Period fiction often comes with the baggage of modern interpretation. For example, it’s tough to experience a war story without viewing it through the lens of a post-Vietnam world. Gone are the days when conflict could be shown as a pure duality of right vs. wrong. When tackling old science fiction, it’s a chore to suffer through experts who don’t seem to know quite as much as modern high school students. In the case of L.A. Noire’s detectives, it’s plain weird to watch them trod around the crime scene, handling evidence and moving the bodies around.
When Cole Phelps walks onto a crime scene and starts poking around, we can’t help but think of him tainting the area. But to blame the game for this shortcoming is to miss out entirely on what it’s setting out to do. L.A. Noire isn’t a 1940s police investigation simulator. Instead, each case is reminiscent of a short movie that captures an almost pitch-perfect representation of the crime noir found in that era. The 1940s saw Los Angeles as a city on the edge of recognizing its greatness–and many prominent figures wanting the opportunity to get in on a piece of the action.
The core gameplay involves investigating a crime scene, gathering evidence, and interviewing suspects and witnesses. This equates to what you’ll find in a classic adventure game, such as 1987′s Police Quest. You’ll navigate these crime scenes and suspect’s homes, discovering clues and evidence which are then added to your notebook, which acts as your inventory. By listening to the conversations and watching the interviewee’s reactions, it’s not too difficult to discern the truth from something more. The challenge comes from attempting to figure out if someone is lying or just withholding information. This is where the interview segments can derail a bit.
When conducting an interview, there are three ways to respond to a statement. You can choose to believe them and perhaps coax more info from them as a result. You can accuse them of lying, which will require you to back it up with evidence from the notebook. The third option is called ‘doubt’, which seems to imply that doubt is being cast onto the statement, but that doesn’t fully cover all of its uses. Sometimes, the witness or suspect is merely holding back some information. You can tell by their body language that they’re not being fully open. Since there’s no actual lie, there’s also no evidence to prove it. It’s in this situation that ‘doubt’ actually means forcing the info out of them, usually with threats. It can be unclear because in some events, you might think that doubting a response should have a similar result to accusing them of lying, but there is only one correct answer to choose in each situation.
To make matters more confusing, the interview tutorial is a bit short and doesn’t explain the differences between ‘doubt’ and ‘lie’ in too much detail. By case three I had gotten the hang of it, but it’s likely to frustrate many players, as it did me. Now, it’s also possible that a suspect really is lying and you just missed the evidence that would make it obvious, so telling the difference between a failed doubt and a lie with missing evidence rests in your hands.
Now, what if you fail an interview? No problem, as even a case filled with botched interviews can lead to a solution, albeit one that could end with little merit and that carries the possibility of landing the wrong person in jail. By never forcing you to replay an interview or case, the developers have recognized that a failure needn’t be a dead end.
The clue gathering segments are set to an easy mode by default. Get close to a piece of evidence and the controller will vibrate, letting you know you’re in the right spot. Collect all the clues in the area and you’re rewarded with a musical cue. It amounts to little more than walking around on auto pilot. I found the game far more rewarding when I turned off the hints. I didn’t appreciate the game guessing that I’d prefer my hand to be held, but was thankful to be given the option. Sure, I had to examine a greater number of irrelevant items, but the immersion factor kicked up quite a bit–and I actually felt like I was doing the work.
If you’re thinking this sounds a bit dull, there’s plenty of action to be found on the side. While driving through L.A. in any police vehicle, you can respond to a multitude of dispatch calls. The choice to accept these calls depends on your proclivity to branch off and complete every side mission the instant it makes itself known. If you respond, you’ll be careening off to foil robberies, break up fights, pursue dangerous criminals in high-speed chases, and the like. It blends seamlessly into the game’s open world police story and made me feel like there was more to Cole’s existence than the main story to each case.
Stepping into Cole’s shoes is a fascinating experience; he often says and does unexpected things. L.A. Noire isn’t a game that conforms to the player’s choices and mistaking Cole for yourself is liable to result in frustration. Occasionally, your superior is going to demand action and even if you have a jumbled notebook of evidence that doesn’t firmly point to a solid accusation, you’re going to have to make some tough decisions based on gut instinct. This isn’t a failing of the game, it’s a failing of the characters in the story–and possibly, with your investigation. Cole will feel bad about making sloppy decisions and so will you. This extension of the forced fail state is likely to come off as cheap to some. But if you’re playing along with the story, instead of just trying to beat the game’s puzzles, it serves the story in a much richer way and successfully transfers Cole’s frustration onto the player. Games are more likely to attempt delivering only positive experiences, so I’m happy to see one willing to allow for negative outcomes and failure in such a satisfying way. This isn’t a common occurrence with video games, but it’s one that Rockstar has been improving their success rate with over the past few titles.
With a few minor quibbles, the writing does a terrific job bringing the divergent plot strands together in a tight, meaningful way. Its success is only helped by the facial animation technology that allows the actors behind the characters to shine. We no longer have to rely mainly on voice and gestures; when watching the drama unfold, we can see faces come alive with all the proper emotion. If Team Bondi expands this technology to full body animation, video games might finally be free of the Uncanny Valley.
While it’s not without flaws, once L.A. Noire gets going and the larger picture starts coming together, it’s evident that Team Bondi and Rockstar have crafted a mature, complex character piece. It only asks that you pay less attention to points and accolades, and more to letting yourself sink into its story.
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Things We Liked: The acting and writing are among the best to be found in a game. Plenty of opportunity to allow for deep immersion.
Things We Disliked: The interview tutorial was lacking proper examples. The nebulous difference between ‘lie’ and ‘doubt’ took a little while to become clear.
Target Audience: Adventure game fans. Anyone looking to lose themselves in a dark, seedy, mystery thriller.
(L.A. Noire – Developer: Team Bondi, Rockstar Games. Publisher: Rockstar Games. Available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – Xbox version reviewed. Unfamiliar with CFD!’s review system? Read our newly revised explanation here.)
