L.A. Noire 360/PS3

[rmoxon]

Pretty much. Beat it a couple of days ago, and while in many respects it's an amazing achievement, it's not anything like as much of a game as it ought to be. The interrogation system started to fall apart pretty early on for me, once I realised Phelps thinks there's nothing wrong with accusing

->Open Spoiler<-

a fifteen-year-old girl who's been raped

of lying in the exact same way he does for a murdering thug. Though the nadir was the point I was trying to get a guy to confess to having been committing a certain series of crimes - picked the wrong answer, so he insists he's not guilty - then got the next answer right, at which point he essentially confesses to having committed the crimes anyway yet Phelps just sits there and doesn't react in the slightest. I mean, Jesus, Team Bondi, did you not notice crap like this? Really?

And the structure was far too often fairly dire - I liked the chases, even the tails - they controlled perfectly well and I appreciated the chance to get a better look at the city, but the fact every bloody suspect does a runner just started getting on my nerves. Note to developers: if you need to put in an in-joke about something negative to do with your game, that's a sign you're doing it wrong. No arguments.

Plus I get to be that guy again - I loved the ending. Not done half as well as Team Bondi obviously think, but I thought it was a brave step that was foreshadowed pretty well and felt satisfying despite its flaws. The downside for me was I thought the homicide cases were increasingly bloody awful, particularly the utterly ridiculous conclusion - it's the thing the game's sold on ('Play through the Black Dahlia case over and over!') and it was so stultifyingly boring by the time I'd finished I was struggling to carry on. But I'm glad I did, since even if the game's basic flaws never went away I thought the narrative overall suddenly got a hell of a lot more interesting shortly into Ad Vice and only got better from then on.

Just about manages a 7, for me. A proper 7, as in a very good game, but with too much wrong with it to ever be a real standout. Much better than Heavy Rain, overall, but like Heavy Rain far more valuable as an inspiration for other developers than a game everyone simply must play, etc., etc.

I think for me both heavy Rain and L.A. noire proove one thing...

A game isnt really a game unless its based around gameplay, both of them were based around somthing else and as a result didnt actualy feel like games.

I think that Heavy Rain is probabaly more valuable too, it worked as a story telling tool even if as a game it was not so good, at least its unique and you feel like youve experienced somthing worth while when its done even if it does have just as many flaws as L.A. Noir (in fact it probabaly has even more of them).

[cutmymilk]

Heavy Rain is a lot less broken. I did a case last night and enjoyed it, despite catching the killer before questioning everyone, missing out on gameplay!I seem to be better in doing what the game wants me to now, though getting the questions right is somewhat of a shoot. Even with "ask the community" the people dont seem to know what to pick. Still doing one case every few days. Its just too similar to have massive sessions and the cases are roughly an hour now so its pretty good.

[EightRooks]

Yes, but Heavy Rain is nonsensical, emotionally manipulative drivel. Sorry, it had its moments, and it was hardly a terrible game but there's no way I'd ever play Heavy Rain again, and while it may require more 'skill' I didn't find a long string of QTEs that interesting. LA Noire may be flawed, limited, even outright broken in many respects - though you can still get through it faster if you're concentrating on the warped system it's using, this is true - but I'll take Phelps' story and 1940s Los Angeles any day.

I played with the assists on, for reference. Jesus, no way was I going to stumble blindly around every crime scene hoping I'd got everything - I think they should have taken any reference to you having found 'all' the clues out entirely, really. And before anyone chimes in I am not a fan of 'oh, but you can discipline yourself, you don't have to use them' etc., etc. - the game has clearly been designed around whether or not you have every piece of evidence, and it shouldn't have been. You should be able to five-star a case while only having found a couple of clues if you're a good enough talker. Get disciplined in some way by your superiors, maybe, but it should still be possible. Not to mention I have no problem with useless clues, but I wasn't impressed that so many of them were exactly the same, and that so many of the random messages from Cole were just... completely random. Pick up a carrot off a chopping board - 'Maybe if...?' What? MAYBE IF WHAT, COLE? WHAT POSSIBLE BLOODY REASON COULD THIS HAVE TO BE CONNECTED TO A BRUTAL MURDER? Jesus.

[Wools]

I completed LA Noire over the weekend, taking me around 2 months to finish!

Mixed emotions on the story and game after the credits, with some parts of the investigation and acting being top rate, and other gameplay sections and story being a mixed bag.

->Open Spoiler<-

Overall I was impressed as it?s the only police detective game to involve actual investigation, but the re-use of mechanics, blind alleys of questioning and loose story let the game down. I had no idea that Phelps had a family in till he slept with the German singer as they were barely featured, and his tightly wound persona let you in on little of his motivation apart from he was always doing what he felt to be right. Which is why his affair came as a shock narrative choice, and the fall out to be non-existent aside from a demotion to arson. The final decision to kill Phelps off, really made me feel I had not got to know him at all, so there was no chance at all to warm to your own character.

I also can?t decide on why I always get itchy feet on Rockstar published or developed titles. I have never completed any of the old 3D GTA games, and although I?ve completed GTA4, Red Dead Redemption & LA Noire, I?ve lost all motivation to play every one of the titles at some point through the story. With GTA4, I sold and re-brought it before I saw the credits, Red Dead was wonderful to start with, but I had to knuckle down on a whole weekend to see it through, and LA Noire was stop start for 2 months.

Although it may be an unfair comparison, I played nearly 30 hours of Resident Evil 4 over a fortnight before I completed it and went back for 3 more run through?s and never once questioned my time with the title. The same goes for any game I?ve completed, and although there?s been many brilliant titles where I?ve dropped off for some time, It?s only Rockstar games where I question myself whilst playing and find it very difficult to get back into. I think it?s a mixture of re-used mechanics and long treks to mission start points filling down my enthusiasm to just power the game on and get started. LA Noire gets round of some of these flaws by letting you instantly travel but it still has a barren open world, A to B to get C structure and a story that is not pulled off quite as well as it should be.

There?s no question it?s a good game, but a mixture of flaws that are inherent in the majority of Rockstar games and an unfulfilling story, help to muddy LA Noire. I?ve said it since GTA San Andreas, where they can?t possibly top the last one and I?ve no desire to follow the same open world structure, but every title brings something new, that it?s great to experience the same game in different clothes. The open world template is still intoxicating because of the supposed freedom, but a few hours in, LA Noire exposes the tired structure at its heart, and I realise I?m playing the same game from the PS2 era but with great looking clothes.

[toythatkills]

Ace moment earlier in the Nicholson Electroplating case.

[HIDE]Cole suspects a security guard of the murder of a guy that was shot in the head and chest. The security guard was a retired police officer, and a "retired officer" tie-pin was found at the scene. Pretty damning, so Cole raids his office.

There's a gun, right there on the table! Cole picks it up. "Probably nothing."[/HIDE]

[Adam]

This has to be one of the most boring games I've ever played. There are a few game types bunched together. Talking, shooting, chasing and clue gathering and they are all repeated over and over. And over. There are problems for each of these actions.

The talking sections where you have to decide they are telling the truth, lying or if you doubt them. These are easy, the excellent face animations give them away but it's picking the evidence to back up your lie accusation that is the problem. The characters often change the subject completely when asking them about certain topics and leads to confusion.

Shooting sections were too small scale, I know it's not GTA but it has the same clunky combat system from GTA but half the amount of people to shoot. With little risk as your health just regenerates.

Same scripted cheating bastard chase sequances from GTA aswell, get too close and watch your target gain incredible speed and maneuverability. In the non scripted chase sequances, the ones where you actually stop them, they have mostly all got stuck on other cars or objects and I got out of my car and shot them in the head.

Clue gathering is bad too. In one of the early cases I missed a clue, it was bullet casings on the pavement, I went back and redid the case and saw them. They were nearly impossible to see unless you knew they were there or you walked over the spot and heard the 'ting!' sound. Then there's the pointless examinable objects that serve to hide the real clue giving ones. Too many.

Driving around was no fun either. Having to wait for the radio to go off to do side missions. Having nothing else to do except the cases. There being no point in non police vehicles. Bad AI driving, they have the 'drive into your lane at the last second' AI straight out of GTA.

I did love the facial animation they have here. This has to be the future for games. Imagine your favourite game and then add this. How much better would it be?

Matt Parkman from Heroes and Walter Bishop ftw!

[Sketcz]

Really enjoying this. About halfway through the homicide desk.

I love how they spent so much time and manpower coding in tiny little superfluous details, which I best most people missed.

For example:
I was in the Mamba Bar and I walked past a pot plant, and in most games ferns and other such standing plants have no clipping for the plant leaves, just the base pot. But here the leaf actually ruffled against Cole as he brushed past it, and then the leaf stayed in a crunched up position afterwards! After this I spent ages trying to toy with the foliage. No wonder the team spent weekends working, the game is FULL of stuff like this.

I like to wander the streets and look into windows.

I like noting the shadows for things.

I walked past a door I couldn't open with a fuzzy window and I swear there was a 3D model behind it changing angle as I walked past.

I like how Cole's walk, dash and run animations naturally flow into each other.

There are continuity flaws in many places, but in other places it's so ludicrously detailed. I also like the story, which is slow and ambling. Sometimes I like to sit with a whiskey and have real conversations with Rusty, which Cole can't hear. Rusty never replies, but I know the man can hear me - he also has a healthy thirst. This is one of the few games which I play with the window open to let sunlight dapple my TV screen, it almost feels like I'm really walking those sunny streets.

[PeteJ]

Sad to see this after such an ambitious game with a (now very public) difficult development cycle, but Team Bondi have announced they are bankrupt. It sold well over a million as far as I'm aware but it looks like it was just too damn expensive to make. Unfortunately due to the stories of working conditions and mistreating of staff nobody wanted to offer them another publishing deal, though if the stories are true...

For all the flaws in the gameplay, the face tech, acting (and actors) were a step in the right direction, so this is a shame for gaming. Hopefully the tech won't be lost.

[abigsmurf]

7 years development, horrible working conditions, poor relationship with publishers, all for a game that was good but not great. It's no suprise they couldn't get a publisher.

Can't say I'm too sad at them collapsing, hopefully it'll be a wakeup call to the many awful managers in the games industry. Just hope all the downtrodden staff get better jobs as a result of this.

[Geoff D]

I've just finished the homicide desk - is there much more to go? I was planning on making sweet love to this game, but it's turned into a bit of an awkward quickie & frankly I'd quite like it to leave now.

If there's only a couple of hours left I'll probably finish it.

[toythatkills]

There's still a fair way to go, about half the game.

[Geoff D]

Ouch, thanks. A cruel mistress to be sure.

[Sketcz]

So there's a new version out with all DLC included, right? Does this new version work with saves from the older one? I really loved this game (and you know me, I hate almost everything), and would like to sell my old copy and get the new one with everything "on disc".

Any confirmations much appreciated.

[kryss]

I would imagine so, although is it not on offer on the PSN for Europe now as well?

[Sketcz]

It is, but I know in the past some re-releases are uncompatible with earlier releases - crazy as that may sound. Bloody annoying too.