L.A. Noire is a hell of a interesting narrative. As a game though? Eh. It's never very satisfying as a game. Half the cases you close have chicanery afoot so you feel wrong even when the game is praising you. The combat isn't anything worth writing home about. Hand-to-Hand fighting is passable. Shooting is light-weight. Feels like you're shooting air.
L.A. Noire presents an open world and similar to Mafia II, the open world is just set dressing. You can explore it I guess, but there isn't much to see. Sure the world is detailed, they spent years crafting it but once you've seen it...that's it. There's hidden cars and landmarks but who cares about either? Street Crimes offer the only other form of content with substance. There's 40 of these, they all have a unique cutscene and action sequence. They're fine, but that's it. Just to give you a little taste of violence in between detective work. They don't even really feel like canon events. Like Herschel Biggs will tell you that he hasn't shot his gun in the life of duty directly after bodying a guy in a car chase.
The game's true shine is the voice acting and facial expressions. Characters like Phelps, Roy Earle and Rusty Galloway feel so real because of their nuanced expressions. Roy's smug, shit eating face, Rusty's seasoned bulldog look. Even in the background you can see great character work just by how Phelps is twisting his face up. Cutscenes are worth rewatching here and there. This really coulda been a TV show. The best parts can just be done by a human being irl.
This coulda been like the greatest Point-n-Click game of all time. I'd still recommend it at a curiosity. The story is worth it. It just doesn't quite translate to the video game medium.
L.A. Noire presents an open world and similar to Mafia II, the open world is just set dressing. You can explore it I guess, but there isn't much to see. Sure the world is detailed, they spent years crafting it but once you've seen it...that's it. There's hidden cars and landmarks but who cares about either? Street Crimes offer the only other form of content with substance. There's 40 of these, they all have a unique cutscene and action sequence. They're fine, but that's it. Just to give you a little taste of violence in between detective work. They don't even really feel like canon events. Like Herschel Biggs will tell you that he hasn't shot his gun in the life of duty directly after bodying a guy in a car chase.
The game's true shine is the voice acting and facial expressions. Characters like Phelps, Roy Earle and Rusty Galloway feel so real because of their nuanced expressions. Roy's smug, shit eating face, Rusty's seasoned bulldog look. Even in the background you can see great character work just by how Phelps is twisting his face up. Cutscenes are worth rewatching here and there. This really coulda been a TV show. The best parts can just be done by a human being irl.
This coulda been like the greatest Point-n-Click game of all time. I'd still recommend it at a curiosity. The story is worth it. It just doesn't quite translate to the video game medium.