Those graphics are baaaaaaad. Faces move okay, but they "look" like crap. Maybes its just the way videos make it look, but it all looks very "fake" like a toy town.
L.A. Noire Review
- Thread starter Russ Pitts
- Start date
thats what pretty much what I've been thinking of as of late....its great and all but the rate Im going I've 5 starred every case and if I keep that up I'll only need to go back to indvidual cases/free roam for achievments and collectibles...sizzle949 said:
and thats another good point...I wondered why the developers completely skipped Burglary...maybe its a planned DLC like your thinking...but they'd have to be cautious....if they do it too quick whiners will piss and moan about how R*/Bondi are trying to screw them over and that it shoulda shipped with the game
I agree with this review all the way. Hauling ass in classic cars is awesome. To me the best part of the game is the homicide desk which is in the middle of the game so I didn't enjoy the best part of the game being in the middle rather than the end. I had the same problem with thinking I totally had someone in a lie only to use the wrong evidence. That's probably my biggest gripe about the game. One of the other things I didn't like is when you choose the doubt option 90% Phelps yells at the person you are interviewing like they are the murderer every time. And I didn't like how a lot of people you interview would try to tell lies when they really didn't have any reason to just so you would have to call them out. Other than that I really enjoyed the game and will probably pick up any extra cases dlc that come out in the future. I just wish they didn't do that 10 kinds of preorder dlc thing at launch. They should have made it available to everyone.
I'm sorely disappointed in the lack of Black and White playing on your part Russ 
. Everyone knows that Noir is almost always Black and White.
Seriously though, I am in love with this game, almost to the point where it might beat Skyrim in the GOTY competition. This ranks up as one of the few games that I will buy all the DLC for too just because I can't get enough of it. New Vegas and the Mass Effect Series are the only games previous that have this particular commitment to me.
. Everyone knows that Noir is almost always Black and White.Seriously though, I am in love with this game, almost to the point where it might beat Skyrim in the GOTY competition. This ranks up as one of the few games that I will buy all the DLC for too just because I can't get enough of it. New Vegas and the Mass Effect Series are the only games previous that have this particular commitment to me.
I read somewhere that they had to cut A LOT of the game just to get it fit on three disks (on xbox anyway), and it originally had way more stuff on it. This is quite evident when you look at the case numbers, the first three cases are something like 1, 3 and 6. It could be the case that the burglary. And yeah, I think they plan to release the cut content as DLC.AgDr_ODST said:
I dislike how often I disagree with Russ Pitts about certain aspects of his reviews. It confounds me because he's in charge of this wonderful site which I love. I hesitate to say this, but I think it's bugged me most when he reviews a game with puzzles and thinking. I personally find it almost insulting that he claims the interrogations aren't fun. It's one of the aspects I enjoy most about this game.
I'm on the vice desk, and I have rarely had much difficulty with interrogations (except for a few slippery individuals who gave me a bit of trouble). The thing to remember is that it's not just about the facial expressions. These are fairly important in determining Truth versus Doubt/Lie, but there's more to it. You need to actually understand everything in the case up to that point - like a detective would - to be successful.
The interrogations which troubled me were directly correlated to the times when I had misunderstood the whole picture the evidence tells. For example, there was a case in which I had completely misinterpreted this whole blackmail thing - once I realized that, the interrogation was simple, because I finally understand what was really going on.
Also, in the video he points out a trouble spot, but he had somehow missed/skipped certain really important evidence that you need in that interrogation. I'm not sure how that happened. I don't remember the order of things that well.
Anyway this game is amazing. I just wanted to say my piece. Sorry for the wall o' text
I'm on the vice desk, and I have rarely had much difficulty with interrogations (except for a few slippery individuals who gave me a bit of trouble). The thing to remember is that it's not just about the facial expressions. These are fairly important in determining Truth versus Doubt/Lie, but there's more to it. You need to actually understand everything in the case up to that point - like a detective would - to be successful.
The interrogations which troubled me were directly correlated to the times when I had misunderstood the whole picture the evidence tells. For example, there was a case in which I had completely misinterpreted this whole blackmail thing - once I realized that, the interrogation was simple, because I finally understand what was really going on.
Also, in the video he points out a trouble spot, but he had somehow missed/skipped certain really important evidence that you need in that interrogation. I'm not sure how that happened. I don't remember the order of things that well.
Anyway this game is amazing. I just wanted to say my piece. Sorry for the wall o' text
The only flaw I saw in this game was the interrogations. Other than that, it would have been Game of the Year in my book!
Hm, is it really a bad thing that the game lets you mess up an investigation and get the wrong guy? How long has it been since a game allowed you to actually screw up and deal with it by moving on? Just something I've been considering, as it's one of the things that actually makes me want to buy the game.
I wish the city was a little more interactive. It might seem insignificant but I'd love to visit Cole's house, buy a hot dog or change the radio station.
The fact that you haven't hit arson yet might affect your opinion. IMO, the difficulty of finding the magically correct evidence is most pronounced in Arson, although I hit it a little everywhere.thekingofcuba said:
I don't think he's complaining about that possibility, just that the flaws in the interviewing make failure unfairly common.lumenadducere said:
To elaborate on the issue, there are situations where someone will say, I was not at [place name], so you select lie, then Phelps makes some wild accusation beyond where they were, like accusing them of the crime, then the interviewee tells you to prove it. Now do I try to prove their location, which I might prove either by a ticket stub I found or a more indirect comment someone else made, or do I try to prove what Phelps randomly accused them of, which I wasn't at all prepared to do and have no idea what to even look for? Only one piece of evidence can be right, and cases often have things like "shoes of size 8" "footprints" "footprints size 8" "statement that he wears size 8 shoes." Which one do I pick?
Short version, I think the game could have been improved by simply allowing multiple pieces of evidence to apply to the same lie. As it is a lot of interviews turn into guessing games.
(This in no way implies that I don't love this game or don't recommend that all human beings play it, because both are true)
Just a quick aside you *can* usually go back and re-try an interview when you blow it without restarting--just quit out mid-interview (or directly afterwards) and re-load. It's less back-tracking, far from perfect.
You can back out of Lie accusations too if you don't think any evidence fits, but I really do agree with Doubting and Truth. There are more than a couple times when I 'doubted' because MOST of the time it feels like 'Be skeptical and press for more information'--and then when Cole goes crazy and starts barking up a tree I NEVER intended, I get docked. A lot of times the response I was looking to SELECT was in Truth, but I assumed it was in doubt, or vice versa--or my favorite, when you feel you have the evidence that 'proves' a lie (and obviously does) but nope! You were supposed to select doubt! You can say 'that's part of it' but really, is any control where a player's intentions aren't accurately translated a 'good' part of anything?
Don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic parts to this game though.
You can back out of Lie accusations too if you don't think any evidence fits, but I really do agree with Doubting and Truth. There are more than a couple times when I 'doubted' because MOST of the time it feels like 'Be skeptical and press for more information'--and then when Cole goes crazy and starts barking up a tree I NEVER intended, I get docked. A lot of times the response I was looking to SELECT was in Truth, but I assumed it was in doubt, or vice versa--or my favorite, when you feel you have the evidence that 'proves' a lie (and obviously does) but nope! You were supposed to select doubt! You can say 'that's part of it' but really, is any control where a player's intentions aren't accurately translated a 'good' part of anything?
Don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic parts to this game though.
For some reason I did not encounter the problem with the interrogations, and I'm already on the female pilot case... It all seems pretty repetitive when you observe the interrogated person you can easily figure out what you need to do, and even if you screw it up you have intuition to bail you out.
The only real problem for me is the terrible framerate ratio on xbox. But than again that's me being crazy.
The only real problem for me is the terrible framerate ratio on xbox. But than again that's me being crazy.
Yeah that's the interesting part, when i was playing L.A Noire i had terrible frame rate some times, especially in chases if you skip the driving and the cut scene, game couldn't load the scenery before the chase. But for example I saw my friend playing the game yesterday for 12 hours and never once he had any problem on his Xbox360, no low fps no nothing.CommanderKirov said:
Yeah I agree with what he said about interrogations. There was one case I had that i flubbed a lot of the interrogations and by the end of it I felt that I had missed so much information and it felt unresolved for me. I also swear there was one time I tried to prove someone was lying and i had two pieces of evidence that seemed to prove the exact same thing but somehow one was slightly better than the other and I failed.
Mmm, it's a shame this game isn't appearing onm PC, my dad made several attempts a few years ago to find a truly noir-inspired games, I think this one might have actually fit him after a fashion.
Why oh why is this console only? This is the perfect game for a lot of PC players and Rockstar still insists on being a console whore. Which will make the game all the worse if and when it does get ported to PC. Inevitably glitches and crap slip in, making the experience for PC not as enriching as it would for console. It is evident with every one of Rockstar's games since GTA3.
That being said, from the audio I heard during the review, I swear it was recorded back in the 50's to 60's which is evident in movies like Goldfinger, Bad Day at Black Rock, well you know where I am going. That kind of ambience thrown in can trip a lot of nostalgia meters with the older crowd, making this game for a broad demographic.
All they need is a Maltese Falcon case to put in for DLC and Rockstar can buy Sweden.
And make a decent PC port.
Go into it with the mindset that it is GTA in the 40's and you are going to be very disappointed. Go into it with the mindset that it is Dragnet or even Maltese Falcon, and expect to have your mind blown.
If all you want is a GTA clone, save your money.
That being said, from the audio I heard during the review, I swear it was recorded back in the 50's to 60's which is evident in movies like Goldfinger, Bad Day at Black Rock, well you know where I am going. That kind of ambience thrown in can trip a lot of nostalgia meters with the older crowd, making this game for a broad demographic.
All they need is a Maltese Falcon case to put in for DLC and Rockstar can buy Sweden.
And make a decent PC port.
Trouble with that line of thought is that with everything I have seen of LA Noire, it isn't GTA. The closest you get is getting to drive the car fast. You don't even get to run over pedestrians as apparently everyone in '40's LA are acrobats able to dodge a speeding car.Andronicus said:
Go into it with the mindset that it is GTA in the 40's and you are going to be very disappointed. Go into it with the mindset that it is Dragnet or even Maltese Falcon, and expect to have your mind blown.
If all you want is a GTA clone, save your money.
Which is amazing when you consider it is the same engine at the core. Of course I've seen devs before use the same game engine again and again, and still squeeze money out of it. (Looking at you, Epic)Nautical Honors Society said:
IE is good initials, but it doesn't roll off the tongue well.
What about a splice of the words?
Intent
Intertainment?
What about a splice of the words?
Intent
Intertainment?
