PCN : L.A. Noire Review; Possibly Game of the Year

PCN: "What happens when you take state of the art facial animation technology and combine it with the brains of Team Bondi and Rockstar? Well you get what is possibly the 2011 Game of the Year champ. Yes it is extremely early to be making such a prediction, but that is just how awesome this game is. Perhaps Rockstar saw the potential in detective based titles when Heavy Rain came out?"

[Kran]

Honestly, its a great game, and I am enjoying it.

But something doesnt feel right. What I have played (and im half way through the game) doesnt feel like it will get many Game of the Year's.

The AI driving (when theres dialogue) is horrendous. The amount of times they've suddenly "crashed". The motion technology is alright. It doesnt really match the facial technology. Dont get me wrong, the facial technology is great, but I just dont feel like their facial expressions match with their motions.

The gameplay is also slightly repetitive.

[TheLastGuardian2010]

Um if Heavy Rain won goty (by many outlets), and is just AS flawed if not MORE SO than L.A Noire, then I don't see why it couldn't.....>.>

[DatNJDom81]

Wait what? Are you serious? Tell me ur joking.

[gaffyh]

Heavy Rain had a few plot holes, but not as many glitches as LA Noire.

Personally, I hate pretty much every Rockstar game, honestly. I've always tried GTAs, but hate them. RDR was ok to keep me interested for a little longer, but I haven't gone back to it in a while. But LA Noire is different, it's the only R* game that I think I will actually finish, it's amazing. It definitely deserves GOTY more than MW3, which I'm sure many sites will give it to.

[dirtrider]

all games are slightly repetetive....funny you say a multiplat is repetetive...but bow down to infamous 2

[ASTAROTH]

Ohh you played inFAMOUS2 then?? Nice.

[dirtrider]

didnt say i played infamous 2, but if its half as repetetive as infamous 1, ill wait for a price drop.

[ASTAROTH]

Definately not GOTY. It really deserves being nominated though. Its one of this years best and most innovative games Ive played. It has great graphics, incredible sound, plays well and have lots of things on it that made it special but I dont think it is going to win GOTY with all the games that are still to come out. . . One thing is for sure and that is (to me at least) that this year has been so far the best year for gaming!!!. The most important thing is that it is only half the year... lots of good games coming...HELL YEAHH!!!

[RedDevils]

Then MW2 is the most repetitive out of them all

[NewZealander]

i agree, im finding it really repetitive, the controls are pretty bad also, chase scenes and driving are especially bad, so is the camera actually.

i like the facial expressions, but sometimes they just don't seem to blend with the characters emotions quite well enough.

the game is just too slow for me, its a great idea for a game, but i don't think they pulled it off, really the reviews are over hyping it.

[KingofGambling]

I agree with your statement

[LiamIRL82]

The amount of smoke being blown up this game's ass is incredible. It's not as good as the reviews would have you believe. I wish I had rented it before I wasted my money.

[Neckbear]

I'm quite sure, had it not "Rockstar Games" on the cover, reviewers would be much, much more harsh with it. And so would the general consensus.

Damned sheeple, I tell you.

[trounbyfire]

I know R* gets a pass like no one else. GTA4 sucked and the re skinned it in RDR and people go crazy. "its a horse"

are you F*cking kidding me, i am tired of open world games and GTA4 burned me bad so I am not buying R* until they redeemed their bread and butter.

portal, LAN these are GOTY contenders...super weak year

[rabidpancakeburglar]

I disagree with your point about reviewers being much, much more harsh as it is a good concept for a game but I agreed with you for the use of the word 'sheeple'

[nopunctuation]

EDIT sorry replied to the wrong person. Please ignore and delete if possible.

[RedDevils]

I'm not sure why you guys hating on this game,just because it getting good reviews doesn't mean you have to seek attention and say something complete opposite will make you look cool, but seriously everyone had their own game taste, not everyone will like it, just like UC2 not everyone like it but did it stop from getting the most awards or Goty? NO!

[nopunctuation]

"I'm quite sure, had it not "Rockstar Games" on the cover, reviewers would be much, much more harsh with it."
Youre saying that all rockstar games get a free pass? This isnt freaking mario here. Look at midnight club games or manhunt 2 and you will see that not all rockstar games are critically acclaimed. People need to stop giving big name companies shit for no good reason. That type of cynicism is just annoying.

[keith-ps3]

trounbyfire gta4 only sucked to ppl who have played the gta's befor the younger kids i can see why they got it and loved it but it was nothing new rdr i rented it played it for a hour took it back i want to try this but block buster closed down mad that it only takes 12- 20 hours to beat

[TheLastGuardian2010]

No offense but that's your OPINION. Just how reviews are other people's OPINIONS.

Personally I think it's a great game. Flawed? Oh, defintly. But I think it's the fact that I can boldly say that I've yet to ever play a game like this, ever, means a lot to me. In an industry where risk is rarely taken, and fps rule the plateu it's nice to see a game like L.A Noire be released.

Defintly a "Diamond in the rough" in my eyes. Flawed, but still a great game at it's core.

[AlexCage]

Wow. Because of gamers like you developers dare not to take risks.

[JasonBloodbourne]

Finally someone on my wavelength!! i hate the way the press is sucking this games arse! it ain't that good and i wish i'd rented now as well!

[NewZealander]

luckily i did rent it, i was going to buy it outright, but im glad i didn't now.

[Rybakov]

noooope....but maybe one of the sub-categories

[nopunctuation]

A lot of people were iffy about RDR calling it grand theft horse and whatnot but then it got GOTY and people stopped complaining. I think that there wont be a clear cut GOTY because of all the blockbuster titles coming out. It isnt like 2009 when Uncharted 2 came out and there was nothing to really compete with it. This year is filled with stellar titles the lieks of which weve never seen and this will be a pretty hard choice in terms of GOTY.

[MysticStrummer]

I'm really enjoying the game, but GotY? No.

[TheBreezyBB]

I'm half way through the game and I have to say it's a linear as fuck!! the game is repetitive and there isn't much you can do about that.

Does the game deserve a 9? No. It's a 7/10 game.

[AlexCage]

Did you even bother to read any preview? Seriously it's your fault if your dissapointed. You should've done research before purchasing...

[InfiniteJustice]

Like people have said, LA. Noire is a great game, but something does feel off. The facial animation is brilliant, but at times it can look like the characters are mannequins with people's faces stuck on, and it breaks the illusion.

It's a solid and enjoyable game, but I think there are better GOTY contenders out there. I personally feel I'll enjoy inFamous 2, Uncharted 3, and Skyrim more. Not to mention The Witcher 2 is absolutely brilliant. It's hard to tell if LA. Noire will be able to stand out from the big titles that are released later in the year.

[ElementX]

I am having a fantastic time with this game. I have solved around 9 cases and did a number of the street crimes. There's a lot to explore and I think the gameplay is amazing. People say that it's too slow paced, but I highly disagree. It's a detective game! It's not about running and gunning all the time. It's a nice change of pace from the usual action games.

[TheLastGuardian2010]

@trounbyfire

Weak year? Are you kidding me?

There's still SO many goty contenders left that your statement could be considered sarcastic...

I mean there's still;

Infamous 2
Dead Island
Batman Arkham City
Deus Ex: Human Revoloution
RAGE
Dark Souls
Skyrim
Modern Warfare 3
Battlefield 3
Uncharted 3
Tomb Raider

To call this year WEAK is ignorant. The big boys have yet to arrive.

[Funky Town_TX]

You left off Gears of War 3.

[AlexCage]

Def. can't forget Gears 3.

Personally, I already have quite a few goty contenders on my list.

LittleBigPlanet 2
Dead Space 2
Crysis 2
Portal 2
Witcher 2
L.A Noire..

This time last year I only had,

Mass Effect 2
Heavy Rain
Alan Wake
Red Dead Redemption

as my short list. So I think this say's miles about the year we're having...

[ASTAROTH]

And Resistance 3 is also left in those list.

[likedamaster]

Not so fast. Still a lot of games left in the year.... A lot of really good games left.

[SwampCroc]

From what I've played I like the game... I mean you can tell it is definitely a Rockstar game.... which doesn't mean I think it's bad... you can just tell...

I don't know if it will be GOTY... However, I don't really care about that stuff anyway.. But, I was looking forward to maybe having guns and the ability to fight in free roam or in between missions.... unless it unlocks later or something right now I only can use weapons if it is part of the Story Case or if I enter a Street Crime... but I can understand how they don't let you have guns like in GTA or RDR... I guess you are a cop after all...

which leads me to my main point.... I guess I was expecting the game to be more open I suppose.. and by this I mean like the ability to be a good cop or a crooked cop... I don't know I mean because it's in the 40's you can definitely tell like during the interviews that the stuff your saying probably wouldn't fly in an investigation nowadays...

but yeah... I just want to get into some real shady endeavors... you know like let some bootleggers keep on bootlegging if they pay me the cash... I dunno... I'm only on the 2nd Homicide case.. so I'm not really that far... I guess I was just expecting a little more option and/or freedom....

I dunno where you live but where I live it sure seems like the cops can do whatever they want.

[earbus]

Youre goty is another mans potty i like b grade movies and b grade games.

[Tommykrem]

This is one great game, and it might take a GotY or two, but I think there'll be games to beat LA Noir to the grand prize. There are already strong contenders in Portal 2, The Witcher 2, Dead Space 2 and even though it's not really that likely a winner, LittleBigPlanet 2. Without spoiling too much, I must say that what I really like about Rockstar is that they could've finished their games half-way through and still called the story, the lasting appeal and the game itself great, but they always pull another rabbit out of the hat and give us another 8 hours of gameplay.

[Firstkn1ghT]

Syrim = Easy win.

[SwampCroc]

Syrim isn't a game...

However, Skyrim comes out 11/11/11

[NnT3291]

great game ! man I wish there was a game like this based on the X-files series, it would be awesome. imagine you investigate the aliens/horror stuff.

[RedDevils]

yeah true that would be immense :P

[gypsygib]

Great game but not game of the year IMO. The gunplay is lacking, they should have just copied RDRs gunplay because that was amazing.