Anyone who plays games and/or has some knowledge of the who’s and what’s of the gaming world will need no introduction to L.A. Noire and what it is all about.  I have pretty decent knowledge of the gaming industry – for a girl, and for a “part-time gamer”, that is! –  but surprisingly I didn’t know of this game until about 6+ months ago. Ever since then I have been anxiously awaiting it’s release.  That day finally came on Friday the 20th, and what a happy kitty I was!  29 hours later, plus a few more hours of gameplay replaying missions and collecting trophies, here I am, ready to share with you all my experience and thoughts.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, let me firstly sum up in a nutshell what the game/story is all about: It is set in 1947 Los Angeles and you play Cole Phelps, a returning war hero who joins the LAPD force.  You start off as a patrolman but as the game progresses, you quickly rise up the ranks of the department.  With each case solved, Phelps delves deeper into the criminal underbelly of  L.A. and soon learns that nothing is as it seems; that underneath all the glamor and fame of the post-war boom, crime and corruption are rampant.

The game is greatly influenced – visually, stylistically and thematically – by film noir.  For all you non-film-geeks out there, film noir is a style of film made during the 1940s and 1950s which have a distinctive “look” (and sound) about them – they are generally shot in black-and-white and with low-key lighting, involve plots that center around sex, drugs, corruption and moral ambiguity, and accompanied by a haunting jazz soundtrack.  The game incorporates all these elements, even down to having the option of playing the game in black-and-white!

This was the first thing that attracted me to L.A. Noire.  The history of (American) film has always fascinated me and I have always been particularly drawn to film noir – I even took an entire paper on it at uni!  There’s just something about crime/ detective stories that peak my interest, for some reason.  L.A. Noire – put simply – is completely and utterly AMAZING.  I haven’t played many games as I am still fairly “new” to the gaming scene, but I have a deep, innate appreciation for the arts (yes I do consider games to be an art form) and thus believe I have a pretty good grasp on what is a good game, or what makes a game good.

The game is brilliant and impressive on so many levels.  The world is beautiful – what’s amazing is that 90% of what you see is historically and geographically accurate…minus a few artistic licenses here and there.  The production team spent months and months painstakingly researching to recreate 1947 L.A. as accurately as possible – even down to mirroring color palettes of corridors in certain key buildings, products/brands used at the time and billboards displayed on the streets.

Hundreds of aerial shots were taken so as to perfectly map out the streets and locations of landmarks and buildings of L.A.  This staggering attention to detail is truly incredible; it really makes you appreciate the game so much more when you know the lengths that the production team went to and how much effort was put into creating the world.  If you find this intriguing and want to learn more, check out this feature article.

Many of us enjoy entertainment mediums like film and games because it provides us with that few hours of escapism.  L.A. Noire does this brilliantly – the whole time I was playing I was completely immersed in the world; I really felt like I had been transported back in time.  Being able to experience this period in history – one that would have otherwise been impossible to experience firsthand – and especially one that is so significant and one in which I have a personal interest in, is what made the game all the more enjoyable.

I’ve watched many a film noir and yes I’ve felt connected to the stories, the characters, etc.  But here’s the big difference with games, a “leg up” over films, if you will – in games you get to interact and actively engage in the world.  You don’t just passively sit and watch the world unfold before you (literally), instead it is your actions in the game that sets in motion how the events will unfold.  Of course, some games are more restrictive than others, in terms of your control over the narrative/outcome.

I think the more seasoned, hardcore gamers will probably criticize the linearity of the game.  It is considered a somewhat open-world game (like it’s predecessors, Red Dead Redemption and the infamous GTA series) however after you’ve completed all the usual “easter egg hunting” (in this case, collecting Hollywood film reels and solving street crimes), there really isn’t anything else to do on the streets apart from literally just driving around sightseeing.  Unfortunately your ability to interact with the people and places in the city is virtually non-existent.

In terms of the actual storyline, there are some forks in the road (e.g. bringing in multiple suspects for questioning and having to decide which one to charge) but for the most part, the story is set in stone.  Many will see this as boring and unimaginative but do not be fooled – there is more to the narrative than meets the eye.  The story does have a lot of depth and many layers that unravel at the opportune time.

There are many subtleties and “hints” that are purposefully placed at specific points in the game that you later discover were there to foreshadow future events.  In a well-executed film, every camera angle, every shot, every choice of soundtrack, is there for a reason.  Similarly in L.A. Noire, everything you see, everything that is said, has a specific purpose that serves the narrative.  I felt the plot and sub-plots including the side missions (street crimes) were for the most part perfectly written, perfectly timed and perfectly intertwined – this is something that is not easy to do so it is mighty impressive that they managed to pull it off so seamlessly.

I have to say I really enjoyed playing detective.  All the cases you investigate are based on or inspired in some part by a real-life crime story that happened in and around L.A. circa 1947.  You can read about one of them here.

As you get promoted within the LAPD you get the opportunity to work across different “desks” – namely traffic, homicide, vice and arson.  I found the homicide cases to be the most intriguing and exciting.  This aspect of the game, however, loses brownie points in terms of replayability as I can imagine it could get a tad tedious having to go through the motions of searching for the clues all over again; even inspecting dead, mangled bodies in just the first playthrough starts to get a bit routine towards the end of the game.

Detective duties aside, there is enough action to keep you hooked and entertained – on-foot and car chases, fist fights, and shooting aplenty.  I was actually dreading the chase and gunplay sequences quite a bit, knowing full well that it will be a struggle for me.  As expected, I completely sucked at driving, and even moreso when I had to speed after fleeing suspects, however to my utmost surprise I’m actually not too shabby with a gun!

One of the awesome things about this game – and I believe it’s a first – is that after you’ve failed a sequence a few times, you will actually be given the option to skip it and move on.  Personally it is a bit of a slap in the face because it’s like you’re being told “hey it’s obvious you suck at this, you should just give up” but then looking at the big picture, it’s actually bloody brilliant.  Had this option not been there, I would probably not be very far in the game and eventually get too irritated/impatient with where I was stuck at and give up and not finish the game.  Or I would have gotten a more experienced gamer to give me a hand.

The decision to have this option available to the player can be seen as a cop out, but I see it as a “free pass” to more casual gamers like myself who are not necessarily so skilled with the controller but still want to engage in and enjoy the whole gaming experience.  It is what I feel makes L.A. Noire such a remarkable game – it’s more about the story than it is about gaming prowess.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game is how real the characters look, in particular how realistic their facial features and expressions are.  This is all thanks to a groundbreaking new technology called MotionScan which closely and accurately captures every aspect of an actor’s facial performance using 32 surrounding cameras.  It’s really amazing stuff – check out how it all works here.

The difference in visual quality, and more importantly, in the level of realism of the character is mind-blowing.  Combine this with the use of motion capture to record the actor’s physical movements and you’ve got one very real, albeit digitalized “human being”.  Aaron Staton (of Mad Men fame) plays Cole Phelps and when you look at him in person and compare it to his character in-game – it is essentially the same person!  It’s him through an animated lens…quite freaky really.

The game gets to really show off this fantastic new technology when you interrogate suspects.  Once the suspects have responded to your question, you have to determine whether they are telling the truth or lying.  I don’t claim to know a lot about the technologies and engines used in gaming but I daresay that it would have been near impossible to construct believable reactions and true facial expressions…least not ones that are realistic enough anyway.

Heavy Rain comes to mind when I think of this – it came pretty damn close; the characters overall were pretty life-like but when it came down to actually conveying true emotion (e.g. anger), it fell short.  But in L.A. Noire, thanks to MotionScan, it is pulled off seamlessly – the level of detail is astonishing; if a suspect is lying and you are attentive enough, you would be able to catch even the smallest nervous tic.

It’s blatantly clear from all the praises I have sung that I think this game is the best thing since sliced bread.  However anything man-made, no matter how great it is, is not perfect.  The game does have some flaws.  First thing that comes to mind: the passersby on the streets say things to/at you as you walk by.  The trouble is they have very limited dialogue – the things they say are on a very short loop so it repeats fairly often; after awhile it starts to feel like Groundhog Day.  Of course this is a very trivial gripe – the city folk do not affect the narrative in the slightest so it doesn’t matter and I can see why not more thought was put into it.  However one could also argue that with everything else being so hyper-realized, it does put a bit of a damper on the experience.

Additionally there are some minor continuity errors (e.g. my car ending up at a different location from where I had originally parked it)  and plot loopholes that I noticed in a couple of the cases, plus I don’t quite understand certain decisions that were made near the end of the game (I won’t be more specific, don’t want to spoil it for anyone!) – but overall these faults are very few and far in between.  The positive aspects far outweigh the negative and thus these shortcomings can be forgiven – in my humble opinion, anyway.

A good story is built from great writing and excellent storytelling.  I thought the script was skillfully written; very true to 1940s America –  in particular the slang words and phrases used in the dialogue – this made the characters believable and seem more like actual real people, not “talking puppets”.  I felt Cole Phelps was a very interesting and complex character to play; I enjoyed playing him and very quickly got invested in him and his plight to “right all the wrongs”.

In addition, the accompanying jazz soundtrack was exceptional – again, very true to that period in time and particularly to film noir.  When you are driving, the radio plays actual songs from artists of that era and also actual radio shows that aired during that time – yet another admirable effort at making the world as realistic as possible.  The score which plays at crime scenes, interrogations and the action sequences perfectly complement and add on to the experience – for me even moreso during the more “intense” situations.  For example I remember my heart literally pounding out of my chest when I was chasing a crazed serial killer throughout a long maze of catacombs – most seasoned gamers have probably become really jaded by sequences like these, but I really felt like I was Cole at that point in time, fighting for justice and for my own survival – never been so terrified in my life!

And this is why I have taken quite a keen interest in gaming lately, specifically games that blur the lines between the filmic and gaming worlds.  Some gamers are of the opinion that games shouldn’t try to be like movies, that by doing so they are just being “lazy” and not utilizing the full potential of the gaming medium and what it can offer.  To some extent, I agree.  With technology getting better and better every day, games have the ability and ongoing potential to do so much more – things specific to games which are not possible in a movie – so why play safe and take the “tried and true” route of making just essentially a playable film?

Here’s where I play the devil’s advocate: I do not see anything wrong if the game developer knowingly and intentionally wants to make their game in the style of a film.  Making this choice doesn’t necessarily make them uninventive or unambitious, but could very well just be their nominated style of making games.  In some ways I see games like these – and L.A. Noire is obviously one of them – as categorized under an altogether different kind of game genre in its own right.

It’s a mission on its own making a good film, it’s all the more challenging making a perfect marriage of the two, a “game-film” that makes sense in both universes – one that looks and plays out like a film on the game-screen but also simultaneously manages to interact and actively engage with its audience the way only really great games know how.  But if you get the balance/mix right – absolute magic is created.

With that being said, I feel L.A. Noire has hit the nail squarely on the head in this respect.  I think the fact that it is the first game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival speaks volumes on what it has achieved in terms of closing the gap between game and cinema, and how taking this route could potentially make for a truly remarkable masterpiece of a game.

It has its issues but overall L.A. Noire is a visually stunning film noir-style crime thriller that promises an interactive gaming experience that you will not soon forget.  From start to finish I was completely immersed, engaged and emotionally connected with the world, the narrative and its characters.  I was transported back in time and experienced an important era in film history through a game – that is what great escapist-entertainment is all about!

It has undoubtedly set a benchmark for any future game developers who wish to make film-style type games but regardless of how many other “game-films” that come along from now onwards, I firmly believe that L.A. Noire – and what it has managed to deliver visually, stylistically and emotionally – will always own a piece of important gaming history.

Whimsical Banana rates L.A. Noire: a well-deserved 5 bananas!  I’m also stoked to say that I have become a slightly better gamer because of it!