L.A. Noire

I just completed the first disk so far, and am really liking it.

I've been a big fan of adventure games, usually of the point-and-click variety. This one is a bit like it, but with plenty of action sequences to break things up. From the scene investigations to the witness interrogations to the chases to the shootouts, it's got all the staples of the detective noir handled quite well in gameplay!

I once had an idea for a game with a noir-type setting where you play as a detective and travel around a city as you try to solve a crime, and you kept a notebook full of suspects and clues. I guess now you could say my dream game came true!

Ever tried Discworld Noir? In many ways it sounds like this game is a Spiritual Successor to that, without the fantasy elements.

LA Noire DLC revealed.

Jonah Falcon

Would be nice if I could download that stuff, but currently the PSN network or Social Club isn't letting me access it - keeps saying that the servers are down. Is the same thing happening with you guys?

Are there any Complete Monster for this game?

Hard to say - a lot of the later cases involve people that would definately fit the category in other works, but in this game they are obviously going to be common. In fact, it's some of the less murderous/psychotic characters that stand out, such as June Ballard and the guy creating the smut videos at Silver Screen Productions.

The only problem I have really encountered thus far (got as far as the second quest of the traffic hub) is that every time the voiceover comes on I want to quote from The Beast Of Yucca Flats. Seriously, the guy is doing a very good very bad 50's movie announcer voice.

Roy Earle, to me. Smug Snake, Corrupt Cop and Karma Houdini.

Jonah Falcon

Strangely, I found him to be the most likable of the partners. Probably because he reminds me of Bender from Futurama.

I just finished the game. Arson has the best story of all the desks, but it was kind of odd, seeing how. 3 out of 5 of the Arson cases you don't even play as Cole Phelps.The ending was also kind of anticlimactic.

edited 4th Jun '11 10:36:29 PM by SorrowsNeptune

A few hours in... I love the investigations but the action stuff is leaving me cold. I haven't played a 3PS in about ten years and I think I missed a lot of the innovations (like this "cover" business). There are too many modes (investigation, interrogation, driving, shootout, chase sequence, hostage sequence) and each mode has too many buttons to memorize. X-X

Also, the Run and Shoot buttons are the same?! I muffed the "Masked Gunman" street crime event six times partly because I was so used to holding R2.

Speaking of which, do I need to be driving to trigger those episodes? Once I discovered I could make my partner drive and skip all that annoying traffic I was super happy, but am I going to have to take the wheel if I want to do all the events?

edited 15th Jun '11 6:29:32 AM by Cidolfas

There's a lot more gunplay in the Street Crimes than there is in the main game. I guess it can be a little confusing at first, I actually recently had an issue where I was trying to get up and vault over something, but Cole kept shooting from cover. You have to be out of cover to run, and when you're out of cover, you only fire when you hold the left trigger first.

I think my biggest issue with the game is how ambiguous it can be about the difference between Doubt and Lie. I keep feeling like I don't have the proper evidence, so then I go Doubt and Cole flips the fuck out and gets it wrong.

The blind man walking off the cliff is not making a leap of faith.

Pass has been extended to June 21.

Jonah Falcon

Ha, that image is so accurate. I really got annoyed when I made the wrong choice while talking to a rape victim and he started screaming at her. There's really no way to tell what approach you're actually getting out of the choices.

Nicholson Electroplating trailer.

Jonah Falcon

I have yet to play this game(I am highly interested in it since it focuses on film noir). I should check it out when I get the chance, I am loving the soundtrack though.

Finished the game. What was up with the cutscene where Cole dies? It seemed horribly edited and rushed.

Dumbo

Anyone who's seen a few noir films knows it's true to life. You played Cole's backstory until you get to Kelso, who takes over as the private dick in a classic Noir. A PI's disgraced best bud almost always sacrifices his life to save his friend. Redemption Equals Death, in a way here.

Jonah Falcon

I was talking about the actual editing of the scene, not the story point.

Dumbo

I borrowed the game(and a PS 3) to try it out and.....I am disappoint.

Whenever I decide to play a game, I look it up, and in this game's case, I go to see it's page, "ctrl+F" and type "any trope I don't like(like It's Short, So It Sucks!)".

With that said.....

• why is Death Is a Slap on the Wrist not in this game's page in!??!

• you can parts of the game?! How come the game let's you skip parts of it?!

• what's the point of doing well if we can just redo the quests? I failed an interrogation 2 times just to see the dialogues, I got yelled back in, and I still cleared the mission, with that bipolar guy congragulating me happily even though he was so pissed off the last two times I failed....can you even lose in this game?! Game Over? etc.?

• I shot the jew, and I lost...apparently I had to wait for the circle to fill up and then shoot, and all that happened was I fired in the sky and he just stopped...what the hell.

• maybe it's just the PS 3...but did the game freeze for other people?

The game had one thing going for it, and it's the least Uncanny Valley realistic game I've seen...even if some of the characters still looked odd. Oh, and the investigation part is pretty neat. It reminds me of the investigating mechanic in older Resident Evil games.

But dammnit! The high scores, the orgasm people in Game Faqs got over this, etc....none of them mentions Death Is a Slap on the Wrist, or the simple gameplay, the lack of difficulty.

I know I'm not going to like all highly praised game ever made, but a such a critically acclaimed game like this, I expected something. And I expected reviews to point of the serious flaws.

PS - didn't beat the game yet. So not sure if it gets much better.

---

Conclusion: People say I should play a larger variety of games besides RP Gs and RTS, and the occasional popular game*

^{I've been noticing how bad an idea this is}

to keep my taste varied...I went out of my way to play something completely new...and THIS is what I get?!

edited 21st Jun '11 6:25:20 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

You're approaching it the wrong way. I'm guessing you expected something like "Grand Theft Auto in 1940's Los Angeles!" when it's actually much more along the lines of a point-and-click adventure game running on an advanced version of Grand Theft Auto's engine. There is much more emphasis placed on the interrogations and investigations than there is on the action and gunplay. That's why the game allows you to skip the action sequences, if you're doing poorly — because the action sequences aren't the important part.

As for the reason why the game allows you to proceed even when you screw up? That does get a little better later in the game, with the outcomes of some cases becoming wildly different depending on how you played it (so I hear...I'm only about halfway through the game myself). It's unique in that it's not really punishing you for screwing up, aside from a lower rating at the end of the case. It's forming a story depending on the choices you made — which is incredibly different from most games that just railroad you into one path, even under the guise of a Wide-Open Sandbox.

And that just might not be for you. And that's okay! You don't have to like every critically-rated game. Hell, I despised Grand Theft Auto IV (I gave it a fair shot, got all the way to Alderney before I decided I didn't care anymore).

edited 21st Jun '11 8:54:21 PM by WildKnight

The blind man walking off the cliff is not making a leap of faith.

So, I hear this game is split up into three disks.

How long is it, exactly?

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

sigh...this is probably another Elite Beat Agents for me, only made in the west and on a home console rather than handheld...

edit: That sounded confusing....okay, Elite Beat Agents was a generally well liked game with little to no hater, and apparently it's a good game...I just can't stand the game's guts at it's core

edited 21st Jun '11 9:00:02 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

The game is roughly 15-20 hours long.

Jonah Falcon

Rockstar games, y u no care about PC. Seriously.

   I will consume not only your flesh, but your very soul.   

Because PC's are 1) Annoying to port to and 2) Not that large a market if taken all the others into consideration.