Unofficial Tex Murphy

I got LA Noire on release day. I've been too busy to play, but my wife has been playing it. She is on the sixth homicide case. After the first two homicides, she was almost going to quit because the murders were too brutal and disturbing for her. I watched them, and yes, I agree. But the homicides afterwards don't show the killings like the first two did.

She likes the game a lot, except for the car chases. The car is almost impossible to drive fast because the steering is so touchy.

It's the doctor! I was hoping this game would bring you by us again How's tricks?

And yes, the steering is a bit sensitive, but it's something you get used to. Unlike the killings. However, the gruesome stuff happens during the homicide desk. After you transfer to Administrative Vice, things even out and the game's main storyline comes more into focus.

So far, I've seen five actors from Mad Men, one from Dexter and one from Heroes.

Anybody else spot any familiar faces?

-Fred

Game has many faults, and despite the amazing setting, lacks personality, but man have I enjoyed it!

Amazingly vice and arson turned out far more interesting than homicide, probably because the story truly kicked in at that point. It feels a bit too much LA Confidential at times, but truly, who cares.

It's been way, way too long since we've had an adventure game with this kind of production value. I've ruined many perfectly good pair of pants imagining what AC and CJ would do with this budget and technology!

I finished this the other night - an amazing gaming experience but not without its flaws. Visually, I have no issues with it. The graphics are immaculate and push the power of the PS3 even further, more so than the groundbreaking Unchartered series. This is just more evidence as to why we should hold off at least another 2 years until next generation consoles as the XBOX 360 and PS3's magic is still being unlocked.

The mode of story telling was very effective and succeeds in appealing to two types of gamers: those with lots of spare time and those who need to ration their time. As a student, I sadly don't have time for longer games at the moment. Make no mistake, L.A Noire is lengthy but can be played in short increments as the gameplay is broken up by cases (chapters). Each case amounts to an ongoing arc culminating to the final climax. The only issue I had was with the ending, but I can't go into that without spoiling.

One other disappointment was the deduction and evidence system. While it's a console title, I did expect a little more. Sometimes the act of deciding whether someone is lying or withholding information is just sheer guess work rather than truly integrating evidence with the statement. Sure, some of the evidence strongly corresponds, but if you're educated in the way you instinctively look beyond the obvious, you'll have issues just as I did. In my opinion, much of the evidence I gathered could have amounted to them "lying" when the correct answer was actually "doubt". The latter being where you have no evidence to prove it but make a verbal statement to try and get it out of them. You only get one guess at it and you're rewarded for your correct questioning. But again, it becomes a guessing game given the single question and the award of points. True deduction would be more open than the immediate system L.A Noire has.

That's not to say L.A Noire is in anyway underwhelming. Precisely the contrary if anything! But, for adventure gaming connoisseurs like ourselves, it may not engage the parts of our brains that we're wanting to use. I hope there are sequels to follow though. It's a promising resurgence for true adventure gaming since there is little emphasis on shooting and driving. I even skipped the driving parts by holding down the triangle button which takes you directly to the crime scene. That's how interested in the investigation I was.

But, for a sequel to match the success of L.A Noire, they will definitely need to make the experience seem a little deeper with regards to the investigation elements of the game. This is so the game goes beyond mere guessing of facial expressions or vague statements and really provoking the character to think about the decisions they are making. Perhaps this is a game which may benefit from a multi-answer type path where instead of only achieving points for guessing the correct response, there are a number of correct responses but each carry different points.

There is enormous potential for this franchise and i'm damn excited to finally say i've played it. Now onto the downloadable content

I will have to wait for the PC version this fall if it happens.

Just got L.A. Noire as a birthday present the other day. Using the notebook while questioning reminds me a bit of Overseer. Time frame isn't right for the good ol' "You have a fax" line. It's kind of the way I imagined years ago Tex might go without FMV... heck, it's the way imagined Chase Michael DeBarlo might go. lol!

About six hours into the game thus far and am enjoying it!