L.A. Noire

So on Tuesday, a pretty big game by the fellows over at Rockstar Games and Team Bondi was released. You might have heard of it? It’s called L.A. Noire, and it….is….awesome! I picked it up on Tuesday after trading in several old games for it. (More on that later) I’ve played a fair amount, as I’m on the last case in relation to the ‘murder’ desk. So far, it has been a very fun, yet challenging game to play. The basic premise is you are a cop in LA in 1947, and you just returned home from the Pacific, and have joined LA’s finest. You go around with a partner to various crime scenes, look for clues, and interview witnesses and suspects related to the case. Finding clues is what drives the game, as they lead to new places to investigate, as well as new people of interest. You also use these clues during interviews to prove to the interviewee that they are lying about a specific event. For example, if you are interviewing Joe, and his alibi is that he was at the grocery store, but an eyewitness saw him at the bar, well, you can pin him on the lie. The better you do at solving cases, the more experience you gain, which increases your rank and earns you rewards. Overall, the game is good; not great; but very good. The interview sequences are EXTREMELLY hard if you don’t pay attention, and can end up with what is essentially a guess. But this is where the big flaw in L.A. Noire lies. No matter how brutally bad you are at getting juicy details out of suspects, the story will always unfold how it’s meant to be. I would have liked to of seen a bit more of a reaction and story branching based on the quality of your detective work, but there’s always a chance for a sequel. We shall see.

Dead Space 2 SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Besides L.A. Noire, I also beat Dead Space 2 on Monday night. I hadn’t played it since probably February, but I ended up beating the game with roughly 8 ½ hours of game time logged. Not bad. The story was fantastic, and as corny or weird as it may have been, it did strike a chord inside me. Especially the part about Isaac not able to let go of Nicole and her memories, because “if I did, I would have nothing left”. It was a really deep moment, realizing that, even though it pained him so much to have those memories of her haunt him and cause him dementia, he felt like he had to keep some sort of strings attached to her due to the circumstances of not being able to save her. The dementia of Isaac is more front and center in the sequel, as there are numerous occurrences of a demon-like Nicole harassing Isaac throughout the game. If you let yourself fall into the shoes of Isaac, he is a character I think most people can relate to on some level, and get much more out of the game than simply shooting limbs off of Necromorphs.

Well, that’s all for me now. Let me know what you think, and until next time. –SS.