When I was a kid, I remember reading about LA Noire in video game magazines that told me it was going to be the future of video games. This Rockstar-published detective drama set in the changing streets of post-war Los Angeles would push the boundaries of open-world design, character graphics and evolving stories that change as you play. As a starry-eyed kid, I needed this game right away.
Unfortunately, it began development at the now-defunct Team Bondi in 2004 and didn't arrive until 2011 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. I'm not here to delve into its troubled evolution – that's an article for another day – but how to this day it remains incredibly unique in everything it does.
It pioneered the best facial capture technology and strove to tell an ambitious story spanning several years and several different cases. Much like other Rockstar games GTA, from which it draws abundant influence, it also offers us great freedom to roam around Los Angeles, but with a little less ruthless violence than you can get in Los Santos.
So, with the game celebrating its 15th anniversary this weekend, I wanted to celebrate all of its amazing details and inventive gameplay ideas, even if today it's more remembered for silly facial expressions than anything else. In reality, it is something very special.
Few games understand attention to detail quite like LA Noire
Until the third and final act, LA Noire follows a relatively predictable routine as you work alongside partners to investigate crime scenes, interrogate suspects and witnesses, all before drawing your own conclusions. You can be wrong, right, or somewhere awkwardly in the middle. Each location you explore is beautifully detailed and impeccably researched, as if you could reach out and touch the dated furniture or freshly laid concrete.
In many ways you will, as the main character Cole Phelps (Aaron Staton, of Mad Men fame, as a large part of LA Noire's cast) picks up evidence and figures out how it might be related to the crime. To this day, I find it hard to think of an open world set in a historical time period that feels so authentic. Maybe another Rockstar game in Red Dead Redemption 2?
The technology that brought characters to life was known as “face scanning”. After a decade many of them look like bizarre aliens, but back in 2011 it was very believable.
Once you've gathered enough evidence and have figured out a motive for the suspect to have, you can sit down and talk a little. Within these interactions, you can ask a bunch of questions while choosing between three different options: Truth, Doubt, and Lie. It encourages you to use evidence and questions in different ways, and this is where the once-transcendent face scan comes into play.
The intention is for you to carefully analyze characters' facial expressions to find out what they are thinking or if they might be lying. If someone looks away from Cole or has a clear look of guilt on their face, chances are they're not telling the truth. On the other hand, if someone looks really upset and doesn't know what to say, you can probably trust them.
Cole can also choose to lie to people and pull them out of their comfort zone for a short while, so the truth may lie. It's an easy-to-understand system with tons of depth, but the facial expressions can be laughably obvious these days.
We've seen it become the source of countless memes — Cole's “doubt” expression has been a much-used reaction image for years now — and arguably overshadows all the amazing things Team Bondi does in LA Noire because of how realistic it tried to be for the time. But that ambition still deserves praise, especially when you're free to explore a rendering of Los Angeles that feels so alive.
Fancy role playing as an old school detective? Play LA Noire
It's fascinating that LA Noire doesn't put you in the shoes of a rising criminal or a highly corrupt law enforcement officer, but a mostly good-natured detective who wants to help people while solving crimes to the best of his ability. Los Angeles in 1947 also saw people fighting in World War II and trying to find their place in a rapidly changing world. The trauma that permeated that entire conflict naturally followed many men home, and Cole is not immune to it. As one of the most violent years in the city's history, how its colorful characters live through and react to that history is still captivating.
Watching Cole climb the ranks and slowly but surely succumb to corruption is wonderful, whether he's working murder, arson, or whatever else. I don't think its ending lands as intended, but the journey is consistently interesting as you work with different partners and find yourself embroiled in the politics of different departments. Cole wants to be a good man, but he lives in a world where a good moral compass isn't what keeps you alive.
You'll engage in firefights and high-speed chases just like in Grand Theft Auto, but don't expect LA Noire to be anything like Rockstar's flagship franchise.
Now writing about LA Noire to celebrate its anniversary, I fondly remember my only playthrough of it as a teenager. Nobody's ever made a game like this before, and I doubt it'll ever get a sequel beyond its well-received VR spin-off, so 15 years later it's still well worth your time.
LA Noire
- Released
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17 May 2011
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, nudity, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs, violence
- Developer
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Team Bondi
- Engine
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havok
