I remember when I first played L.A. Noire on my Playstation 3 back in 2011, and being blown away simply by the way Cole Phelps’ flashlight illuminated the dark alleyways. Everything about the game’s depiction of late 40’s Los Angeles is absolutely fascinating, both in part to the ‘noir’ theme and the incredibly detailed city itself. Surprisingly enough, the game still holds up fairly well in 2017 on current gen consoles.
You play as Cole Phelps, recently returned from war, still fairly young, seemingly undamaged and idealistic. You join the police force and, after a brief stint as a patrol officer, move up the ranks as detective. L.A. Noire’s portrayal of the police force and the city seedy underbelly is utterly brilliant, and the way these two, supposedly opposing, segments of society interact with each other is subtly done. The City of Angels sure has its fair share of demons, and crime is fledgling. You start off solving simple cases, while at the same time tugging at strings leading to bigger crimes involving men in high places.
The story is riveting, and the way the characters behave is believable. No one is perfect here, especially Cole Phelps. He is carrying baggage from his time during the war, and it shows throughout the main story. Much of the realism comes from the incredible MotionScan technology that LA Noire uses. Sure, modern technology has come a long way since then, but given how heavily L.A. Noire’s gameplay leans on being able to read NPC reactions, quirks and expressions, it’s amazing to see how readable these animations are.
It’s not perfect, and there can be occasional moments of frustrations. But the new interrogation system – Good Cop, Bad Cop, Accuse – makes things significantly less confusing. There’s still a lot of deduction to be done, clues to be gathered, and conclusions to be reached. Even when the cases don’t have the desired outcome, seeing it through and then facing consequences/repercussions keeps things interesting. L.A. Noire is an adventure game at its core, and it’s probably the most well produced one even made.
The overall graphics definitely show their age, but the level of detail is still mind blowing . You can literally match sections of Los Angeles in Google Maps today with a majority of the city in L.A. Noire. And it’s not just streets, but also building and landmarks that have been faithfully recreated. I only wish that the game would have given more reason to explore every nook and cranny. The collectibles are alright, but not all that compelling.
Included in the remastered version are all the DLCs for the game, and the extra missions are just as good as the main missions. Some of them tie back to Phelps’ time back in the war, and imposes some strong moral dilemmas.
Games like L.A. Noire are really rare these days. It’s a story focused single player game set in a well realized open world. Strong characters and a compelling narrative are the core aspects of what makes L.A. Noire great. It’s an added treat that the city the game is set in feels so full of life.
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