It has been tricky writing the review for L.A. Noire. Normally, it’s clear which direction I’ll take in a write-up for a game after just a few hours. I thought I had a good fix on L.A. Noire early on, and I wrote a critical, if not scathing, early draft for a review. As I played more to give this game as much of a fair shake as possible, I grew to like it more and more. Now, this article is less of a critique and more of a love letter. 

My wife and I love Law & Order. Who doesn’t, right? A crime is committed. Clues are found. Witnesses are questioned. Suspects are interrogated. Confessions are obtained. It all happens in an hour, and once you’re done, there’s always another one waiting.

L.A. Noire hits that groove. Its big accomplishment isn’t in its meticulous recreation of late 40s Los Angeles. It’s not the firefights, the car chases, the clue finding or the interrogations. It’s the game’s ability to so effectively nail down the police procedural genre.

The game puts you in the shoes of Cole Phelps, LAPD, shortly after WWII. He is an ambitious paladin cop. He’s also an anachronism, a modern cop in a time of open sexism, racism and old boy politics. As Phelps, you’ll navigate the mean streets of a nascent Los Angeles, chasing down leads to solve a series of crimes. The crimes are arranged in episodes, much like police procedural TV shows. The title of the episode is displayed in black and white, the camera focuses on the victim, the victim is felled, and the case begins.

As in most procedurals, the case begins at the crime scene. As Phelps, you’ll walk around the scene, waiting for two little piano notes that are the cue that you’ve found something interesting. Sometimes, the clue is nothing, and Phelps will murmur something about how it doesn’t seem to be related. Other times, it’ll be an important clue, and the camera will zoom in to allow you to catch some fine detail that could be important to your investigation. In some of the creepier moments of the game, you’ll crouch over murder victims, manipulating their bodies in order to get a better look at their wounds. The clues will be logged in your notebook so that you may pore over them later.

L.A. Noire’s treatment of questioning and interrogation is one of its star features. As you talk with someone, they’ll make a statement and you’ll have to choose whether to say you trust them, you doubt them, or you think they’re lying. You choose truth if you think they’re telling the truth, doubt if you think they’re hiding something but all you have is a hunch, and lie if you have proof they’re lying. Choose correctly, they’ll give you more info. Choose wrong, and they’ll clam up, shutting the door to that avenue of investigation.

The questioning phase is a key moment in the investigation when you should have all your clues at the ready. If you choose wrongly, there’s no going back in the conversation tree to try again. The camera will focus in on the person you’re questioning, and you’ll actually have to read their body language in order to gain a hint on what they’re thinking. The classic “tells” are there. If they shift their eyes, chances are they’re hiding something. However, keep in mind there are some people who seem to be born liars.

Your investigations will have you criss-crossing Los Angeles to go to various crime scenes and find suspects. Here, you’ll get behind the wheel to get to your destination Grand Theft Auto style. While the comparisons to GTA are inescapable, there are some key differences. The rules in L.A. Noire are different. You’re a cop, not a crazed psychopath. The game punishes you for creating havoc. Also, you’re not going to need the near-encyclopedic knowledge of the layout of the city that’s necessary to succeed in GTA. You can, for instance, let your partner drive you to a place of interest, which is much like taking a cab in GTA. It’s a neat feature, but don’t do it too much. Having your partner drive you around might be faster and less costly to the city and its denizens, but you’ll miss the chance to gain XP by noting landmarks and taking the street
crime side missions that pop up from time to time.

Did I say XP? Yes, I did. You’ll gain XP and levels throughout L.A. Noire. However, the only bonus you’ll receive that relates to the game is the award of intuition points at every level. Intuition points can be burned when you’re stumped, when there’s a vital clue that needs to be found or when a suspect is just unreadable. If you expend an intuition point at a crime scene, all the clues will show up on your radar for a short time. If you burn one during interrogation, one of the “truth, doubt or lie” options will be crossed out, making it a matter of choosing between two options rather than three.

The focus of my criticism in the first draft of my review focused on the lack of gameplay. For instance, I consider Bioshock and Shadow of the Colossus to be works of art that also have great gameplay. I just got done reviewing Brink, which has gameplay in spades. In the early stage of L.A. Noire, I felt sort of let down because what I’ve described to you above just didn’t seem to be enough to carry an entire game. If you look at it from a certain angle, L.A. Noire has a linear plotline, a cityscape that’s altogether skippable because your partner is also your personal chauffeur, a 3D hidden object minigame and a bit of Phoenix Wright tacked on to it. I wrote in the first draft, “Investigate, question, solve, rinse, repeat.” Then, I decided to let go and approach the game as I would an interactive episode of Law & Order. That’s when I started liking it. Then the plot started getting its hooks in me. That’s when I fell in love.

Police procedurals aren’t about gunfights, car chases and explosions. They are slow, methodical vehicles for telling a story about a crime, who committed it and the people who figured it out. In L.A. Noire, you’ll get to learn more about Phelps, his history and what he does when he’s not busy being the one good cop in a city full of sinners. You’ll learn more about his partners and their views of good, evil, and the gray area in between. L.A. Noire’s story is slow to develop, but every new episode gets you deeper and deeper.

It feels weird writing this, but the world needs L.A. Noire. These are stories that are begging to be told. Run-and-gun gamers may fault the game for being a lot of hype with little substance. This game isn’t for them. Fans of open-world gaming may feel straightjacketed by the linear plots. The game isn’t for them, either. L.A. Noire is an amazing story of good, evil, duty, chaos, truth, lies, murder and vice, all set in an incredible city at a pivotal time. Sit back from the edge of your seat, gamers, and drink it in. You’ll be back on the edge of your seat soon enough.

Rating: Purchase – Go out and buy it. Worth the price of admission.
Reviewer: Alex the Producer on Xbox 360