Forums » General Gaming

• Batman

  

  • 342 posts
   

  May 23, 2012 5:04 AM EDT

  

  The Storyline

  The year is 1947 in post war L.A. you play former marine turned cop Cole Phelps, one of the few straight-laced cops in the city. With his excellent deductive and thorough case working ethics he quickly climbs in the ranks, but in a town that’s run by the corrupt can Cole overcome it and make a change?

  The Gameplay

  The game has 3 components for game play:

  Search – canvas the crime scenes looking at everything for a clue that might shed some light on the investigation, whether it be the victim themselves or a tube of used lipstick anything could help break the case.

  
  Chasing down leads- once you’ve gathered the evidence at the scene you then have to find the meaning behind the clues, some will be dead ends others will lead you straight to the suspect killer

  
  Questioning/Interrogation - the last aspect of the game play is to question witnesses and people of interest then to interrogate the suspects. Based on the evidence you’ve found and the facial expressions they give to the questions you have 3 options to choose from.

  
  Truth – if you believe what they say choose this one.
  Doubt – if you don’t believe what they say or you think they aren’t telling all but have no hard evidence that tells you otherwise, choose this one.
  Lie- if you know the person is outright lying to your face and you have the facts to back this up choose this one (you’ll have to show a piece of evidence to back you up or if you are unsure you can back out of this option with no penalty).

  (There are also quite a few familiar faces to be found and seen through out the game)

  Collectables/Misc.

  Scattered around town there are a number of things to pick up.
  Newspapers - these are found during the story cases and add a bit more to the story being told that doesn’t directly involve Phelps.

  
  Golden Movie Reels - these are all over the sandbox and are titles of actual Noire films
  Hidden Vehicles - these are rare cars found in garages across the gaming area.
  Landmarks - famous places to visit around the city.

  
  Street Crimes – these are your Random encounters, minor crimes usually a car chase or a robbery and sometimes a suicide jumper (you can only hear these if you are in a police car)

  Free for all L.A- A guide to navigate the Streets of L.A

  

  Your main mode of transport in L.A is your police car (changes as you move around the ranks) but you can drive any vehicle in the game be it a parked vehicle or one being driven by a civilian (non-police cars won’t pick up street crimes as they don’t have the scanner).
  The game loosely follows the road rules except that turning cars tend not to wait their turn so be careful at the intersections.
  When you use your Siren, this will freeze most cars in their place so you can pass. try to stick to the middle of the road as the cars will try and merge to the lane closest to the pavements to get out of your way (even if you are in this lane) there is plenty of fun to be had with the 95 different cars to drive from the sporty Packards to the tank like fire engines.   

  Much like RDR with its spaghetti and religious quotes based around the theme of redemption, L.A Noire is rife with trivia and references to the Noire genre. From the titles of the missions (they are even set out like the old movies in appearance) all being a Noire film to dialogue from the characters and even some events that play out.

  

  So that’s just a tiny bit of what L.A Noire is, Let’s Talk.

• Batman

  

  • 342 posts
   

  May 23, 2012 5:18 AM EDT

  First off I loved this game, everything from the setting to the music (I could listen to it for hours). I actually roleplayed this game. I drove like a normal person (its a shame you don't have indicators) and only used the siren if I had to. I walked everywhere instead of running and if I could take someone down without killing them I did. this along with my extensive search for the collectables and scouting for Hidden vehicles and Landmarks almost doubled my game play time and I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything or had to rush around.

  there was also another fun game I played called guess who that is. As many of the cast for L.A Noire are famous or well known actors.

  one of the few things i didn't like was the death of Cole much like John from RDR (but not as much) at least you don't have to play as a dis-likable character for the free roaming (like Jack Marston) you get to keep Cole.

  My favourite Desk to play was Homicide it had some of the better cases (keep an eye on the trash bins near the crime scene in "The Silk Stocking Murder" as one of them holds an easter egg )

• Kynareth

  

  • 140 posts
   

  May 24, 2012 7:58 PM EDT

  Charlie, thank you so much for reviewing this!  I have always had a love for this genre (Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon was my first movie crush--yes, I was probably and still am a bit abnormal).    I keep looking at this game and wondering how I would like it...you have just sold me, as it sounds like the mental game needs to be sharp.

  It would fulfill two of my fantasies, albeit virtually, driving a Packard and being a detective. 

  Did the game push you to finish the main quest, or were you able to complete various objectives when you wanted in an open world type concept?

• Batman

  

  • 342 posts
   

  May 24, 2012 8:11 PM EDT

  i'm glad you liked it, i've always had a thing for the old movies and this game was like a dream come true.

  yes you really need to focus on finding all the clues and watching the peoples reactions to get the best out of your cases.

  this game is a bit more linear then that its broken down to a case by case thing you are given the case and a location (the crime scene) and you can then drive there or get your partner to do it. you can just drive off in random directions and do the street crimes/landmark finding etc. the best thing to do if you want to explore is to use the free roam option in the case files then you can drive around as much as you want and cause all the damage you want without penalty towards your case.