Ben-DutkaWe know L.A. Noire takes place in Los Angeles in 1947, and we know we play as a crime detective. But perhaps we're not fully checked out on the gameplay, and what we should expect…
First of all, according to Edge , those who are expecting a gritty mobster GTA-type game will be disappointed. Instead, you'll gather and analyze evidence, interrogate witnesses, and challenge suspects; in the end, depending on your diligence and observation skills, the case could take any number of turns. Does this remind anyone else of Heavy Rain …? Rockstar's vice president of product development Jeronimo Barrera spoke about how his project is very different from "traditional adventure games" and how the team wants the player to experience "real-world detective work." Co-founder of Team Bondi, Brendan McNamara, added even more encouraging words to the description:
"You don’t have to find an anchor and combine it with a grapefruit. Everyone knows cop shows – I think that keeps it reasonably approachable. Players know if you turn up at a crime scene you usually have to go and talk to someone and look at the clues around a dead body. Even if the game isn’t that familiar to them, that format is. The risk Rockstar took was buying in to my idea – that we could make a huge genre in movies and literature work in games when no one else had."
Barrera says you "could say it's like GTA because you have this open city you can run around in," but besides that, everything is different. There is action involved, of course, but it's more about "the interactions the characters are having." Aaron Staton, an actor who portrayed Ken Cosgrove in the TV series "Mad Men" and voices the protagonist in L.A. Noire , Cole Phelps, added a bit of humor:
"Everyone will initially want to punch old ladies – I probably would – but people are then going to be interested in the story and solving the cases. And seeing what other old ladies they can punch.
McNamara finishes by saying "you should assume your audience is pretty smart," which definitely implies that L.A. Noire isn't being designed for the masses who perhaps only play shooters, or those who have only played GTA for 10 minutes at a time, just so they can run around in circles and shoot things. This is one of the main reasons we're so very interested in the game, and although there's certainly the freedom of exploration involved, it still reminds us a bit of Heavy Rain : the interaction and importance of characters, the dark atmosphere, the emphasis on story and player choice, etc. Great stuff.
Related Game(s): L.A. Noire
I'm so excited for this to come out… nothing we've seen before in terms of gameplay and animation. This will be great.
This game more and more reminds me of Heavy Rain which to me feels like a film noir experience. Perhaps we really are seeing a sea change in gaming and intelligent gamers are getting a break.
Words cannot express how right I hope you are. I am so jaded with video games' lowest common denominator designs, Heavy Rain was long cool drink of water on a hot dusty day.
I am really thirsty :/
I hope this is an accurate portrayal of how the game will play and not just a company seeing how well Heavy Rain has done and deciding to cash in by saying their game has the same aspects.
Please, let it play more like Heavy Rain than GTA.
You know I really just want to run around and punch old ladies and shoot at police cars. What are they thinking trying to make me think while playing a video game.
Oh wait…nope nevermind I actually do have a brain and like it to be stimulated in all facets of my life, gaming included. Keep up the good work guys.
Now, if Rockstar, the king of senselessly violent games, can make a deep story driven game that challenges the mind I don't see why more devs can't. Maybe we will be seeing more of this type of thing and less twitchy shooters and ten-minute ADHD training games.
"Maybe we will be seeing more of this type of thing and less twitchy shooters and ten-minute ADHD training games."
Now that sounds like a great plan!
I'm Sold!
The more i hear about this the more interested i become.
If more games take this 'intelligent gamers' approach then we might be able to shake the gaming is for kids idea off the media.
I watched a video just the other day saying how games have improved, comparing pong to heavy rain.
Oh and hi everyone, bit late for first time poster speech but been coming here for over 3 years and recently starting posting.
Love this site and the community is unmatched xD
Thanks for signing up. 🙂
I think your the 3rd PSX member with a Ron Burgundy avatar.
ha
Ron Burgundy is Awesome xD
no, thank YOU for making such a great site and scaring away any trolls.
Except for the edit and delete button disappearing, perfect example at the end of the modnation racers article 🙁
looking forward to this game very much
Well now I'm interested. Didn't know anything about this game until now. Thanks for posting this Ben, I'll keep an eye on this game. When does it release?
Thank God.
Now, this may not speak to the actual quality of the title, but it's encouraging to know the developers' hearts seem to be in the right place. Consider me significantly more interested.
And that's too funny, what Staton said. Pretty much whenever I see someone else playing a 'Grand Theft Auto' game, I think of that scene in 'Blazing Saddles':
'Have you ever seen such cruelty?' 🙂
Good to hear because that is exactly what I expected from it, sounds like a mix of Heavy Rain with the detective skills from Call of Cthulhu. Looking very much forward to this game as I like something that challenges my smarts.
*Finished Heavy Rain last night with everybody living, 1st time best ending. My GOTY so far.*
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 3/16/2010 1:41:25 PM
Great news, I want a great story to go along with the excellent setting.
Thats good news because as much as I love some GTA, it's nice to have something fresh and new.
GTA was not for me…but LA Noire seems to have taken a u-turn in terms of gameplay as well as the overall focus of the title. LA Noire has still got my attention for the moment…hopefully we only get more good news in the coming weeks.
Reading this has piqued my interest in this.
Meh, I just want to punch old ladies.
Meh, I just want to punch old ladies.
Don't try to punch my granny, she packs & racks her own 9, and ain't afraid to bust a few dozens clips of hollow-point's right up in the ole wazoo.
Anyways, my radar's on hi-alert for LA Noire
You see? There's nothing wrong with the open city concept in gaming. It's what you DO with it that determines whether or not you're just another wannabe.
"But perhaps we're not fully checked out on the gameplay"
and whos fault is that?
they have released what 3 trailers in 5 freaking years!
im really psyched for LA Noire it could be the best game we see this year, in fact thats what im preying for.
but will it happen?
it has the ambition but will it reach it?
LA Noire is the highest grossing game 2K has ever made, now thats extremely impressive since GTA IV cost close to 100 million bucks.
for this to cost more than that, wow just WOW!
but for the love of god stop being so super secretive about it, get some decent previews out there and give us a nice long gameplay trailer before E3.
than a new bigger one at E3 ready for launch at september.
simple,no?
Last edited by ___________ on 3/17/2010 2:13:56 AM
If you work for FOX then you would punch, rape then punch the ladies some more, then report on how bad this game is, without realising that it is not the game that is doing it but the sick FOX presenter.
Now THIS looks promising. Now you can start talking about "the future of gaming" without me growing grumpy on y'all 😉
A game that offers a unique atmosphere and storyline without parking the player on the backseat of the linearity train is an immense challenge, both technically and artistically. This *is* the future of gaming. 😉