Developer - Team Bondi - Rockstar Games

Publisher - Rockstar Games

LA Noire is the latest big budget title to be released by Rockstar Games, but it is alot different from their usual, crime spree laden games, instead of running around killing innocent civilians, you're actually tasked with stopping these murders and solving crimes.

You take on the role of LAPD Officer Cole Phelps, a 'war hero', who believes he doesn't deserve the title, he starts off as a Patrolman wanting to right the wrongs he made during WW2 and you are assigned cases which eventually lead to promotion if you solve them successfully.

The cases you recieve range from Hit and Runs, Gambling Rings and Murders. At the beginning of each case you are given a brief backstory video of the crime taking place, and then travel to the crime scene, where you have to search the area for clues, check the wounds on bodys, follow blood trails etc. Once you have found enough of the clues, the main selling point of LA Noire really comes into play.

You are sent to talk to family members or suspects of the victims, and you get to see the true power of Rockstar's MotionScan technology. This is brand new tech created by Rockstar for this game, and I really can't think of a better place for it to fit in. Actors faces are copied perfectly into the game, you see every grimace, twich and nervous glance when questioning people, and you then have to work out wether they are lying or telling the truth. By the end of the game you'll feel like a body language expert. It truely is an amazing piece of technology, and it makes you feel like you are in a movie. I look forward to seeing more of it in future games.



The story is excellent, I don't want to post any spoilers, so am avoiding giving out any story details, but within the first few cases it draws you in and keeps you hooked. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next, and after finishing a case, I couldn't stop myself moving onto the next one. And the times I did stop myself, I couldn't wait to play it again so ended up turning it back on an hour later.

As typical in most Rockstar games, you are given a bunch of side missions to complete too, and a bunch of collectibles. The collectibles are Golden Film Reels that you can collect at any tme, newspapers that can only be found while completing story cases, and the most time consuming one for me was completing the achievement for driving every vehicle in the city. There are 95 total vehicle types, and a bunch of them spawn randomly and feel almost impossible to find. I found myself spending about 6 hours searching for the final 5 cars I needed for the achievement.

There are a total of 40 side missions to complete. You recieve them over calls on your police radio while driving, and mostly consist of chasing suspects on foot, or in vehicles or stopping robberies. They do become slightly repetitive, but there isn't so many of them that it becomes a problem.

Sadly, repetitiveness does play a big roll in the game. Each case seems to have the same sort of layout. You drive to a crime scene, search for clues, interview witnesses, travel to locations searching for more clues, interview more people, chase a suspect on foot or in a car or have a shootout. Then you solve the case. Don't get me wrong, although it is repetitive, you don't really notice it so much for the first half of the game, and it still doesn't get boring as the interviews and clues just add to the story and you find yourself really wanting to solve the cases perfectly. The further into the story you get, the more gripping it becomes and so you tend to forgive the games repetitive nature. And lets face it, you're a cop solving crimes. You have to search clues and interview people. You can't just expect to walk into a room and shoot someone in the face and the crime be solved.

The crime scenes can be quiet gruesome at times, with bodies that have been bludgeoned to death, or burnt to a crisp. You can see Rockstar really went all out in trying to show how gruesome hunting murderers can be.



As stated earlier, the MotionScan technology makes the graphics on characters look amazing. They are so lifelike that you sometimes forget that you are actually playing a game. The graphics in LA themselves are just as good. 1947 Los Angeles has been faithfully recreated with Landmarks and a large amount of real life vehicles from those times. Civilians on the street still have great facial animations, though not quiet on par with the main characters, and annoyingly only seem to have a few lines of dialogue which you will likely hear a hundred times or more throughout the game.

The soundtrack is excellent too. Genuine Radio shows from LA in 1947 have been taken and put into the game, there's songs from the likes of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to name but a few. I recognised a few of the songs already somehow, but by the end of the game I found myself 'very badly' singing along to a few songs. The voice acting is basically perfect. You can tell when people aren't telling the truth, by the tone of their voice, and the stutters and mumbles.

Achievement wise, LA Noire isn't too hard to max. Most achievements are case specific, like finding a certain clue and using it as back up when you accuse someone of lying. There are achievements for all the collectibles in the game too. The achievements I expect most people will have difficulty with, are the ones for getting 5 stars in every case, and finding every vehicle in the game. It took me around 26 hours to get every achievement, which I'd say makes the game great value for money.

I expect alot of people will see the R* Logo and the 18 certificate on the case, and think it's basically another Grand Theft Auto, in the 40's, and be dissapointed when they actually realise its not that at all. It's a completely new kind of game from what Rockstar are used to making, and once you accept that you're the good guy, and you can't go on crazy killing sprees, you'll be treated to what I personally think is the game of the year so far. I enjoyed every single minute I played (Bar the searching for vehicles), and loved the story. If you're on the fence about buying this game, let me solve your problem now. Just do it. You won't be dissapointed.

I give LA Noire a very impressive 9 out of 10.