L.A. Noire 360/PS3

[SuperBeatBoy]

Yeah i couldn't be bothered to install them either. The framerate can be really piss poor at times, but not on the level fable 3 was and that was installed.

[spontaneoustom]

I'm 2 evenings of play into this one and it reminds me of Sid Meier's Pirates! in the same way that it is a game much more than the sum of its parts. Its makes you feel underwhelmed at times but I can't stop pushing on with it. FYI, I'm on the 360 version and I installed all 3 discs before starting play.

The Good
The detailed setting of 1940's post war L.A.
The new facial animation technology makes watching dialogue, 9 times out of 10, a real pleasure
The characters by video game standards are the best written I have ever experienced
The investigation/interrogation mechanic is well paced and rewarding

The Bad
The graphics are underwhelming at nearly all times, pop-up, stiff/broken animations, low texture quality, short draw distance, backgrounds in cut-scenes being rendered as dialogue takes place
The lead, Cole is played way too boy-scout-ish for my liking
Reuse of one P.O.I. face model for another P.O.I. shatters any immersion you might experience during interrogation
The plot is slow burning to the point of not burning at all until quite a fews hours in

I could say a lot more on the bad side but it doesn't feel fair. Team Bondi should be applauded for their ambition and hopefully they will get the chance to make a sequel in another setting with a better written lead character and more of a page-turning feel to the story's pacing.

Giving this a score is almost impossible for me. It varies between 7, 8 and 9 at times with it mostly landing on the 7 level of experience. Saying all that, it is without doubt an essential play for this generation.

[SuperBeatBoy]

The game is really dragging towards the end, i'm nearly finished with it now.

[rmoxon]

The lead, Cole is played way too boy-scout-ish for my liking

Yeah, this is actualy worse than any of the negatives I have previously mentioned. Hes too nice when hes nice and then whenever you select to doubt someone or think they are lying he goes ape **** on them.

Hes like a crazy robot, its not good, hes a goody too shoes lead by his somewhat blind faith in law and order. It doesnt work, no one is that much of a tool.

[stainboy]

Opinions on this game seem to be getting more negative. Is it the kind of game that wows you at first but lets you down when you get into it?

[toythatkills]

I think it's the kind of game that wows people at first then they get pissed off because they realise it's not a sandbox game, it's just Phoenix Wright in a sandbox game's clothes.

Which is what I love about it, and still do the more I play.

Is everyone playing in colour or black and white, out of interest?

[cutmymilk]

Ive only played a few cases but its not really that clever. Hasnt grabbed me like I thought it would. Maybe it gets better and the first few cases are a bit simple but not feeling it a great deal. Searching houses etc is pretty boring tbh.

[stainboy]

I think it's the kind of game that wows people at first then they get pissed off because they realise it's not a sandbox game, it's just Phoenix Wright in a sandbox game's clothes.

Which is what I love about it, and still do the more I play.

That's what made me interested, I assumed it was a sandbox game from the TV ads partly because Rockstars name was plastered all over it but also because I see games like that and tend to think of GTA etc now. I don't like GTA and I'm not keen on the lack of focus in the sandbox idea so I was more interested when I read about this. Maybe I would like it then if I'm not expecting or wanting it to be like that. It'll annoy me if the main character really is annoying though, it's bad enough watching characters like that without having to control one.

[hudson]

With Team Bondi being founded by one of the guys behind The Getaway it was probably always going to feel like a Rockstar title, crappy side angled driving camera and all, lol

I think the camera view can be changed using the d-pad.

[PeteJ]

I've also been caught out by a case (

->Open Spoiler<-

Lipstick Killer

) being cut short before I'd had the chance to do everything I'd wanted to, purely because I was visiting Locations in my notebook in the order they were appearing in my notebook. The options I had?

->Open Spoiler<-

Either search a suspect's apartment, or interrogate another suspect at the station. Naturally, I felt inclined to search the apartment in order to get more evidence to use in the interrogation, never for one moment thinking it'd initiate the conclusion... alas, it resulted in the suspect returning, getting arrested and ending the case completely. Nice.

Being a good hour into the case, needless to say I was more than a little miffed at feeling cheated out of a proper conclusion, made all the more irritating because,

->Open Spoiler<-

moments before the suspect returned in the same cutscene, Phelps was voicing his suspicions as to why the lipstick and murder weapon were just sat in open sight in the suspect's bedroom, implying they were planted and thus suggesting another twist in the case. Sadly not it seems. I can only hope that this is something that'll crop up in a later case as some big evidence-planting conspiracy or something.

I'm still kind of enjoying it, and I'll play it through to the end, but... y'know... I'm not gonna gush about it or anything like that. Heavy Rain did the whole game noir thing much better in my humble opinion.

I've just done the same case and fell into the same trap. The case notes even mentioned that I should have gone to the other location, which was annoying as I was about to head there. Probably the biggest fault of the game is the random internal logic.

I'm not feeling like a detective because the notebook is too effective. It automatically adds everything you need to know so I have nothing to think about or to remember. I doesn't even feel like an old-school adventure game because of this. But would it have worked at all without the notebook? Probably not.

I am still enjoying it though, I love the characters (apart from Cole, who is still a dick), the performances and the stories, even if the overarching plot is somewhat dull. I care not for the flashbacks. I don't like the Truth, Doubt, Lie system largely because it tells me when I do something wrong but I can't recall many games that have made me listen so intently during talky bits.

[Jebus]

Whilst I love the game, I'd agree with some of the criticisms laid out here. I think most of it is just a case of them trying to play to every possible consumer, and therefore some cases feel harder/easier than others, causing some of the problems people have had. The particular case you guys are talking about though, I think that might actually be supposed to happen, but until I get further into the "story" I don't want to speculate too much, as I think it's part of a larger arc.

My biggest problem with the title though is Cole. Interviewing a suspect he's all nicey nice, then if you "doubt" them (a simple doubt, nothing more nothing less) he goes ape****: "YOU KILLED HER YOU ****, I WILL PUT -- YOU -- DOWNNN!!!" then back to "Yes, thank you very much for your assitance". It breaks the immersion every time for me.

[saturn-gamer]

Sounds familliar, whenever I choose doubt it always feels like a big fat gamble. He usually says something less rational than I had in mind myself.

As for the game, I do get some sort of Assassins Creed 1 dejavu. Revolutionary, but ultimately quite repetitive. Examine body and surrounding, go speak with suspect, complete occasional chase or shooting scene. I do enjoy LA Noire more so far.

[baad bwoy]

Really like this so far, especially turning on the siren...woo, woo, woo!!!simple things eh

[spontaneoustom]

Really like this so far, especially turning on the siren...woo, woo, woo!!!simple things eh

Yeah, this little bit of fun grabbed me too :-)

[SuperBeatBoy]

I liked Cole as a character. Just finished it myself, it has some of its problems story wise but its still one of the better games i've played in a good long while to feature a decent narrative.