L.A. Noire Review

I had my eyes on L.A. Noire for a long time. When more details started coming out it promised revolutionary facial mo-cap tec, a fantastic story, and a misspelling of a classic term (it's actually spelled Noir). So did this cynical tale of detectives, corruption, drugs, and mobsters live up to the hype? I'm not gunna jerk you around, it did.

The game follows Cole Phelps, with a well-done case of "and now for someone completely different" later, as he rises and falls through the ranks of the LAPD. Along the way are your typical action sequences involving the usual shooting and chase scenes. Basically, anything you'd expect from a noir story. However, most of these shooting segments are limited to Street Crimes which are optional side-quests that randomly pop up through-out each chapter. It is nice to try to do as many of them as possible, though, as they can increase your rank, which gives you intuition points (I'll explain later), or even showcase characters that you interacted with forever ago. That's not to say the main quest doesn't have plenty of shooting and chasing on foot or by car. My main point is that finding clues and interrogating suspects is the star of the main quest, and boy-oh-boy does it shine.

Shines like a nice pair a' gams ona dame.

Much of the game centers around searching for clues in a crime scene and interrogating witnesses and suspects. And for you people worried that you might miss a clue, specific music plays when there are clues left to find and there is even a theme for when the last one is found. It's really a matter about how long your willing to look and this is where the first use of intuition points comes in. If you've looked long enough you can use intuition (you can only hold on to five at a time mind you) to reveal where the rest of them are on the map. However, I recommend holding on to them for the main draw of the game, interrogations. Interrogations work like this, you pull out your notebook, that has every important location, person, question, and evidence in it, and start firing away questions.

Nicholas from Hot Fuzz was right when he said your notebook was your best weapon... yes, I know he's using pistols at this point... shut up.

I'm going to be honest. Interrogating people is one of the most engrossing things I've ever done in a game. Maybe it's because I have to use my brain more in these situations than in others, but in any case it's expertly laid out. Whenever you ask a question, the questionee responds and you can then choose one of three options: truth, doubt, and lie. Truth obviously means you believe the statement, doubt means you don't, but you don't have the proof, and lie means you've caught the mug in an outright lie and you have the proof to back up your claim. Picking lie is when you have to do some extra thinking. After selecting that option, you have to scroll through all the evidence you've found throughout the case and pick the one that proves the suspect is lying. This can get rather difficult when there is a page full of evidence, and this is where I really recommend using intuition. Using that option gives you the choice between asking the community, which I never did because duh, and removing a truth, lie, or doubt choice and much of the possible evidence. Intuition is your friend... forever. If you choose the wrong answers the questioning can go seriously bad and the suspect could refuse to talk. This can result in loosing out on more evidence. The game will find a way to push the story along, but the real consequences are shame and a lesser rating.

So how can you tell if they're lying. Well a good detective will know that based on evidence, but that now famous mo-cap is also there to help you out. While it's not a %100 tell, if the suspect is looking straight at you with a gaze that could stare down Stalin, there's a good chance he's telling the truth. But, if he's doing something like thiiiis...

... then you can re-name him Liar McLiarson

Just keep in mind that some suspects are so confident in their lies that they won't let their face give it away. You have been warned.

The facial mo-cop does serve a purpose beyond that. It adds an extra layer of realism that brings an amazing game even more to life. There is some creepiness to be had with the bodies not being given the same treatment though, as they don't look anywhere near as real. They also made sure to put a necklace or clothing where the face and neck meet the body which I found kind of amusing. But hey, the method is expensive.

But look how amazing it is!!!! The Detail!!!!!!

As I implied before, the story is wonderfully told and it drives you to figure out what's going on. Investigating never gets old because it always shakes things up. At one point you even have to interpret poems to follow a trail through the city. Every actor does their job amazingly and I hated the villains more than in most other games. Sure, shooting is a bit loose and the driving could be better, but everything else is executed so perfectly I can hardly be bothered with it. Hell, you can even make your partner drive to next location, do it too much and you miss out on side-quests though. In short, it could even be called a revolution in game-play.

10 out of 10... ya humps.