L.A. Noire

Nope on a multiplayer component. As for roaming what I've read it seems like the game punishes you to such an extent that you can't really do whatever ya want GTA style in the game. Not sure how that is carried out but it seems the reviews I've read have stressed that aspect of the game, be interesting to see if that is true.

 

Actually, I'd say given the hype the reviews are not great. IGN-85, Game Informer-88, Gamespot-90. Not at the level of the scores GTA4 or RDR got.

 

One of the thing that really really annoys me these days is that people think that 85%-90% reviews are seen as not great.

For what is essentially an adventure game those reviews are amazing.

 

I only got an hour in tonight with it right out of the package... not a fast-paced game but I feel myself making some mistakes and having to concentrate on the interrogations and such...

FYI - Kmart is running a deal this week: Buy LA Noire and get a free 19.99 game with it at the time of purchase AND get a $20 gift card on your receipt... i couldn't pass that deal up...

 

They're good, but not great because scores are so inflated nowadays. The average score for those three sites are as follows (according to metacritic):

73-Game Informer
69-IGN
68-Gamespot

What's the point of having a 1-10 or 1-100 system when a 7 is average? I miss Next Generation magazine and their 1-5 rating scores. You really need a scoring system that has a midpoint. I could go on and on about how I hate rating pretty much anything from 1-10, like player ratings after a soccer match.

Anyway, I just checked IGN and in the past 12 months they've given 50 PS3 games a rating of 8.5 or better. Do you see why for the most hyped game of the year, that's a disappointment?

 

Ok put a good chunk in this over the weekend and really enjoying it. I love the story structure and how each case is split up to feel like a new episode in a TV show. Good, good stuff. After a few cases at the Homicide desk I am finally getting the hang of interrogation and getting more correct questions than wrong.

Question on the Golden Butterfly case[result]Can you charge Hugo Mueller for the murder? I interrogated Elli first and just decided to charge the weirdo with the murder before talking with Hugo.[/result]

 

Yes you can... but... homicide spoiler...

[result]It doesn't matter in the long run anyway... or at least not after the last homicide case...[/result]

 

Ratings are just annoying full stop. Every game forum for every major game release has at least 1 thread about the score of the game, either it being too high or too low.
As for IGN the blame lies at them for giving 50 games 8.5 in one year. There hasn't been 50 games released this entire generation that are worth 8.5.

I enjoyed the ending of the game, the main storyline really takes over from the case to case stories at the beginning. It gives the impression of actually progressing through the ranks. The ending leaves it open for a sequel.

 

******** Rockstar. They are just short of openly hostile to gamers who don't have a console - no PC port for LA Noire, still no PC port for Red Dead Redemption, and the GTA PC ports have been mediocre at best. I don't know why they hate us so much.

 

I'd actually argue that the most hyped game of the year was Portal 2 - which, by the ways, has demolished LA Noire in reviews.

 

Gears 3, MW 3, Uncharted 3, and Portal 2 have had way more hype than L.A. Noire.

 

Have you seen how Glitchy their games are on consoles? GTAIV proved that trying to port that mess to a more unstable system is crazy.

 

I really enjoyed that aspect of game, at first I was bummed out reading your post that the game would move away from the case to case aspect but how they build up the main storyline throughout the game was great. By the end you really are so wrapped up into the story that you don't even miss the case to case structure.

 

Getting the 5 stars on every case isn't actually all that hard, assuming you don't mind "cheating" a little.

As long as you know what evidence to pick up, which questions to ask and how to respond, each case will only take you 15-20 mins to speed thru. Have your partner drive everywhere and skip all cutscenes, or at least the ones you've already seen.

The real bitch is getting the cars, but there's a few sites with good hints for locations.

 

i am on the 3rd disc already and just now found my first Golden Reel... yowsers... this game just got much more tasky... definitely going to have to run through it again to pick up all i missed...

the thing that bothers me that I really can't stand is the cars disappearing... I passed a trash truck 10 times and turned around only to discover it had vanished... it wasn't until i smashed into it head-on that it stay there so i could hijack it... oh, and the partner can get stupid and "stuck" standing on things.. he won't jump in the car, he stands motionless in odd places, usually up on a hedge, or a bench or something... I have to ram my car into him to get him to snap out of it...

 

i am nearly complete with this... going for all 5 stars on all cases... still missing a couple of clues, but i have 1225/1400 on the gamescore right now...

fun game...

 

I really should download some of the DLC cases but my internet sucks

 

Have been playing the PC version for the past week. I enjoy the atmosphere but I'm not sure how much of a replayibility value there is. The main story-line is tight and engaging though. And it's nice to spot the Mad Men faces amongst the cast.