REVIEW - L.A. Noire (Xbox 360, PS3)

In 1997 a game was released by a little known company by the name of DMA Design that generated controversy unheard of at that time in the video game industry.  The game's name was Grand Theft Auto and the company went on to become Rockstar North, part of the developers who have co-developed L.A. Noire. (Rockstar/Team Bondi)

When one looks at Grand Theft Auto (or GTA as it has become known over its many instalments), and then looks at L.A. Noire, it is tempting to feel like Rockstar have done a 180 degree turn.  For in GTA, you played the ultimate criminal, roaming around a city looking for trouble; either of one's own making or through missions assigned to you by criminal head honchos.  In L.A. Noire, you play Detective Cole Phelps and it is your job to track down and catch those criminals of the kind that were so celebrated in the GTA games - you are the ultimate cop.

Cole Phelps - a.k.a. You

That isn't to say that L.A. Noire takes place in the GTA world; instead it is set in 1940's Los Angeles.  Phelps has just come back from the war having done his duty as a marine serving in Japan, and is still fresh from the horrors experienced in that war.  He finds himself a new job as a cop, and quickly works his way up through the ranks as a detective in various departments.  Phelps' story is of a man trying to keep pure in what can often be a very seedy police department.

Linear Noire

In terms of gameplay, if you are expecting gameplay as open world as GTA or Red Dead Redemption, then you are going to be very disappointed - L.A. Noire at first gives the impression of being very open, but it is in fact extremely linear.  Linearity is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is important to be clear that this is not GTA: Detective.  Although there are a number of side quests to get on with - including 40 street crime cases and a whole range of landmarks and secret cars to be discovered - the majority of the game is set in a typically linear mission format.

Crime scenes are varied, but examining can be repetitive.

A mission will usually start out with a small cut scene explaining the case, and then an introduction to the case from your boss.  You will then make your way to the crime scene, and encounter what is probably the weakest part of the game.  The "investigation" sequences involves Phelps talking to the various people examining the crime scene (coroner etc) and then searching for clues.  Unfortunately this process becomes tedious very quickly, as it ultimately involves walking around the scene indiscriminately, waiting for the "You've found a clue" noise to chime.  The idea of searching for clues is by no means a bad one, it just isn't particularly well implemented.  It becomes a lengthy process of scouring every inch of ground, as opposed to genuinely searching for clues.  The game livens things up at various points by the inclusion of minigames, such as having to break a secret lock on a trombone case, but by and large it is just walking around and pressing the action button whenever one hears a noise.

Often at the crime scene (as well as in other areas as well), the player will be called upon to interview either a suspect, a witness, or a general person of interest.  It is here where the game really comes into its own and stands out.  For L.A. Noire uses MotionScan technology in order to map the faces of the actors involved in filming, and then transposes them onto the faces of the characters.  It means the faces of characters in the game are hyper-realistic, so much so that it's a little creepy when you first see it.  This technology is used not only to enhance the game, but also in the interview segments of the game.  These segments involve Phelps and his colleague asking certain questions to the person of interest.  As the person is answering, the camera will show a close up view of their face, and from a combination of their answers, their facial expressions and the evidence that you have collected up until that point, you as Detective Phelps must work out with each answer if they are telling the truth, if they are making doubtful statements, or if they are flat out lying.  If you make the latter accusation, you must support that by showing the corresponding evidence that proves them wrong.

He looked down!  He must have murdered someone!

For the most part the system works extremely well.  The difficulty is set at a steady level, so every new interview is tricky and takes some thinking, without it being utterly impossible.  I for one seemed to be stuck on getting around three out of four answers right on each interview - there always seemed to be one that stumped me.  The facial recognition is so accurate that you must look very carefully at the person of interest to look for tells; so they might avert their eyes, twitch a little bit or even swallow hard.  All these things are visible on the screen, and provide those glorious "Aha" moments when you spot the tell.  Unfortunately it doesn't work perfectly.  When for instance you choose the "doubt" option, the game doesn't specify precisely what it is you are "doubting" meaning you can end up accusing someone of something entirely different to what you intended.  So in an early scene I doubted a woman's statement that her husband had recently purchased new glasses (as I had seen that he had quite old ones at the crime scene), so I pressed the doubt button and then watched in horror as Phelps went on to accuse her of being complicit in the crime!  Such a feature can lead to some infuriating moments, especially when the game ranks up the difficulty.

The third main aspect of gameplay could be described as "action sequences."  These involve either a) car chases, b) cover based shooting, c) stealth sections or d) chases on foot.  These all work very well.  The stealth sections can be a little bit slippery at times, but the cover system works well and keeps the flow of action very smooth and breaks up the slowness of the rest of the game with some good old fashioned action.  The driving sections aren't perfect, and despite the cries of your colleague to get close so he can shoot out the tires, there is always a scripted sequence waiting at the end of the chase, so as long as you don't lose the "perp" (that's right, I'm using the official lingo now!), there is no need to risk your neck as he will eventually drive into a tram, or flip the vehicle or whatever.  Once you click this is the case, it ruins the frantic pace of the chases, but they are still fun nonetheless.

It is times like this where the linearity of the game comes through and it is a little disappointing.  Even if you bungle an interview, the game will still find a way to give you a route to the next part of the case.  If you completely screw up the case, you might get a dressing down from a superior and a low rating, but the next mission will pop up faithfully.  In that sense you can't "lose" at L.A. Noire and that's a shame.  It would have been nice if you were able to bungle up an interview, and then have to go searching for a completely new line of inquiry, or if the case remained unsolved and it mattered.  Instead, you can be assured that you will get to the end of a case eventually, and L.A. Noire loses some of its power as a result.

Additionally, there is little else to do in the L.A. Noire world except for follow the story, which is a shame because the city is rendered so beautifully, and the world is so atmospheric - complete with smooth jazz music and genuine radio shows from the 1940s on the radio.  When I first went driving about in 1940's L.A. I was in love and wanted to explore more; but apart from collecting cars and spotting landmarks, there is nothing else to do except for drive from destination A to destination B.  There are no mini games or side challenges (except for the 40 street crime cases mentioned earlier) like in Red Dead Redemption, or areas to go and get completely lost in aside from the main quest.  This wouldn't be so grating if Rockstar and Team Bondi hadn't done such a great job in creating a world that any player would really want to explore.  The game's heavily plot-based, linear narrative is understandable giving the subject matter (cops can't just go wandering off in the same way a cowboy can) but it is a little frustrating at times.

It's a Dirty Job...

From a Catholic perspective, L.A. Noire is understandably a big improvement from the morally offensive Grand Theft Auto series, in the sense that this time you play a cop who is looking for justice, as opposed to a villain looking for trouble.  Additionally, Phelps' struggle to keep clean in what is an extremely corrupt police outfit is an intriguing one, and raises some interesting questions related to the moral principle of justice and its application in reality.  Without giving away any plot spoilers, there are also strong themes of forgiveness, and it will be discovered that Phelps himself is on his own quest for redemption.  Although there is little sign that Phelps ever turns towards God for this redemption - preferring to adopt the Pelagian approach of redeeming himself - there are other characters (notably a slightly stereotypical Irish Inspector) that are deeply religious and make gratifying Christian statements, resulting in a much deeper religious message than is present in many video games of this ilk.  It is also the first game I can remember in which the subject of adultery is generally seen by all characters as a very bad and destructive thing in which to be engaged.

Beneath the lights lies a murky underworld.

Killing in this game is by and large kept to a relative minimum.  While the player will be required to fight off gangsters and gun wielding criminals, some of the street missions and certain criminals can be stopped by firing a warning shot, or by tackling them to the ground.  Additionally deaths of innocents are severely penalized, and the game treats the death of innocent people as a tragedy, and this provides a primary motive for Phelps in his quest for justice.  The full consequences of criminal activity are also shown in L.A. Noire, with scenes that involve Phelps informing affected relatives, colleagues and even children.  By doing this, there is no way that L.A. Noire can be said to be glamorizing violence.

Yet such a game still involves extremely adult themes, with themes of murder, drug use, rape, violent assault, domestic abuse, euthanasia, sexual activity involving minors, adultery and prostitution all making significant appearances in L.A. Noire, meaning that this game is definitely for adults only.  Additionally the game's grittiness is communicated with a few bloody crime scenes, including one very bloody interior, some graphic scenes of war crimes and a few relatively close shots of naked corpses.  Although such details are justified by the story, it is something that Catholic gamers will wish to consider before purchasing.  Also the game contains an extremely heavy amount of rough, crass and crude language, as well as significant profanity and various racist terms.  Just because the main character might be clean shaven, it should not be assumed that the game is as well!

In terms of length, the game packs a solid punch of approximately 20-25 hours.  The award system of cases offers limited replayability, as do the collectible cars, but generally the story mode will keep you occupied for a long time.  The story does drag a little in the middle, and I found myself repeating a lot of the same types of cases.  A little more variety would have helped to make this a perfect title.

Conclusion


From a technical perspective, L.A. Noire brings a lot to the table.  The dynamic way in which MotionScan is implemented offers something fresh, and for the most part works very well.  Solving cases will take the player to a variety of different environments, and there are some very memorable characters mixed in.  The story isn't the best in videogame history, and could probably have done with some editing, but on the whole it serves its purpose admirably, and it kept me interested enough to want to play to the end.  The action-packed breaks via the street crime cases and occasional action sequences are well implemented and provide a much needed respite from what can often be a very slow game.  Ultimately, L.A. Noire is a drastically new type of game, and while it certainly doesn't get everything right, it gets enough right and is enjoyable enough for this to be a very commendable release from a technical perspective.

From a Catholic perspective, it is good to see Rockstar allowing you to play as a character that doesn't break the law every five seconds, but this doesn't necessarily make this a game suitable for all by any stretch of the imagination.  Although L.A. Noire contains some solid messages about justice and redemption, and also includes some explicitly Christian moments, it is also an extremely gritty game that tackles a great deal of adult issues and is therefore certainly not suitable for children and adolescents.  Although difficult scenes are not handled in a perverse or exploitative way, some of them are disturbing enough to make this one that Catholic gamers must tread carefully before buying.  This game contains scenes of disturbing war crimes, drug use, bloody crime scenes, scenes of naked corpses, images of charred remains, moderate gun violence, significant rough, crass and crude language as well as profanity, some racist terms, implied euthanasia, an implied under-age sexual encounter and some clinical descriptions of rape, murder, domestic abuse and prostitution.

The technical rating for this title is 8/10

The Catholic rating for this title is L -- Limited adult audiences.  Contains problematic content that many adults would find troubling.