It is the 1940’s, Los Angeles. The war is over, but still fresh in everyone’s minds. Veterans find it hard to make an honest living. Hollywood has started to blossom as the hub of modern movie making. The press is starting to become more bloodthirsty and impressionable. Politics is becoming more corrupt. And amongst all of this, the Los Angeles Police Department is trying to clear its name of corruption, brutality and racism.

Cole Phelps, a war veteran and now beat cop in the LAPD, is one of the few honest police officers around. He is on his way to his first murder scene. He is not being called to investigate the murder however. The detectives on the scene have written this one off as a bum being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Phelps and his partner are tasked with finding the murder weapon while the detectives go back to the bar for a nightcap. Another night on the beat, it seems.

Phelps has received a Silver Star during the war, and is determined to not make the same mistakes that are burdening him now. He not only finds the weapon at the scene, but proceeds to track down its owner and solve the murder. It is this tenacity that soon gets him recognised as an exceptional detective, and soon he is promoted to homicide. In dark Los Angeles, there finally seems to be a hero worth talking about.

LAPD! Freeze!

LA Noire is the story of Cole Phelps, and his journey through the ranks of the LAPD. Los Angeles has been painstakingly recreated as an immense open world. This might be a game published by Rockstar, but this is no Grand Theft Auto. As a police officer Phelps is restricted to what actions he can perform. He will only draw his weapon when he is in danger, and is only allowed to fire if fired upon.

He can commandeer vehicles, but in the name of LAPD. He can kill pedestrians, but this will detract from his performance and promotions. GTA might be about committing crime, but LA Noire is about solving it.

In order to solve crime, Phelps needs a few things. He needs a suspect with a motive. He needs evidence that will prove the guilt of the suspect. And if you can get a confession, then so much the better. Collecting the evidence and clues, following up on leads and interviewing witnesses and suspects is the core of LA Noire.

Howdy, partner!

Phelps has a variety of means to do this. He is never alone and always joined by his partner. Partners in the game will assist you with showing clues and giving advice. They also come in handy in firefights, making a real difference to their outcome. Partners can also drive vehicles which act as a sort of fast-travel to and from locations.

Phelps is also lost without his notebook where-in new evidence, people and locations are written. Clues regarding each case and person pertaining to the case are marked and sorted here as well. During interrogations your notebook is filled with questions to ask the suspect or witness. These questions then open up more clues, locations and people to interview.

Like any cop Phelps also has his trusty sidearm. Unlike most games out there, however, Phelps can’t shoot and ask questions later. Only in extreme cases will he fire his weapon, and even then his accuracy can directly affect a case’s outcome. Shooting civilians is strictly not allowed.

In most cases a weapon is not required, and a white knuckle shuffle is enough to sort out an unruly suspect. Hand-to-hand combat is very well taken care of, and even though only two buttons are used it feels polished and accurate. These fights can be ended either by a head-butt or vicious upper cut.

A case of murder

The game’s missions are split up into roughly twenty cases. These cases are assigned to you by your officer in charge at a briefing. Normally this involves travelling to a scene of the crime and starting your investigation. Upon the completion of the case you are awarded a score and ranking, and then the next case starts.

As most of you have seen in the many trailers available online the facial animation of the characters roaming the streets of LA is phenomenal. A complex process of recording each actor’s lines with a multitude of cameras allows every small nuance of the performance to be captured. These performances provide an experience more than just a crime story. You feel involved in Phelps’s life, the situations he is involved with, and most importantly, his wellbeing.

When a situation goes sour and the need for aggressive action presents itself, I kept feeling taken unawares. It is always unexpected and my first reaction is to make Phelps run the other way. Not quite the hardened war veteran after all!

This immersion often creates a feeling of frustration as well. The game seems so realistic in so many aspects that when it has to limit your options to keep the game enjoyable for some, it is often a hard fall for those of us still with our heads in the clouds. Often I felt I needed to ask a suspect or witness a specific question, but the option was not there. Oh yes, this is only a game, I forgot.

Have we met?

It is such a relief to have a game with perfect lip syncing and good acting! Look out for actors you have seen before, most notably for me was ‘Parkman’ from Heroes and ‘Daisy’ from Bones. And then there are those you can swear you have seen before but not sure where, all as accurate as if you are watching them on TV.

This technology does allow you to interrogate people with an amazing sense of earnest and panic. In most games, if you ask the wrong question you can simply go back and do it again. In LA Noire the interrogations give you one chance to make a call on the truthfulness of a statement. Paying attention to the suspects actions are vital clues to telling a lie from the truth. He might be biting his lip, or rolling his eyes - even a subtle twitch in the eye is noticeable.

As a side effect of the need to pay such close attention to suspects actions I often find myself now scrutinizing anyone I have a conversation with, secretly wondering if I can push a confession out of them!

In order to gain valuable evidence and confessions you need to be able to tell if the suspect is telling the truth, lying or if you have doubts on their statements validity. If you accuse someone of lying, though, you better be able to back that up with evidence.

Phone a friend!

Not all cases provide clear answers to every question and are left open to some interpretation. To make sure you are more on track and not losing the plot completely, you can use Phelps’s ‘intuition.’ These are points awarded after each case and after levelling up your rank, and can be used in a ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ fashion. Use a point to take away a wrong answer in the Truth-Doubt-Lie part of an interrogation, or you have an ‘ask the audience’ by seeing what answers the online community chose. But be warned, just as with the game show, the audience is not made up of smart people only. Finally, you can use points to reveal all evidence in a crime scene.

Collecting evidence is very important. And knowing which evidence is relevant to the case is equally important. I tried my hardest to find a clue on a beer bottle at my first crime scene only to realize that inconsequential items exist in the world! To find a relevant clue from a piece of evidence requires you to turn the item around and look at it from all angles until you spot the clue. On a gun, for example, you need to turn it to reveal the serial number.

Searching bodies is also not as refined as it is in today’s post CSI world. Wearing no gloves Phelps will search pockets and wounds for any clues. Turn the sound up and listen carefully as he looks around a dead stiff’s head for clues. Cringe worthy! He also never seems to remove evidence from a scene and leaves it for others to collect.

This is the time before mobile phones so when Phelps needs to call into Central to check on an update on his case, track a license plate number or just check his messages he can do this from any telephone, or specialized police telephones strewn all over the city. These are handily lit up whenever Phelps needs to check in.

Don’t spoil it!

LA Noire is way more than just about solving case after case though. The overarching plot of Phelps and some other rather sinister happenings are alluded to with flashbacks from his time in Japan during World War II. You also find more clues about it through newspapers strewn around the game. You sense something bigger is going on than just one detective trying to make a difference. Saying anything more will spoil the surprise.

It is also a game of details - obviously the character’s performance, but the little things as well. Things like using a pencil to reveal the previous message on a notepad, trailing someone by going incognito on a park bench with a newspaper, or even the fact that not everything you can pick up is a clue.

Even the music is very specific, yet subtle. Guess the accuracy of a statement wrong and the only real hint you have that you messed up is a quiet musical tone. Even as you search a crime scene for clues you are hinted to that all clues have been collected by a different piano key or two. It is all very subtle but effective.

The game is not perfect, albeit very close. I often feel that it did not require a sandbox world. LA Noire is very focused on specific crime scenes and particular landmarks, and almost the entire city is lost by not having enough interaction with it. The only time it really comes into play is when you are chasing a suspect down through the streets, climbing up buildings and hopping over fences, bursting through shops and tackling the suspect in a back alley. This game could easily have been a normal ‘level per mission’ game without much of a penalty.

That being said, the city is beautifully recreated and feels truly alive. People will recognise you as ‘that cop from the papers.’ Vendors will sell their wares to people and life just seems to carry on.

Game of the moment!

If you expect the next Grand Theft Auto from LA Noire, then you’ll be very disappointed. But look for a game with a fantastic atmosphere and detective story, and this is the only real option. You need to focus while playing LA Noire, making notes and listening to every detail as you go!

It might not have a high replay value, even though you can go back to cases and try to solve them with higher ratings, but it has a lot of potential for the DLC market. It has set the bar very high for any other adventure games out there. And people like David Cage from Heavy Rain are already feeling the pinch. Game of the year? Possibly. Game of the month? Probably. Game of the moment? Most definitely!

The good: Story, acting, immersion and suspense – a true classic
The bad: Wasted sandbox world, might bore action aficionados
The ugly: Investigating relatives when I have become Phelps!

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