L.A. Noire Review - By David

Developer - Team Bondi


Publisher - Rockstar


Firstly, it’s important to eliminate a popular misconception about LA Noire. 

This is absolutely not another GTA clone. Players approaching this title with the impression that they will be tearing up the streets Niko Bellic style are likely to be disappointed. Looks aside, LA Noire actually has more in common with a point and click adventure title than it does the traditional sandbox experience.

Set in post world war 2 Los Angeles, LA Noire tells the story about ex soldier turned detective Cole Phelps, as he works his way up the ranks of the LAPD. Like all Rockstar protagonists, Phelps is an outsider, struggling to fit in, in a world that doesn't really understand him. Initially coming across as a cold arrogant cop, it quickly becomes apparent that Phelps is a brilliant yet flawed individual that is not only battling crime during one of Civilized Americas most violent periods, but is also concealing demons of his own that he is struggling to come to terms with.

The main body of the game is centered around investigating crime scenes and interviewing suspects. It is because of this that Rockstar have really pulled out the stops when it comes to facial animation. The attention to detail when capturing and rendering the facial expressions of LA’s citizens is quite frankly astounding, and it needed to be. Reading the faces of those being interviewed by Phelps is a staple part of the game. During the interviews, the player has to decide whether they want believe the answers they are being given, doubt the persons response, or out right accuse them of lying, before presenting the suspect with evidence found at the scene of the crime to support your accusations.

As you've probably worked out, spending most of your time investigating and interviewing really affects the pacing of the game, which is huge differentiating factor between LA Noire, and a traditional Rockstar game. Fortunately though, if this game is approached with the correct mentality the slow pacing is rarely an issue. There is a patch around two thirds of the way through that can become tedious, but the story should manage to pull most players through far enough for Rockstar to shake things up and make the game interesting again.

The pacing is not the only problem that LA Noire has. The graphics are far from perfect, and aside from character faces, the game is completely unremarkable in looks, suffering from occasional popping issues, and poor texture rendering. When the size of the city is taken into account this understandable, but the problems still remain. Although never really boring, the game does become noticeably repetitive, which is accentuated by clunky controls that can often inhibit crime scene investigations.

Overall though, this game is a classy piece of work, and should be recommended to anyone that enjoys an engrossing narrative, that brings post war LA to life in a way it never has before. Although not without its faults, the majority of the experience is an enjoyable one. Pacing, and an utterly unfulfilling ending tarnish what would have made the game a serious contender for game of the year, but as a whole LA Noire is one of this generations games that every gamer should at least try, even if it wont be remembered as one of the greats.

3 Good Points

• Utterly refreshing, and different from almost everything else.

• Brilliantly developed and thought out main character, that will have players desperate to learn more about.

• Facial animation is astounding.

3 Bad Points

• Some pacing issues

• The ending.

• Perhaps goes on an hour or two too long.

Breakdown	Score
Graphics Solid, although completely unremarkable, the quality of facial animation can often jar against surroundings that are only fine. Holds up for the most part on the faces alone.	8/10
Gameplay Something refreshing that can become mundane as the game progresses.	8/10
Story Fantastic in all areas except the ending, which quite honestly is rubbish.	8/10
Replayability The Rockstar social club is brilliant and will have players playing this game long after the main story is done.	9/10
Value For Money At 25-30 hours of gameplay, plus a brilliantly laid out game for completionists to plug away at.	£40
Overall Brilliant foray into a new way of playing games that should definitely be explored in the future. After we've all played this game first that is.	8.5/10