I can’t stop thinking of Heavy Rain when I first saw this trailer for L.A. Noire. Of course, this game is not surprisingly similar to GTA since it is developed by Rockstar Games. I am glad that Rockstar moved away from GTA IV. The novelty of an open world concept whereby you can commit all sorts of vices is dying off. Personally, I find that chasing cars, killing people and racing on GTA is getting mundane and repetitive with GTA IV. I stopped at the 20th mission when I keep failing to chase down a car and having to repeat it all over again.

So now Rockstar wants you to be the good guy. In L.A. Noire, you play as Cole Phelps, an LAPD officer in the turbulent time of 1947 Los Angeles. Instead of having mission to kill a certain gang leader or to fight off some gangster, you are now presented with cases. As a detective, it is your job to interrogate suspect, interview witness and gather evidences to bring justice to L.A.

Tech

The facial express is really sophisticated and the level of details is simply amazing. Compared to GTA IV, this is definitely a giant step forward. I had to compare this with Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain.

The level of details seen in Heavy Rain, published about a year ago, managed to achieve fairly realistic facial expression as well. However, the two technologies used by Quantic and Rockstar are slightly different. In Rockstar implementation, there is a mix of 3D video with mesh animation whereas in Quantic Dream is purely mesh animation. In other words, what you see on Rockstar is essentially a 3D video of the facial expression captured by the cameras.

Gameplay
In this game, you have to solve crimes ranging from homicide to arson. While interrogating suspect and gathering evidence is part of a case itself, Rockstar also dishes out the regular high-action shooting and chasing mission. A fresh game compared to the usual GTA. And yes, this game is also having the same open world concept. You are free to explore the city. Check out the review by IGN below.