L.A. Noire- Couldn't think of a snappy title, Cole? (featuring MINI TOP GAMES 2016)
L.A. Noire- Couldn't think of a snappy title, Cole? (featuring MINI TOP GAMES 2016)
Title: L.A. Noire
Initial Release: 17th May 2011
Developer: Team Bondi, Rockstar
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360 and (PC Reviewed (but PC this game is not HU HA))
Payed for: Payed with my own hard earned money at a discount
To this day L.A. Noire has been the only Rockstar that has actually stuck with me, I played it when it first came out but only got up to around about the first chapter; so when I saw this on sale in the humble store I thought "hey big boy I remember that game being good maybe I should throw some hot dough to that poor company that went under. (Team Bondi)" Said me " Hey, yes that’s a good idea" Replied also me?
Anyway, I'm babbling. So why has L.A. Noire kept me so interested and was it worth paying money to finally complete this?
Story
The story starts with Cole Phelps a perfectly average street cop as he starts his first few cases, that I don't remember incredibly well cause it was almost 30 hours of gameplay ago, he soon gets promoted to detective in the traffic division. It is revealed by cutscenes in between cases and from NPC dialogue that Cole actually served in the second world war (this being a game set in the 1940s taking place in L.A.) it is also shown that he won a medal and thus other characters calling him a war hero. Just to off on one a bit here: Cole Phelps is a character that both interests me as well as really irritating me because yes he is a great detective but the way he interacts with the other characters around him seems to put me off him a bit, I honestly have no idea why but the way he talks and conducts himself is just off putting to me; maybe it's just the weird motion capture but I'll get on to that later. The part that interests me is that he was in the war and he got a medal but when ever people call him a "war hero" they say it in a very sarcastic way and everyone seems to genuinely dislike him. Like I mentioned before the game is set in L.A. and around the 1940s and this plays to the games strength because I love detective shows like this and that plays out exactly like a detective show and this, I feels, is a massive strength of the game.
An after thought that I forgot to mention that this game is quite accurate in the portrayal of how certain people would have been treated in those times, for example women and people of a different race. Basically I'm saying it includes very taboo words and slurs so if you're not comfortable with that kind of thing this game will be about as comfortable as sitting on a cactus with a full freakishly large pineapple inserted into your mouth.
Gameplay
This game has two different "modes" if you will humor me. It has action mode; which includes firefights, car chases, on foot chases and fist fighting. The other mode is the detective mode where you look at clues, as well as completely useless shit, you also question witnesses and suspects. These are what I call them at least, there aren't actually "modes" that the developers made I just find it easier to explain this way. As a detective game I personally think that the questioning and having to piece together clues which then help in interviews is by far the best part of the game. The action "mode" is very basic and just what you would expect from a game published by Rockstar. One of the things that made me want to come back to this game was actually the questioning of people because the game tells you that you need to watch how the interviewee reacts to pick the right option and I thought this was really cool and unique when I first saw it. However, There are issues with this and these issues lead us to.
Presentation
Obviously this game is a bit over five years old so it needn't be said that the graphics look a bit outdated and usually I would take no issue with this because I am not usually someone who worries about that stuff too much. Although, when how your characters look and act tie directly in with one of your main game mechanics that's when you can say this can cause actual issues and show that maybe this game has not aged incredibly well. The problem in question is that facial features are pretty bad a lot of the time by that I mostly mean the mouth looks... Well it looks wrong. You see the faces are all motion captured and to be perfectly it all looks really primitive and very flat like it looks physically flat. The other problem is as I mentioned just before the faces are motion captured; however, the bodies are not and this creates a weird almost uncanny valley monster. Ok, so it's not that bad but it bothers me, alright? Another thing that I noticed that really bothered me as someone who is obsessed with audio and mixing is that occasionally you will talking to an NPC and when Cole stops flapping his flat mouth and the NPC starts talking the audio quality would be completely different, it sounds like they recorded lines in different places and in some cases it sounds like they recorded the lines using a fucking tin can powered by a single watch battery and half a fried potato shat out by David Cage's emotions and pissed on by a big angry Scottish man. Wait where was I going with this? Oh yes that was something that mildly bugged me.
SPOILERS START
One thing I really wanted to talk about is the ending. To put it basically there's a big conspiracy involving army morphine, money and Walter Bishop from the hit TV show "Fringe" (side note I wrote that as just a goof type thing however it sounds more like an endorsement, it's not but I wish it was cause It's always nice to have money, innit). (side side note I've now completely lost my train of thought, it has been derailed and I can't be arsed to put in the effort to remember where I was so I'll just start again. PS remind me to get an endorsement and sell that shit hard, also when doing a bit don't drag it on too long). Cole eventually finds his way into the slap bang middle of the conspiracy. In the end he sacrifices himself in a completely unfulfilling and quite shitty way, he gets hit by a lot of water in a sewer. Then it cuts to crooked cop that plotted against Cole giving a speech at his funeral. My problem is that I find this so anti climatic, I honestly think that this was a very weak and just simply lukewarm ending to an otherwise solid game. This wouldn't be as bad if that was all but every time I've seen someone talk about this game (granted it's mostly from steam reviews) they always say it's an amazing game and that I would cry at the end; maybe they meant from boredom, but that would still would involve more investment in the ending that I actually had.
SPOILERS END
All in all I am actually glad that I played this game if at the very least to just give myself closure, as I said I thought about this game a lot since the first time I played it and it really stuck in my mind however I don't think it'll make my list of favorite games of all time anytime soon.
This game is weird because definitely I enjoyed it but honestly when I think back I am starting see it as a lukewarm experience with annoying driving. Maybe you'd be better off with a good detective show or even better you could watch the L.A. Noire Gamerpoops.
I give the rating of play it/ finish it.
Wait what do you mean I'm not the Completionist?
Shit.
Happy new year or something.
God that felt cringy to type/ say in my head as I type words.
If anyone was wondering I will not do a full best/worst games of 2016. Why? Simply because I feel I have not played enough of games that came out this year so here have a mini list here. (in a random order)
Dark souls 3- At first I wasn't too keen on it if I'm honest but now at the end of the year I'm into it. And hey more Dark Souls innit.
Oxenfree- This game came out right at the start of the year and I think people may have forgotten this or just not have seen it, but I adored this game and never forgot it.
Pony island- Same reasons as Oxenfree really. It's a game that screws with you, I'm into that.
Dreamfall chapters- technically this game came out in 2013 but the last episode came out in 2016 so I'm counting it because this is honestly one of my favorite games EVER. Other games include The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. I love this series if you can't tell and I only found out about it this year.
Multiplayer games- copout? Definitely. Still stand by it? Absolutely. I have not been into FPS multiplayer games since around Black Ops 2. So who woulda thunk that my MINI top games of 2016 would have not one but THREE multiplayer games. These are Overwatch, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. I know the latter two have campaign but I play the multiplayer more so, whatever.
So yeah these were the best and the few games I actually played this year. Other games are things like Skyrim remastered but that doesn't count. Also Salt and Sanctuary but I don't feel I've played enough of that yet to judge it fairly.
Well I'm finally done.
So, how was it for you?
Didn't you say that last time?????
Yes, why not tell me about it on twatter.
I stream too, sometimes.
When I do eventually stream I normally upload it to this YouTube. Unless I pissing well forget.
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