're not very far in, but already the cases are getting complex, and it seems that it's becoming more and more important to be able to remember names and associations off the top of our heads even though everything is written down in the notebook (well, almost everything...)

anyways, i really can't say enough good things about it. the gameplay itself was very nostalgic, even though the engine and sandbox-style approach were very modern. i'd totally recommend it to anyone who loved the original first wave of point-and-click action/adventure rpgs, and specifically, anyone who likes the idea of fully-fleshed out 40's style detective game mechanics.

[White_Pointer]

I'll be interested to hear the opinions of L.A. Noire from you guys on these forums.

As you may or may not know I worked on this game (for 5 years).

[DeafMute]

What did you do for the game WP?
How do YOU feel the game turned out?

I havnt played it yet as I do not have a console at hand.

[Pocktio]

I will certainly pick this up when it hits the bargain bin. Soley out of budgetary concerns, I really want it now

[InquisitorZim]

I am so far enjoying the hell out the game. I was a big fan of GTAIV and Red Dead, and having the same base mechanics in a fresh new setting has been very enjoyable. I like the added elements of the investigations, and the interrogation mechanics. Investigating the crime scene is fairly straight forward on the default settings, when it gives you the little vibration when you get close to a clue, I will probably go through it again without it, as it seems there are some elements you can miss if you don't look hard enough. Interrogations are the same way, probably play through again and not take any advice from my partner and not use any intuition points. Notes at the end of each case hint at that were were some unresolved issued that I didn't take care off before closing the case.

It's more immersive than RDR was, the whole setting, appearance and background was extremely well done. Nothing seemed out of place, and the dialogue was great. The side cases were also refreshing in the setting, but it seemed that some had no other resolution to other than killing the suspect(s). I have really liked some of my partners, and some I have loathed. It'll be interesting to see resolutions (if there are any) for some of them at the end of the game. It is a very well done story driven game that does not feel repetitive thus far.

My only small tiny complaint was that there was no form of multiplayer. I really enjoy RDR's multiplayer, and I had hoped they would have worked something into the game, even just a free roam option of some sort.

[AridMonk]

Yeah just to make mention again of some of the "doubt" responses, sometimes Phelps goes more than a little over board when questioning some of the witnesses/suspects. Also at times they repeat what they are saying on two different questions, the person you are interviewing sometimes gives you information twice, and Phelps reacts like its brand new both times, which kinda breaks the believability a bit.

Oh, btw, just finished the Vice cases and I am onto Arson now. I am SO fucking mad at certain characters in the game.

[Inquisitor Lok]

So i just beat the game. And i loved it. A very refreshing game in terms of gameplay and such. I mean, it shows you dont need to have tons and tons of violence and shooting to have a great all around game.

Its also nice how all the crimes you solve, all tie together into 1 big conspiracy of corruption and greed, which you dont really see until the end. Once you get to arsen it all begins to make sense and tie together, and i found it to get really damn interesting and fun.

The only thing i was kinda iffy about with the way the story was told was; (Spoilers about the end of the game, so be warned)

Spoiler

When you suddenly change characters to the sergeant helping elsa(?) and cole. I felt like i was suddenly taken a bit out of the story, since i was solving everything as cole before, and suddenly you arent him, but are solving things to do with the same case involving Elsyian Fields, the Doctor and the upper management (plus your vice partner) of the LAPD. But i guess it had to do with how the Police was limiting cole from conducting his investigation, so to tie it all together they had to bring in another character?

I also feel like they could have used Coles hidden war secrets in a more effective way of getting more from his character. I mean, throughout the entire story, you dont really get a feel that he was heavily burdoned by making the order of killing all those innocent people in the caves on Okenawa.. but more towards feeling guilty of living on that hill. Although, i guess he may have joined the forces to do good in the world instead of causing more harm to people. I just feel like they could have expanded more upon that. The only real thing you see come from that(The burning out of the caves) is the flame thrower guy who your looking for.

Overall it was a great game, one of my favorites ive played this year, and i hope they make a 'sequel' that's similar, as in a detective game. I would love to see a modern day version

[Rincewind]

Bought it on a whim, loving it so far. Just made it to vehicle detective or whatever they are called in the barbaric tongue of the west. I dislike the interrigation mechanic a bit for the same reasons others have said - you either "fail" or you land on the suspect like a ton of bricks. I want the option to talk to them about everything, for example in Patrol Officer case #2:

Spoiler

I wanted to talk to the jewler about his gun; servicing his gun; selling stuff to the victim's worker lady; gun permit; loans; EVERYTHING. Instead I just say "AHAHAAA U R T3H MURDERERZ!!" which kinda killed the feeling of the investigation for me. Where's the search of his house? Where are all the background checks and stuff? I know this isn't CSI but even back then people did, well, investigate stuff and talk to a billion people before making any kind of official accusation

[AridMonk]

Just finished it myself.

Endgame spoilers, big ones.

Dissapointed with the ending. Really felt under-fleshed, like they couldn't get all the peices of the property, and the drugs and everything else to fit just as neatly as they would have liked, so they left it as is. The shootout in the sewers was underwhelming as well, could have done a LOT more with that. Coles death was also a bit pants, and a fairly obvious "Maybe he's not dead!!" Thread starter on forums.

Also, pissed off that Ray is still alive, that cocksucker needs to be 6ft under.

Of all your partners, Herschel was the best, felt like he came alive when with Phelps, would have been nice to have had that expanded on.

Overall its a really, really great game, just deserved a large, cinematic ending, which this game didnt deliver, unfortunately.

But, yeah, those of you who havent yet, go buy it. Seriously.

[No Surrender]

Regarding the End

I thought the ending was a bit contrived. I really disliked the shootout as a climax and would have preferred actually busting the corrupt doctor instead of having someone else do it for me and running around some tunnels after a kidnapper who put up no resistance. I figure they're setting up for a DLC series with the fact that your asshole partner is still alive, I wouldn't be surprised if you played Kelso gathering evidence to put him away for good. Don't get me wrong, I would definitely buy that DLC to see that man put behind bars, but it still feels a bit unsatisfying.

Overall though, I thought it was a really refreshing game, and the facial animations definitely immersed me in it. I'm really hoping for a sequel which is less linear, has more conversation options, and has better gameplay for the action sequences.

[Codex]

So I went out on a limb and bought some games in the steam sale, and LA Noire was one of them. Seriously, only 13 posts?

Fine, let me necro this back out of nowhere. Has anyone else played this game in the last year or more since the last post? Did anyone pick it up in the Steam Sale?

I'm at about 65% completion so far.

There are quite a lot of recognisable actors too... Cole Phelps I know from Mad Men ^^ The motion capture makes the faces really believable!

[Langy]

I got it a while ago on a Steam sale. It's pretty awesome; I only finished it a month or two ago. Great, great game. Hope they make use of that motion capture tech in future games and optimize it a bit more; it was really impressive.

[SquidDNA]

I had no idea they used motion capture here-- makes sense. The quirky expressions are just too good to have been hand-animated. The way he blinks and wets his lips before speaking in particular.

I haven't gotten very far, I've been all over the place in games lately (common with steam sales.) Funnily, I spent the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the game getting sort of bored. "Seems like you spend an awful lot of time in this game stuck in traffic," before I realized that
1) This game was made by the makers of GTA and
2) I'm the police,
So I just drive however the fuck I want and try not to hit anyone. Works pretty well.

I find the witness interviews to be unintuitive sometimes, specifically the difference between "doubt" and "lie."

[Langy]

Agreed there, SquidDNA. It was a bit hard to tell what's what - it basically boils down to 'what can you prove?' If it's something you have evidence about, it's a Lie. If it's something you don't, but are just pretty sure on, it's 'Doubt'.

[marmoo]

Bought the game for PC a while ago.
For my sins I am a huge fan of GTA so little natural for me to want to get this game.
What I like best about it is that it is not GTA. Fantastic game but sometimes a little confusing around the facial expressions as Squid and Langy have mentioned above
I find it's the kind of game you don't fancy playing every day like some other games I play. Usually play it with the girlfriend as she loves a bit of crime (she loves all the CSI's etc) but to be honest, we have not played it in months.
But the driving part of the game.......Rockstar should hang it's head in shame. For a company who have produced GTA IV with it's superb physics for driving.To have that wooden shower of crap included in this game is criminal (if you pardon the pun :P)

[Codex]

Tip: First you gauge if they're telling the truth or holding something back. If it's the latter, you can hit them with lie. Then either you, your partner or the suspect will be written in such a way as to hint what it required.

E.g.
Character: I was home all evening, after she left.
Lie:
Phelps: I know you're lying.
Character: Huh? How can you prove that I wasn't home?

That's pretty much as explicit as it gets, but usually you just need to identify what statements are being made, what could potentially they could be lying about, and what you have that can contradict them. A few of the questions, what they lie about isn't even the main point that Phelps was on, so just be aware.

On the other hand the lie dialogue can indicate that you aren't meant to accuse, for example, you know he's holding someone back, and you press lie to check (you can always back out of an accusation), and Phelps' lie dialogue accuses the guy of being the mastermind of the operation. You don't suspect him to be the mastermind, so you know to pick Doubt.

[Langy]

Wait, you can back out of lie accusations? I didn't realize that. How?

[Deionarra]

I've been playing through the game recently and I'm almost finished with the vice cases.

I've been having a bit of a love/hate relationship with this game because of the way (as many of you have noted) the 'doubt' responses can often seem both over the top and completely out of line with my own thinking as a player. I've come to think of Cole as having a split, psychotic personality due to the way he often flips out and randomly threatens someone accusing them of being a murderer.

It helps once you realise the way the game mechanics work in that 'doubt' can basically be the same severity of response as 'lie' only that it doesn't need you to provide evidence. Also, like Codex, I eventually realised that if you pick 'lie' then you can hear what Cole accuses them of lying about and then back out if psycho Cole shows up so you can pick doubt instead (he'll doubt them about the exact same thing) or truth if what he accuses them of is completely out of line with that you were thinking.

It's a shame because the game is really good when it works organically and realistically rather than like a game with specific systems. I've tried to keep playing as much as possible without abusing the backing out mechanic but sometimes Cole's line of thinking can be so far off your own that you have to game the system. It's a flaw that sadly blights what otherwise could have been a truly great game rather than just a good one. I also feel like the game's story gets in the way sometimes with some cases rapping up in an unsatisfactory manner, with no choice other than to accuse someone innocent, kill someone or leave clear leads unexplored. I had to go and look up a walkthrough of the game after the first case happened where I'd obviously arrested the wrong person just to make sure I hadn't somehow missed something in that case because it felt so obviously wrong. Of course there was nothing I'd missed, it was all in aid of setting up an over arching plot point in Cole's story (at the expense of giving the player a good story )

Homicide Cases and Plot vs Gameplay

I've not finished the game yet so maybe there's some amazing pay off at the end of the story I'm not seeing yet but I feel like they somewhat squandered the potential of the homicide cases by having the continuous story arch in which you never have the possibility of finding the killer of any of the murders. The vice cases have been much better but so far I feel like some of the original traffic cases were the best ones before the game's narrative got in the way of the detective work. Yes, I'm sure that's the whole point of the story they are trying tell as Cole rises through the ranks and starts seeing politics and crooked cops obstructing justice. However, it's a big problem because the detective work is the gameplay in this game so when the story obstructs the investigation it also obstructs the gameplay.

Aside from the investigation/interrogation parts of the game, I pretty quickly stopped bothering to drive around myself and just let my partner drive all the time. You don't miss any of their dialogue or anything else interesting that happens so i don't see any need waste my time driving around in simulated traffic. Also I face palmed when the video game cliche of balancing as you walk across on a beam appeared out of no where with no context to know how sensitive it would be and with death as the fail state.

Despite everything negative I've said, when everything comes together and it works in line with the player, it really is something special.

[Codex]

Right click to back out of an accusation.

shows up so you can pick doubt instead (he'll doubt them about the exact same thing)

Not necessarily... but close. As I said, for example the question is involvement with the victim, Phelps might say he's the brains of the operation under lie, under Doubt he just questions his denial of involvement.

I completely agree with Deionarra on all points though. The homicide desk especially, had exactly the same feeling getting towards the end of the desk. Especially when there's the whole dramatic irony thing going because the player knows more than either Rusty or Phelps.

I also stopped driving around so much... only enough to pick up the street crimes. Except on the Vice Desk, Earle has a fucking sweet car.

[Codex]

@ Cole Phelps is a psycho

Read this interesting tidbit just now:

"In the same interview McNamara also responded to queries about why Phelps sometimes responds with particularly aggressive lines of dialogue during interrogation scenes. "It's funny. A lot of people say Aaron (Aaron Staton – the actor who portrays Phelps) turns into a psycho. When we originally wrote the game the questions you asked were coax, force and lie. It was actually force because it was a more aggressive answer. That's the way we recorded it. But when the game came out it was truth, doubt or lie. Everyone always says Aaron on the second question is a psycho. So that's not his fault.""

Reference 99
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Noire#Reception

[Deionarra]

Ah, that's interesting to find out and certainly explains quite a bit.

Also you're correct that often the 'Lie' and 'doubt' responses can be a bit different so I take that back somewhat, however, it's still often a useful gauge of the line of questioning Cole will take when in some cases it's not totally obvious. (eg, in your example above the line of questioning for both options is to do with questioning the suspect's involvement)

It's also worth repeating that the times when the responses don't match what you as a player are thinking are partly so bad because in the many other moments of the game it works so well that the contrast is huge.

[Codex]

It's also worth repeating that the times when the responses don't match what you as a player are thinking are partly so bad because in the many other moments of the game it works so well that the contrast is huge.

True that!

Okay, so I finished the game a couple of days ago. The soundtrack is superb, and might start a Jazz phase for me. I've only been reflecting on the overarching story now, since I've got all the pieces, and wow. That is a pretty fucking good story, the way everything ties together, how things are foreshadowed, but in such a way that it's really difficult to see what's coming. A great story, even if the game is somehow flawed.