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L.A. Noire

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zwem;1923646; said:
How you doing so far Scott? I just got done with my first case in the traffic division and found 13/14 clues and was 11/14 with the questions. I have done a few side missions and they are fun as well.
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I am into my 3rd of the traffic division. I don't know, the side missions with action are really easy. Essentially dumbed down GTA 4. As for the cases themselves, it's easy enough finding all the clues (I think I have only missed 1 the entire game). I am getting a little better at the interview questions (I had one where I missed about half of them). Yet in the end, it really doesn't matter how good you are at those things. The story moves forward no matter what. You may miss nailing some side criminals, or getting all the hard evidence. Yet you still solve the case. I don't know if there are ramifications later, but so far it's a really, really easy game. You don't even have to try in order to move forward in the game.
 
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3074326;1923735; said:
I've heard similar things from others. That's pretty disappointing, but I still really want to play it.
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It's still an interesting game, although the initial cases are pretty boring and pretty easy. It took me a while to get into figuring out if people are lying. I am pretty much to the point where I can hit all of them (my last mission in homicide I found every clue and got every interrogation correct).

Overall, there is a ton of effort put into this game. It looks great, and of course the voice acting with the actual facial expressions are incredible. The cases and back story can be a little weak at times, so it's not something I would see as good as a movie. So right now, I feel it's missing 1 of 2 things that would make this game great. Either a story that was as strong as a really good movie, or more traditional video game elements that added some challenge. I am still enjoying the game, but I wouldn't call it great yet.

I am half of the way through the main story, mainly because I have only completed about 12 side missions. It may get better, and I will report back when I complete it.
 
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scott91575;1923784; said:
It's still an interesting game, although the initial cases are pretty boring and pretty easy. It took me a while to get into figuring out if people are lying. I am pretty much to the point where I can hit all of them (my last mission in homicide I found every clue and got every interrogation correct).

Overall, there is a ton of effort put into this game. It looks great, and of course the voice acting with the actual facial expressions are incredible. The cases and back story can be a little weak at times, so it's not something I would see as good as a movie. So right now, I feel it's missing 1 of 2 things that would make this game great. Either a story that was as strong as a really good movie, or more traditional video game elements that added some challenge. I am still enjoying the game, but I wouldn't call it great yet.

I am half of the way through the main story, mainly because I have only completed about 12 side missions. It may get better, and I will report back when I complete it.
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Or a multiplayer. :)

I miss Saints Row days. Might have been the most entertaining/addicting multiplayer game I have ever played. Protect Tha Pimp, Big Ass Chains, Blinged Out Ride.... Legit titles to the game modes. :lol:
 
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I stopped and bought this on the way home from work last night and played it for about 2 hrs. I really like it so far, and the graphics are amazing for a game. I have just made it on to the Homicide Desk and have yet to do a case on it yet, but so far I am pleased with how the game goes.

It is a little tricky to figure out what to look for in people when questioning them at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is kind of easy to know what type of questioning should occur. My first interrogation took about 4 tries to get it right and get a confession and the supervising detective kept yelling at me when I screwed up and made me try it again. :lol:

So far a pretty fun game.
 
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If anyone with a ps3 is looking to buy this game I'll sell i'll possibly selling it by monday. I'm going to try and beat it this weekend and then either sell it to someone on here or trade it in on Amazon. PM me if your interested.
 
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Alright, I finished this game, so this may get long winded, so bear with me.

The game definitely takes risks and is a tall task. For that I give them a huge amount of credit. On the major plus sides, the facial technology they use is revolutionary. I hope more developers follow their lead on this. It could really begin a major change in video games. The recreation of 1947 LA is incredible. So is the attention to detail to everything in the era, including the vehicles.

On the negative to the graphics, this game is held back by the 360's (and probably the PS3's) limited capabilities. Shadows are poor, and the draw distance gets annoying on many occasions. This is easily cleared up with better hardware. As a PC gamer, it's something I am not used to for the most part. Also, there are some big glitches. SPOILER ALERT - one major glitch I hit is when I got the flame thrower, I became invisible and so did the enemies. Also, when you switch characters, who was not a cop to start out with, still could take a car. He would show a badge (which he didn't have) and act like a cop when taking it. END SPOILER.

Now, to the game itself. It's a strange combination of adventure style games, RPG, 3rd person shooter, driving game, and a movie like game (like Heavy Rain). Honestly, it does not do any of them really well. The searching for clues is similar to an adventure game, and really too easy. The questions are similar to a RPG game, but there are very rare occasions where your choices have any ramifications at all. The 3rd person shooting is a weak version of GTA 4. I did die a few times, but mostly because I decided to act stupid. There is little challenge. The driving can be fun at times, but the chase sequences are very contrived. Hard to put into words, but if you are not overly aggressive it's not really a challenge.

That brings me to the movie like game aspect. This is what the game really revolves around. For a video game it's pretty good. For a movie, it would land squarely in the B movie genre. There are plot holes, and some bad acting (although for the most part it is good). I won't go into all of it, but I did laugh out loud a few times because the plot/acting was so bad.

Overall, I am glad I bought this game. It is fun, and the bigger reason is I supported something that took a big risk that could bring video games closer to interactive movies. Sadly, I think this game suffers from what many games suffer from....they have to built a story around a video game instead of the other way around. I would like to see more game create a movie quality story and make it interactive. Video games are moving in that direction. In the past, most games got away with horrible stories because gameplay was really good. This game did not have good gameplay, but new techniques and a strong story (for a video game) helped save poor gameplay.

I really felt they could have done more with the gameplay, and the story could have been better. Yet it's still was a fun game to play. They could easily build on this to make it something incredible. Also, I hope other games use the facial technology in the future (I am looking at you Bethesda). I give it a positive review, and I think people should play it. It may not be the game of the year, but worth your time.

BTW...it does get better in the second half vs. the first half. So I am more positive on this game than before (it is slow going in the beginning, but picks up). Oh, and what the heck happened to the narrator? He is there in the beginning, and just goes away. WTF?

edit: another thought - this type of game would be perfect for episodic gaming. I know that is not big for consoles, but this type of game would be a perfect fit for $20 episodic installments with cliffhangers and tons of character development.

edit2: One last nit pick....they tease you with some sports cars for certain missions, but they are no where to be found during city exploration. Why? I want to cruise around in them. Sure, there are some faster cars that are hidden vehicles (including a Ford Coupe hot rod). Yet there are two occasions where you get sports cars for a chase, but you never see them again.
 
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I am on my first Vice case having finished the Homicide desk.

I LOVE THIS GAME.... I have gotten burned out on the FPS recycle fest.... This game tells a good story and is the first game in a long while that every time I turn it off, I start thinking about when I can get back because I want to remember all the clues and people I have come in contact with in my current case.

This is not an ACTION game.... The game tells a story.... I am finding this game so much more intellectually stimulating than any other game I have played in a very long game. I am sure I will play through it at least twice...

Scott... One of the things that you said in your review made absolutely no sense to me... You talked about they should make a video game based on a story not a story based on a video game.... Two things, almost every game ever produced based on a story has been TERRIBLE (insert movie video game titles here).. This games story line is based from crimes that ACTUALLY occurred in 1940's LA. They tweaked the stories a bit to drive the plot, but it isn't like they made this great looking game and then said.. "hmm, we need to make up a story."

I really think this game will open the doors to some very good story line games in the future.
 
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GomerBucks;1925674; said:
I am on my first Vice case having finished the Homicide desk.

I LOVE THIS GAME.... I have gotten burned out on the FPS recycle fest.... This game tells a good story and is the first game in a long while that every time I turn it off, I start thinking about when I can get back because I want to remember all the clues and people I have come in contact with in my current case.

This is not an ACTION game.... The game tells a story.... I am finding this game so much more intellectually stimulating than any other game I have played in a very long game. I am sure I will play through it at least twice...

Scott... One of the things that you said in your review made absolutely no sense to me... You talked about they should make a video game based on a story not a story based on a video game.... Two things, almost every game ever produced based on a story has been TERRIBLE (insert movie video game titles here).. This games story line is based from crimes that ACTUALLY occurred in 1940's LA. They tweaked the stories a bit to drive the plot, but it isn't like they made this great looking game and then said.. "hmm, we need to make up a story."

I really think this game will open the doors to some very good story line games in the future.
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Sorry, video games, even this one, are still built around video game engines. Even an existing story (most video games stories are existing stories meant to fit the engine) are used after the fact. The base is always the engine. In this case, it's the Rosckstar engine. It's still the core of a video game. This drifts more from the norm, but even then the engine is still the basis and the story is built around it. Heavy Rain deviated the most from the norm. This one not as much. Plus, the big negative, is the fact your choices have little to no ramifications. The reason for that is it's built on a 3rd person shooter, not a RPG engine. So it lands in the realm of tv/movie style entertainment. Sorry, I don't think this stands up well to good tv or good movies. It's still a good story for a video game, and I think that is one of the reasons it begins to fail. They need to throw in contrived 3rd person shooting and chase scenes. That is because they built it around the Rockstar engine. If it was built from the story and an engine built around it, the game would have been much better. Yet that is still the state of the industry. A gameplay engine is built with generic ideas, and a story is built around it. Sure, the story can already exist. Yet the story must fit around the engine, not the other way around. Until the opposite happens, you will never see a truly great movie like game (like I stated, Heavy Rain comes the closest, but even then it's not about to win an Academy Award).

BTW...Valve is probably the closest one to building an engine around a story, but even then the engine is meant to be used for many purposes (as shown by the fact the Source engine is used for a ton of games). Until an engine is a purpose built engine for a specific story, and not for gameplay, video games will continue to be weaker for stories. It's just the way video games are. Major movie studios and directors (including Spielberg) understand the difficulty in telling a story based in a video game. This game is a good effort, and step in the right direction. Yet it still suffers from the same thing video games have suffered from for years.
 
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scott91575;1925684; said:
Sorry, video games, even this one, are still built around video game engines. Even an existing story (most video games stories are existing stories meant to fit the engine) are used after the fact. The base is always the engine. In this case, it's the Rosckstar engine. It's still the core of a video game. This drifts more from the norm, but even then the engine is still the basis and the story is built around it. Heavy Rain deviated the most from the norm. This one not as much. Plus, the big negative, is the fact your choices have little to no ramifications. The reason for that is it's built on a 3rd person shooter, not a RPG engine. So it lands in the realm of tv/movie style entertainment. Sorry, I don't think this stands up well to good tv or good movies. It's still a good story for a video game, and I think that is one of the reasons it begins to fail. They need to throw in contrived 3rd person shooting and chase scenes. That is because they built it around the Rockstar engine. If it was built from the story and an engine built around it, the game would have been much better. Yet that is still the state of the industry. A gameplay engine is built with generic ideas, and a story is built around it. Sure, the story can already exist. Yet the story must fit around the engine, not the other way around. Until the opposite happens, you will never see a truly great movie like game (like I stated, Heavy Rain comes the closest, but even then it's not about to win an Academy Award).

BTW...Valve is probably the closest one to building an engine around a story, but even then the engine is meant to be used for many purposes (as shown by the fact the Source engine is used for a ton of games). Until an engine is a purpose built engine for a specific story, and not for gameplay, video games will continue to be weaker for stories. It's just the way video games are. Major movie studios and directors (including Spielberg) understand the difficulty in telling a story based in a video game. This game is a good effort, and step in the right direction. Yet it still suffers from the same thing video games have suffered from for years.
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I don't think I grasped the point you were conveying in that previous post. This post was much clearer and well thought out.

One of the things I actually enjoy is that the story moves along. If my wife is hanging out while I play she has actually been interested in what happens next. (and the only video game she has really ever played is some drunken guitar hero and some wii fit..) If you had to repeat interviews each time you missed something or had to spend an hour looking for that clue you missed that is inevitably in plain sight etc... I think a lot of my interest in the plot would evaporate. What I do know is that I have missed a bunch of answers in game, when I finish, I will go back through and try to improve on it and increase my ratings in each case.
 
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GomerBucks;1925702; said:
I don't think I grasped the point you were conveying in that previous post. This post was much clearer and well thought out.

One of the things I actually enjoy is that the story moves along. If my wife is hanging out while I play she has actually been interested in what happens next. (and the only video game she has really ever played is some drunken guitar hero and some wii fit..) If you had to repeat interviews each time you missed something or had to spend an hour looking for that clue you missed that is inevitably in plain sight etc... I think a lot of my interest in the plot would evaporate. What I do know is that I have missed a bunch of answers in game, when I finish, I will go back through and try to improve on it and increase my ratings in each case.
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I am not saying the game should force you to get the right answer like an adventure game. I think there should be more ramifications from not gathering all the evidence or not asking the right questions. Have suspects go free if you don't have enough evidence (which would have ramifications later). Have the other officers treat you differently. It's a pretty common RPG element. There are certainly things you must do to move along the story, but how well you do it should determine some things in the future. There are a couple of cut scene differences in LA Noire depending on whom you charge with a crime. Yet other than that, the quality of your detective work has no affect on the main story. I would like to see it branch off some. To give one example, in Mass Effect 2 the endings range from perfect to everybody dies, and that is based on decisions you make both during the ending and previous to the ending. That is probably the extreme example, yet I would like to see the story in LA Noire branch a little depending on how well you play the game. That would give some more incentive to play the game well. An end of case rating is not much motivation for me.
 
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