L.A. Noire Review

Post by Dan @ 06:19am 17/05/11 | 44 Comments

It's been a long road filled with a lot of uncertainty, but Rockstar's Sydney-based Team Bondi have done it. The long-awaited open-world crime-thriller L.A. Noire hits Australian shelves this week on May 20th 2011 and looks to be the most significant Australian developed game we've seen in many years.

Our good friend Grizz has been fortunate enough to play this one from start to finish already and has a lot of good things to say in today's review:

Shrewd detective types will have already spotted that L.A. Noire lacks the words "Grand", "Theft" or "Auto" in its title, thereby making any comparison between the two a futile line of investigation. But grill L.A. Noire for an hour and this canary will sing a different song, revealing a modus operandi that shares traits with PC adventure titles like Police Quest.

Read on for the complete verdict.

l.a. noire review rockstar team bondi

Buy now from Green Man Gaming Only GBP£8.97!

(compare all prices)

Latest Comments

Link

kettels
Posted 08:13am 17/5/11

sounds great. But seeing as it's all about the story I'm going to wait until they re-release it in a year or so with all the pre-order add-ons and DLC content for the full experience.

Link

Sugar
Posted 08:52am 17/5/11

No PC version = GAY!

Link

Winters
Posted 09:49am 17/5/11

^ so so gay

Link

Khel
Posted 10:13am 17/5/11

Actually sounds so much better than what I was expecting, tonnes of places are giving it really good reviews and it actually sounds more like the sort of game I'd get into, more adventure and story and less time-wasting sandbox crap. Damnit, I wasn't going to get it, but now I'm interested

Link

WetWired
Posted 10:28am 17/5/11

^ so so gay

Wow you signed up to post that? I guess you're committed

Link

Midda
Posted 10:29am 17/5/11

Yeah, I wouldn't really consider this a sandbox game. Sure, there's a big city you can explore, but the actual game is pretty structured.

Link

fade
Posted 10:30am 17/5/11

i know what i'm doing this weekend.

Link

breno
Posted 10:59am 17/5/11

^ so so gay

Wow you signed up to post that? I guess you're committed

lol, some people feel very strongly about the matter

Link

Winters
Posted 12:42pm 17/5/11

^ so so gay

Wow you signed up to post that? I guess you're committed

I've actually been signed up for months, this is the first time I've felt the need to comment. Short and directly to the point, what's wrong with that? better than a long paragraph of swearing and console bashing...

Link

groganus
Posted 06:08pm 17/5/11

Well not its not, What would be better is some well thought out feedback with substance and rational thought displayed through out.

Instead, you displayed the maturity of my 8 yr old.

Well done.

Link

eski
Posted 06:17pm 17/5/11

Itching to get a copy of this game. It's getting consistently high scores in reviews, and sounds like a refreshing change from the general pewpew that passes for gaming these days.

Link

Dazhel
Posted 06:32pm 17/5/11

Not enough people smoked. It was the era of human-chimneys

Heh if that's one of the worst complaints then it's making me want to buy this game now.

Link

Reality
Posted 06:40pm 17/5/11

Well not its not, What would be better is some well thought out feedback with substance and rational thought displayed through out

i chuckled at this :D

Link

eski
Posted 10:19pm 17/5/11

roll on thursday!

Link

Infidel
Posted 06:27am 18/5/11

bit pissed Rockstar is not releasing games for PC, thats the platform they started off on. Do have an xbox 360 though .... so if it does not hit PC in a year or two might have to buckle in.

Link

Khel
Posted 06:56am 18/5/11

It might have been where they started, but to be fair it was GTA3 that made them huge and that was a console game.

I hope this breaks street date today, I got a wide open day with nothing to do today but I'm busy tomorrow :(

Link

Mantorok
Posted 09:52am 18/5/11

bit pissed Rockstar is not releasing games for PC, thats the platform they started off on.

Rockstar are the publisher, Team Bondi are the developer. And Rockstar's first studio, Rockstar North started off on the Amiga (back when they were called DMA Design).

Link

Dan
Posted 10:00am 18/5/11

Way back when L.A. Noire was announced it was actually only going to be a PS3 exclusive.

Link

Midda
Posted 10:07am 18/5/11

Yeah, Rockstar had nothing to do with it at the beginning. Sony were the original publisher, then they dropped it for some reason, then Rockstar picked it up and made it multi-platform. This is why PS3 was lead platform and looks so much better than the 360 release.

Link

pimento
Posted 11:18am 18/5/11

Sony didn't drop it so much as Team Bondi asked them nicely if they'd mind if they moved to Rockstar. The lead of Team Bondi knew the Housers from way back, apparently.

Link

Winters
Posted 02:58pm 18/5/11

Any word on MotionScan or something similar being implemented in any future PC games? Considering the praise it's been getting, it'd be nice to know. You'd imagine the idea would be copied by other developers ASAP, but is there anything official anybody may have heard of?

Link

ravn0s
Posted 03:05pm 18/5/11

i think i remember reading that assassins creed revelations will be using the motionscan

Link

Midda
Posted 03:30pm 18/5/11

Are you sure? The last two Assassin's Creed games used Image Metrics for the facial animation. That works very differently to Team Bondi's MotionScan technology.

Link

Khel
Posted 04:18pm 18/5/11

Any word on MotionScan or something similar being implemented in any future PC games?

Nah, plenty on console though, you should get an xbox

Link

DarthGuybrush
Posted 05:47pm 18/5/11

At least you credit Team Bondi (onya guys!) - the actual developer - not Rockstar - the publisher like everyone else is doing!

Link

Khel
Posted 07:25pm 18/5/11

How significant is the difference between the 360 and the ps3 versions?

Link

groganus
Posted 07:28pm 18/5/11

Are you ask a 360 fanboy and a ps3 fanboy :P

In all seriousness the game was being developed as a ps3 exclusive before rockstar came along. That should say enough.

Link

eski
Posted 07:43pm 18/5/11

so was GTA4 but that didnt make any difference

Link

Midda
Posted 08:06pm 18/5/11

How significant is the difference between the 360 and the ps3 versions?

There's no SSAO in the 360 version, which is pretty obvious in a lot of scenes. It's also on 3 discs.

http://www.lensoftruth.com/head2head-l-a-noire-screenshot-comparison/

Link

ravn0s
Posted 08:15pm 18/5/11

Are you sure? The last two Assassin's Creed games used Image Metrics for the facial animation. That works very differently to Team Bondi's MotionScan technology.

nah i wasn't sure so i googled it. apparently they are using something called Mocam.

The game developers also utilized a new motion capture facial technology called Mocam which GI described as : “intriguing amalgamation of traditional animation, performance capture and the fascinating new style of performance on display in games like LA Noire.”

Link

Khel
Posted 10:26pm 18/5/11

Wow, PS3 version looks much better. Even though I'd usually get multi-platform games on 360 I think I'm gonna have to go with PS3 for this.

Link

ravn0s
Posted 10:28pm 18/5/11

just watched a 14min gameplay vid on kotaku. i think i'll have to purchase this one.

Link

Tollaz0r!
Posted 10:38pm 18/5/11

Link

DM
Posted 01:04am 19/5/11

Shame that this seems like such a good game. I don't own a console anymore.

Link

eski
Posted 02:38am 19/5/11

Real gamers take sickies on thursdays

Link

d^
Posted 09:31am 02/6/11

Link

eski
Posted 06:07pm 04/6/11

Just finished it, awesome end to an awesome story.

Link

Khel
Posted 06:45pm 04/6/11

I haven't quite finished it yet, but I'm up to the bit where you play as Jack Kelso, and I'm kinda wishing he was the main character all along, he seems to be a much better character than Phelps. I don't find Phelps very likeable at all. Like I said, I haven't finished it yet, so I could be in for some disappointment because I'm already hoping if theres a sequel its about Jack Kelso and not Phelps (though the way its going atm, Kelso could likely end up dead by the end of the game).

Link

eski
Posted 07:21pm 04/6/11

Kelso is awesome! Once I started playing as him I found myself unable to put the controller down and played through to the end. I liked the way they slowly turn you against Phelps.

It also didn't hurt that I just finished watching all the seasons of Mad Men, so many familiar faces.

Does anyone know anything about the PS3 exclusive case? Did that come out in Australia, or was that just some sweetener for the yanks?

Link

Khel
Posted 06:31pm 07/6/11

Just finished it, the first half the game kinda feels a bit slow and feels like it starts to drag a bit and get repetitive, but from Vice onwards its just awesome, love the story and the characters. And I guess my hopes for a Jack Kelso sequel aren't looking so bad after all!

Link

WetWired
Posted 07:14pm 07/6/11

I really enjoyed the first half, up until about halfway through homicide where the cases felt too similar and repetitive.

Spoiler:
I loathed some of the story decisions later on, the fact that you put away all the wrong people through the entirety of homicide and it was all covered up and you moved onto vice. Halfway through vice it was obvious a serial killer was responsible so I felt bad because I was forced to charge the wrong people. Just throwing in one or 2 non-Black Dahlia cases would have been enough to alleviate this feeling.

Similar with vice, although I did charge a few guilty people I felt like I was being punished at the end for getting demoted to arson, for factors out of my control.

Looking back on traffic and the slip of the tongue DLC I played I much preferred the self enclosed cases that wrapped up with a conviction.

I think in the sequel they need to find a way of balancing the overarching story while still giving the player some sense of accomplishment at the end of a case.

Link

Raven
Posted 05:24pm 15/6/11

Just picked this up and started playing it after knowing nothing about it a few weeks ago but seeing ads plastered all over the place. Obviously I read/watched a heap of reviews first, but they were all positive.
Real good so far.

Edit: Okay, so I've discovered three things so far.
1. You can't run over pedestrians
2. If you drive over a crime scene, that's kinda contaminating the scene.
3. You can't shoot a running suspect in the back :P

last edited by Raven at 17:24:46 15/Jun/11

Link

Midda
Posted 05:07pm 15/6/11

Yeah, Kelso is a much more likeable character. I still haven't received my copy of the game yet though. :(

Link

ravn0s
Posted 06:19pm 15/6/11

1. You can't run over pedestrians

you can. just reverse back over them when they dive away from you.

Commenting has been locked for this item.

44 Comments

Show

Features

Reviews

ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 WiFi 6 Mesh System