L.A Noire

Remember Jake, it's Rockstar

L.A Noire is an unsubtle title for one of this year’s most nuanced and in depth games. The face of games has changed forever, and the new face is the technological wonder that is motion capture. From the sharp suits, to the Chevy’s, the dialogue and the score, you’re unlikely to find a more satisfying example of the noire genre outside of the movies. Corruption, murder, deviance and dope, it's all happening in the City of Angels.

You play as Cole Phelps an ambitious cop who is closely modelled from Guy Pearce’s Ed Exley of L.A Confidential. Actor Aaron Straton, of Mad Men fame, instead of just providing the voice of the character, is uncannily reproduced with Team Bondi’s MotionScan technology. The same is true of the entire cast of L.A Noire, real character actors providing their faces and voices to the game, eliciting many “o hey it’s that guy from thingy” moment.

Starting you off as a simple patrolmen, the game slowly introduces you to the game mechanics that will serve as the mainstay of how you progress in L.A Noire.This predominantly consists of driving from place to place, investing crime-scenes and questioning witnesses and suspects. The handholding here is helpful rather than off-putting as you suddenly have to start employing real-world logic as opposed to your usual game-brain. Clues are highlighted with a chime in the score or a little vibration from the controller, and the amazingly detailed objects can be investigated further. Searching locales thoroughly is key to building a case, as evidence is often required to catch out the lies of suspects.  

It's 1947 the war is over yet its legacy is felt everywhere, especially in the nature of the crimes and criminals you encounter.Breaking the case of a deadly feud between two shop-owners Phelps progresses from patrolmen to traffic detective hunting down ne’er do wells behind missing persons and hit and runs. The game’s success rests upon the technology’s ability to faithfully recreate human faces and their subsequent expressions. Without MotionScan there would be no L.A Noire. What Team Bondi have achieved is nothing short of phenomenal, their cameras and animators faithfully recreating every nuance of human emotion from excessive blinking, the twitch of an eyebrow to a melodramatic gulp. At the beginning these “tells” are somewhat over accentuated. However reading suspects faces becomes ever more complex and therefore rewarding. In order to get to the bottom of a case Phelps will pose questions from his trusty notebook, the interviewee will reply and you have the option to choose to believe them, doubt their testimony or outright accuse them of lying. Your success in these encounters is almost entirely reliant upon your own skills of deduction and aptitude for winkling out deception . An accusation can only be successful if you know what you can prove, doubt is handy for when you lack that proof and knowing the truth is as important as knowing a lie. Learning the ins and outs of this ingeniously simple mechanic takes a little getting used to. It takes a while to let your instincts take over and to ignore the game brain that tries to second-guess everyone. The fact that human intuition ends up being your most effective tool throughout the game is testament to the design and execution of this incredible game.

Some Rockstar fans may be disappointed that they despite their fantastic and authentically recreated 1940’s L.A you're restricted from what you might normally enjoy playing in their sandboxes. I am of course referring to wildly driving fire-trucks and whimsically mowing down the general populace. However though you might be serving on the right side of the law for once, that doesn’t mean you won’t be enjoying your fair share of intense shoot-outs, screaming car-chases and general unscripted mayhem. Though the story is linear, you progress from individual case to individual case, regardless of your success, you are free to explore L.A throughout the game. This can be done on foot, though expect to hear the same line from pedestrians quite a few times, or by one of 90 varieties of car, each and every one playing vintage tunes that further immerse you in the hazy post-war lustre. Gorgeous sports cars and saloons can be hunted down in special garages while calls for backup in isolated action sequences can be investigated or ignored. These cases seem to have been designed to inject a little action into what is otherwise a beautifully, and appropriately unruffled single-player. Ranging from car-chases to shoot-outs these side-quests mostly end up with you filling the suspect full of lead rather than taking them alive, which seems a little out of character for the paragon Cole. I suspect that these missions were a titbit to keep the action junkies happy, and though sometimes a welcome distraction, they interrupt the continuity of the game-play and character. Another quibble is the inclusion of a star-rating for each case. While the ability to have one's detective skills rated out of five provides an incentive to get things right, it can also frustrate when you feel as though you did a good job. This frustration is further exacerbated as the game does possess a few glitches. For my house-mate, one particularly galling bug resulted in him charging the right suspect but the game responding as though he'd picked the wrong one, thus rendering an hour or so of careful investigation being awarded a measly 2 stars. Though this certainly adds replay value, on a first play-through it can be a somewhat disheartening way of finding out you're no Lester Freeman. 

The game is called L.A Noire but is it really worthy of its self-imposed accolade? The short answer is absolutely. It has everything you could want from a good Noir thriller. The score is pitch-perfect, haunting piano melodies, bombastic and jazzy percussion and muted trumpets that no Noir thriller could go without. The professionally conducted score plays out beautifully over an L.A that is stunningly realised in every detail, palms tress, wide open boulevards and the infamous Hollywoodland sign. Weather and lightning provide excellent contributors to overall mood, whether it's dazzling sunshine or sombre rain. The hunt for the legendary Black Dahlia killer in the midst of a storm being a standout example of how pathetic fallacy from literature and cinema has been translated to games with great effect. Even the introductions to each case are sensuously Noir, their tall Art-Deco fonts echoing the films of Bogart and Hitchcock. The costumes, based on real life clothes (the full total of which when hung on racks runs 12 miles long) are wonderfully realised. The silk of a blouse is easily identifiable as silk, while the rough denim of a pair of overalls possesses an almost tangible texture. The pithy narration comes in the from actor Keith Szarabajka, probably best known for his role as the middle-aged cop from Dark Knight.  I’ll leave it to you to decide whether he’s moving up in the world or not by starring in this game. Aaron Straton too excels in injecting personality and depth into a whiter than white, by the book cop who comes across as more than a little obsequious from time to time. The entire cast, be their roles large or small, all conduct themselves admirably. Their performances' further enhance the authenticity and reputation of games as a viable art-form. Phelp’s story of personal redemption is bled out slowly through flashbacks, the game giving little glimpses into his service as a Marine in the Pacific campaign. The consequences of his ambition build to a thrilling and emotive climax. Dotted throughout the game are papers, whose headlines provide yet further intrigue into the seething underworld of L.A. Juggling these narratives is all part of the experience and they are precisely what keep you playing case after case when really you should be in bed.

While cinema is currently failing to capture my imagination in either cheap thrills or subtle stories I am spending more and more time getting my narrative fix from the Xbox. Eyebrows might be raised at the decision to enter L.A Noire in a film festival, but in truth this game really is the closest the medium has come to beating cinema at its own game. The script is full of knowing little winks to the genre, but these never threaten to over-power the story. Despite the seemingly pedestrian nature of criminal investigation the game is full of standout action moments, from a showdown in an old movie set to swinging off a chandelier in the Hall of Records.

This game is a monumental achievement in design and dedication to an idea. The game industry has its fair share of Michael Bays and comic book dross, and they come in the form of ear-shattering and eye-splitting First Person Shooters that bestride the marketplace like gun-toting colossi. Big-name franchises and a greater emphasis on action more or less killed off the old fashioned adventure games like Grim-Fandago and Monkey Island. L.A Noire mark their spectacular and confident return to the medium. Though not possessing an addictive multiplayer for people to spew homophobia and race-hate over until their thumbs hurt and their mouths are dry, L.A Noire has vindicated the developer’s faith in people’s love of story. This game doesn’t just appeal to people like me, people with a great affection for the likes of Chinatown, L.A Confidential and even revisionist Noirs like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This game is for anyone who gets hooked by a mystery and wants to see it through to the end. From looking suave in a fedora, peppering Buicks with Tommy gun rounds and getting a bollocking from the puritanical Irish captain of homicide, L.A Noire is inundated with conscientious touches that pull you in and refuses to let go.

I have no doubt that MotionScan will literally change the face of games, and that the industry will now draw even more screen talent following in the footsteps of innovators like Keith David and Patrick Stewart. While cinema is attempting to tempt us back with flimsy gimmicks like 3-D and the slow murder of once popular franchises, games are proving how special effects can work in partnership with story, not as a substitute. Though by no means a flawless game, what Rockstar and Team Bondi have achieved is incredible. An instant classic this game will forever be remembered as compelling revolutionary yet endearingly simple. 

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Should you be Bother-hood?

Annual releasing has become a controversial issue in the games-industry, for both creators and consumers alike. Activision released a new Guitar Hero relentlessly since its inception and exponential rise in popularity, and quickly followed suit with their now infamous Call of Duty franchise. Call of Duty is now so famous, even people on the news and stuff have heard of it. Unfortunately this frequency of release can hamstring the creativity of designers simultaneously saturating and stultifying the market. Call of Duty Black Ops may have broken records, but it’s quickly becoming a broken record. So all things considered I was very wary when I heard Ubisoft had another Assassin’s Creed ready for release so soon. Fortunately the game serves more as an Assassin’s Creed 2 ½ or elaborate expansion pack rather than acting as a fully fledged sequel. On the downside this also means that the game is a little lacking in narrative meat, instead acting as a showcase for an impressive graphics engine, some new gimmicks and most peculiarly of all a multiplayer.

Picking up literally right after the conclusion of AC2, Brotherhood continues the story of Desmond Miles delving into the memories of his Renaissance ancestor Ezio Auditore. While AC2 was a fantastic boy-to man tale, the titular hero’s journey that normally spans whole trilogies in film-world, (see Star Wars, Lord of the Rings et al) we rejoin him as an eency bit more grizzled fortysomething looking for a peaceful retirement. Before you can say “Fat-chance Ezio!” his morning tryst with the sultry Caterina Sforza is being interrupted by a bombardment. Prima di poter dire, “Guess I’ll need to level up again” the town of Monteriggioni I worked so hard to renovate has been blown to bits, and Uncle Mario bites a bullet. Courtesy of your new nemesis, Cesare Borgia, son of the papal evil-genius of AC2. Without a pot to piss in Ezio is shepherded to Rome where he and Machiavelli, that’s right the actual Machiavelli, hatch a plan to take out the Borgias he so unwisely left standing at the end of the last game. This plan simply entails eliminating the Borgia presence in Rome and then working yourself up to the father and son duo Cesare and Roderigo. Whereas the first game was rife with twists and turns and exciting set-pieces the narrative of Brotherhood is distinctly pedestrian. However the cinematics show a marked improvement in graphics, while the dialogue, smattered as it is with Italian colloquialisms, (I have since learnt fuck, piece of shit, and my master) is both compelling and possessed of a distinctly authentic Italian-historical flavour. Perhaps the greatest plaudits go to Ubisoft for their portrayal of women in their games. So often a source of embarrassment for the industry, the ladies of Brotherhood are a well-rounded and hard as nails, Caterina Sforza and Lucretia Borgia being particular standouts.

Perhaps to compensate for the absence of a dynamic story Ubisoft created a vast sand-box Rome to explore, full of little side-missions and quests. Unfortunately Rome is well and truly within the Borgias grip, the people destitute, the shops unopened and the weather permanently overcast. As an environment Rome is vast, and a little intimidating at first, three times the size of AC2’s Florence. However to help you compartmentalise it all the city has been broken up into districts, overseen by fortified Borgia towers, whose castellans must be removed and fortifications destroyed if you are to begin breathing new life into the city.

The Guilds encountered in the second game, thieves, courtesans and mercenaries now provide a little checklist of tasks to pad out the experience, while the story missions or “memories” now contain challenging caveats that offer the chance to test your Assassination skills and achieve “full-synchronisation.” Though this certainly offers replay value, failing to meet the challenge at the last moment can be quite frustrating. These new quests are complimented by the return of Assassination contracts, tombs to exercise your inner parkour expert and, for reasons unbeknownst to God or man, collecting flags and feathers. These tombs no longer contain the crypts of old assassin’s, instead they are hide-outs for the mysterious Son’s of Romulus, a peculiar cult who cavort around in wolf-skins ala 13^th warrior. Unfortunately their existence is explained away as a Borgia plot to scare people back to church, which seems a little lazy given their potential to operate as a new and unrelated threat in the war between Assassins and Templars. However not all your time will be spent within Rome’s hallowed walls buying up property and assassinating x number of guards in y fashion, as relief is provided by the maestro himself, Leonardo Da Vinci. Our old friend has been press-ganged into creating fantastical weapons for the Borgia and it’s up to you to destroy them. These machines include a rocket-firing catamaran, a tank and a repeater canon; all based on actual Da Vinci designs. The missions provide a fun and tongue in cheek distraction from a Rome that can feel a little oversized for Ezio, despite the inclusion of an on-demand horse, and fast-travel sewers.

Gameplay and presentation remain very familiar to anyone who’s had experience with the franchise save for two new additions in particular. The first is the eponymous Brotherhood. Some of you may remember rescuing civilians from the ne’er do well guards in the first AC, well now these guys and gals rather than running off to leave you in the proverbial, now pledge to join the Assassins and fight for you. Your new disciples can be sent off across Europe through a system of pigeon coops, each successful mission resulting in a fiscal reward and experience to arm and armour that Assassin. These new bffs can be called upon in battle to provide assistance in combat, or if your feeling lazy, to take out a target for you. Though they come in extremely handy, and are a requirement for some missions they certainly don’t help out in terms of balancing difficulty. This easiness is exacerbated by a revised combat system that seems to have been modelled on Batman Arkham Asylum’s system. Now you get a warning whenever you’re about to be struck and you can string together insta-kills in one long combo. All of which leaves you feeling like there’s no threat from the Borgias goons as they pile in from everywhere hoping to put an end to your shenanigans.

But what about Desmond, Lucy and Shaun Hastings!? I hear you scream. Ah yes Desmond Miles, or simply Dickhead and the Gang if you’re me. Well strangely enough the modern day Assassins with their dialogue that veers between sickeningly earnest and face-punchingly sarcastic (a situation not improved by Danny Wallace’s “acting-talent”) are much improved. Desmond finally has something to do, and you can leave the animus to wag chins with the mystery team at your own leisure. This is a far more agreeable situation than being pulled out of the action just when things are getting interesting. Also, as a sideline, you can snoop on their emails revealing that maybe Shaun isn’t quite the dicksplash he comes across as and Lucy definitely is the humourless jobs-worth that she so fantastically embodies.

                                                                                                                                                                       

If I’ve forgotten anything at this point then it probably wasn’t worth mentioning, something I can’t quite say the same of for the multiplayer. Oh it has all the usual trappings, un-lockable perks, characters, etc but it is a refreshing change of pace from the Ritalin and Coke fuelled reflex twitches of Halo and COD. Multiplayer maps like the single player are populated NPCS. These NPCS exist as myriad clones of the various character avatars, providing you with cover in more ways than one. Stroll amongst them and you’re indistinguishable, but run around or leap wildly from rooftops and you risk tipping off your human-target and whoever might be after you. Points are awarded for stealthily executed kills and successful escapes, learning to get good at both providing an enjoyable, rather than punishing learning curve. All in all, the multiplayer is one of the more successful additions to the franchise and I hope it comes back for the next instalment. The Brotherhood and easier combat I’m not quite sold on yet as it imbalances the game somewhat unfairly in your favour. On the whole I can only recommend this game to fans, as it appears too late in the story to really hook in Assassin Creed virgins. In the end this game serves merely as a fluffer, a way to keep everyone ticking over till the next release and though solid not something you should feel compelled to own.