L.A. Noire

[dsrchris 190]

Just saw this video for L.A. Noire on Xbox Live:

 

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Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood's Golden Age, Cole Phelps is an LAPD detective thrown headfirst into a city drowning in its own success. Corruption is rampant, the drug trade is exploding, and murder rates are at an all-time high. In his fight to climb the ranks and do what’s right, Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core.

Using groundbreaking new animation technology that captures every nuance of an actor's facial performance in astonishing detail, L.A. Noire is a violent crime thriller that blends breathtaking action with true detective work to deliver an unprecedented interactive experience. Search for clues, chase down suspects and interrogate witnesses as you struggle to find the truth in a city where everyone has something to hide.


Developed by Team Bondi, L.A. Noire arrives for PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® on May 17th 2011 in North America and May 20th 2011 in Europe.

 

Official Game Site

 

First I've heard of this one, but I've gotta admit the facial expressions and how that is supposedly going to integrate into the detective element of the game looks impressive.

 

Here's a few more vids from youtube:

 

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What do folks reckon?

[Guest John Hancock]

I'm really torn. I mean, it looks lovely, but how does it play? It seems to be more of an interactive movie than an actual game (I've been tainted by Mafia II). If that's the case, I'd rather watch a full walk through for free in YouTube.

 

All that said, I'll mostly likely give it a go though. I've always wanted to be a detective in the 1940's.

[dsrchris 190]

I know it's gonna be cut scene intensive (although I imagine you'll be interacting in some way through most of them), but I'm hoping it'll still have some of that "go anywhere and just do some random stuff" that Rockstar games tend to have in them. I loved being able to drop out of a stressful time on Red Dead, and just go hunting for a while.

 

As long as it has something similar (I'd take a guess at solving smaller crimes that occur randomly as you're on patrol) then it should be cool. My heart says yes, my head says wait for the reviews to start coming in.

[Guest John Hancock]

Yeah, RDR set the bar insanely high for open world games. They got the action/story split just dead on. GTA IV was too ACTION/story, and Mafia II was too action/STORY. Watching that gameplay trailer has made me more interested than I was though. The interviewing thing looks fun, as does the whole idea of multiple cases (I thought it was just one linear uber-case).

[Guest Saz]

I do like the solving detective games, there are a few on the internet I've loved.

 

Definitely interested in this!

[JobberJoe 108]

Yeah, as others have said - great setting (ye' olde detective with a broad who's got legs from here to ya-ya), nice effects and a very intriguing twist with the facial stuff.

 

Anybody else apart from Rockstar and I'd be a lot more sceptical than I am.

 

However I have good faith it's gonna be a lot-a-lotta' fun.

[DC 536]

I've been looking forward to this for over a year now and the more I read/see, the more excited I get.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

I have it on my Amazon wishlist. Might wait for proper first plays before I commit to a preorder though.

[dsrchris 190]

More on the facial expression tech:

 

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[Guest Clarkey]

I do wonder who is writing this game, if it's by Humphries and Houser again, or by someone in Bondi. McNamara at Team Bondi was writer and director of The Getaway so even if it is his work with some influence from Houser and co at Rockstar I would take it, just so it doesn't get bogged down in the Rockstar niche. No knock on the Rockstar guys, but this needs a special touch and I'm hoping to feel the same fondness for this gameplay and story wise as with games such as Blade Runner.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

IGN's video review is out.

[YOUTUBE]fc_Mww4Ra5k[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

8.5 is a great score, especially since it's trying so much new stuff.

 

[Guest Dave7g]

Gamespot gave it a 9 and Giantbomb 5/5. So yeah, Rockstar in quality game shocker. I'll be all over this at the weekend. If you have a choice, go for the PS3 version since it's on one disc compared to 3 and there's some framerate and slowdown on the xbox version.

[King 277]

How come 3 discs??, is the game that big??

 

I thought it would be the same size as GTA and Red Dead etc...

[Guest Anime Otaku]

Dave, click through to the Youtube page, the amount of people wailing that it's got a bad score is astonishing.

[Guest Dave7g]

rockstar needs to catch up with todays graphics. THIS GAME LOOKS LIKE SHIT!

Youtube cretin.

 

That's why you should never read youtube comments. Best looking game in years especially with all the facial animation. People are stupid, all the time.

[Guest John Hancock]

I haven't played this game. I haven't seen anyone play this game. I haven't even watched the review. I do, however, want to marry it. Rockstar + period setting + film noire + 1950's Hollywood cops. Yeah, I'm involved.

[DC 536]

I was in GAME yesterday and heard someone ask to pre-order LA Noy-er, which made me laugh.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

I haven't played this game. I haven't seen anyone play this game. I haven't even watched the review. I do, however, want to marry it. Rockstar + period setting + film noire + 1950's Hollywood cops. Yeah, I'm involved.

 

Nitpicking I know but the game is set in '47, apparently it was a pretty bad year in real life too. What I don't get is why Arson is the last desk rather than Homicide or maybe some sort of Organised crime department. My only guess is it's either for storyline purposes or Arson's got more technical details than Homicide.

[Guest John Hancock]

Oh yeah, there's going to be some fun to be had hearing people trying to say the name.

 

Noy-er

Nore

Nor-ear

Noy-or

No-ear-y

 

Nitpicking I know but the game is set in '47, apparently it was a pretty bad year in real life too. What I don't get is why Arson is the last desk rather than Homicide or maybe some sort of Organised crime department. My only guess is it's either for storyline purposes or Arson's got more technical details than Homicide.

 

Everything after World War Two and before Vietnam is the 50's. Everything.

 

Yeah, I imagine that it's a story line thing, like the big last case of the game is centred around some crazy arson shenanigans.

[Guest Dave7g]

It's 40+ hours for the storyline cases, then there's another 20 cases that show up randomly. It's going to take a while.