LA Noire

LA Noire (Rockstar, Team Bondi) had all of the makings of a great game. Film noire is a genre which has hitherto been woefully untapped in the world of gaming. With its indelible style and sheer coolness, it seems like a perfect fit. The lighting alone could be used to great effect. There is also the technology involved; state of the art mocap creating the closest thing to real human faces seen thus far in video games. The hype around this game has been building for months and everyone was excited to try it out.

SPOILERS

In the beginning, this game did not disappoint. For those not familiar with the game, LA Noire is set in Los Angles (hopefully a shock to no one) in the late 40’s. The player is dropped into the gumshoes of Cole Phelps; a very serious, yet talented police officer as well as a decorated hero of the Second World War. As the player advances through the game, Cole advances through the various departments of the LAPD. Many cases are presented, ranging in severity from traffic violations to murder. Throughout the cases Cole uses a notebook, rendered on-screen, to keep track of clues, people of interest, locations and anything else involved in what is being solved. All of this contributes to a world which is astoundingly well-made. The setting is so well realized and polished it is really hard to find fault. Subtle touches, such as Cole highlighting whatever the player selects in the notebook with his pencil, add to a very real world with rules that internally make sense. Even the newspaper cut-scenes, which were a bit jarring at first, do their part to unravel the sordid mystery upon which this story is hung. It is very engrossing.

It’s also worth noting that this game has some of the best voice acting ever used in a video game. None of the actors ever seemed hokey or unrealistic. Stilted dialogue is common in games, even masterpieces like Mass Effect 2, but every line is read with conviction not often seen in the medium. Aaron Staton especially shines as Phelps, giving the game a flawed but honest detective trying to bring order to the lawless West. The technology must also be mentioned as it plays an integral part in the game’s performances. Deep Analysis, as the system is called, is really just about taking a bunch of pictures of the actors as they give their performance. The computer then renders them in real time, creating their digital face. Realism in games is an issue I’d rather not get into in this review, but for this game the process was necessary. Facial animation is not just about realism, it’s about detail.

One of the main themes of the game is honesty and the game play shows this through a new mechanic; the interview. Many times throughout the game, you are forced to extract information from a suspect or witness by deciding whether they are lying and if you can prove it. In order to decide, it is necessary to read their facial expressions. This is where the technology really shines. It would be impossible to read a digital character without being able to see every line on their face. While not very difficult, these interviews are still tense, especially if you are obsessed with a perfect playthrough. As Adam Sessler mentioned, don’t bother the first time. It’s not going to happen. Unless you use a guide or love to reload the game, you are not going to read everyone perfectly the first time through. The same goes for clues. Another somewhat innovative game play mechanic, the player is often forced to search for clues at crimes scenes. These could be murder weapons or footprints, but whenever the controller rumbles, the player must press the A button (at least on the 360) and examine the clue. This and the interviews make up the bulk of the game, creating a very slow, but well thought out pace. It isn’t plodding and the clues are varied enough that the repetition of the pattern doesn’t become stale. It allows you to soak in the mystery and contemplate the angles, which may not necessarily be for everyone, but is handled extremely well for those looking for this kind of game. There is also traditional third-person shooting and chasing. It’s amazing how much parkour Phelps can do in a suit. These traditional elements help break the game up and stop it from being insufferable. Overall, the game play is great.

The world design, the acting, the sound design, the technology and the game play are all fantastic. However, the game really loses when it comes to story. It starts off as good as the other elements. The traffic, patrol and most of the vice sections of the game are fantastic. Gripping and dripping with suspense, they felt like they could each be a lost Bogart film, though one not restricted by the Hayes code. Homicide especially felt right as Phelps chases the Black Dahlia killer. Everything was great right up until the end of the Vice sequence. Phelps, who is married with children apparently (we only see his wife once and his children never to my recollection), decides to cheat on his wife with a German lounge singer. This is caught on camera by his partner and used to deflect questions about illegal activity in the vice squad. The story is leaked to the paper, his wife leaves him and he is demoted to arson. The problem with this isn’t the fall of Phelps. Every hero’s journey has an abyss that needs to be overcome to grow. The problem is that this comes out of nowhere. Phelps’ German lover is barely seen before they sleep together. She is seen in one case, there are a few quick shots of him sitting in the lounge watching her perform then one more case and boom! they have sex. Remember that Phelps has been built up to be a paragon within the narrative of the game. Never has he expressed anything tantamount to a vice. Of course he has to screw everything up, but when someone displays nothing but good intentions and pure actions, to suddenly have him commit adultery and lose all respect from his peers makes absolutely no sense.

At this point, the game picks up again. Though the adultery is frustrating, that in itself does not ruin the game. Once back on the cases, everything starts to feel right again and it is obvious that a resolution to this mystery is closing in. Without warning and seemingly without purpose, the game switches protagonists. The player is no longer Phelps, but is an old army buddy by the name of Jack Kelso. This is where Team Bondi really shot itself in the foot. They spent the whole game building up Phelps and having the players connect to him and then suddenly they are one of the most morally righteous and unlikeable characters in the game. While we have seen Jack in one of the cases and through flashbacks of the war where we learn he knew Phelps, we know very little about him besides the fact that he hates Phelps. He’s always on his high horse, strangely, because Phelps is always on his high horse. His missions feel rushed, relying mostly on run and gun missions which are supposed to provide a big finish but really only disappoint. If Bondi wanted Jack to be the main character, they should have made him the main character. Why spend so much time building Phelps as a character only to switch to an annoying insurance agent and regulate our former protagonist to NPC status. Granted, this has been done in other games (though I would argue poorly), but here it makes no sense. They break all tension and narrative coherence. Then, to twist the knife, they kill off Phelps at the end of the game with only part of the people responsible for these crimes in any kind of trouble. Again, there is nothing wrong with a heroic death, but Phelps goes out in a sewer, killed by overflow. Quite an ignoble death for the character you are supposed to care for. This was all the more frustrating because of how good the game was at the beginning. To start with an interesting crime game and devolve into a mindless shooter with a pseudo-intellectual downer ending speaks to the pressures and abuses of power that Team Bondi is currently accused of. It’s really unfortunate.

Game creators should take note of the first half of the game, specifically its pacing and interesting use of game play. They should also remember to stop switching characters because the gamer will stop caring at all. It is annoying as hell and Rockstar needs to stop it. Seriously.