L.A. Noire (2011)
- Braden Hall
- Mar 1
- 8 min read
Feedback: I played it on the Xbox version when I got it from GameStop in 2011, and I had a blast. Then I looked at the remastered version for the PS4, and it's pretty much the same except with the audio editing and missions being put together on one disc rather than three.
Let's try talking about the whole game itself.
First is the gameplay. As a whole, it is a decent game to play, but not as a hardcore as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. I will give it praise for the crashes into a lot of places and driving around the free roams in each case with your partners.
This game plays very different to play when you are a cop, rather than a regular citizen. Why are their so many glitches? Why do these crime streets need to exist? Why finding these cop badges? Why the film canisters?
Secondly, the plot does have a lot of questions left to be answered. Why did Cole Phelps get obsessed with Elsa, rather than thinking about his wife and children? Why were the chief of police, D.A. and Benson be part of the suburban redevelopment fund with Dr. Fontaine and Leland Monroe?
Thirdly, for the characters, some are not great, they can either be boring and dull, but most of them are not too bad. A top of that, few characters aren't fully developed in this game. I did had to make a list because they are certain things that they are making decisions including attitude, motivation, voice quality, integrity and purpose.
Loveable characters
Cole Phelps
Stefan Brokawski
Rusty Galloway
Hershel Biggs
Captain McKelky
Likeable characters
Captain Leary
Captain Donnelly
Captain Cafarelli
Corner Carruthers
Ray Pinker
Roy Earle, well at a few cases at least. That's a hit or miss.
Unlikeable Characters
Chief William Worrell
Elsa Lichtmann
Leland Monroe
Dr. Harlan Fontaine
Courtney Sheldon
Mickey Cohen
Floyd Rose
Fourthly, the cases are fun, but they seem to be pretty long without even trying to skip them since the aspect ratio has the letterbox, where you can skip them, but not during like talking to people while there isn't a letter box or even like the beginning of the case in the XBOX/PS3 version. You can easily try to skip them in the remastered version, though it is varied and convoluted to do so. However, the audio editing does sound vague when the editing of the dialogue does have the same cut outs or cutting or trimming.
Patrol cases are a good start. They can be used for training skills to understand how the gameplay is supposed to be like. Looking for clues, fighting with suspects, driving around the area, looking for names or models on store books, shootouts in banks, chasing suspects during nighttime and discover a murder/shooting case. Not a bad start to go by.
Traffic cases
The Driver's Seat (Good)
Good start for a first case when you have gotten a promotion from Captain Donnelly. Meeting Stefan, Roy, Carruthers and Captain Leary are very good people. The crime scene does look dangerous and the interrogation was easy. The chase scene to go after Adrian Black was fast. It does have an alternate ending, but that is for Adrian explaining about meeting someone in Seattle, not for the captain getting angry.
The Consul's Car (1st DLC) (Great)
Mysteriously impressive. The meme of facial expressions on Oswald Jacobs when picking doubt was like "Huh?" The dealer ship owner is a generous man. Valdez does look like an interesting man for him to be at the interview room, but also very funny when Cole Phelps making a lying accusation about Gabriel Del Gado. Gabriel's wife is a sweetheart. The alternate ending was shooting at Gabriel, rather than capturing and the captain was upset about driving like crazy to destroy vehicles. That was a little confusing, but that's because of the street race.
A Marriage Made in Heaven (Good)
Satisfying case. Good victims and Leroy Sabo being a crazy psycho. There were alternative routes, but no bad ending for Cole Phelps missing interrogation answers. I like both of them.
A Slip of the Tongue (2nd DLC) (Good)
Good chase scene. Interrogation for other characters like Richard Coombs, James Belasco and Bigelow was not bad. Jean Archer wasn't great because of her choices and attitude because of holding information to the police. Shootout at Industrial ST was crazy. The alternate ending with Captain getting angry was so funny.
The Fallen Idol (Good)
It was kinda long. Some victims and suspects are very aggressive like June Ballard and McAfee's henchman. Chasing and shooting at the end were not bad. The Blue Room Club scene was great when Roy was being a baddass.
Homicide cases (NO DLC)
The Red Lipstick Murder (Decent)
The victim's acting like Jacob is bland and dull. Although Cole Phelps going hard at Jacob is crazy. Phone call takes too long. The chase scene and fight scene is good. Alternate scene where you get the license plate and shootout takes a little while to get the evidence and go back to the station.
The Golden Butterfly (Mediocre)
Michelle interrogation is actually the best part when you had to pick lies and she was being difficult to Cole. She is saying. "You're crazy!" or "When my dad gets home, I'm gonna ask him to punch you on the nose, mister!" Rusty going off on Eli was hilarious. Not bad to figure out the interrogation between Hugo and Eli. Alternatives were made when Hugo driving off or charging for murder and captain Donnelly was disappointed about it.
The Silk Stocking Murder (Good)
"OVER THE MOON BOYS!" The fight with Angel and his brother was so good when Rusty kicks the door and says, "LAPD MO******, you're under arrest!" Two locations that are likeable are El Dorado Bar and Just Picked Fruit Market.
The White Shoe Slaying (Decent)
Nice weather choice for rainy/stormy. Hard evidence and interrogation was slow. During the fail interrogation scene at Captain Donnelly's office, "AT THE DOUBLE NOW!" was priceless when Captain Donnelly was upset at Cole and Rusty.
The Studio Secretary Murder (Decent)
Rusty punching Ferdinand two times was so good. James Tiernan was kind of hypertensin and nervous at the same time when being interrogated by Cole.
The Quarter Moon Murders (Decent)
WHAT A TWIST! Even though the evidence and cutscenes does a while to get everything done. The shootout is insane. I wasn't pleased with the Donnelly explaining about the bartender not being the only suspect. However, the Vice Squad promotion is a really good thing.
Vice cases
The Black Caesar (Very Good)
Excellent commentary and interesting clues on the morphine, polar bear ice company and number slips.
Reefer Madness (3rd case) (Good)
Silver dollars names is very intriguing to put them together of what name of location is going to.
The Set Up (Very Good)
Boxing story was so facinating when they're so much going on with Carlo and Albert. The candy chase was a little challenging and long.
The Naked City (4th case) (Very Good)
This is probably one of the better case to playthrough. It's fun to see Stefan and Rusty in the vice case. Roy being a jerk to the woman at the front desk is chilling. Very impressive plot line with Dr. Stoneman, Arnett, Randall and LeBlanc.
Manifest Destiny (Above Average)
Shooting, chasing and interrogating people from the marine corp, mickey cohen, fontaine and jack kelso. The downfall would be for Cole approaching Elsa and cause of corrupion of his career to let down the police department and his family, although we don't get much out of Cole's wife, since she was placed in the opening, NEED MORE DEVELOPMENT AND PLOT LINES FROM THESE TWO, PLEASE! Man..What a let down...
Arson cases
The Gas Man (Good)
Captain McKelty is the better captains in this entire game. Hersherl Biggs is the best partner to be around and the dynamics between him and Cole are excellent. It is sad to see Cole Phelps getting demoted. The interrogation was a little challenging for these lying questions and chasing scenes are decent, they're just plain easy to beat.
A Walk in Elysian Fields (Decent)
I don't find Leland Monroe being an honest man. He seems to be corruption of the story and wants to make everyone feel miserable for the cops and everyone else in Hollywood. At the blue room, the song is awesome to listen, but the conversation between Cole and Roy is not great.
Nicholson Electroplating (5th case) (Good)
No alternative ending. Ugh. But highly intensly case to go through. It took me about 15 minutes to figure the puzzle for the address at the explosion site. The interrogation was not to bad. The address from the photo was questionable. The shootout was also good.
Jack Kelso cases
House of Sticks (Decent)
Jack Kelso only interrogates one case to the next. Always make sure to find the clues to get five stars because this one was kinda hard. Jack getting beaten up by Leland Monroes gangsters was fast, but brutal.
A Polite Invitation (Good)
Petersen seems like a nice guy. CURTIS BENSON NEEDS TO BE LOCKED UP! Despicable, lying and corrupted character ever! The public records lookup is very tranquil. Conversation between Jack and Courtney was a little scary. The shootout at Monroe's place was fun. Jack shooting at Monroe at the leg was shocking. I thought it was a the heart for a second.
The final case
A Different Kind of War (Good)
Newspaper moment where Cole snaps at Roy was justified when Courtney died. An interesting aspect was finding a house where the military person was hidden and doing the things that Dr. Fontaine was asked to do. The tunnel shootout during a stormy moment was dark. However, the ending for Cole Phelps's sacrifice and funeral was poor. I can see that most people who are friends and family came to see him after his death, and he wants to be the hero that he should be, where he saved Elsa, mostly for Jack, because he wants those people at the funeral to remember him as the best cop there was in Hollywood, and he did it for the people he cares about. However, it was honestly despicable for Roy to give a speech about him making bad choices, causing Elsa to leave the funeral. It was very sad to end it like that.
As for the clues, I watched Blue's Clues when I was very young, and these episodes represent clues that only have three because that usually helps to connect the puzzle when putting it together. That way, the kids can know the meaning of these images to what Blue wants to do. But in L.A. Noire, there are so many clues to follow, since this takes place in Los Angeles and can focus more on the evidence based on real events related to patrol, homicide, traffic, arson, and vice. Plus, it is mainly for a mature audience.
As for the dialogue, man... was it very corny and hilarious, but some lines are memorable and unique. Even though, explaining who they are and what they are investigating is very repetitive.
Overall, I did find it decent, but it isn't really one of the better games since it has a lot of problems.
Positives:
Brilliant acting
Interesting plot and character development
Complex plot points in every mission
Mixed:
Hilarious dialogue, but not too bad.
Good music, but some music score pieces are a little off.
Negatives:
Completing 100% is awful
5 stars are very difficult
Very poor issues with gameplay
Cutscenes not skipping much
Pacing is very slow
The audio has so many layers that are hard to follow (panning, equipment
Very few boring and long missions
Newspapers are ridiculous
Not much alternate endings for each case
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