This review contains spoilers
L.A. Noire is a detective game made by Rockstar set in the 1940s in Los Angeles. You play as the new detective Cole Phelps in attempting to solve a series of cases with various partners and people involved, from traffic cases to house fires.
The main feature of the game is that all of the facial animations were done with motion capture, to try to accurately display whether a person was telling the truth or not. Basically, it all came down to reading body language, which I'm sometimes not very good at apparently. I found interviews and questioning to be difficult to get through correctly, although I learned throughout the game. The action sequences are a nice change of pace from the investigating and interviewing. I also liked the subtle helpful hints in the music and the environment to help me whenever I was stuck. Also, there was a cool feature to play in a black & white mode, which was really cool, and really immerses you into vintage police work. I also liked how all of the traffic cases, homicide cases, etc. were linked together and not just one-off cases, besides the DLC cases.
The overall story of Cole Phelps and the other characters was mediocre by the time I got to the end of the game. I felt that the ending was fairly anti-climatic, being a manhunt for one dude we met once in a flashback and then.
Overall, I really did enjoy playing as a detective and experiencing 1940s Los Angeles. I loved the detective mechanics and animations, but there wasn't a strong story to go with them. The DLC cases are interesting and provide a neat twist apart from the main cases. Also, jazz music was good.
The main feature of the game is that all of the facial animations were done with motion capture, to try to accurately display whether a person was telling the truth or not. Basically, it all came down to reading body language, which I'm sometimes not very good at apparently. I found interviews and questioning to be difficult to get through correctly, although I learned throughout the game. The action sequences are a nice change of pace from the investigating and interviewing. I also liked the subtle helpful hints in the music and the environment to help me whenever I was stuck. Also, there was a cool feature to play in a black & white mode, which was really cool, and really immerses you into vintage police work. I also liked how all of the traffic cases, homicide cases, etc. were linked together and not just one-off cases, besides the DLC cases.
The overall story of Cole Phelps and the other characters was mediocre by the time I got to the end of the game. I felt that the ending was fairly anti-climatic, being a manhunt for one dude we met once in a flashback and then.
Overall, I really did enjoy playing as a detective and experiencing 1940s Los Angeles. I loved the detective mechanics and animations, but there wasn't a strong story to go with them. The DLC cases are interesting and provide a neat twist apart from the main cases. Also, jazz music was good.