Developed by Team Bondi
Published by Rockstar Games
Released for Xbox 360 (5/17/2011) | Xbox One (11/14/2017)
Also on PS3/PS4/Switch
L.A. Noire puts you in the shoes of police officer Cole Phelps as you investigate the seedy underbelly of 1947 Los Angeles. The game had a rocky 7 year development cycle and it became known after release that the business practices at Team Bondi weren't exactly ethical. Despite all the issues plaguing the game during its creation, the final product turned out quite well. The title feels right at home under the Rockstar Games label and in 2017 would see an updated port to newer systems. However this review was written while playing through the Xbox 360 version.
L.A. Noire features a nice sized chunk of Los Angeles for you to explore. The environment is well detailed as you'd expect from an open-world Rockstar published title. According to the developers, 1947 Los Angeles has been 90% recreated in accurate detail. The characters in the game feature some of the most realistic facial features that had been seen in a game at the time of the release. The voice acting is superb and the sound/music design fits the action perfectly. Radio stations play music proper to the '40's, and fans of the Fallout games will recognize a few of these tracks. Overall, the visual and sound design is rock solid.
While L.A. Noire is an open-world game, it tends to be more linear than most others in this genre. The cases generally have a set path you're going to follow, sometimes with a few options as to where to go next. You do have the option to answer your radio during a case to take on street crimes which serve as side missions, but these are completely optional. As you work your way through each case, you'll usually begin by investigating the crime scene. Here you'll search around and examine clues, which will usually give you a lead as to where to go next. You'll also frequently be able to interrogate witnesses and suspects and will have to decide whether you believe what they're saying. You have the option of truth, doubt or lie during the interrogation sequences. If you accuse somebody of a lie you'll be able to select from a list of all the evidence from the case to back it up. The game has distinct musical cues to let you know if you made the proper assumption.
Cases in L.A. Noire will also feature action segments and you'll engage if fist fights, shootouts, tailing missions and chases. These are all well done and are diverse enough so that it doesn't feel like you're constantly doing the same thing. If you fail an action sequence a couple times, the game will give you the option to skip ahead so the game should be accessible to anybody. My only gripe with the action segments would be a few of the tailing missions aren't that fun, but I don't really enjoy these types of missions in general so it's just my opinion. As you complete cases you'll move up in rank, staring as a patrol officer and moving up to traffic, homicide, vice, etc. Each time you're assigned a new desk you'll also receive a new partner who will follow you around and provide assistance. For an NPC they do a good job of staying out of the way and I never once had any issues with them walking in front of my gunfire or anything like that.
Scattered around the city are a few types of collectibles in the form of golden film reels, hidden vehicles and landmarks. The hidden vehicles will be revealed on the map as you level up, however the landmarks and golden film reels you'll have to seek out on your own (or with a guide of course). In order to obtain a full 100%, you'll also have to operate each type of vehicle in the game, of which there are 95. This will no doubt prove to be a bit lame as many vehicles look the same, making them hard to distinguish from one another, not to mention it feels a bit out of place with a detective hi-jacking civilian vehicles all over the place. Also required for completion is to obtain a 5-star rank in every case, which means you'll need to find all clues and correctly branch most questions during interrogations. Those expecting to run around in free roam causing chaos like the Grand Theft Auto games will likely be a bit letdown as there's not really a whole lot to do in the world except look for cars and collectibles. You can cause some damage and injure civilians, but these will affect your case ranking and are therefore discouraged.
L.A. Noire is a fresh, fantastic experience in the realm of open-world games, but no game is without its flaws so I'll take this section to point out the issues I had with the game. The framerate is constantly dipping under the 30 FPS mark, especially easy to notice when driving around. While it is annoying and does detract a bit from the overall presentation, the game is still very playable as is and I never really had any issues lining up shots or anything like that. Still, it does feel like the game could have been optimized a bit better, but I suppose that's what the re-release on the newer systems is for. There is a bit of graphic pop-up in the distance while driving around but after playing for a while you'll hardly notice. While the facial animations on the characters are very impressive, a few of them are a bit over-exaggerated and look a bit silly. Whenever a character is out of focus they look quite pixelated, likely a sign of the hardware limitations. Many textures look low-res, even when close up, and clash with the surrounding environment. Civilian cars occasionally disappear into thin air, though this was not a frequent occurrence. The dithering effect used for shading is quite tacky and stands out, though this is a common effect developers used during this console generation. These issues are for the most part minor in the grand scheme of things, and none of them diminished my enjoyment of the game but I did want to at least point out the issues I had with the game.
L.A. Noire is definitely one of the more unique open-world titles I've played and does a commendable job in creating a world with believable characters and interesting scenarios. The 1947 time period is wonderfully represented and there's an air of realism to the whole ordeal. The rank progression system works well in delivering some variety with the cases. If you somehow skipped over this one like I did and you enjoy open-world/detective/cop games, do yourself a favor and give this one a go!
Final Verdict: L.A. Noire is a fantastic open-world cop/detective game where you take on the criminal element in 1947 Los Angeles. Don't miss out on this one!
Rockstar Season Pass
L.A. Noire would receive downloadable content in the form of four additional cases. If you purchased the Rockstar Season Pass then you are granted access to each of them or they can be purchased individually. The cases fit right into the main story to the point where it feels like they were just chopped out at some point to make a few extra bucks. The cases themselves are all fun however so at least the content is worth playing. While it does bother me a bit these weren't just included in the game, in this generation of video games DLC is pretty much standard for big-budget releases like this. If you see the Season Pass on sale for cheap I'd definitely recommend giving these a go!
Final Verdict: The Rockstar Season Pass provides four additional cases that fit right in with the original material. If you like the core game you'll enjoy these too!
Purchase Links:
Buy L.A. Noire (Xbox One Digital) - Microsoft Store
Buy L.A. Noire (Xbox One Disc) - eBay
Buy L.A. Noire (Xbox 360 Digital) - Xbox Marketplace
Buy L.A. Noire (Xbox 360 Disc) - eBay
Related Links:
Open-World Games - Xbox Overview
Rockstar Games - Xbox Overview
Rockstar Games - Official Site
Whistleblowing at Team Bondi - Games Industry
L.A. Noire - Metacritic
L.A. Noire - GameFAQs
L.A. Noire Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Handy Vehicle Loactions Thread - Playstation Trophies
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