So I went to Best Buy a couple of days ago because I had a bunch of games that were collecting dust and I never play anymore so I tried out BBs trade in program. Needless to say I got a pretty good chunk of change so I picked up LA Noir, Deus Ex and a couple movies. I started playing LA Noir and I have to say I'm pretty impressed so far.
You play as Cole Phelps who is WWII vet working as a patrolman for the LAPD with as aspirations to lose the blue uniform and become a detective. His fellow boys in blue refer to him as a "boy scout" and "straight as an arrow" so you get the immediate impression that Cole is a straight laced guy but still a little rigid due to his USMC background. You learn a little more about his background via flashbacks scattered throughout the game, which is nice because I like to have some sort of connection with character. It helps get my feelers out for who the character is and what motivates him.
So in the first hour of the game, which is three discs long by the way, you guide Cole through solving two murders which get Cole bumped up to street detective ( I won't say what they are because that's the whole fun of the game). At this point you're introduced to the major selling point of the game: interrogations. When at a crime scene, you interrogate eye witnesses, suspects, etc and you have to be able to tell if they're lying or not. Now you might think how would I be able to do that? The character animations in this are so beautifully animated that it captures every twitch, scratch, jerk, or whatever is that could be a tell that the suspect is lying or telling the truth. The only thing is if you're going to accuse someone of lying you have to have the evidence to back up your accusation or you could lose vital information that could help you solve the case (you still solve the case it will just you longer to solve it). One thing I've been kind of struggling with is whether or not that makes the game easier or not. There's no repercussions for not properly questioning a suspect, it just takes you longer to gather enough facts to arrest someone for a crime, I feel like it kind of takes away a small element of realism from the game but I understand it's just a small nitpick and it doesn't take enough away from the game for me to not enjoy it.
Whenever you solve a crime, or pick up a random distress call from dispatch you level up. What leveling does I don't know just yet because I'm still a little early in the game. You also get intuition points which help you out in different ways. First, if you're questioning a subject and you can't tell if their being truthful or not, you can use an intuition point that will give you a percentage of what the other players have said which, I'm not gonna lie has helped me out a few times. Also when you're searching a crime scene for evidence and you use an intuition point, the clues you need to look for will show up on your mini map. I try not to use those as much because it kind of takes away from the fun of clue searching but it's nice to have in case I need it.
Overall, LA Noir is good game so far. I like it's originality and the fact you have to use the ole noggin with this game. It's a slower paced game than anything else Rockstar has done because it's not a run-and-gun shooter but more of a problem solving type game. I'll write a little more once I get farther into the game and I can provide a more well informed opinion
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