When taken purely at face-value Team Bondi’s LA Noire may come across like a typical ‘Open World’ Rockstar game but it is hugely different. When developer Team Bondi set out to create a detective thriller that takes place in post World War II, 1940s Los Angeles, they had their work cut out for them. How is an open world detective game even going to play? What are the elements that will make or break this genre-creating experience? I played LA Noire to find out exactly that, and, if it is any good.
The year is 1947 and the city of LA is more crime ridden than ever. Struggling GI’s are returning from a brutal war and try to re-insert themselves into society which comes at a price as players will find out throughout the story. Hollywood is booming and drugs and liquor are flowing freely around the city. Players will be taking control of Cole Phelps who is a highly decorated World War II veteran entering the police force. Phelps starts out on the traffic desk and will work his way through Homicide, Vice and Arson as the game progresses. Each desk has several self contained cases in which players are required to find and connect clues and evidence in order to find the guilty party and charge a suspect with the committed crime. Sounds easy? Well, it really becomes difficult in the ongoing cases Phelps needs to investigate. While the desks and even cases are standalone experiences there promises to be a common thread that develops as the plot thickens.
Let me now try and answer the question; ‘What is LA Noire?’. Team Bondi and Rockstar have done an incredible job modeling an open world LA which was done though tons of research and dedication. When walking or driving through Los Angeles, players will notice a lively and detailed city, filled with people, cars and sights from the era that make it a pleasure to experience this recreation of a classic LA. The one problem I have with it is that there are not an awful lot of reasons to see the city. While there are some exciting street crimes Phelps can attend do, such as bank robberies or an armed gunman running through the streets, there aren’t many other things to do as finding hidden cars becomes old after a while. To be honest though, I didn’t want to spend much time on that anyway since the story and gameplay of LA Noire are satisfying enough to keep players engaged for hours.
Since Phelps becomes a detective fairly soon in the game, based on his success during the Patrol occupation which is really just a tutorial to get players up to speed, he gets straight to investigations and the main gameplay mechanics of LA Noire. Players will be briefed at the police station on the crime scene they are due to attend to, before they leave for the scene alongside their partner. Partners change from desk to desk and are all really fleshed out characters as most NPCs in this game. Once at the crime scene Phelps will get a quick heads up on the crime and the evidence recovered before he tends to the actual investigation. In order to solve cases Phelps needs to find clues which can be found on dead bodies or around the area of the crime scene. Clues can be found in the form of a bloody wrench, a drivers license, jewelry or injuries on a dead body. LA Noire’s crime scenes are filled with clues as well as red herrings and incidental items. One tip from me, don’t bother picking up any bottles. While on the crime scene, Phelps will walk around the location and look at, pick up and investigate items relevant to the case. Each time players get near a potential clue or pieces of evidence a chime will sound and a slight vibration of the controller can be felt. Both of those hints can be turned off for greater immersion. Once each piece of evidence and clues have been discovered a musical theme plays to let players know that it’s time to move on. Phelps can also ask his partner for advice when in a pinch and he will guide him in the right direction. In addition to the physical investigation of crime scenes, there are the interrogations and interviews of witnesses and suspects. This is probably the most interesting and challenging part of LA Noire as well as the most promising element to come out of a game in several years.
Team Bondi set out to create a compelling game experience that uses interrogation techniques based on facial expressions. In past games it could be quite difficult to judge emotions or pinpoint the twitch of an eye which is crucial to LA Noire’s success. In order to achieve the sort of level of facial animation required to have realistic interrogation gameplay, Team Bondi created a brand new technology called ‘Motion Scan’. Motion Scan places real actors into a brightly lit room filled with dozens of cameras which cover the person’s facial expressions from 360 degrees. This tech allowed Team Bondi to nail down each twitch, grin, wrinkle and grimace a character would make based on emotions. In LA Noire, Phelps and ultimately the player, has to judge each person he or she interviews. After enough evidence has been collected, Phelps can take in a suspect and interview them. In order to judge lies, truths or half-hearted statements, Phelps needs to critically examine the suspect’s facial expressions. Once Phelps asked a question and received an answer, players will need to make a judgment and either accuse someone of lying, which will need to be backed up with evidence, telling the truth or implying that the suspect is not being entirely truthful. This alone can become a serious challenge and getting the reactions correct or wrong will affect how each case plays out.
The interrogation gameplay is one of the coolest things I have done in a video game. Because of the incredible detail achieved with Motion Scan, players are looking at real actors playing out the scene and this alone makes LA Noire worth playing and ultimately a milestone in modern video games. There are of course a few challenges with this sort of mechanic and at times LA Noire can feel a bit ‘videogamey’. While there aren’t many gripes I have with the way the interrogation system works, I do dislike the fact that ultimately every suspect accused of lying says something like ‘and how will you prove that’ or ‘what kind of evidence do you have’. Again, this is not a huge issue but a flaw that Team Bondi can iron out in a future title.
As Phelps solves cases and makes his way through LA Noire’s convoluted but outstanding story, he will use his notepad as a guide. The notepad allows players to review collected evidence, check what witnesses and suspects have said and check the objectives and locations involved in each case. Phelps is also able to use intuition points which are given each time players level up. There are twenty levels. Using intuition points will make it easier for players to solve cases as each point can unlock all clues on a crime scene, eliminate a response from an interview question or ask the community for their answer. 5 intuition points can be held at any given time and using them wisely becomes critical in some of the tougher cases.
With all of that said, investigating crime scenes, interviewing suspects and witnesses as well as connecting the dots within each case and ultimately the story, LA Noire is a blast to play. If you are expecting 1940s Grand Theft Auto however, you are playing the wrong game. There isn’t much gunplay in this game. Most of player’s time will be spent figuring out how each case pertains to the strory rather than shooting up an intersection ala GTA. LA Noire can already be put up as one of the best games you will play in 2011. As players progress through the game and start seeing what is going on in the story of this excellent title, they should feel very compelled to continue playing and finishing the game. I did feel though, that the pacing was a bit too slow at times and some aspects of the plot and character developments as well as backgrounds could have been tied up a bit better.
As a sucker for adventure games of years past, I must say that LA Noire feels like a classic point and click adventure game brought into the 21st century. Rockstar’s latest game is filled with amazing technology that makes a new sort of gameplay possible, which will undoubtedly be adopted by many games in the future, I’m sure. LA Noire is a compelling detective story, filled with story twists and an ending that you won’t see coming. Team Bondi has done a fantastic job in developing a game that will have players talk about it for years to come. Playing through LA Noire is one of the most exceptional experiences I had this year and I am dying to see what Team Bondi does next.
Score: 9 / 10
LA Noire was developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games for Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 17th. A copy of the game was provided to us by Rockstar for reviewing purposes.
