This is the second piece in the Classic Games Revisited + Reviewed series and covers a game of a similar vintage to the previous article. This isn’t much of a spoiler I guess but I’m just going to call it out for clarity – these reviews are for the most part going to be glowing and singing the praises of the games featured. Let’s face it, I’m not going to go back and review stinkers for shits and giggles! I will try to dig out hidden gem types and avoid obvious AAA type games though. I mean, I’d love to write a review of Mass Effect 2 but you don’t need me to tell you that it is an absolute masterpiece of a game.
LA Noire was released back in November 2011 on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 by Rockstar Games, developed by Team Bondi studio. I played the PS3 version in 2020 so was a latecomer to the game but, wow, “better late than never” has never been truer! Similar to the other classic game previously reviewed, Sleeping Dogs, LA Noire was produced by a now defunct studio – in this case Team Bondi. Which similarly means a sequel is extremely unlikely to ever happen…
As ostensibly an open world game, and published by Rockstar, comparisons with the Grand Theft Auto series are inevitable, but to me that is doing the game a major disservice. It is not, indeed was never intended to be, a GTA clone. It is its own glorious thing and an experience that I cannot think of having in any other video game. Spoilers, I loved it and this review is going to be complimentary! Also, this review will contain spoilers for the game as the story is a major part of what makes it so great and I will be discussing it in some detail. It is an eleven year old game though so I think that’s fair enough.
However, LA Noire wasn’t actually developed by Rockstar, only published by them, so it’s not really a fair comparison. LA Noire has an open world but is not really an open world game. Los Angeles serves as the canvas that the story of Cole Phelps and the interwoven tales are painted on.
Having said all that, I have to admit it was the Rockstar name that caught my eye and drew me to this game. I wasn’t aware of it from its original release and just stumbled upon it in the PSN store – it sounded pretty cool, if a wee bit of a departure from their usual kind of games – so I took a punt on it. What a great decision that was!
The setting is post WW2 Los Angeles – ex soldier Cole Phelps has joined the LAPD on his return to the USA after serving in the Pacific theatre of war. We pick up with him as a uniform patrolman investigating crimes on the streets of LA. Through these initial uniform missions we are introduced to the core mechanics of the game: investigating crime scenes for clues, interrogating suspects using said clues to guide, driving around the city, chasing criminals on foot, brawling with them and gunfights.
As the game progresses Phelps is promoted to detective and transferred between various departments across the city such as homicide, vice and arson. Each desk has its own partner for Phelps – from the disgruntled veteran Rusty Galloway to the corrupt vice cop Roy Earle. The dialogues between Phelps and his partners serve to set the scenes and we can see the dynamics between the various pairs evolve over the course of each series of cases. Galloway at first looks down on fast tracked Phelps and his new fangled detective methods but after a series of “successes” grudgingly comes to give him credit and some admiration.
Phelps’ partners also serve as a fast travel mechanism – after selecting the next location to travel to, the player can elect to have his partner drive. They then arrive at the location in question, frequently after some dialogue. This has the further advantage of eliminating the possibility of causing accidental damage when driving – required for a top score in a case.
I really enjoyed the banter between Phelps and his various partners as they drive around the city. We find out little facets of Phelps’ character and background, such as early on that he is married. LA Noire is a game driven by its narrative so little extras like the nuggets gleaned while driving between locations feeds into the bigger picture.
The development of Phelps as the protagonist was very strong in my view. He starts off as ostensibly a war hero and “good guy” and at first it seems that he will be a typical hero type lead character. As we learn more of his background and find out about his actions while away at war in the Pacific it becomes clear that he has some serious character flaws. The real game changer for me was when he embarked upon his affair with the nightclub singer Elsa. This was the point I lost any sympathy whatsoever I had for Phelps. He just ups and leaves a wife and kids to get his end away with a sexy German singer? Classy guy…
This is the only time I can think of in a game, book or film when I was actually pleased the leading protagonist died. I didn’t think he was deserving of any great redemption. My disdain for Phelps increased as the game progressed and inside I let off a small “yay” when he was swept away at the finale of the game. Indeed prior to him solving the corruption case and gaining some measure of redemption his career had been on a nose dive and it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy as far as I was concerned. I can only commend the game writers for taking my emotions on this journey.
In a similar vein, the main story was frequently morally ambiguous which is totally in keeping with the nature of the game. For example when pursuing the Black Dahlia, Phelps has doubts about the suspects they are arresting for the various murders – but they are getting convictions and their police captain is happy to put away plenty of bad guys. Towards the end of that case when it transpires that a serial killer had been responsible for all the murders and they had wrongly imprisoned several innocent parties, this was just swept under the carpet. Phelps and his partner apprehend and kill the real murderer – it turns out he is related to a prominent politician so the truth can never be public knowledge.
For a 2011 game, LA Noire is clearly pushing the hardware it ran on originally pretty damn hard. The world of 1947 Los Angeles is utterly glorious. The buildings, streets, cars etc are all beautifully rendered. Not many buildings have interiors (mostly only ones involved in the main story) but the ones that do are likewise incredibly detailed. Obviously I have no first hand experience of the setting but it absolutely looks convincingly authentic to me. My daughter once came into the room while I was playing it and asked “Is that a PS3 or PS4 game?” – when I replied the former she remarked that it looks really good for it. It does!
The investigation gameplay is fairly simple but fun and it’s satisfying to hear the audio jingle for “you’ve found all the clues”. I really felt like a detective on the case, trying to figure out what has gone down at the various crime sites.
The interrogation, and by extension the face captures, is wonderful. Again, it’s not overly difficult to smell the porkies but pretty much all the characters are superbly acted. I recognised many real world actors – for example Cole Phelps is performed by Aaron Staton who notably portrayed Ken Cosgrive in the show Mad Men.
The player can believe, doubt or disbelieve the character they are interrogating – if they accuse them of lying they must back this up with some evidence. E.g., an NPC claims to have been in their house all evening but you have discovered a pair of wet boots next to the back door – and it’s raining outside.
MotionScan, the technology used for face capture, is stunning – as noted the real actors used are easily recognisable as the representations of their faces are so clear and detailed. Every little motion, twitch, sniff, scratch and so on is obvious to the onlooker.
I like the blend of different types of gameplay – we have the above-mentioned investigations and interrogations plus on the street we see fist fights (including the hilarious “keep a lid on” trophy gained for successfully winning a fight without your hat being knocked off!), gun fights and car chases. None of them are particularly complex in their own right but the overall mix works really well in my opinion.
I’ve noted that the game is not really an open world one and that is true but there is a smattering of side content. Each desk has a few street missions which are short lived encounters where you typically battle a bunch of criminals in a gun fight or chase down and apprehend a suspect. These are enjoyable little chunks of content which serve as distractions and a means to level up your character. Increasing Phelps’ rank does have the additional knock on effect of improving your character’s ability to interrogate and investigate.
There are a number of collectibles scattered around the massive map which confer similar rank building experience points. However, the collectibles (for me) add very little to the game – it feels like they were possibly added in part to appease players expecting a more open world style game. I felt little compulsion to go looking for them after I had achieved sufficient rank – and it doesn’t take too long to hit the maximum.
I’ve heard lack of agency being levelled as a criticism of LA Noire but I don’t think this is particularly valid – as I have noted elsewhere, this very much a game which delivers via its story. It wouldn’t work if it wasn’t linear. And, there definitely is agency during the interrogations – it is perfectly possible to get different outcomes depending on your ability to interrogate.
As observed already, the world of 1947 Los Angeles is a glorious one – but it is kind of empty. Again, while not dismissing this entirely, I largely don’t have much of a problem with this due to the nature of the game. It is not meant to be an open world adventure where you can deviate away from the main story at any point – there is a main quest with a story which should be the player’s focus and priority. It’s true that if you choose to drive everywhere yourself you will end up with long uneventful journeys – so get your partner to drive!
The star of the game though is very much the story and it’s bloody brilliant! The main plot of Phelps’ career’s ups and downs starts off fairly typically – ex war hero turns into superstar cop – but then takes some serious twists. Through a series of flashbacks we get insights into his performance as a junior officer in the war and the impact that has upon the character. Then we have the story arcs across the different desks, e.g. the Black Dahlia serial killer and Cole’s involvement and infatuation with Elsa. There are other plots that link in too, notably a huge morphine racket and deep reaching insurance fraud corruption within the city government.
The game is entirely linear so a strong plot is crucial for its success and LA Noire delivers in spades. LA Noire was remastered for PS4, Xbox One and Switch in 2017 so is widely available for more modern machines, including the current gen via backwards compatibility. As long as you are not expecting a GTA clone and are ready to enjoy a brilliant neo-noir mystery adventure I can thoroughly recommend this game.
-Calum