L.A. Noire (PS3, 360) - Part 1

[Benstamania]

I couldn't get into SA... Again, when something is TOO "seedy" for me.. I just gotta pass. I just don't like playing as pure scumbags.

I always want to play and get into GTA... but I just can never keep with it.

 

[Benstamania]

But Niko was like that. He was tortured, just like John Martson was, but he was more self aware. John Martson was all about redemption, kept going on about it, but he's still killing a lot of people. Niko was my favourite type of character, bad ass but self loathing and tormented. He wasn't just some pumped up thug and he took no pleasure in killing except when it was personal revenge.

I may have to give it another go... but from what I remember he just seemed like another scumbag.

 

[Master Chief]

I may have to give it another go... but from what I remember he just seemed like another scumbag.

lol Niko wanted to leave his old life behind him and was also secretly out for revenge. Did you really play through the whole game and miss that? The only reason he gets caught up in 90% of the s**t that happens is because of his cousin's gambling debts.

 

[SpideyVille]

I dunno, I know the point of GTA isn't to be a good guy, but I'd like to see them incorporate "redemption" if you so choose in GTA...

You mean like towards the end of GTA IV, where they allowed you to make a couple of choices that would change who you went after and who died at the end? Because I would like more of that, in the sense that choose a path to follow where the story changes depending on that. RDR tried to do that with the Honor system, but I don't think the story changed at all depending on which way you went.

I only game I can think of from recent memory that did something like that was inFamous. Though, the story doesn't change entirely, just what you can collect, and some plot points and how people talk to you.

But Niko was like that. He was tortured, just like John Martson was, but he was more self aware. John Martson was all about redemption, kept going on about it, but he's still killing a lot of people. Niko was my favourite type of character, bad ass but self loathing and tormented. He wasn't just some pumped up thug and he took no pleasure in killing except when it was personal revenge.

I loved Marston as a character, but I liked the story behind Niko. I never played any other GTA aside from Liberty City Stories on the PSP, so I don't know how the main characters were before, but I liked the story with Niko coming to Liberty City as a immigrant with nothing, and then making something of himself, only to end up losing the thing that really meant the most to him in the end. It made that last line about the American Dream feel so real for his character.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

GTA's story was amazing, but you are forced to do so much extra stuff in between advancing the main story threads. Red Dead was better than GTA, but there were still a lot of fetch quests and plenty of "Sure I'll help you advance the story, but you have to do these 3-5 missions that have little to do with anything first."

But that's what westerns are all about! I loved that aspect of the game.

 

[Benstamania]

lol Niko wanted to leave his old life behind him and was also secretly out for revenge. Did you really play through the whole game and miss that? The only reason he gets caught up in 90% of the s**t that happens is because of his cousin's gambling debts.

No, I didn't play through the whole game. I said before that I just kind of stopped. I'm willing to give it another go if I (obviously) missed out on things.

You mean like towards the end of GTA IV, where they allowed you to make a couple of choices that would change who you went after and who died at the end? Because I would like more of that, in the sense that choose a path to follow where the story changes depending on that. RDR tried to do that with the Honor system, but I don't think the story changed at all depending on which way you went.

Well, I didn't finish GTA IV but if you could make choices in it... then yeah. I do have some problems with RDR... the fact that it really didn't give you a choice to go back to your old ways or keep on fighting the good fight. I mean... you could cause all the mayhem you wanted and you'd still end up being a good ol' family man at the end.

Again, I myself like being able to be a good guy if I can... but I'm ok with other people wanting to be as dastardly as they can be. I mean, it's only a video game. I just like to have characters that aren't so much "scum of the earth."

 

[Master Chief]

No, I didn't play through the whole game. I said before that I just kind of stopped. I'm willing to give it another go if I (obviously) missed out on things.

Ahhh yeah, you should give it a chance. The story gets a lot more complex and the ending is pretty rad.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

GTA 4's story didn't really wow me. Much was made of it, but I think that's mainly because it was the first "serious" game in the franchise. All the other ones were ridiculously over-the-top and exaggerated. Niko himself has the personality of cardboard, and I never really got the moral complexity everyone else is talking about from him. Except maybe when he and Dwayne were forging their friendship and relating their experiences to each other. But other than that, Niko struck me as a big, dumb thug who left Europe to find a better life but just wound up perpetuating his big, dumb thug life in a new setting. He's pushed into some of it by his utterly moronic cousin, but most of it he honestly brings on himself. He could stop at a number of points throughout the game, but he just never does.

Marston was way more compelling as a character for me because he actually did what Niko never could: he left the outlaw life behind him and was content on his ranch with the missus, Uncle, and his son. The things that propel him throughout his character arc are external. He's forced to reexamine a lot of his internal baggage because of them, but he's not creating his own vicious cycle of violence and abuse. The dueling but ultimately identical forces of the lawmen and the outlaws do that for him by constantly threatening his family and his own life. And then the ending happens and confirms everything you suspected all along in spectacular fashion, creating a poignant referendum on the abuse of power in whatever form it takes and the growing pains of a new society. I still think about some of the issues that game raised.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

I found GTA IV equally powerful, especially when it comes to the lives people are forced into. Funnily enough, both games explored the idea of the American Dream quite well

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Is Niko really forced into it, though? Hell, I wanted to just stop playing the game at a lot of points, just to allow Niko to stop being a violent dick. But then I'd come back and Niko would move onto his next blood-stained mission just... because it was something to do, I guess. I never really felt like he was ever conflicted about anything, except in the aforementioned moments with Dwayne.

 

[SpideyVille]

Guess it's time to put this one down since I just got Platinum and have nothing more to do until the DLC is available on the PSN store. All this talk of GTA and RDR is making me want to go back to those now.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm finding myself wanting to play through the story of RDR again myself. Man, I loved that game.

 

[Rodrigo90]

To Wolvie,how the hell could you hate Bully,man? Its awesome. Whenever I get down about missing school,I pop that sucker in and beat up those damn bullies,just like I used to do all those years ago t:

While Solid Snake is my favorite game character,Niko is my second.

Niko doesn't come off as tormented as he should be,but theres a reason. If he was a wreak as what he should have been,he would have a far more different character. The experience what Niko tells is that the reason he commits crimes and its easy for him, is that compared to what enemy soldiers did to the children,he doesn't feel like he's that much a monster like them.

We know as the player,and characters in the game, is that Niko is not a bad guy,he just does bad things cause he feels he is that type of person to be compared to with killers in the army. He has killed,seen the world in a different light through his time in the army,and the crimes he does next has no effect on him,but he's still a good man,he just can't see it in himself.

He never came to Liberty City for a quiet life,but to get the man that betrayed him. Niko's inability to change was due to his inability to let go of the past.

I liked how you got the choice to kill Darko Brevic. Cause it tests to see whether or not you have learned anything from Niko's journey. I didn't kill Darko cause I thought it would make Niko to see things in a better perspective. Of course that then passed onto me forgiving Dimitri and dealing with him,then having Roman suffer for it,lol.

 

[Watchman]

Just finished the game

Spoiler

I was really into Arson at the start. Cole at his lowest with him desperately trying to solve the big case that ties most of the plot points that were dangling was going to be a great end for the game. Then Team Bondi destroyed any sort of momentum by making Cole a glorified cameo at the end. I just kept waiting to start playing as Cole again. It really should have been him to take on Monroe, Fontaine, and the rest

 

[SpideyVille]

Just finished the game

Spoiler

I was really into Arson at the start. Cole at his lowest with him desperately trying to solve the big case that ties most of the plot points that were dangling was going to be a great end for the game. Then Team Bondi destroyed any sort of momentum by making Cole a glorified cameo at the end. I just kept waiting to start playing as Cole again. It really should have been him to take on the Monroe, Fontaine, and the rest

Spoiler

I completely agree. I hated the way Vice ended because I really wanted to solve the case, even though I thought it would probably end with Cole getting killed, so I wasn't too upset that Kelso was tricked into going after it. But then Cole seemingly became none existant and I really felt gipped with the way it ended. I felt like the story just ended, with no real sense of closure for Cole.

 

[MadVillainy]

Just finished the game

Spoiler

I was really into Arson at the start. Cole at his lowest with him desperately trying to solve the big case that ties most of the plot points that were dangling was going to be a great end for the game. Then Team Bondi destroyed any sort of momentum by making Cole a glorified cameo at the end. I just kept waiting to start playing as Cole again. It really should have been him to take on Monroe, Fontaine, and the rest

Definetly agreed. That's one criticism I see alot.

___________________

OT: Who has RDR on Xbox and wants to play tonight?

 

[Watchman]

Spoiler

Also, I wanted to see that rat bastard Earle get his comeuppance.

I definitely want to see more games like this just without the story hiccups. Again, give me 70's New York with a Watergate, Vietnam, Son of Sam backdrop.

 

[SpideyVille]

You know, one thing that I feel kinda let down by is the setting as a whole. Maybe it's because I live in New York and have never been to Los Angeles, but I felt like the city here was flat as a whole. There was really no life in the people on the street, or in anything else after the cases, aside from the street crimes and the collectibles. I feel like GTA captured the city better and the overall experience of living in different parts of NY.

I get that wouldn't be much for a cop to do anyway since his job is his life, but I feel like everything else felt empty afterwards, to the point where i would compare this more to Mafia II than to GTA or RDR, since Mafia II was also a pretty "empty" game. I mean this is definitely a better game because of the detective stuff, but after a while that can only get you so far.

 

[StarkvsRogers]

I just finished my review of this epic... No spoilers, check it out: http://henchmanforhire.com/2011/05/l-a-noire-xbox-360/

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Tedious filler? Really? I never felt like Red Dead Redemption, at least, dragged at all. The only parts that really bugged me about GTA 4 were the obnoxious phone calls from my needy 'friends' and the missions where some aspect of the controls were outright broken. Neither of those is a big issue in RDR or LA Noire.

Mexico felt like filler, to me. Reyes and Allende didn't contribute a whole lot to the overarching narrative, except in being a pretty interesting metaphor for what power does to a person.

They could have skipped Mexico, and the story still would have been just as good.

The three just seem vastly different to me, though. Even though I think I faced a moral choice in one case, the narrative in L.A. Noire is linear. RDR and GTAIV had moments where you could make that character into a more redemptive one, or into a vengeful one.

Btw, just got Undead Nightmare. Can't wait to play it. Tried some MP, with the zombie hoarde mode...which was pretty awesome.

 

[Havok83]

Mexico felt like filler, to me. Reyes and Allende didn't contribute a whole lot to the overarching narrative, except in being a pretty interesting metaphor for what power does to a person.

They could have skipped Mexico, and the story still would have been just as good.

The three just seem vastly different to me, though. Even though I think I faced a moral choice in one case, the narrative in L.A. Noire is linear. RDR and GTAIV had moments where you could make that character into a more redemptive one, or into a vengeful one.

Btw, just got Undead Nightmare. Can't wait to play it. Tried some MP, with the zombie hoarde mode...which was pretty awesome.

IA. Mexico went on way too long. I dont think they should have skipped it, but they definetly could have cut it down a bit. It felt like it broke the flow of the story bc it did drag along there for a bit and take a detour

 

[KALEL114]

Finished it finally! I liked the game, but a few things kept me from loving it.

Spoiler

First off, I felt zero connection with Cole. I said before that the game didn't really need more content, but I was wrong. They needed to add more of Cole's "outside of work" life. For instance, have him leave from home instead of starting every case at the precinct. Have some interaction with his wife and kids. Give me something to relate to so I care about his affair, his demotion, and eventually his death. For the main character, I just felt he was very one dimensional.

The interrogations were a lot of fun. Trying to figure out who is lying and who isn't was very challenging. My issue with it though, is that there were no repercussions if you messed up. It didn't matter if you sent the wrong person up the river, especially since a majority of the people you charged were innocent all along anyways (way to go Cole). The only thing it affected was your score in the end, but that had zero impact on the story. It would have been cool if you got busted back down to patrolman for a certain period of time if you messed up on a couple of cases or just make it feel like something was on the line.

That brings me to the flow of the story. First, it was much more linear than I had expected. It also peaked at the wrong time. It just couldn't get it's traction back after Homicide. I appreciate what they tried to do, but it just missed the mark for me. Also, the way the questioning was scripted and designed, made Cole seem like he was bi-polar. (ie. Being comforting to a girl who was raped, then aggressively yelling at her and accusing her of lying right after.)

In the end, I had a lot of fun playing it. However, I came away from it a bit frustrated, because I can see the potential it had. It was so close to the bulls eye of being a great game, but it just didn't do it for me. 8/10

 

[Tron Bonne]

Just finished the game

Spoiler

I was really into Arson at the start. Cole at his lowest with him desperately trying to solve the big case that ties most of the plot points that were dangling was going to be a great end for the game. Then Team Bondi destroyed any sort of momentum by making Cole a glorified cameo at the end. I just kept waiting to start playing as Cole again. It really should have been him to take on Monroe, Fontaine, and the rest

Yeah, I really don't get why they decided to do that. It would have been different if there was some kind of build to [blackout]Jack taking over the narrative[/blackout], but I couldn't pick it out if there was. Very bizarre choice on Rockstar's part.

 

[Watchman]

Spoiler

Another thing that annoyed me about the ending was despite a game that focused on gathering evidence, interrogating suspects, and case solving why does it end with it's blandest aspect, shooting. Do you take Leland down with hard evidence or catching him in a lie? No, you blow away his mansion, Scarface style. Then, I like to describe it as the jet pack with gatling gun moment, Kelso runs around with a flamethrower burning away random thugs.

So yeah far from a perfect game but I still loved it.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Spoiler

I agree with that, too. It felt like once you got to Kelso's part of the story it turned into very same ol', same ol'. Even a lot of Kelso's lines seemed really cheesy and silly in comparison to the sharp writing of the rest of the game.