L.A. Noire
Some games are simply vehicles for their technology. At times a good game is wrapped around this technology, but other times they are simply a showcase of what can be achieved in better hands. L.A. Noire’s gameplay is fundamentally based on a new face capture technology pioneered by Team Bondi, the developer. However, as with all the other moving parts, the story and characters are of the highest priority here. Team Bondi works to capture the paradoxically gritty and lustrous feel of L.A. in the ’40s. The intricately captured live actors help showcase this gamut. Standing behind all of this is a poignant tale of soldiers returning home and attempting to cope with a changing world.
The story of L.A. Noire starts soon after the Second World War. Cole Phelps (played by Aaron Staton who is joined by a host of other Mad Men stars) is the protagonist. Cole Phelps is a man with a celebrated but dodgy past from the War. He joins the L.A. police force and quickly makes his way from a beat cop to a detective. The speed with which Phelps progresses through the department can give one narrative whiplash, but it helps move the story along. Here is L.A. emerging into its own, through the eyes of soldiers returning from the War and readjusting to civilian life. Some of them have found success, like Cole, while others are unsure of their place. Yet, it is the ones that feel unappreciated in their return home that drive L.A. Noire’s story. As Cole attempts to navigate this new world, he is faced with a city that is reaching out to take its place in the American landscape while being awash in the grime of crime and corruption.
The new technology that Team Bondi invited to propel the game’s story is an important component of its gameplay. L.A. Noire is at heart an adventure game. As the story guide’s Phelps from case to case, it is your job to sift through clues in a crime scene and to interrogate witnesses. A rumble of the controller informs the player when they happen upon a clue. The rumble is helpful since the loose, dare I say sloppy, controls can make the process frustrating. Finding clues is only the first step.
Cole must then interrogate the suspect, usually one, and use the clues he has recovered to his advantage. It is in the interrogations that the new technology shines. Using deft animation, the game developers have worked to capture the entire emotional spectrum of the live actors. This is important as faint visual clues can give a hint as to whether a character is earnest or lying. If the latter, it is up to the player whether to “doubt” the statement or call it a lie outright, with proof to back it up. The face capturing technology is impressive and, dare I say, revolutionary, as eyes dart and brows furrow convincingly. However, the technology is not without its moments of frustration. Sometimes finding the right answer requires stumbling upon it. Here it is hard to be certain whether the technology, the actor, or the director should be faulted. Picking the wrong response will cause the interviewee to shut down that avenue of questioning. The game compensates for this by allowing the player to move forward nonetheless and by always providing just the right amount of clues, no matter what, to move the game along. The nitpick is a minor one though and the technology mixed with the gameplay creates both a fun and compelling narrative experience. Most importantly, it creates deep interactions as the animations take a giant leap in conveying real and empathetic human beings. The frustrations and the tragedy of those a detective meets in his job are vividly and compellingly displayed in L.A. Noire.
Coming from the Rockstar pedigree, L.A. Noire features an open world to explore. L.A. of the 1940s is meticulously recreated in a world before highways. In fact, the lack of highways has an important role to play in the game’s story. L.A. Noire’s world is however restricted by its story. This is a double-edged sword. The level of freedom that Rockstar has pushed in its Grand Theft Auto series, and even in Red Dead Redemption, allow players to choose the tract of hero or villain. This can run in the opposite direction of the story, resulting in a schizophrenic lead. In L.A. Noire the game takes the role of a cop seriously.
It is hard to run over pedestrians and upon doing so one is penalized. Moreover, one cannot randomly shoot pedestrians and doing this in action sequences will end the game. Players coming with an expectation of a truly open world will be disappointed. However, those looking for a good narrative experience will find that here.
The rest of L.A. Noire includes car chases and gun fights and neither of those disappoint. They both make effective use of the open world, though walking around L.A. suffers from the previously mentioned loose controls. Still, it is a minor distraction from the almost perfectly recreated L.A. of the 1940s, with the period outfits and automobiles. In staying within the time period, the game does not have driving directions or GPS. However, one can ask one’s partner for directions or better yet have the partner drive to the next destination, saving considerable time. By stream lining the game, Team Bondi has achieved something that Rockstar has failed to so far, a well paced narrative experience.
The next objective is always provided and down time is kept to a minimum. When action sequences are failed repeatedly the game offers to skip them. Even allowing the partner to drive ensures that lag time is kept to a minimum. These aids can make the game easier. However, here Team Bondi prioritized correctly and focused on the story with all else, including the gameplay, in pursuit of this.
L.A. Noire is a game that demonstrates the story telling power of video games and the further blurring of computers and reality. Unlike previous Rockstar games, the entirety of the experience is focused on telling a powerful story. The new technology for capturing in astounding detail the nuances of expressed emotion and the recreated L.A. are all pointed towards this task. The scores of established actors help recreate a gritty and believable reality. This adds to Rockstar’s strength of designing cities and levels that do just that. L.A. Noire has a few missteps as a game, but none that are truly fatal. What L.A. Noire achieves on the other hand is the telling of an utterly human tale with flawed and at times well meaning characters, caught in the rise of a City and those devising to profit off of her. The greatest accomplishment is that it does all of this through technology that silently recedes behind masterful acting.
