Review: L.A. Noire

 My expectations were very high popping LA Noire into the 360. Everyone on my friends list was playing, it had received all kinds of positive reviews, and was enjoying a high resale value. You may ask "Hey Sarcasmo, is it Grand Theft Auto from the cop point of view?" I would say no...and don't call me Sarcasmo. The best way to describe LA Noire is LA Confidential with a controller. Rockstar has borrowed heavily from the finest recent example of Hollywood Noire, and some of LA's iconic characters can be found in both places...Johnny Stompanado, Mickey Cohen, etc...sorry, no Jack Vincennes.

  Decorated WWII Lieutenant Cole Phelps has landed a beat job on the streets of the City of Angels. Phelps is competent and ambitious and soon lands a detective gig in LA's traffic division. Cole is a good detective but he is far from perfect, and his personal shortcomings surface during the playthrough...he's a good guy, not a great guy. But he's just what the city needs to track down killers, auto thieves, arsonists, and gangsters. The Black Dalia is on the loose, stolen army morphine has found its way onto the streets, and corruption runs deep in the department.

  Gunfights are relatively simple, and sometimes skippable, affairs. The cars drive more like Midnight Club than GTA but that doesn't mean you'll be blasting nitrous down Hollywood Boulevard. These are Hudsons, Packards...it's 1949, not 1970. The meat of the gameplay comes from working cases, finding clues, conducting interrogations and interviews, and piecing together the puzzle pieces. It's a mildly cerebral affair. If you lack a cerebrum, there's always the ol' restart standby. I enjoyed working the cases and the facial animation used in this game is far and away the best I've seen in a Rockstar game...and crucial for interrogations where the difference between a lie and the truth is a darting of the eyes or a subtle smirk.

  I had a blast on my first playthrough...I backed over a crime scene in my police cruiser, ran over my partner (sorry, Rusty!), and bungled my fair share of cases. I probably wouldn't make a very good cop in real life due to my uncontrollable desire to drive over pedestrians, but that didn't seem to hold me back much in the game...there's even a cheevo for causing damage(yay!). There's no other game like LA Noire out there and yes...I would recommend that you play this one today.