12 years ago, I LOVED this game.
12 years later, as I anxiously revisit this detective-adventure game, I struggle badly to pinpoint anything positive about the game, because story- and gameplaywise, it aged very, very poorly.
You play as Cole Phelps a Marine Corps lieutenant, just returning from the Second World War, so we are in the late 40s, a time-frame very rarely picked. Our goal is to climb up the career ladder at the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) starting at the patrol service. Even if this environment is already suggesting another Hero’s Journey, this premise COULD have led to an interesting story. But it just did not deliver.
L.A. Noire is a power fantasy through and through. You speak the language of violence and war, screaming at suspects, pointing a gun at them or even shooting them in the back as they are running away from you. The developers at Rockstar are not well known for very sensitive or self-reflexive characters or stories, but with L.A. Noire they reached their pinnacle of ignorance. This game is dripping of problematic tropes: It is full of antisemitism, racism, sexism and unconcealed patriotism. And it is not only the „bad“ guys, who embody this way of thinking, it is you and the structure of police, that is based on violence, discrimination and corruption. It hurts to the bone to get to a crime scene over and over again, to see another femicide, or a raped body or a beaten up immigrant. Most of the cases are build like that. Yes, I can imagine the streets of L.A. in the late 40s, were not the safest place for liberal women or people of color, but to use this „historical truth“, to rebuild and reenact this brutal way of interacting is just not my type.
The L.A. we drive through is a vivid place, atmospherical and you can really feel the will to „build something“, but besides the feel of it, the glimpse, you just can’t do anything in this world - besides a bit of sightseeing. You are limited to your duty, driving from crime scene to crime scene, cutting blocks and avoid another car crash, due to the whacky car controls. The intention is clear, that Rockstar did not want to create another open-world gangster-adventure but quite the opposite. And this would be understandable, IF the gameplay of being a cop thriving for justice and recognition would be interesting and thrilling. But it simply isn’t.
The gameplay loop is boring and hilariously linear. You arrive at a crime scene, investigating it, searching for clues or evidence, waiting for the fulfilling melody to signal you the completion of the scene. Sidenote: This melody is the only thing in the game, that led to a warm nostalgic feeling in my playthrough. After that, you interrogate a witness and this part was sold as the main attraction back in the day with ground-breaking facial motion capture, making it easy to immediately recognize a liar. But this gimmick is just dated and the expressions are not that clearly readable, leading to frustration or the feel of a multiple-choice test. Because the other two options besides accusing someone, are to play the „good cop“ or the the „bad cop“. This means either calmly assume someone is lying or openly yelling or threating them, how they will rod in jail, if they are not cooperating. Then you drive to the next location, either searching for clues, repeating the next inhuman interrogation or chasing a suspect either by foot or by car.
The investigation part is the „best“ as you just shut up and try to do your job for a moment, like you should. But this promising mechanic is just torn down, by the incomprehensible need for action, spectacle and heroism, which leads to a dumb, rail-roaded and tedious experience.
In some cases, you will find newspapers, reporting about the psychologist Dr. Harlan Fontaine, a shady man willing to cure all men from their post-war traumata, a story told in little cut-scenes. The same happens to the backstory of Cole, as we experience little flashbacks of his time in war. These parts are the most promising and intriguing, as we get a glimpse of this collective trauma a war can cause. But the result of this trauma is displayed exclusively in beating your wife, becoming a murderer, an alcoholic or being abused by a narcissistic psychologist.
After replaying eleven cases, I have heard and seen enough. A part of me is sad about the failed replay of one of my favorite games. As a teen, I played this with my sister and I remember, that we enjoyed it. But I grew up and the game did not. And that is why the other part of me is grateful to went through this again. To realize that this type of game and especially the content and values it transfers, does not represent my understanding of the world nor a compelling character, I want to embody. And that does not imply, I only want to play as successful, soft and sensitive characters, which try to „make the world a better place“. Take Disco Elysium as a great example of a game that did it just right: A struggling cop, unable to remember his own name, known as a loser, a tramp, an asshole, but someone who is trying, or to be more accurate: a character thrown into a game that gives you freedom of choice and a feel of consequences and not only the outdated repetition of the binary idea of good and evil.
12 years later, as I anxiously revisit this detective-adventure game, I struggle badly to pinpoint anything positive about the game, because story- and gameplaywise, it aged very, very poorly.
You play as Cole Phelps a Marine Corps lieutenant, just returning from the Second World War, so we are in the late 40s, a time-frame very rarely picked. Our goal is to climb up the career ladder at the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) starting at the patrol service. Even if this environment is already suggesting another Hero’s Journey, this premise COULD have led to an interesting story. But it just did not deliver.
L.A. Noire is a power fantasy through and through. You speak the language of violence and war, screaming at suspects, pointing a gun at them or even shooting them in the back as they are running away from you. The developers at Rockstar are not well known for very sensitive or self-reflexive characters or stories, but with L.A. Noire they reached their pinnacle of ignorance. This game is dripping of problematic tropes: It is full of antisemitism, racism, sexism and unconcealed patriotism. And it is not only the „bad“ guys, who embody this way of thinking, it is you and the structure of police, that is based on violence, discrimination and corruption. It hurts to the bone to get to a crime scene over and over again, to see another femicide, or a raped body or a beaten up immigrant. Most of the cases are build like that. Yes, I can imagine the streets of L.A. in the late 40s, were not the safest place for liberal women or people of color, but to use this „historical truth“, to rebuild and reenact this brutal way of interacting is just not my type.
The L.A. we drive through is a vivid place, atmospherical and you can really feel the will to „build something“, but besides the feel of it, the glimpse, you just can’t do anything in this world - besides a bit of sightseeing. You are limited to your duty, driving from crime scene to crime scene, cutting blocks and avoid another car crash, due to the whacky car controls. The intention is clear, that Rockstar did not want to create another open-world gangster-adventure but quite the opposite. And this would be understandable, IF the gameplay of being a cop thriving for justice and recognition would be interesting and thrilling. But it simply isn’t.
The gameplay loop is boring and hilariously linear. You arrive at a crime scene, investigating it, searching for clues or evidence, waiting for the fulfilling melody to signal you the completion of the scene. Sidenote: This melody is the only thing in the game, that led to a warm nostalgic feeling in my playthrough. After that, you interrogate a witness and this part was sold as the main attraction back in the day with ground-breaking facial motion capture, making it easy to immediately recognize a liar. But this gimmick is just dated and the expressions are not that clearly readable, leading to frustration or the feel of a multiple-choice test. Because the other two options besides accusing someone, are to play the „good cop“ or the the „bad cop“. This means either calmly assume someone is lying or openly yelling or threating them, how they will rod in jail, if they are not cooperating. Then you drive to the next location, either searching for clues, repeating the next inhuman interrogation or chasing a suspect either by foot or by car.
The investigation part is the „best“ as you just shut up and try to do your job for a moment, like you should. But this promising mechanic is just torn down, by the incomprehensible need for action, spectacle and heroism, which leads to a dumb, rail-roaded and tedious experience.
In some cases, you will find newspapers, reporting about the psychologist Dr. Harlan Fontaine, a shady man willing to cure all men from their post-war traumata, a story told in little cut-scenes. The same happens to the backstory of Cole, as we experience little flashbacks of his time in war. These parts are the most promising and intriguing, as we get a glimpse of this collective trauma a war can cause. But the result of this trauma is displayed exclusively in beating your wife, becoming a murderer, an alcoholic or being abused by a narcissistic psychologist.
After replaying eleven cases, I have heard and seen enough. A part of me is sad about the failed replay of one of my favorite games. As a teen, I played this with my sister and I remember, that we enjoyed it. But I grew up and the game did not. And that is why the other part of me is grateful to went through this again. To realize that this type of game and especially the content and values it transfers, does not represent my understanding of the world nor a compelling character, I want to embody. And that does not imply, I only want to play as successful, soft and sensitive characters, which try to „make the world a better place“. Take Disco Elysium as a great example of a game that did it just right: A struggling cop, unable to remember his own name, known as a loser, a tramp, an asshole, but someone who is trying, or to be more accurate: a character thrown into a game that gives you freedom of choice and a feel of consequences and not only the outdated repetition of the binary idea of good and evil.
3 Comments
@RedBackLoggd My intent is and was not to discredit the work of the writers in the way they did. But they decided to thrive for realism in graphics, feel and historical events, they took as inspiration. I totally admit my limitations of knowledge of these real-world cases and I absolutely deny the wish of white-washing history and alternate the victims that existed.
But it is a creative decision to go for that realistic approach, and as I mentioned in the review "it hurts to the bone" to experience this game, a feeling that I simply can not erase or ignore as a player. And yeah, maybe this discomfort is what the intention of the writers was, but it is a dead end to argue about the ultimate intention of a game or its writers. What I can say for sure, that this brutal, uncensored way of storytelling is, as I said, " just not my type". I can understand, if people find it thrilling or even fun, to reenact this "violence first", but I personally grew out of this enjoyment.
I don't want to criticize the game for its execution in portraying the life of a post-war veteran joining the LAPD in 1940s Hollywood, but more the decision ITSELF to portray it in that amount of detail, brutality and reenactment of discriminating structures and not going for a change of perspective, a more ambiguous set of decision-making and less blood, gore and spectacle. Because as a player, you are a part of this corrupt environment and even if Cole is at least trying to break free, be more rational and do it differently, he is bond to its limitations and rules.
I can totally understand and agree in terms of the maybe over-exaggerated harshness, when it comes to my dislike of the amount of violence and discrimination in the game. But the historical accuracy or the historical accuracy in fiction, in my perspective, does not qualify to appreciate a game and its story more, when I, as a player, feel repelled of the language and actions of the world and characters, I embody and share my time with.
But it is a creative decision to go for that realistic approach, and as I mentioned in the review "it hurts to the bone" to experience this game, a feeling that I simply can not erase or ignore as a player. And yeah, maybe this discomfort is what the intention of the writers was, but it is a dead end to argue about the ultimate intention of a game or its writers. What I can say for sure, that this brutal, uncensored way of storytelling is, as I said, " just not my type". I can understand, if people find it thrilling or even fun, to reenact this "violence first", but I personally grew out of this enjoyment.
I don't want to criticize the game for its execution in portraying the life of a post-war veteran joining the LAPD in 1940s Hollywood, but more the decision ITSELF to portray it in that amount of detail, brutality and reenactment of discriminating structures and not going for a change of perspective, a more ambiguous set of decision-making and less blood, gore and spectacle. Because as a player, you are a part of this corrupt environment and even if Cole is at least trying to break free, be more rational and do it differently, he is bond to its limitations and rules.
I can totally understand and agree in terms of the maybe over-exaggerated harshness, when it comes to my dislike of the amount of violence and discrimination in the game. But the historical accuracy or the historical accuracy in fiction, in my perspective, does not qualify to appreciate a game and its story more, when I, as a player, feel repelled of the language and actions of the world and characters, I embody and share my time with.
But even if they didn't take from historical events, fictional storytelling shouldn't be limited from going to those realms of realism if it means telling a tale. Exploitation is definitely a concern I share with you, but LA Noire is the least offender in that department outta RockStar's library lol.
That's fair enough, but the game wasn't exactly hiding its intent haha. I get you revisited it out of nostalgia, but surely kid you didn't forget all those grisly murders over the years.
You're great with words my friend, but your third paragraph confuses me: you don't want to criticize the game for inhabiting these corrupt structures of power, yet want it to criticize it for not having role-playing elements? You can't have it both ways: the game is bound by historicity, no matter the good intentions real-life LEOs may have had back then.
That's fair enough, but the game wasn't exactly hiding its intent haha. I get you revisited it out of nostalgia, but surely kid you didn't forget all those grisly murders over the years.
You're great with words my friend, but your third paragraph confuses me: you don't want to criticize the game for inhabiting these corrupt structures of power, yet want it to criticize it for not having role-playing elements? You can't have it both ways: the game is bound by historicity, no matter the good intentions real-life LEOs may have had back then.
RedBackLoggd
2 months ago
But complaining about the game having discriminatory attitudes is just bizarre. You yourself acknowledge this was how the 1940s were, so I don't really get why you're criticizing the presence of racism, antisemitism, and misogyny. I want to say the majority of victims in the game were white males also, so it doesn't even hold water as an overarching critique. The raped and mutilated women cases were literally based off the Black Dahlia and Cleveland Torso Murders: would you have wanted them to whitewash history?
And in no way shape or form was it propping up the police department. The game explicitly condemns the LAPD corruption, which is, again, historically accurate - look up the Bloody Christmas scandal.
You're a good reviewer so I'm taking all these criticisms in good faith, but I genuinely feel like you're projecting something onto the writers that just wasn't there. LA Noire strives to be historically accurate, and I feel it more than sucedes there compared to other parts where it falters like you pointed out.