L.A. Noire
Moderator: Sigma
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darkwingduck
- Posts: 6568
- Joined: Thu May 20, 2004 9:31 am
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I'm an avid gamer, been one for a long time, but this, in all honesty, looks pretty fucking wack. My reasons... 1- It looks exactly, and i mean "exactly" like grand theft auto and dead redemption; gameplay mechanics and all. Really, I mean c'mon, i'm getting bored with that shit, where's the real innovation? 2- Why the fuck would I want to spend countless hours of my life doing boring shit like questioning suspects, not like i'm getting payed for it in reality. They obviously just took the same grand theft auto engine and added some boring bullshit to make it seem new and innovative. Looks like it'll be more work than actually fun to play. Thoughts?
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darkwingduck
- Posts: 6568
- Joined: Thu May 20, 2004 9:31 am
- Location: at&t park
i dont know man. rockstars sandbox type games are pretty dope(especially RDR). adding new elements to something thats that good may bring some of the players that dislike that type of gameplay into the fold. so far LA NOIRE is kinda reminding me a bit of heavy rain and incorporating that type of analytical gameplay with openworld play is sounding pretty good to me right now. Obviously the whole NOIRE aspect of it is a WIN WIN. all in all, i have high expectations for this one.
Latest trailer.
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HomeSkillet
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LilLeftBrain
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perabigail
- Posts: 1191
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Game Central were more than positive with their review.
[quote]Rockstar's games have always been inspired by cinema as much as other video games, and yet it's always been a surface influence. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are excellent at copying famous scenes and visuals, but at the same time their characters and storytelling have remained purely one-dimensional. L.A. Noire, though, is the real deal.
Set in 1947 Los Angeles, the game starts with war hero Cole Phelps walking the beat as a lowly street cop. A lucky break has him quickly promoted to detective and through the course of the game he works the desks of traffic, homicide, vice and arson.
Although there is a massive, historically accurate, version of Los Angeles to explore - including cars to hijack and secrets to find - this is absolutely not Grand Theft Auto with a different setting. Phelps is a detective and as such the bulk of his time is spent looking for clues and interrogating witnesses, not running over pedestrians.
That may make it sound like it's only suitable for a niche audience, but the game quashes that idea within minutes of playing.
The most obvious difference between this and other games is the ground-breaking MotionScan technology, which recreates an actor's face in incredible detail. The effect is such that you'd barely believe it was on the same console as the potato-faced masks from something like Fallout, but the game doesn't just use the graphics as a cheap-selling point.
Now that you can actually get a nuanced performance out of a virtual character you spend much of the game judging their facial tells and deciding whether they're lying, based simply on how they act.
Of course it helps that the script and voice-acting is uniformly excellent, but while Rockstar's dialogue has always been good the real improvement here is in more effective editing. Perhaps it's because of concerns that you spend so long standing around talking, but the cut scenes are much more concise than in previous games and the segue from complete non-interaction, to dialogue-tree sequence and straight action is now almost seamless.
Although there are many exceptions the general structure for a case starts with you examining the crime scene for clues, which - if you leave the aids on - causes a slight rumble on the joypad when you pass them by. You're then able to start interviewing suspects, whose comments you can treat either as 'Truth', 'Doubt' or 'Lie'.
If you read the signs wrongly the subject will often become angry and you'll be denied a specific route of inquiry. Accusing them of lying will always turn out that way unless you can provide evidence.
It's not possible to fail a case from questioning alone, but that hardly seems to matter when you're struggling to tell a father that his wife has just been killed, attempting to convince an underage girl to admit she's just been raped, or dealing with the aftermath of an anti-Semitic murder.
The game doesn't address issues such as racism, sexism and other bigotries with the same directness as some movies might but the fact that it even touches upon them is a huge step forward for gaming. This is the first mainstream console title we can think of to feature full frontal female nudity and the 'c' word - but in context it seems absolutely natural, even necessary.
The many action sequences are handled at least as well as Rockstar's other games. The third person gunplay is very good, the driving is fine (although the computer drivers are peculiarly incompetent), and there's some great on-foot chase sequences.
By the midpoint of the game some of the action templates do become a tad overfamilar, as does the structure of the more routine cases, but the script and visual spectacle is usually more than enough to compensate.
The only other issue is that to our mind the atmosphere and tone is not really film noir. For the majority of the game there's a distinct lack of prominent femme fatales and no moral ambiguity about the straight-laced Phelps (although most of his fellow officers are cynical monsters). The cinematography also bears little real comparison with genuine film noir, with surprisingly limited use of shadow.
Not that this affects the enjoyment of the game in anyway - it still looks incredible in its own right - but it's clear the primary cinematic influence here is 1997's L.A. Confidential, rather than the classic film noirs of the '40s and '50s. The option to play the whole game in black and white is very welcome though.
It's tempting to talk about L.A. Noire as a signpost to future glory. By managing to make a dialogue-based game accessible and fast-paced enough for any player the potential seems unlimited. But that would be a disservice to the game which exists in the here and now, and which we'd be praising whether it was a technological breakthrough or the tenth entry in a long-running series.
You could argue that many of the individual gameplay ideas are not new, but never has any game weaved action and interaction together in such a compelling and seamless manner. For a game filled with so many dark subjects this represents a bright new beginning for serious interactive entertainment.
In Short: A stunning technical achievement but also an evolutionarily leap in adult storytelling and intelligent action gameplay.
Pros: Astonishing visuals, with an excellent script and voice-acting. Detective elements work well and arcade segments are nicely restrained.
Cons: A true film noir atmosphere is not evident in much of the game. Case structure can begin to seem formulaic.
Score: 9/10
Formats: Xbox 360 (reviewed) and PlayStation 3
Price:
[quote]Rockstar's games have always been inspired by cinema as much as other video games, and yet it's always been a surface influence. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are excellent at copying famous scenes and visuals, but at the same time their characters and storytelling have remained purely one-dimensional. L.A. Noire, though, is the real deal.
Set in 1947 Los Angeles, the game starts with war hero Cole Phelps walking the beat as a lowly street cop. A lucky break has him quickly promoted to detective and through the course of the game he works the desks of traffic, homicide, vice and arson.
Although there is a massive, historically accurate, version of Los Angeles to explore - including cars to hijack and secrets to find - this is absolutely not Grand Theft Auto with a different setting. Phelps is a detective and as such the bulk of his time is spent looking for clues and interrogating witnesses, not running over pedestrians.
That may make it sound like it's only suitable for a niche audience, but the game quashes that idea within minutes of playing.
The most obvious difference between this and other games is the ground-breaking MotionScan technology, which recreates an actor's face in incredible detail. The effect is such that you'd barely believe it was on the same console as the potato-faced masks from something like Fallout, but the game doesn't just use the graphics as a cheap-selling point.
Now that you can actually get a nuanced performance out of a virtual character you spend much of the game judging their facial tells and deciding whether they're lying, based simply on how they act.
Of course it helps that the script and voice-acting is uniformly excellent, but while Rockstar's dialogue has always been good the real improvement here is in more effective editing. Perhaps it's because of concerns that you spend so long standing around talking, but the cut scenes are much more concise than in previous games and the segue from complete non-interaction, to dialogue-tree sequence and straight action is now almost seamless.
Although there are many exceptions the general structure for a case starts with you examining the crime scene for clues, which - if you leave the aids on - causes a slight rumble on the joypad when you pass them by. You're then able to start interviewing suspects, whose comments you can treat either as 'Truth', 'Doubt' or 'Lie'.
If you read the signs wrongly the subject will often become angry and you'll be denied a specific route of inquiry. Accusing them of lying will always turn out that way unless you can provide evidence.
It's not possible to fail a case from questioning alone, but that hardly seems to matter when you're struggling to tell a father that his wife has just been killed, attempting to convince an underage girl to admit she's just been raped, or dealing with the aftermath of an anti-Semitic murder.
The game doesn't address issues such as racism, sexism and other bigotries with the same directness as some movies might but the fact that it even touches upon them is a huge step forward for gaming. This is the first mainstream console title we can think of to feature full frontal female nudity and the 'c' word - but in context it seems absolutely natural, even necessary.
The many action sequences are handled at least as well as Rockstar's other games. The third person gunplay is very good, the driving is fine (although the computer drivers are peculiarly incompetent), and there's some great on-foot chase sequences.
By the midpoint of the game some of the action templates do become a tad overfamilar, as does the structure of the more routine cases, but the script and visual spectacle is usually more than enough to compensate.
The only other issue is that to our mind the atmosphere and tone is not really film noir. For the majority of the game there's a distinct lack of prominent femme fatales and no moral ambiguity about the straight-laced Phelps (although most of his fellow officers are cynical monsters). The cinematography also bears little real comparison with genuine film noir, with surprisingly limited use of shadow.
Not that this affects the enjoyment of the game in anyway - it still looks incredible in its own right - but it's clear the primary cinematic influence here is 1997's L.A. Confidential, rather than the classic film noirs of the '40s and '50s. The option to play the whole game in black and white is very welcome though.
It's tempting to talk about L.A. Noire as a signpost to future glory. By managing to make a dialogue-based game accessible and fast-paced enough for any player the potential seems unlimited. But that would be a disservice to the game which exists in the here and now, and which we'd be praising whether it was a technological breakthrough or the tenth entry in a long-running series.
You could argue that many of the individual gameplay ideas are not new, but never has any game weaved action and interaction together in such a compelling and seamless manner. For a game filled with so many dark subjects this represents a bright new beginning for serious interactive entertainment.
In Short: A stunning technical achievement but also an evolutionarily leap in adult storytelling and intelligent action gameplay.
Pros: Astonishing visuals, with an excellent script and voice-acting. Detective elements work well and arcade segments are nicely restrained.
Cons: A true film noir atmosphere is not evident in much of the game. Case structure can begin to seem formulaic.
Score: 9/10
Formats: Xbox 360 (reviewed) and PlayStation 3
Price:
x 
It's not an open world game really. No more so than a game like Mafia II.Neuro wrote:how is the open-worldness of the game, lots of side missions and stuff?
The game glitched out on me after just a few minutes of playing it. I was doing a case where I was outside a shop and a woman was inside that I could interview, but rather than interview her, I decided to go to a different location across town.
When I got to the other location, I spoke to a guy that ran off and a chase was supposed to start, but when it started it teleported me back outside the shop, except the cop standing next to me was shouting that I should chase the guy that was now across the other side of town. The mission failed cos obviously I had no chance of catching the guy, but as soon as I restarted it, I was outside the shop, but the chase music was playing and the other cop was still telling me to catch this guy that was miles away, so the mission failed again. It looks like I might have to start over, but at least I'm not too far into it.
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stupidregister
- Posts: 7769
- Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:36 am
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I don't know how but I think every game should come with some sort of online multi-player aspect to it. I don't know how much replay value a game like this has. I mean once you 'crack the case,' or whatever, what more is there to do? Heavy Rain has the multiple endings or whatever, this is probably the same?
Quality stitched MLB, NBA, NFL, and soccer jerseys: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FanJerseyz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It seems that this game has some bad game-breaking bugs for some Xbox 360 and PS3 users that are making the game unplayable, aside from the info I posted in this thread here that applies to just the PS3: -
http://www.philaflava.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=126084
Rockstar now have another support thread up: -
http://support.rockstargames.com/entrie ... -l-a-noire
They say that a patch is coming to fix stability issues.
http://www.philaflava.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=126084
Rockstar now have another support thread up: -
http://support.rockstargames.com/entrie ... -l-a-noire
They say that a patch is coming to fix stability issues.
yea, this game blows. I tried it out for ten minutes and thought, what do you know? This game plays and looks exactly like the last two games they put out (GTA 4 and Red dead Redemption). It seems to be an obvious attempt at cashing in on people who are fans of Rockstar games, fuck that. It's literally the same things as those other two games only with a lot less to do and a worse story. The same gameplay engine with auto aiming (wack as shit) and all, but i saw this coming. But did you guys? 60 dollars? Go Fuck Yourself Faggots. Sorry if i'm too mad, but games are starting to suck ass.
Wreck-It wrote:yea, this game blows. I tried it out for ten minutes and thought, what do you know? This game plays and looks exactly like the last two games they put out (GTA 4 and Red dead Redemption). It seems to be an obvious attempt at cashing in on people who are fans of Rockstar games, fuck that. It's literally the same things as those other two games only with a lot less to do and a worse story. The same gameplay engine with auto aiming (wack as shit) and all, but i saw this coming. But did you guys? 60 dollars? Go Fuck Yourself Faggots. Sorry if i'm too mad, but games are starting to suck ass.
This is easily the most retarded post in this thread.
Ten minutes? Auto-aim??
It seems to me that this isn't your kind of game. You seem to be of the impetuous COD variety of gamer.
This game requires patience. It is by no means action-packed and is not meant to be.
How can you even comment on the story when you know nothing about it?
Combat and driving are your typical rockstar style but this game isn't even about that.
Be more level-headed and informed in your doling out of opinions lest you continue to look foolish.
All this game does is introduce a new aspect of gameplay which is utterly lacking in this current era of sequels. It set a foundation and now other companies can expound on this new concept and improve it. I for one can't wait.
The game was developed by Team Bondi using their own proprietary game engine. Rockstar were the developers for GTA4 and RDR and both games used the same engine. Not that that negates your argument that they look and play the same, but it's a different dev, different engine.Wreck-It wrote:yea, this game blows. I tried it out for ten minutes and thought, what do you know? This game plays and looks exactly like the last two games they put out (GTA 4 and Red dead Redemption).
I didn't like GTA4. I tried to like it and I played it for a few hours, but I felt like I was forcing myself to play it so in the end I gave up on it. On the other hand, I loved RDR and thought it was one of the best games released last year.
I think you need to give any game more than 10 minutes before you can form a solid opinion on it though.
I've only played it for 1-2 hours, but I'm not that taken with it so far I have to say. The facial animations and story are great, but the actual gameplay part isn't doing much for me. It's a bit too "on rails". The interrogations are the one interesting element, while searching for evidence is just a case of wandering about until the controller vibrates, then pressing A. The driving and shooting are no better/worse than in GTA4 and the cover system isn't very good.
I need to play more, but my opinion so far is one of mild disappointment. Perhaps I allowed myself to get caught up in hype a bit too much, or perhaps I'll change my mind the more I play.
I'll second what you said about collecting evidence. Even more, the thing you have to do where you pick it up and rotate the stick around until it zooms in is irritating. It's just a really boring mini game.
Does every foot chase end with someone doing the thing where they grab a hostage and you have to shoot them? So far it seems that way.
Does every foot chase end with someone doing the thing where they grab a hostage and you have to shoot them? So far it seems that way.