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L.A. Noire
Topic Started: May 19 2011, 01:34 PM (1,021 Views)
Diddly
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Just got my sweaty hands on this and was amazed to find that it comes on THREE discs! I've been avoiding any previews etc so had no idea. The game must be huge, or extremely graphics heavy. Really looking forward to it, will post a bit about it later.
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Juz
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I'm guessing it's so big purely cos of the amount of jibber-jabber? I was very much looking forward to this, but there's some seriously mediocre reviews out there.

Let us know how it feels dude!

Ps: posting from villa in Gozo at the mo; praise the lord for wifi!
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Diddly
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It's 20 megs worth of jibber-jabber! :jawdrop:

Hmmm... Well I think anyone giving this a mediocre review must be seriously jaded or be expecting an entirely different type of game. In GTA the cut scenes break up tons of shooting and driving action, in this a bit of driving and shooting breaks up the lengthy cut scenes, evidence hunts and questioning sessions. Random street crimes come in on the car's radio and if you want to respond can break up an investigation with what is usually a quick, action-packed chase or shootout, but if you're after 'GTA LA 1946' Then leave it well alone. It's a lot more like Mafia II from the Cop's end, but the city and the quality of the animation are much bigger and better. The iffy frame rate and the car handling are the only disappointments so far; quite steppy at times and the physics don't feel anywhere near as realistic as GTA IV's or Mafia II's-and quite twitchy to steer. The draw distance is pretty good but everything fogs/blurs at a certain distance, which, for LA is quite realstic. Thankfully it doesn't shear like Mafia II though, and it draws all the building interiors at all times, so you can see the world going about its business on the outside from in, and vice-versa.

The gameplay will not suit everyone (Sloppy thought it looked tedious, and he's an MGS nut) but for me it's a nice change from the usual city-based sandbox game, with some clever gameplay elements in there, more of which will surely appear as the game goes on. Obviously I think it'll help if you're noire fan; Raymond Chandler, James Elroy, Black Dahlia etc (or even just liked LA Confidential a lot), I think it's closer to Dahlia than the good-but-not-great De Palma movie. If nothing else I deny anyone to be impressed by the lip sync, the facial expressions and overall quality of the animation. Preview videos scarcely prepare you for just how amazing it looks on your own TV in your own game, you really can catch the slightest nuances in someone's expression, and we're all gonna end up as detectives if this game has its way.

Gozo ummm...Malta?
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Juz
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Yeah baby- it's the bigger island off the coast of Malta.

I was gonna buy LA Noire, but this is deffo looking like a rental for me now; it all sounds a wee bit too pedestrian for me, and I actively didn't like Mafia II, so that's not a turn on for me either. I like sandbox to be just that...I like "structured" games too, but Mafia II's mix of both with fuck all to do off-mission bored my arse off.

Will be checking this out in due course, but am nowhere near as interested as I was 6 months ago. Cheers for the impressions dude!
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Retrovertigo
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Apparently the large size is down to it streaming in all the facial animation data. Some are reporting having finished it in
Spoiler: click to toggle
hidden for those that don't want to know how long the game is.

I went for Games offering, as although more expensive, it has the DLC case plus hidden items to find, which should encourage exploration.

I'm kind of torn though - I'm enjoying doing the main case, although the facial animations can be a little "forced" at times - no doubt done purposely to help with reading the characters. But the city, while attractive (though not as nice as Mafia II's imo) is largely redundant. There doesn't seem to be a way to just free roam? I know you can wander off during missions, but that feels wrong - like an inbuilt sense of urgency takes over, even though in the gameworld, time stands still until you reach your destination.

I think the eyes on the characters are a let down to be honest. The animation is so well done, that the eyes stand out as being a little dead for me.

Another disappointment for me, is that choosing to have your partner drive doesn't result in a nice scenic ride, a la the taxi rides in GTA. I think that is a missed opportunity. It would have been nice being taken to a location while utilising various camera angles to do some sightseeing. But maybe the game engine just couldn't handle it - as Diddly said, this game can chug along at times. I'm surprised they didn't switch to Rockstars Rage engine when doing the 360 port.

Looking forward to cracking more crimes though, and getting gnarly with women that are lying to me :) Main character is a bit of a dick though.
Edited by Retrovertigo, May 20 2011, 11:29 AM.
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Diddly
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Quote:
 
There doesn't seem to be a way to just free roam?
Yeah there is, I think you have to have completed a 'desk' before it becomes available from the main menu, the same place where you can replay completed cases for a better XP score. I was gonna do the 'badge challenge' thing from there, and round up the hidden cars too, not that there seems to be much point. But you can free roam anytime by dumping your partner and taking some civvy car can't you? (then you don't get nagged by radio) I was beginning to think that Cole was a bit of a stuffed shirt too-too good to be true. After one cut scene you never get to meet the missus or the unseen "kids" either, I reckon he's killed 'em and dumped 'em in the storm drain on the way to work. :D
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Retrovertigo
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Ah that is good to hear re: the free roaming.

Trouble is, that so far at least, I don't feel compelled to explore the world as much as I did with GTA IV. As soon as I was driving to the apartment after arriving in New York, I was itching to get out on foot and explore every nook and cranny. Maybe because of the extra layer of detail or the fact it just felt more "alive".

Seeing a few cracks in the interrogations which is a bit of a shame. For example, in one scenario I had found a murder weapon and so it kicked in a scene for arresting the guilty party. But I was still able to drive to another location connected with the case, and then a scene kicked in which related to another person being a suspect. It felt a bit silly and certainly should have been easy enough for them to fix.

Still really enjoying the stories though to be honest. Some elements fall flat, but the stories can have enough intrigue to keep you wanting to play. I'm trying to pace myself though, as it isn't as long a game as I would have liked - and if Rockstar drag their heels with DLC like they did with GTA IV, then it could be a long time before anything extra appears.
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dunkle
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Enjoying it, but more I am playing it the more its apparent its not as clever as it thinks it is

The linearity of it becomes more obvious too and whilst its not different to an old school point and click adventure I cant help but feel if it looked like one as well it would not have had the hype / praise it has received

The Golden Butterfly case is a case in point

SPOILERS FOLLOW
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV



Spoiler: click to toggle

Edited by Diddly, May 23 2011, 06:15 PM.
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Blakey
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I probably haven't played as much of this as others (I'm on review duties) but I think the game deserves a hell of a lot of praise.

Sure it's a little shoddy technically, and maybe not as clever as peeps like Dunc would like, but it isn't GTA 1940's which could have so easily been the case.

It's atmospheric, cerebral, cinematic and engaging - not just for the player, but also anyone watching (this is the first time in years the missus has actually taken any notice in a game, mainly because the acting is generally great).

What I like most is the contrasting emotions it causes you when you get your questioning technique right/wrong. In my case this is usually because I've been too lazy to study the evidence thoroughly, or I simply think everyone are saints and couldn't possibly be lying to me (parallels with real life methinks) :rofl:

So far so good then. Ludicrously good year for games so far considering I'm playing this not long after Portal 2.
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dunkle
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Well having continued little further to me it's currently more like an ep of svu where benson and stabler only see half a dozen people all episode four of whom are fellow police officers and the other two are possible suspects with no real hard evidence on them but they lock one up all the same as they have run out of time to investigate more
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Diddly
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I'm enjoying but get a one star right after a 4 star and don't really see what I did wrong or hugely differently. I realise it's all down to just asking the right questions and calling them a liar at the right time, but like Blakey I think I must be too trusting.

It would seem that there are lots of real actors in the game, a lot more than I realised, so now every other face I see looks familiar, which gives the game a real quality feel--like RDR it really does capture the period well in sight and sound. The Truth/Doubt/Lie/ thing seems misleading at times, and as Dunk said, sometimes you can't ask questions you'd want to, but then, I don't suppose that would ever be possible without text entry or reams of possibles, and that's never likely to happen in a Rockstar game. I've hit a couple of snags in missions that appear broken (the search trunk prompt didn't appear on the "golden butterfly" case the first time leaving me stumped as to what to do, and pressing 'X' for a tip only got me "maybe you should search the trunk of the car" - I FUCKING CAN'T...) Have been annoyed by the silly inconsistency with which Cole vaults things, and the best glitch I've seen was surely when I got my pardner to drive me to the next crime scene, and as he pulled away and it faded to black two wheels popped off the car! - really wish I had that one on video. :D

My biggest gripe would be why does it check the discs even when it's installed? couldn't it have just used disc one to check so you don't need to swap? What a pain in the ass, one up for the PS3 version I guess.
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Retrovertigo
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Still enjoying the stories, but like Diddly, I am getting varying results despite the evidence gathered sometimes giving me clear indicators as to who is guilty and who isn't. It seems that sometimes you have what is the clear piece of "hard evidence", use that to backup a lie, and it be completely wrong.

They really didn't playtest this enough either. I'm not talking about them missing quirky little things I have tried, but big glaring obvious stuff. As an example, I was investigating a crime scene, and saw that is I missed a piece of evidence, it gave me the option of going on a couple of small branching paths. I decided to go back to a previous save, miss the cruicial piece of evidence to open those small branches, but then actually pick up the piece of evidence so that all options were open to me. But at the end of the case I was marked down for missing the vital evidence that would have led to a quicker conclusion. Quite how that gets it's way in there if someone has tested this, I'm nit quite sure.

I'm also wondering what they might do about DLC as well to be honest. The one case as part of the pre-order bonus weighed in at 500meg. If they were to add anything even remotely substantial, the DLC would be huge. Perhaps they would do what GTA did and release a physical add-on disc.

It would be a shame to have that city go to waste as they have crammed some really nice detail in, in places. I do feel though, that so far at least, I seem to be driving along a lot of the same roads, despite how large the whole map is. Perhaps later cases will make more use of further travel. And talking of travel, I know what made me not quite love Mafia 2 as much as GTA - variety of vehicles, and more specifically, no helicopters or planes.
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