Tuesday 26 July 2011

L.A. Noire

OK, so it's been a while since i posted here, shit happens, real life, staying over the missus's a lot (she has no intarwebs). But she has gone camping this week so i'm back in the Unofficial bunker.. What i decided to do was sit down with L.A. Noire and get into this game, though i use the term 'game' in the loosest possible term here, it's more of an interactive experience where you will follow the storyline, why so? because if you decide to wander off and explore the sandbox city you will find abso-facking-lutely nothing to do. C'mon, this is a Rockstar game, a sandbox, but it's so deviod of anything it makes the small kittens cry. Oh sorry, you can find 'hidden' cars and maybe get to a street crime, of which there are only 40, if you're lucky.
Cole Phelps.. a man lacking in any sort of personality, which wouldn't be so bad if you could craft him in your own image, but no, he's about as interesting as a wet rag and plays it all by the book. You will investigate the crimes with him and that's it. Despite being a Rockstar game you can't even get your gun out and relieve the bordom by offing a few citizens in a rage fueled killing spree..
The other major failing is the fact you can't fail the game, hell, i completed cases getting only 1 of the questions right and finding half the clues. I keep getting the feeling that i'm only going through the motions, go here, ask a few questions, drive there look at some stuff, repeat until case solved, it's not hard. i never once so far have felt that i am in control of the game and i'm only jabbing a few buttons to advance the storyline.
Somewhat like i felt playing Heavy Rain...

Rockstar have been making progressively worse games lately, it started with GTAIV only to be redeemed by The Lost And Damned DLC, Red Dead and the worms had started eating their way in, and now here we are at LA Noire wandering around an authentic 1940's box wondering if there is actually something, anything to do. Pretty graphics do not a good game make.

11 comments:

  1. I've not played the game yet (I'm due a lend sometime) but from what I understand from the interweb rumour mill, an unnamed source at Rockstar said they originally planned to make Team Bondi a 'Rockstar Australia' but as the project developed they realised this was not going to work for them. How much of a hand Rock* had in it I don't know, my guess is they just wanted the money pit done and out there.

    I still have faith in Rock*, I enjoyed GTAIV but not as much as the PS2 ones, Red Dead kept me happy to completion - but the next GTA installment MUST raise the bar, bring back the fun, do something fresh, and have a killer storyline - or they'll lose my faith and many other peoples.

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  2. i agree with you there Jimmy. i honestly didn't think LA:N would be this bad/dull/empty. it's very very similar to the set up in Mafia II and feels the same to play (M:II wins in a head-to-head though), i mean why bother making it a sandbox then having none of the distractions associated with such a title? there's not even a shop to go to to buy new weapons or clothes here!! this title would have worked better as a linear cut scene driven game, as a sandbox it fails horribly.

    pros: that facial animation technology, authentic 40's feeling.
    cons: everything else - controls, missions, weapons, distractions etc etc.

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  3. Not a title I'm rushing to play really. I actually bought into Heavy Rain & enjoyed the experience, but I think I'll be waiting for a suitable deal before buying LA:N.
    Still got a few big games to get through before Resistance/Uncharted in Sept/Nov anyway.

    Plenty of quality PSN titles around lately too, Back to the Future's been a bit of a guilty pleasure ;)

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  4. plenty of games around PSN and disc, I'm still playing KZ3 and recompleting Burnout Paradise, on last boss in OutLand, have the co-op levels in Portal 2 to do, just getting into super acrobatic rocket powered battle cars, all this and more before I'll be buying more titles! The main ones I'm looking out for are Unchartered, Dead Island, Battlefield 3, prolly a few others too. Starhawk a long way away but still on my mind. Not too interested in Resistance this time around. Oh, and Bioshock looks amaaaaazin.

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  5. Now up to the White Stiletto Murder. Boss is getting pissed off with my slack detective work but it doesn't seem to effect me getting new missions.. take the last one, i was convinced neither suspect was guilty of the crime (one was a paedo the other a wife beater), both were dodgy but not really BD murderer material so i went easy on them, but game the insisted i send one down against my intuition.. surprise surprise a new body turns up later with the same MO. so i felt justified about what i felt but i'd still sent someone mostly innocent down.

    i secretly think my boss may be the serial killer...

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  6. That's a shame to hear that LA Noire hasn't turned out to be all it was cracked up to be! My bro-in-law will no doubt have this anyway (for his xbots 360) so will give it a play anyhow next time I see him.

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  7. I'd agree with that Tone. Though I'd probably blame R* less, they merely financed and supported the project, the creative control, from what I've read, remained with Team Bondi at all times.

    Gameplay-wise I'm okay with Noire, but the incredibly poor logic used to create the investigation seriously pissed me off at times, combined with not actually knowing what Phelps is going to say until after he's said it makes it feel like you're a spectator rather than a participant. The sole reason I play games is for that interactive element and LA Noire lacks that, it feels a little too like watching the equally badly written Law and Order TV series for me to enjoy it to its fullest.

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  8. Welcome to our little world Murton

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  9. Cheers Jimmy, DNA seems to have died a bit so thought I'd come and see what else is going on.

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  10. DNA sits there quietly waiting for it's moment, you never know..

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  11. hmmm Kelvin said we were too hardcore and the Games Companies were looking for more 'mainstream' (read: casual) people to group focus.

    experience counts for nothing it seems.

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