L.A. Noire (360) (From Daily Echo)

L.A. Noire (360)

in Game Reviews By Ian Crump

Genre: Action

Publisher: Rockstar

Rating: 18 (BBFC)

Platform: Xbox 360

There’s just one word to describe the excitement that L.A. Noire brings – one word said twice. Whoop whoop!

A blissfully beautiful game set in an almost perfect recreation of an imperfect world; L.A. Noire doesn’t just show the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles in the 1940’s – it shows everything in-between. From the feuding husband and wife who reach a skull-fracturing climax in their relationship, through to a gentleman gunned down in cold blood for cash. The dark and gritty Film Noire style atmosphere is thick and intense.

Influences are drawn from greats such as Grand Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain and more. But it doesn't create an ugly bloated hodgepodge of borrowed ideas; it offers unique and intriguing gameplay experiences that aren't just building blocks to a new style of play, but are already fully polished and working gaming practices. It's rare and refreshing to see a developer come up with something so completely new that doesn't just show potential, but actually utilises it's ideas to the best of its abilities.

Players take on the role of World War II officer turned rookie cop, Cole Phelps. Solving cases correctly and serving justice ensures Phelps’ rise through the L.A.P.D. ranks and sees him take on bigger and better cases. Each requires a thorough examination of the crime scene, the harvesting of evidence, the questioning of suspects, and quite often a chase or two.

Different results can be garnered from the questioning depending on the ability to read the suspects gestures and successful application of the evidence gathered. Deciding whether a suspect is telling the truth or lying is often difficult to gauge, despite the fact that the facial gesture mapping is out-of-this-world. However, confidence will come with experience.

The recreated version of L.A. is breathtaking - over 8 square miles of how it was in the 1940's, and the cases are modelled on actual crimes that happened at the time, helping to further provide an extra layer of Film Noire realism. The hyperialism of L.A. then stretches even further to include 95 vehicles, all of which are different in terms of both aesthetics and handling. Every car featured was either a production car at the time, or was a concept car.

Not as long as some sandbox games, it won’t take much time to cruise through the cases. But with a bunch of collectibles to be found, as well as side missions and case scores that can be improved on, there’s entertainment on tap that can last for dozens of hours.

It’s exciting to think that experiencing L.A. Noire is like watching a star being born, the creation of not just a new franchise, but also a plethora of new gameplay methods. What’s even more exciting though is that Rockstar are bound to spoil us with a slew of download content to keep us digging in the dirt of this sublimely recreated version of 1940s Los Angeles.

It’s dark and it’ sinister – it’s also gorgeous and fun.

SCORE: 9 / 10