L. A. Noire (video game)

[Kirk H.]

There is a book by John Buntin titled L.A. Noir that is the history of the LAPD trying to take down criminal organizations... maybe the author has the name copyrighted? The book is quite good, I recommend it.

That book looks very interesting. I am going to have to check it out.

Thanks

Kirk H.

 

[Mr Vim]

My pleasure of course, you know the intersting thing about the book is the author's very unorthodox style of writing, he get's really personal, using colloquialisms, slang, even profanity and I'm not talking about the direct quotes of the likes of Mickey Cohen either. It's entertaining.

 

[Kirk H.]

My pleasure of course, you know the intersting thing about the book is the author's very unorthodox style of writing, he get's really personal, using colloquialisms, slang, even profanity and I'm not talking about the direct quotes of the likes of Mickey Cohen either. It's entertaining.

I just ordered it and can't wait to read it. I will let you what i think of it when I finish it.

Thanks again.

Kirk H.

 

[RetroToday]

Less than a week to go until the North American release of the game!
Time is beginning to move slower for me... every second passing like minutes. Tuesday seems so far away. ;-)

Here's a new video released to IGN. Short, but it shows a lot more actual gameplay.

[video=youtube;Bz_Qa4sHwsA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz_Qa4sHwsA[/video]

 

[juup]

Picked up my copy of L.A. Noire last night at the midnight release for the ps3. Moderately satisfied

 

[Alex]

Just got it today for xbox360. We'll find out how this game is!

 

[The Good]

My brothers want to get this game soon, and when they're involved, I know we'll be getting it soon. I think L.A. Noire looks good, and I'm hoping it will leave an impression that will stay with me, like many other great games I've played before. I'm also hoping that it's at least about as good as Mafia II was, if not better, even though they're different styles of gameplay.

 

[Mr Vim]

Aaron Staton has an interview in Gamespot.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6313171/an-interview-with-aaron-staton-of-la-noire/?tag=newsfeatures%3Btitle%3B2

It's interesting to see him discussing the finer points of the face capture technology and he compares his Mad Men persona to L.A. Noire's Phelps.

Good read, take a look. I for one have not bought the game yet, I am still undecided.

 

[juup]

Well, since my boy has assumed control of the PS3, I think I’ll write a brief review of L.A. Noire (Rockstar Game, 59.99, PS3/Xbox 360)
Game Play ***
Graphics ***
Storyline ****
Tone *****

At first start Rockstar Game’s new release of L.A. Noire is a total revamp of the Rockstar game play platform. It has been redesigned to include manipulation of objects for inspection, minigames and interview techniques. It does however retain the driving mechanism of its previous releases. The other drawback in game play is the cut-scenes the build the backstory. They tend to run long and in one instance I was able to go to the kitchen make sandwich grab a seltzer and return to the game before the cut scene was over. This makes for a lot of time wasted that could have been used for actual game play.
Graphics within the game are moderate for console games. The digitization of the characters has left them often looking like mannequins or well manipulated marionettes. It however is not a distraction from game play as the story draws you in. I could however, see a person not used to the Golden Era or not otherwise interested in film noir being off put by the moderate graphics.
The story line is carefully built. Each “case” or chapter, even when self contained, has information that will play into future cases. The backstory interplays between chapters as the next chapter loads. This is done in the form of video segues. This too is well developed and gives insight into the protagonists past as a Marine Lieutenant.
The one think Rockstar did incredibly well is preserve the tone and feel. With careful dialogue and scenic construction they have recreated the feel of 1946 Los Angelas. The Hollywood sign, in fact reads “Hollywoodland.”
The few drawbacks aside, wonky shaped fedoras and wooden people and crazy uncontrollable cars (at least from my game play abilities, it is worth the sixty clams. I would recommend it but only to other film noir/Golden Era enthusiasts. Most of the subtlety would be lost on anyone else.
Overall 3.5 /5 Fedoras

 

[Alex]

juup's review is pretty accurate, as far as I've seen from a couple hours of playing. Of course the facial movements are rather impressive, other areas are definitely lacking, especially the driving mechanism.

 

[Mr Vim]

The Kotaku gaming website has posted an article about the hats of the game, take a look.
http://kotaku.com/5802956/your-guide-to-the-fancy-hats-of-la-noire

EDIT: Having just read the article, I disagree with a lot of what the "hat expert" says, but decide for yourselves.

 

[The Good]

Yeah, the hats in this game look a little "off." The tapered looking crown shape of some of the wider brimmed "fedoras," as the article differentiates them from trilbies, and the presence of a 1960s looking, narrow-brim trilby. Maybe they did exist in small numbers then, but I get the impression they're probably a lot more common in-game.

 

[Tommy]

it might be spelled "noire" because it is electronic. They couldn't figure out a way of incorporating "digital" into the title, all you'd get is L.A. Noir'd.

 

[Anthony K]

I bought it Tuesday and have played it a couple of times since. So far so good. Started out as a Patrol officer and have now made my way to the Traffic desk. The graphics, as anyone can see from photos and the trailers are absolutely amazing. One of my favorite features so far is, when you're headed to a location to question a witness, or search the premises, you can get calls across your radio of a street crime in progress and respond to it if you want to.

I definitely recommend the game.

 

[MikeBravo]

The reviewers on Good Game here on the Australian ABC network each gave the game 9.5 out of 10 rubber chickens.

The transcript of the review is here Aussie developer Team Bondi has teamed up with the open-world experts Rockstar games, to bring us LA NOIRE

 

[Story]

Rockstar’s newest and perhaps most ambitious title, the marvel of technology and storytelling that is L.A. Noire, uses incredible face-mapping techniques to craft a startlingly subtle and realistic murder mystery game. But Rockstar’s attention to detail didn’t stop there: The team had decided to create an authentic depiction of the City of Angels in the 1940s, and needed as much data as they could find. Rockstar’s ace in the hole? They relied on the services of a daredevil photographer named Robert Spence, known for documenting Los Angeles while hanging out of a plane’s cockpit with his 46-pound camera.

http://buzz.jvproductlaunch.com/blo...les-using-vintage-extreme-aerial-photography/

 

[RetroToday]

A great experience!

I've played the storyline of the game all the way through (tried my best to make it last) and have to say that overall it was a great experience.
As many have said before, the storylines are immersive, wonderful soundtrack, the scenery is breathtaking, the facial expressions on the characters are very realistic. I love the fact they included Old Time Radio Shows in the radio broadcast stream; The Bickersons, Jack Benny and The Charlie McCarthy Show are there in between a wide selection of music.

I now feel like I've taken a time machine back to 1947 and lived the life of a detective, of course minus the eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom.
A definite sign of a great game is when you feel that you have lived another life. :eusa_clap

There are 95 automobiles to find, which I was surprised to find are all real cars, with real brand names. Many are beautiful art deco works of art, several of which are derived from the personal car collection of Jay Leno.
The in-game driving physics are a little clunky, but I didn't care too much about that.

[video=youtube;_DaS67VNp8w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DaS67VNp8w[/video]

Now although the game is a wonder to behold, there of course are always drawbacks. This game has some snags that slightly take away from the experience, here's a few that nag me a little:

1. Freedom of Movement: You can't draw your guns or fists unless you're on a case while chasing a suspect or defending yourself in a crime scene gun battle. You also can't crouch or jump independently of pre-assigned "action areas".

2. Travel: You can't ride on the streetcars or trains.... grrr. At least in Red Dead Redemption or GTA4 I could take a train ride around the map and look at the wonderful scenery rolling by.

3. Framerates: Due to the heavy detail, the game always has a slight "stutter" due to frame rates dropping with the heavy processing load. Very annoying. I know this game was meant to push the limits, but you think with 7 years of development this problem would have been addressed and fixed.
Hope there is a patch to fix this soon... but probably not, it seems like more of a hardware issue.

4. Radio Control: You can listen to the radio in your car or hear radios being played in various locations in the city, but you have no control over the station selection or if the radio is on or off in the car.

5. Replay Quality: With the storyline complete, the option to freeroam is unlocked, but there is not much to do that I haven't done already.
Because of this, replay quality after the story is over is minimized by the fact there is no multiplayer, which has kept Rockstar's older games like GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption in popularity to this day.
Of course, because I love the era, it's still fun to drive around L.A. in a sweet ride, see the sights and landmarks. I like to get out of the car once and a while to sit on a bench, read a newspaper "in cognito" while listening to people chatter as they walk by me.

Now I'm trying to get the trophies offered by getting 5 star ranking on all the cases, which you can play over. There is some replay quality in that aspect, but annoying in that I already know how the cases play out.

6. Internet DLC Add-Ons:
Another annoyance, but it has nothing to do with the construction of the game is that I can't play everything I ordered:
To keep me going, I could play the two extra cases and a Badge Pursuit Challenge that I received when I pre-ordered L.A. Noire from Game Stop - but I can't, due to the fact that the online Playstation Store you download them from is still "under maintenance". For those of you who don't know already, the Playstation network was hacked in April and still hasn't returned in full.

Anyways, I'm not going to go off on any more rants about minor problems.
Again, I have to say it was a great experience, and I'm happy I bought it. It's very easy to overlook the flaws, leaves me wanting more.

Now I'll go back to hide in my cave, I'm once again transporting to 1947.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I'm a newbie to the site, but not to Rockstar games.
I've got GTA Vice City, Vice City Stories, and Red Dead Redemption.
Of course I also have this one as well, and love love love it!
It IS neat to ride around in that era, see the styles, the cars, and the sights.
I play a few hours a night, so as not to go through it too quickly.
BTW my wife and I love movies and old time radio shows from this era, and of course back to the 20's.
So this game is right up my alley (she just enjoys watching me play).
Thanks for putting this thread up.

 

[Miss Golightly]

My husband got a copy yesterday so I had a look - I'm very, very impressed with what I saw.....

 

[Marshall]

Well, I can't hold out any longer. After watching all the different reviews and trailers I think I'm just going to have to find a good deal on an Xbox 360 and get this game (after all, it's only money right ).