L.A. Noire Review

This was one of the most wanted games of the summer, and I was proud to stand in line on the launch date to receive my copy along with the 2 bonus cases, although I came home and went straight to bed.

To play this game you have to have ALOT of patience, and by alot I mean you can't rush into anything. If you want to make a good score on the case you have to really search, and pay CLOSE attention to the people you are interviewing, and interrogating, it's hard to assume one thing when there is another correct answer.

The game starts off with Cole Phelps, and ex-marine that served in the Okinawa campaign, and a receiver of the Silver Star. After the war Cole Phelps was discharged and starting working for the LAPD. Cole Phelps seemed like a typical honest, and hardworking man with no worries, working his way up in the LAPD. Everybody knew Cole Phelps because he was darn good at what he does, but during the game with all the flashbacks of the war, Cole Phelps was still in shame for sending order to kill some Japanese  civilians in a cave that was converted into a hospital for wounded, and still living in guilt he does some things to cope with his guilt, some things you didn't see coming.When Phelps was demoted to Arson,  this is where things got really interesting. A big secret is found out and more corrupt people will  unfold, and most of all and ending that is so heart-felt, it will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Cole had different partners in each division of Traffic, Homicide, Vice, and Arson, and for one in particular I wish I could of slapped the taste out his mouth:

his name is Roy Earle.... don't he just look like you wanna slap him and his mama? He was a dirty cop, who talked to me like I was his bitch. I was hoping at some point in the game after work hours Cole would give him the smackdown, but instead, sometimes I would drive off without him and make him run to catch up with me.. heh, heh how bout them apples.

Well enough with the loser with the two-toned suit, Let's talk about the game. First off the graphics were E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T.....T-E! Everything from the sky to hell was so crisp, and the characters movements and facial expressions were so believable you would think your talking to someone in front of you.
The controls were mostly like Mafia, the running, shooting, taking cover, get in the car, get out the car, etc. etc.

The cases consisted of real life situations, murder, theft, drug-dealing, and chasing... It's not fun if your not chasing someone *sarcasm* (I hated chasing people). The kinds of cases you deal with the most are the ones linked to the "Black Dahlia" (so many women were killed in gruesome ways), and illegal morphine distribution (that was some deadly s***).

The way to correctly solve a case is to make sure to find all the clues and don't accuse anyone of anything they didn't do, but sometimes it's tricky, you would think they were guilty but they aren't, and it just causes the case to get harder. You can get a little help from the community  which will tell you how most people answered (for some answers you can't trust the community), and erasing one answer . When suspects are brought to the interrogation room, make sure to make the boss happy or your score will flop... (although there were times I felt I knew I had the right person but he just wanted to bitch anyways).

Some extra activities you can do in the game are collecting cars of course (some of them were SWEET!), collecting films (I couldn't find any at all) and answering optional police calls which could help you gain experience. Not very much to do but it can keep you busy.

I will end this review saying  that this is one of the best games I played all summer and I would give it a 9 out of 10 rating. I didn't give it a 10 because:

1. there was a point where I was replaying cases and didn't know I wasn't suppose to save over my "continued game" therefore I had to start all over and I was not happy.

2. I felt they could of made the girls look different. I swear every girl had the same face and red lipstick, just a different hairstyle

3. I felt like I got cheated out of a couple cases, even when I looked up the answer online... Not cool.

First look: L.A. Noire

So I did end up staying up till midnight, by 11:00 I almost didn't make it because of the stupid movie my hubby picked out for us to watch. It was suppose to be a comedy but I didn't laugh at all, the whole time I was thinking wtf.. why is this a move..

But ANYWAYS I made it to gamestop for the midnight release of L.A. Noire and there was a pretty good amount of people there, but since the store is so small I waited in the car till I saw people walking out with the game. Although I got the game at midnight I didn't play it till this morning (I think all the anticipation wore me out).

This game is amazing, I love how they made the characters more realistic. When the characters talk their mouths go with the movement, no I mean like real people talking, not just their lips moving up and down, and their facial expressions are also easy to read. Knowing that this is a detective game and all it was really important to have that element in the game to make it fun for player and I think Rockstar did a really good job on that.

In the beginning of the game you play as   Cole Phelps who was an ex- marine (the game shows pieces of his past after certain events in the game) who became an LAPD officer and later a detective. The whole point of the game is to go around solving cases by finding evidence, and questioning witnesses. One thing I like is that that game gives you certain ques to when your done with the scene and what is a clue. For example when the investigation music stops that means you have found all the clues. When you here a faint chime sound or your controller vibrates that means your near a clue and you can pick it up and manipulate the object by using the L stick(and you do have the option of turning off those features if you want a little challenge). Of course you don't have to remember what you found because you are supplied with a notebook that keeps track of everything you found and everyone you talked too, and later that can help you question others. Another thing I am so happy about is when your driving to your destination you can ask your partner for directions. He will tell you to keep going straight or take the next left, etc. I love that so much, I can't tell you how lost I got when playing Grand theft auto or Mafia II.

When you interview or interrogate people you have the option of telling they they are telling the truth, lying, or you doubt what they are saying, and the cool thing about that is paying attention to their reaction, I caught a guy who wasn't looking me in my eye when he answered my question so automatically I was like hmmm this dude is lying. When you level up you get intuition points which is like a cheat. You can use it to help you find all the clues, or eliminate some of answers so you can say the right answer more accurately

When your riding around with your partner there will be times where cops will radio in certain investigations, you can choose to take the call  or not depending on how you want to play the game, but it is a good way to get some experience and up your rank.

This game reminds me so much of Dick Tracy, the narrator in the background the scenes... just the overall look. when solving cases it becomes serious, and you have to pay attention very closely. I feel so glued to the t.v. when playing this game, I see nothing else around me when I'm playing this game. I love solving puzzles, and CSI type stuff so I will have so much fun with this game.... let's see if I can platinum it.

My first midnight launch game: L.A. Noire

I've read and heard about this game in magazines and on the radio so I decided to go reserve this game. As I'm reserving this game the employee tells me there will be a midnight launch for the game. Now usually I blow it off because most of the time its hard for me to stay up to midnight, but my hubby suggested we pick it up at midnight because it was something we never did before. So I thought for a minute and I was like yea.... yea why not... I can do this. So I designed this plan to help me stay awake: I'm gonna jog around the block for 30 minutes then I'll go home and do like 100 pushups with one hand.. (or maybe 1/2 a pushup) next I'll eat a bag of gummy bears, 4 chocolate chip cookies, and drink a red bull every hour... BETTER. a shot of 5 HOUR ENERGY, and hopefully I last till 12 a.m.... just kidding. I know my body will be shocked and crash till Wednesday, but I do want to stay up till midnight. Have any of you stayed up for a midnight launch, and if so got any tips?