LA Noire

This is a game that I have been interested in for a while, since when it was a PS3 exclusive. I've always had an interest in Film Noir, and this game looks like it evokes the atmosphere.

Throughout the game, you will rise through the ranks from Patrol up to Arson investigator as you solve new cases. Starting with an investigation of the crime scene, you then follow numerous leads picked up, which in turn will open or close further avenues of investigation. A case can have up to 9 endings, and it is possible to get the completely wrong outcome depending on how you read the characters and clues, although how this affects the overall story remains to be seen.

I'm really annoyed that there are 5 different preorder bonuses with the game:
Game: New case - The Naked City (Vice Desk), and Badge Pursuit challenge (extra ammo when complete, and more XP/Intuition points)
Play: New Case - A Slip of the Tongue (Traffic)
Amazon: Broderick Detective suit (enhanced hand to hand fighting)
Zavvi: Sharpshooter Suit (aiming precision)
HMV: Chicago Piano Machine Gun
This will most likely be charged for later on for everyone else.

Personally, I'm getting the game for £28 using a couple of voucher codes without any bonuses.

It was the first game to be recognised and selectedfor the Tribeca Film Festival





( Edited 10.05.2011 20:17 by Lrrr )

This title wasn't really on my radar until I saw more of the game three weeks or so ago. Whilst I was looking forward to Brink more, this one has topped it (I've cancelled my Brink order due to player reviews and loads of inherent problems)

The Motion capture used is astounding and I found it a little unnerving at first looking at the faces, and that's because the expressions are real; Heck, I even recognised some actors, Matt Parkman from Heroes for example. Team Bondi have had this in development for a very long time and from the looks of things the producers (Rockstar) have had a subtle influence on the title too. LA is also meant to be as close as possible to the real thing too.

This will be perfect for when I finish my exams (17th) and the 20+ hour story is looking really promising, just as Red Dead Redemptions was. They also apparently have a tonne of stuff for DLC because they made so much for the game that it over spilled. Whilst the game is on one bluray for PS3, its on 3 disks for the xbox due to size limitations and the amount of motion capture data that is on it.

I will have to put my pre-order down soon (hope it isn't as much of a let down as Brink), where did you find it for £28 Lrrr? Considering I need it for the Xbox rather than the PS3.

I've wanted this. I love the facial animation, it's going a long way with me.

http://youtu.be/Jm2PqSuVYU4
http://youtu.be/Afy1l4nbEpc
http://youtu.be/tYNhs0roxT0
http://youtu.be/hEFoPoCtuBQ

The game was announced back in 2004, so a lot of time and money has gone into it. Back then, it was announced as exclusive to PS3, but I guess the rising costs eventually lead to the XBox 360 announcement.

It was confirmed on the Rockstar forums that all preorder stuff will be available down the line. I think that some of the preorder stuff are cases that were cut due to size constraints. As long as it's reasonably priced, then I won't have a problem with it (and Rockstar haven't been tight with pricing in the past - Undead Nightmare was 800 points and it added a whole 6 hour campaign as well multiplayer modes)

The cases are said to take between 45 and 90 minutes each. And with the street crimes as well, it looks like it should come in at a decent length.

I'm getting it for XBox as well, it's what I have bought most things on recently.

At Sainsbury's Entertainment, you can get 20% off your first order of a video game, bringing it down to £32. Then I had another £4 evoucher to use there.

( Edited 10.05.2011 20:38 by Lrrr )

I'll probably just order it from ShopTo. Never failed me yet on a day early release (other than BO, but they where told not to ship)

Really looking forward to this now, need a new game to fix me, won't be touching Brink until they sort out all the problems.

LA Noire - 15 Mins Gameplay Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53cUVvd8yk

Squidboy said:
LA Noire - 15 Mins Gameplay Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53cUVvd8yk

Edit: God it looks gorgeous!

( Edited 13.05.2011 14:01 by Echoes221 )

wow! nice sound

They've taken the footage down now. Glad I managed to watch it though

Unfortunely the video was removed before I could see it.. can't wait for the game though I should just be about finished with most of my work upon its release which is handy!

I finish my exams on the 17th. I'm going to just sink into this when it arrives on the 19th. Cant. Fucking. Wait.

I'll be playing very little on Friday. I'm really excited for this game, but it will have to wait, I must play The Witcher 2 first. The Witcher 2 comes out on Tuesday, while this comes out on Friday.

40 mins Gameplay

http://www.gameanyone.com/video/313168

Squidboy said:
40 mins Gameplay

http://www.gameanyone.com/video/313168

Can't wait for this though, I picked up Brink today to have a blast through (literally, completed the campaign etc already, fun online though) and my single player needs haven't been met yet. Can't wait to see how the interrogation stuff pans out, that's what I'm looking forward too most, and how the story progresses out of that.

( Edited 16.05.2011 01:45 by Echoes221 )

Right, so I got this game today around 1PM and I have to say, Its amazing, and a complete shake up from Rockstar's usual formula. I've put in around 5 hours so far and made it off the first disk. The characters that you meet are all impressive, and this leads to some pretty heated interrogations. So far, weapon scenes are fairly limited (which is a brilliant thing) as the emphasis is on the detective work. You do however tend to chase down a lot of bad guys through the streets and rooftops of LA and it always feels cinematic.

The city is HUGE, I've not explored most of it, mainly due to the fact that this is probably Rockstar's most linear game yet, you can go off the beaten path, but you would only do so (so far) for street crimes which get called in on your radio. And when you do this, there are often different outcomes to the story. For instance, I was meant to go straight to this dude's apartment to protect him, but I did two street crime missions instead. When I got there the place was ransacked and you could look for clues, however at the end of the chapter the game stated I could of avoided the trashing and taken down the baddies there and the story would of taken a slightly different direction. Things like these want to make me play though again to find all the little different outcomes.

There seems to be several stories going on as well, Cole's current one, his past and one from newspapers found about the missions, these all feel like they are slowly but surely colliding. Its going to be interesting.

TLR GET THIS GAME, probably one of the best single player experiences I have had for a long, long time. If you have a choice get the PS3 version, as its on one disk instead of the xbox's 3.

P.S. I just found an option in the settings to play the entire game in black and white. Wicked.

( Edited 19.05.2011 23:04 by Echoes221 )

My copy came today. 'Tis rather awesome. Only done the first six cases, the first 4 were pretty short. I've managed to offend a few people, completely closing off a few avenues of investigation.

You can see the Rockstar influence in the game. Although during a case you're led around quite a bit, you can always just go exploring or theres always the free roam option.

The newspaper stories are leading up to something, and I don't trust that psychiatrist.

Just heard one of the tracks that was also used in Fallout 3.

I have to say, I'm impressed.

I played it for around four hours today and I really enjoyed my time on it. I feel like playing on it again now, which is a good sign.

Apart from some confusion in cases, finding the weapons controls a bit awkward to use and not being able to read the face expressions at all, it's been great. It's a real difference in terms of pacing and gameplay mechanics, compared to the Grand Theft Auto games and that a good thing for me. It feels like a realistic Phoenix Wright blended with Heavy Rain and Grand Theft Auto, though just for the driving sections. The whole 40's feel of the game is just really amazing and the original soundtrack gives it that extra quality.

The number of ways a case can progress, depending on your actions, actually makes me want to play through some of the previous cases again. I'd like to see how it would change if I had improved some of the interrogations I didn't do so well on.

This music is just fantastic:

There's DLC now. The preorder stuff mainly for now, at 320 points a case, suits for 80, and the badge pursuit challenge for 160.

The Rockstar Pass has all this, plus 2 future cases, for 800 points which is what I'll be taking

Got this game a couple days ago. Currently on the Homicide desk. Obviously I knew of it, and that it was a detective game, but beyond that it was more-or-less an impulse buy.

I was totally unaware of retailer-specific bonuses. I randomly walked into HMV, and walked out with L.A. Noire for PS3. Got it home, opened it up and found one of those scratch cards with a code for the Chicago Piano.

Thus far it has proved to be of minimal use. For one, the gunplay up to now hasn't been particularly difficult. You can win with relative ease just using the pistol.

Bearing in mind you cannot draw any weapon until the situation requires (i.e. you're being shot at), retrieving the Chicago Piano from the trunk of your car usually means putting yourself right in the line of fire.

There's even been an instance where Cole and his fat partner in the Homicide cases roll up on a residence and draw their guns upon approach. Problem is, they draw when out of the car and close to the building. Running back to the car made Cole put his weapon away. Long one short; I was unable to retrieve my tommy gun.

That's my only real peeve with the game at the moment, the fact that my HMV bonus has been kind of useless (may prove more useful later on, though). I've pretty much loved everything else. Awesome atmosphere, obviously the acting is the best example of in-game acting.

It's not just the voices. The characters seem real because they are! Watching someone swallow, their adam's apple moving, their face muscles tensing as they look away, unable to look you in the eye.. you know that unless it's using MotionScan, no 'performance' from any character in any other video game will ever convince you. The bar has been raised. Very high! Even the next best game for lip-syncing etc doesn't even come close to L.A. Noire.

It's not a game for everyone, though. This reason is also the biggest reason that I like it. Ahem.. this game is SHENMUE-AS-FUCK!! Seriously nearly creamed my pants during the first mission as I was picking objects up and looking them over, referring to my notebook which was constantly being added to as I found out new things. SEGA have forgotten Shenmue, but Team Bondi haven't!

Obviously I'm not saying this is a Shenmue-clone or ripoff. What it does take from 'Mue it does so in the right way. It has heaps of it's own things, too. But as I said, this game isn't for everyone, and it's the same reason Shenmue isn't for everyone - it's very slow paced (meditative, almost).

Like Shenmue, you spend most of your time going around town talking to people, racking up clues on your latest lead, generally not hurting anyone or anything. Occasionally there'll be a shootout or fist-fight, but this is never the focus. Most pieces of entertainment have intense main components with lighter interludes for the audience to catch their breath before the next deluge of action.

L.A. Noire has it the other way around (like Shenmue). Lots of interactions with characters, lots and lots of dialogue (mostly in-game, not cut-scenes!), etc. It's a certain type of person's game. If not too late, I would urge people to not read reviews. I didn't, and just had a look at one. I didn't read it all, since in the first couple of paragraphs it already spilled the beans on some things that caught me by total surprise, specifically because I knew next to nothing about it.

Everyone's been saying the PS3 version is the one to get because it's on one disc. Reason enough, I suppose. What you might not know is that the PS3 version also has better graphics, which if you can't be arsed reading the article linked to, basically boils down to more and better shadows, better framerate, less pop-up, and heavier use of SSAO.

As ever, the difference seems more different when showed stills side-by-side (as those comparisons do). The actual difference is pretty minimal in motion, and when playing probably not even perceptible. If you've only got a 360 and think you might like this game, don't even doubt the 360 version. Get it!

Reefer Madness is underwhelming.

And likely the last DLC as Rockstar have ended the working relationship with Team Bondi.

Overall, I'm disappointed slightly, it's clear the cases were just cut from the game, although likely due to space issues

Not my usual cup of tea, but an enjoyable one none the less. The story was great and the characters were the best in any game I've ever seen.

There's a very distinct "movie" feeling off the game, not because of the setting, but the actual pace if the gameplay. It's very hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it. It's a mix between a film and video game, some other games have tried to attempt this and failed. I think Noire has set the standard. Saying that I did feel that in some cases there wasn't enough actual gameplay and it felt more like a point and click adventure than a 1940's CSI video game.

My main peeve would be lack of diversity between weapons and the fact you cannot use them outside of "combat", but I suppose this would make it feel too GTA.

This is definitely worth the purchase, if not for the game itself but to see the MotionScan technology in action. It's truly the future of gaming.

One game that I feel would really benefit from the MotionScan would be Mass Effect, conversations would feel way more realistic and immersive.

( Edited 14.07.2011 02:38 by Birdo Is A Tranny )