L.A. Noire 360/PS3

[jimtendo]

I'm currently a few of cases into the 'homocide' desk rank (9 or so hours in and 41% story done) and it's shaping up well, despite my reservations.

I wish there were more lines of interrogation you could persue with the characters, as most seem to have 4-5 questions you could ask. You'll be mainly be using 'Truth' and 'Doubt', as if you use 'Lie' you really want to have evidence to back up your statement, if you know they're blatantly telling porkies. I tend to be more bad cop-bad cop routine more than most, which doesn't help. Zero tolerance and all that. I wish there was an option for uneccesary roughness.

Apart from the main story arc, you can do very minor side missions during a case (which you get calls from the station from, providing you're in the right car) which mainly boil down to:

• kill thugs
• chase thugs

There is an odd one

->Open Spoiler<-

where you can persuade a jumper to not jump

but they're not as frequent, and these side missions don't last very long. A few minutes at most.

At the heart of the game you're still following a paper trail to get further down the rabbit hole, but it's not been done as cinematically as this. Apart from the so-so side missions between the meat of the investigation/ interrogation sequences, it does have a lot of atmosphere which catches a different side to 1940's Los Angeles e.g not mafioso inspired 1940's.

I just wish BioWare will take note of how to do facial animation tech for Mass Effect 3 as it really is the business.

[EvilBoris]

I'm enjoying this so far, I'm usually quite cautious of Rockstar free-roaming games, but this is quite different.

The combination of your action sequences (3rd person cover shooting, on foot chases and Car chases) combined with the CSI/Phoenix Wright style Investigation of the crime scene and the questioning/interogation of suspects is very enjoyable.

Graphically it's a bit of a mixed bag, I've definately noticed the frame rate drops on the 360 version (usually during cutscenes of streets) and the game itself looks very much like GTA or Mafia i.e. kinda bland and low-fi.

The characters are the biggest mix bag of them all, the facial animation is really really good, it looks super convincing and definately makes it more watchable. There is still room for improvement as quite a few characters lips look like they are burns victims or have a strange lack of teeth/tongue. It's pretty amazing that the faces are instantly recognisable as a result (I'm sure I've already seen yet another cast member of Mad Men lurking in a cutscene).
The character models themselves are a bit pish and really spoil the amazing faces, they look like they came from the first Kane and Lynch game, the bodies are stiff and rigid and the bodily mo-cap looks as false as any other Rockstar game, with lots of arm waving gesitculation to make of for the lack of fluidity.

Really enjoying the gameplay though!

[BIG EDD]

Loving this gameon my 5th case,I think the atmosphere is brilliant.
Really surprised I'm enjoying this so much as I always struggle with cut scene driven games but this has changed my perception

[importaku]

Well i had no idea of what this was till yesterday, i watched a few youtube vids & it looked pretty interesting so i took the risk & bought it. Look forward to playing later. Was a nice suprise to see that there was a sticker on the front of the box offering both the naked city & badge pursuit challenge dlc for free. I had no idea the badge pursuit would involve that little envelope with pieces of film in, im assuming i have to match them to locations in the game??

[Neon Ignition]

Done about 1hr 30 and I can see where the 8's are coming from. On one hand its lovely, involving and has a great vibe though on the other hand its a bit clunky, the dialogue options are too vague and its going to prove way too short.

[MartyG]

I'm really not sure what to make of this yet. I'm getting hints of Heavy Rain mixed in with GTA but without the "I must continue playing this no matter what" factor.

What I'm not really feeling at the moment (after a little over 2 hours of play) is involvement - I feel more like the puppet than the puppeteer, that my strings are being pulled, and moving me where I need to go, rather than having control of my actions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating - I do really like the ambience and setting of the game, but it's all the more frustrating that I'm being pushed down what seems a very narrow passage without any real control over what is going on.

I'm struggling with the interogations a bit too - I'm pretty sure in real life it's easier to tell when someone is telling porkies - they seem a bit meh and not dynamic, it's either wrong or right and that's not really how these things should play out.

It's too earlier to make this a definitive opinion, but an initial impression would not be a raving fanboy 9/10.

[JU!]

Nice impressions fun to read.

Edge doin the review waaaaaay before the mag is out again for LA Noire and DOA: Dimensions

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/la-noire-review

Sorry to hear about the over heatin. Would not be puttin this in my white Japanese PS3!

Plus Gamespot video review from possibly the most softly spoken man in the world!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lbuG51aDDo

[mekanor]

May want to take PC out of the thread title. You got my hopes up there for a minute.

[toythatkills]

Change it to SNES

[Synthesthesia]

Plus Gamespot video review from possibly the most softly spoken man in the world!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lbuG51aDDo

That's a woman apparently...

[Flabio]

If you're into videogames as a new way to tell stories, this is basically your perfect game. It's not going to hold everyones attention for sure, and completionists will be driven insane by the slight trial and error nature to the interrogations, but I do agree with all the reviews that have said that while it's not the best game in the world, it's definitely one of the most important.

Also: it absolutely earns that 18 rating. It's not just there for GTA 'you can shoot people' reasons.

[Sketcz]

Why do people keep saying this is a Rockstar game?

It's NOT a Rockstar game!

(EDIT: this outburst of mine is based on about 3 different forums I've read, plus twitter and other online sources, not just NTSC-uk)

Unless Wikipedia is wrong, and they often are, it's by Team Bondi.

It's the year 2011 and people still mix up publishers and developers? Why?!

I wrote this article back in 2006 and half a decade later things are no different. Ay carrumba!

[MartyG]

Who said it was by Rockstar in this "first play" thread? I'm a bit confused.

[PeteJ]

I don't see how it matters either, Rockstar have clearly influenced the game but everyone knows its a Team Bondi developed title.

Played about 2 and a half hours and it's a real mixed bag. The intro was a lovely scene setter but the actual first chapter (or first desk) was disjointed and frustrating. I'd rather they gave the tutorial more oomph, rather than have a handful of separate cases (of which the majority you just abandon and move onto the next once the game has taught you that missions mechanic) it would have been really nice to be bossed around by one of the higher up detectives but be able to see through the case as a lowly street bobby.

As it stood, I found the tutorial rather dull.

Things pick up on the second desk though, I really enjoyed finding the clues and travelling about to the next location. I screwed up one of the suspect questionings so had to find another way through the case. I liked that. I agree it feels that I'm just being led through the cases though, the only challenge being the Truth, Doubt, Lie system which in itself isn't exactly perfect. I really hope that the later cases become more complex and offer lots of red herrings, something to get the grey matter working rather than just working through a list of pre-empted questions.

I love the acting and the script is pretty good too (though the setting doesn't feel that 'Noire' to me), but I don't like the main character. On one of the first cases I was following the line of questioning and suddenly he launches into an offensive against one of the witnesses who I had no reason to suspect was lieing. He comes across as a bit of a cock.
The open world stuff is almost redundant, likewise the incidental street crimes and 911 calls. I appreciate they are there to offer bite-sized action sequences, but the game doesn't do action particularly well.

On the plus side, I really struggled to put the pad down last night. I completed a case and thought it was a natural place to stop, and yet an hour later I was still searching for clues and questioning folk! Must be a good sign.

So far, it feels like Assassin's Creed 1 - the groundwork is there for a great game, but this isn't it. Early days though, and I look forward to jumping back in again later.

[Sketcz]

Who said it was by Rockstar in this "first play" thread? I'm a bit confused.

EvilBoris said: "I'm usually quite cautious of Rockstar free-roaming games"

Maybe he meant "Rockstar-styled" games. But still, I've seen it on other parts of the internet and suddenly felt the need to say something. Perhaps I'm preaching to the wrong people (specifically those who already know the difference). Rockstar's publishing of the game will inevitably confuse the masses on this subject.