Rockstar has made a name for itself creating open-world sandbox games with lead characters that have little concern for the law. It's only natural, then, that people viewing the first L.A. Noire trailer assume you play a mobster up to no good in the 1940s. But that couldn't be further from the truth. In L.A. Noire, you play the seemingly incorruptible Cole Phelps, a beacon of integrity in a police department mired in scandals.
But that's not the only departure from Rockstar's traditional formula. Not only are you a good guy out after the bad guys, the city itself is not your playground. Though L.A. Noire is an open-world game (explore L.A. if you like, see the sights, admire the pedestrians), there aren't mini-games to be played or side quests to complete or pigeons to shoot. L.A. Noire is a far more linear game, that puts an emphasis on the journey, moreso than the destination, and one where the narrative and the characters take a central role, with far fewer distractions. It's different, but that's what makes it look so promising.
Phelps is a few years removed from action in World War II, a decorated hero who harbors a dark secret certain to come out during the course of L.A. Noire. Though young in his career as a cop, Phelps is the kind of media darling the beleaguered LAPD can latch onto to improve its image.That means opportunities for advancement are quick to be had, but of course that doesn't sit well with many of the other men in the department (corrupt or not). So expect the reception to get pretty cool by the time you've made your way to homicide detective.
Phelps operates within a Los Angeles that's been beautifully recreated to match the style and feel of the late '40s. This is before sports came to the West Coast, before the freeways, and at a time when Hollywood was at its glitziest and the cops were at their dirtiest. The presentation elements seem as high-caliber as every other Rockstar production, with tons of character actors filling in various roles and superb voice work driving the story forward. Though I only saw a sliver of L.A. Noire, that sliver looked pretty damned good.
You start as a beat cop (think of these as your training missions), but soon move up to traffic. No, you aren't a meter maid. Traffic means you're investigating cases involving cars. Like, when a woman mysteriously runs her car off an embankment. Just because it starts off seeming like an accident, it grows into a case about Hollywood corruption, rape and pornography . Playing a good guy means the corrosion around you stands out even more. Expect cases to get dirty, for the guilty to be disgusting, for you to be the light illuminating the darkest, dingiest corners of L.A.
Each desk you serve on has a set of specific cases (all based on real cases from the '40s) that must be solved in order for you to earn a promotion. Okay, so I hope you are sitting (do you read IGN standing up?), because this might come as a bit of a shock. At its core, if you really boil it down to its essence, L.A. Noire is an old-school adventure game. That's right, Rockstar made a throwback to classic PC adventure gaming. Of course, use of some cool new technology completely revolutionizes many of the old concepts of an adventure game and make for something fresh, new and full of possibility.
Investigations start with a visit to the crime scene. Here is where the adventure-game roots really show. You can search the scene, pick up objects that might be of interest, scribble clues into your notebook and try to piece together the events that led to the crime. Often you'll find evidence laid out for you at the scene when you arrive from officers who arrived earlier, and you can pick these up and examine them in detail to find clues.
You'll have the chance to search other areas during your investigation, and the objects of interest there can be less obvious. When in the "search" mode, the music changes and will continue to play until you have found everything of interest at the scene. You don't have to find it all, but the more evidence you collect, the easier it will be to narrow your suspect list. There are some assists here, including subtle piano chimes when you near a clue and easier difficulties that have your partners more or less holding your hand.
The real beauty of L.A. Noire comes next, when you start talking to witnesses and suspects. L.A. Noire uses some amazing new motion-scanning technology. I won't overload you with the details and process -- because all that really matters are the results. Every face in the game is the actual actor. There are no touch-ups, no animations added. If you talk to a woman with bruises on her face, then she had to have makeup applied before the shoot. The faces are so real, and they are all actors (more than 300 all told), that it can be a bit distracting to see familiar faces that can't quite be placed.
Rockstar has captured every shift of the actor's eye, the furrowing of a brow, the slight downturn of a mouth. What you see is exactly what you would if watching an episode of a police drama. These are actors, conveying the reliability (or lack thereof) in the smallest facial gestures, with their posture, and the inflection of their voices. And that's important, because in L.A. Noire, it's up to you to watch and judge the people you speak with to determine if they're telling the truth, hiding something, or flat-out lying.
Your notebook holds a list of questions to ask, based on evidence gathered and other interviews. It's not quite clear how the order you ask questions in changes things, but how you judge the truth definitely has an impact on the information you get and how hard it is to solve crimes.
When you ask questions, you'll need to pay attention not only to what people say, but their eyes, mouth, and body language. After responses, you have three options. You can believe them, doubt them, or outright accuse them of lying. The interface for this is remarkably ugly (a list of the same three options in the top left corner of the screen), but the results are pretty interesting. If you can tell someone is holding back, doubting them means pressing for more info. If correct, this leads to new info, and could give you a new suspect or clarify something about your investigation. Choosing incorrectly could close off a person's willingness to cooperate or, at the very least, cost you a piece of evidence.
Accusing someone isn't as simple as pointing a finger. You have to back up your words by linking it to a piece of evidence. So, for example, if a witness tells you that a girl in an accident was perfectly fine last saw her, you could show her the girl's torn panties that had been stuffed in the glove compartment. "Gotcha, bitch!" Oh, if only Cole would say that.
Rockstar assured me that even total idiots who constantly read people the wrong way and can't connect the dots will still be able to solve cases; it'll just take more legwork. The better you are as a detective, the quicker you can find the bad guys. With so many permutations of conversations, there should be replay value even in cases where you know the outcome. If there's any sandbox element to L.A. Noire, it's with the conversation system.
All this talky talk and detective work is fine and dandy (and looks really cool), but this is a Rockstar game so expect plenty of action. You'll tail unreliable witnesses, chase down suspects, and get into GTA-like shootouts where you kill an inexplicably high number of enemies. And if someone dares shoot off your hat, you can stroll over and pick it up. After putting a slug between their eyes, of course.
There are a few wrinkles to the action portions. You have a regenerative health system, but now when you take hits, the screen desaturates the color. As I'm sure you know, all cops die in black & white. There's also a contextual sprint button, so that if you're near a door while sprinting, you'll kick or shoulder-charge it open. Sprint is sort of your "don't mess with me" button. But overall, this looks a lot like the GTA IV andRed Dead Redemption system, though you won't be in combat nearly as often.
