LA Noire and the Case of the Game That Sucks

What could have been an intriguing story driven tale is marred by terrible narrative pacing and overblown action sequences. L.A. Noire is the latest attempt by Rockstar to distance themselves from the puerile, almost cartoon-ish concepts presented in the Grand Theft Auto series and establish a more mature, serious product. The end result is a mixed bag. While the core of the game revolves around crime solving and case work, it also incorporates a few elements from the sandbox style of gameplay popularized by GTA. In this attempt to bridge two concepts together, neither work out very well and the game results in a disappointment overall.


Initially, the game is impressive. The presentation is easily the game’s greatest asset, providing an authentic depiction of 1940s era Los Angeles, from the cars driven to the clothing worn to the music and radio programs, everything here is faithfully reproduced to give the game a very classic film noir style feel. Careful attention to detail was placed on the graphics from bottles and cigarette butts tossed on the ground to postcards and letters. Objects of interest can be picked up and examined or zoomed in for further inspection. Thanks to MotionScan technology the faces of the actors are able to provide a fantastic level of detail and allow their performances to shine in ways it otherwise couldn’t have. This game boasts some of the best voice work in a videogame to date and really makes each character come alive in the scenes.

Book 'em Cole'o.

Despite the excellent presentation a few cracks in the foundation begin seeping through. Gameplay progression is divided amongst 21 individual cases, each spread out in an episodic nature. The problem that is presented is that the game tries to incorporate a mature, film noir narrative within the confines of “GTA style” and the two concepts don’t work well at all. Any attempts the writers made to try to make anyone care are trivialized by the silly trappings of sandbox style videogames. It’s difficult to take a plot seriously when you run over pedestrians knocking over light posts in pursuit of a fleeing suspect. As the plot grows increasingly more serious, as about the halfway point the game finally gets into the story it wanted to tell all along, the gameplay becomes even more ludicrous, at which point everything comes to a head in it’s final act; the player character literally goes in and takes on an army of mobsters with only his pistol and later a military issue flamethrower. In the end it cheapens and trivializes the drama of the tale. But more importantly, the game wastes too much time on filler material in the beginning that have little or nothing to do with the overall plot. The game attempts to foreshadow events to come via WWII flashbacks and obscure newspaper articles strewn about, but they’re amazingly vague and don’t provide enough clarity for the player to understand what’s going on. Not nearly enough time is spent developing Cole Phelps as a main character as elements of his personality and character traits are only mentioned in passing at best. When the time comes for the game to finally get to the point and tell the story it wanted to tell all along, the player is given little to no reason to care. We can’t have more cases that pertain to the plot or more dialogue sequences that explain the backstory a little more, oh no, because that would take time away from boring street crimes, driving around aimlessly looking for landmarks and making sure you’ve gotten into every hidden car so you can cross it off of your checklist.

Congratulations, Cole. You didn't kill any pedestrians in pursuit of today's suspect

Had the game been given more focus and attention to the things that did matter (case solving detective work) and less time on the stuff that didn’t (boring extracurricular activities that only trophy and achievement hunters would care about) the game would be a lot better off. The worst part is that this aspect of the title isn’t even needed. A grand recreation of Los Angeles means little if there’s hardly anything to do in it. The most interesting things are random dispatch calls the player can respond to which usually result in having to gun down a random group of thugs. Unfortunate that despite playing as a lawman, the player is given no opportunity to subdue a criminal instead of outright gunning them down. Interesting that the ability to take someone in alive is present in Red Dead Redemption, but not here. Unlike that of Heavy Rain, which is what this game should have been, half of the focus is diverted to this frivolity and not enough on the things that do matter. Things like branching or multiple story paths that affect the outcome of the game’s ultimate conclusion. No, L.A. Noire sees fit to cover up the same basic mission based formula present in Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, only this game uses hand holding clue finding and poorly designed Truth or Dare games with suspect questioning to do it.

"Hold on, ma'am while i sift through these worthless ass clues to get to the one where I call you out on your lie and fail anyways thanks to the way this game annoyingly misdirects questions, gimme just a minute."

And that’s truly the saddest aspect of L.A. Noire. The game’s essential selling point, the clue finding and general detective work is stiflingly linear. All cases generally progress the same: travel to location, find a clue, question suspects and witnesses. Yes, this is how police work is generally done, it’s the sheer hand holding way in which the game achieves this concept that makes it so dull. The game almost never offers a choice between areas to investigate; even when it does, traveling to one location before another has no bearing on the ultimate resolution of the case. Half of the “clues” the player finds are worthless and don’t help in the slightest with interrogations and the rigid plot remains unchanged even in the rare event when the player is given a choice of which suspect to convict. The captain in the next scene speaks of how great of a detective Cole Phelps is, even if he did chew him out for a wrongful conviction the scene prior.

"So what does the police have on me that says I did it?"

"Uh.....nothing, but I found 14 landmarks and got into 10 random cars today so you better spill the beans, pal!"

L.A. Noire was an attempt to recreate a classic film noir tale of mystery, deception and intrigue. The worst part is that most of the mystery and deception comes less from the plot and more from the various ways it attempts to disguise boring linearity with choices made during cases that all lead to the same conclusion. Effective film noir storytelling and freedom of choice was done better in Heavy Rain and sandbox style action and fun was done far better in Red Dead Redemption. L.A. Noire attempts to bridge both concepts together and achieves only a modicum of success on both counts.