Monday, June 13, 2011

LA Noire



I had the pleasure of borrowing this game from a friend recently. While a very enjoyable game, I would almost classify it as interactive entertainment. It seems to be a game that is impossible to fail at the few minor failures I faced in cases were easily fixed; with no repercussions. While the face reading does have a bit of a learning curve to it it becomes easy and repetitive after awhile.  I unintentionally screwed a few cases up simply by playing too tired and driving myself; as it turns out I am terrible at driving 40's style cars dead tired. So I managed to  bang up quite a few cars and public property landing me several cases completed with 2 or 3 stars. Rather than the 5 stars I was acquiring under more ideal circumstances; Luckily for me the game allows you to replay cases without playing the entire game again.  I was after all tearing through town like the devil was on my coat tails most of the time.


Spoilers after the jump.


The stories and cases were top notch, very entertaining although the twists in some of the stories threw me for a loop, I accepted them in stride and powered onward.  I found it very disappointing to be changing main characters at the end of the game for no apparent reason. I can't fathom why rockstar decided this was going to be a good idea. You play 95% of the cases as Phelps, then  you switch to Jack at the end; It felt very anti-climatic. 


By far the most difficult challenge of the game by far is completing the car collection. During the course of normal game play I had already obtained the majority of cars simply by getting in every car in a given parking lot as I came across them. I hate to say it, but 30's and 40's style cars all fall into 3 categories to me at a glance; 2 Door, 4 Door and Utility. *although the game has 5 catagories; 2 Door, 4 Door, Sport, Police, Service, and Bonus*

To clear the final cars from my list, I had to go to the Vehicle Showroom from the main menu of the game, and cross check "darkened" cars with this list. I then wrote down each car I was missing on a notepad. After 10 hours of using the images of the cars to try and find them around town, I came upon a bit of online advice. If you open the showroom on a "darkened" car and hit 'A', then go and start up Free-play on the Homicide Desk, When you load most of the time the missing car will either be in the parking lot across the street, or being driven somewhere in the vicinity. Should the car be a no show, rinse and repeat as it will almost always appear on the second try. *This doesn't work for Service, Police, Sport, or Bonus* cars. Many of those you need to acquire during specific cases.

This brings me lastly to the Street Crimes, I think these are the meat of the game between bits of gravy and stuffing. The car chases and shoot outs were very entertaining, without the hassle of going through some of the questioning of the regular cases. While normally I much prefer an in depth story line, these were very light on story, I think using these in concert with the major cases and story points  brought the game together nicely into a well rounded and VERY entertaining game.

Overall LA Noire is a fantastic game, it's worth playing. If you haven't yet sign up for the Rockstar Social Club, it can help fill in any thing you are missing with it's vast checklists for locations, cars, news papers, and film reels.

Lastly, What is with Phelps cheating on his wife with Elsa? I didn't see that coming nor did it seem to fit his personality. It seemed like it was hammered in to move Phelps from Vice to Arson.

42 comments:

  1. Great review,I really like this game and the cars are amazing!

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  2. Thanks, this game was so much a pleasure to play, it inspired me to watch some detective movies from that era :)

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  3. L.A. Noire is proof that Rockstar can make a good game with good content and a solid story. They're no longer just the "Grand Theft Auto Guys".

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  4. going to rent this some day...

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  5. This game seems sick!! Gonna buy it next week, nice review man

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  6. Thanks. It really is worth the time to play it's very addictive!

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  7. Some people said it was good, but others think its, nothing special, I plan on going to a friends house and playing it maybe before I make a final decision.

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  8. Looks like a fun game. I'm going to pick it up. Might right it first though. Test out my detective skills.

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  9. Excellent review. My friend owned the game. It's alright to play.

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  10. I know what you mean man, I had a killer rig stolen from me a year and a half ago 6 months after losing my job and couldn't afford to build a new one, So I've been playing xbox 360 exclusively since.

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  11. Definitely want to play this, great review.

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  12. Good review, I really liked this game.

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  13. I freaking love this game! Just don;t like lack of open ended-ness lol

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  14. Not reading the spoilers, but I think I'll get it!

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  15. I'm soooooo looking forward to this game.. thanks for the review.

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  16. The faces are so real!
    +follow

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  17. I wish it came out on PC. :( Great another gaming blog popped up, followed. :D

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  18. My friend bought this game a while ago and the crime mystery solving looks very intriging

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  19. Awesome review, i'm getting this next week.

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  20. I don't think you can go wrong buying this game, it really is great to play

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  21. I have heard it is a really good game. I must play it ASAP. Thanks for the review

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  22. if this game was on PC, id be playing already. but sadly its not D;

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  23. Wish this game was PC, sigh

    great review, followed!

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  24. Really wanna try this game aswell.
    THough haven't got money for it yet :)

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  25. redbox.com has it hella cheap to rent :)

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  26. have heard a lot of great things about this game i might go rent it and see if id like it.

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  27. i gotta play this sometime soon. sounds great

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  28. It looks like GTA with some more depth. Make me wish I had a console...

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  29. Looks like a fun game, perhaps I should buy a PS3 or an Xbox.

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  30. Love me some video games and LA Noire looks awesome wish I could get it but no money :(,
    followed

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  31. 1st get the console
    2nd buy this game

    good info :D

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  32. I love that whole 30s/40s gangster thing! It reminds me a lot of that gta expansion that took place back then rockstar did years ago.

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  33. I haven't purchased this yet, i might now, thanks!
    Following.

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  34. I enjoyed it alot and I think most people will too.

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  35. The game is pretty successful, although it does tend to be a little linear at times. I found the story to be quite good and the cases were always fun to solve. I read a rumor that in GTA 5, you will be a detective who can choose to be a clean cop or a dirty cop, with some elements from LA Noire in there. Not sure how true this info is but I wouldn't mind!!

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  36. You know, I really want to play this, but my 360 is broken :c
    Oh well, thanks for the tease XP
    Followed

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  37. My brother wants to play this game very badly.

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