L.A. Noire

One of the Most Underrated Game after Heavy Rain (2010). Absolutely Amazing. Graphics, Gameplay are Stunning. The Interrogation Technique, Investigating Evidences, this Game will make feel you like you are a Detective. Go and Grab it!

Excellent cinematic atmosphere, story, soundtrack, and great characters. The interrogation gameplay was interesting, but sometimes also frustrating. At times the correct choices seemed a bit far-fetched or inconsistent, even if you were very careful. Maybe the developer pushed this gameplay mechanic a bit too hard in an attempt to keep the difficulty high enough. This prevented me from enjoying an excellent game as much as I should have. The combat also feels out of place (when gunning down hordes of nameless bad guys like in GTA) in a mature game. Flaws aside, this is still a milestone and an example of video games slowly growing up. The open world city is also amazingly authentic, arguably better (and certainly larger) than Liberty City in GTA 4. Porting from consoles was done acceptably well - you get HD textures and enough options, but there is a console checkpoint save system, 30-fps lock and a little mouse lag. Sadly Rockstar Social Club is mandatory.

One but cannot help but think that L.A. Noire has been inspired by L.A. Confidential (1997), Chinatown (1974), The Untouchables (1987), and James Ellroy's novel The Black Dahlia. After being in the development hell for seven years, L.A. Noire was released in 2011 and became a massive success. It is definitely worth playing, and if you have the patience to solve challenging puzzles you will enjoy this game. Also, you will learn how to read people during questioning and interrogations as to whether they are telling the truth, doubt them or lying by backing up your claims with evidence.

Set in Los Angeles in 1947, the story centers on LAPD police officer Cole Phelps played by Aaron Stanton (Mad Men), a former US Marine Lieutenant who served in World War II in the pacific. Cole Phelps starts out as a patrol officer and throughout the game you see his career rise in the LAPD through various assignments with Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. Cole Phelps is also assigned various partners throughout the game including Officer Ralph Dunn (Rodney Scott) in patrol, Detective Stefan Bekowsky (Sean McGowan) in Traffic, Detective Rusty Galloway (Michael McGrady, Southland) in Homicide, Detective Roy Earle (Adam John Harrington) in Vice, and Detective Herschel Biggs (Keith Szarabajka, The Dark Knight) in Arson. Cole Phelps manages to catch the eye of Captain James Donnelly (James Connelly) as a rising star in the LAPD and promises to keep a close eye on Phelps. Phelps also finds himself caught up with German lounge singer Elsa Lichtmann (Australian model Erika Heynatz) and butts heads with former US Marine comrade Jack Kelso (Gil McKinney) who is working as claims investigator for California Fire and Life following the death of a former marine Phelps and Kelso served with during World War II.

L.A. Noire is very addictive gaming at its best and you can't help but feel you are being thrust into the world of a post World War II Los Angeles. L.A. Noire reminded me a lot of L.A. Confidential.

I wish there were more games like L.A. Noire however like this game it may take a number of years before a game similar to this will be released. Definitely one of the best games I have played in years.

10/10.

The best detective game on the earth, amazing tech, great story, good character development. Almost 10 years and still need a sequel.

Rockstar have been slowly draining away at my insanity for the release of this game, the teasers were enough to wet the appetite of myself and other players respectivly who were interested in this type of game.

It wouldn't seem fair to compare this to GTA as other reviwers have ,purely because it has taken a completely different direction. Yes, you can still take cars, yes you can shoot and yes you can still drive around like a maniac but its all cleverly been done in the line of duty. They have taken an approach which has been unorthodox but who cares...it works! The story of Phelps (the player) is very neatly tied in to all the cases that the player must solve. All the previous cases come together and are referred back in later cases. The story has an incredibly thick plot and at times can leave you with a heavier brain once you put the controller down. It's very time consuming but well worth seeing it all the way to the end. Need i say the last case made me shed a tear....so it can be emotional for some.

Gameplay wise, L.A. Noire is no where near fast pace by any means, but there is always something new going on, whether it be a police call for a shooting/robbery or even a real case to solve, there's nothing that ever lets the player feel bored or exhausted of the same thing. However this being said, the game has a slight use of repetitiveness in it, but is actually necessary for the development of the story. The controls are very natural and rockstar have really pulled out their finger to achieve something that no other game has achieved, realistic and emotional characters. The whole truth/doubt/lie system is just genius and gave me a warm sense of accomplishment when i actually got the correct answer. The facial animations using the facial motion capture are just breath taking, i sometimes forget i'm playing a game and instead watching a movie, it's that realistic! Graphically stunning, buildings look very real, cars are modelled perfectly and the characters need nothing more added. The whole environment is just brilliant with props to both environment artists and the level designers. Hats off the story board guys, to make a story that ties in so well with each other must make them incredibly imaginative.

Overall L.A. Noire has really taken me by surprise, I really wasn't sure what i would expect to get until i played it through and my god you get hell of a lot for your money. If you don't come out with an IQ higher than 100 after completing this game, you went somewhere wrong. The game has been intelligently put together and has really left a mark on me. I'd recommend this to any player who likes an interactive, action, mystery and an adventure game packed all in one.

Well done Rockstar!