LA Noire: The Good, the Bad, and the Vice

I actually finished LA Noire 3 weeks ago, but just haven't had the time to do my write-up on it. The game itself had caught my attention early on because not only was it an open world game from Rockstar, but it also had you playing as 1940's police officer in Los Angeles. The golden days of Hollywood, and the height of police corruption in the Golden State. Needless to say that as a fan of film noire, fedoras, and the 1940's I was intrigued. The question is though, is LA Noire the beginning of a beautiful relationship, or just a petrified forest?

SYNOPSYS

You are Cole Phelps, recent discharge of the USMC turn LAPD cop. Starting as a beat cop you will work your way up through the police ranks through the scum and low life of the LA criminal underworld. Along the way you will come across colorful partners, criminals who will test your deductive skills, and a plot of corruption the sinks to the very foundations of the city itself.

THE GOOD

There has been much touting about the facial capture system that was developed for the game, and I have to say that praise is well earned. Every nuance of the actors is captured perfectly to allow the player to be able to read subtle details to identify if they are telling the truth, withholding information, or outright lying to you. This is actually a core part of the game itself as you must conduct interrogations of witnesses and suspects in order to gain information to progress on your current case. Use the wrong method and the person may clam up, or not give you the information that you need. Along with the interrogation there is crime scene investigation where you have to examine evidence, find clue and look for the subtle details that can make or break a case. This evidence becomes the ammunition you will then use in your interrogations, and allow you to outsmart your quarry.



The game is not all static investigation; in most cases you will have 'Action' sequences that can range from chasing down a suspect on foot or in your car, shoot outs, fist fights, even stealthy tailing a suspect to learn more information. You will also have random dispatch calls about street crimes happening in the world that you can respond to, most of these tend to be short action sequences, but provide a nice ambient challenge during a case.

The world itself is a faithful reproduction of 1947 North LA and Hollywood up to the LA river. Details range from building that no longer exist, the Pacific Electric Redcar lines, even locations that weren't even developed yet. Having been to LA many times in my life I can tell you that while some parts were very familiar, others I just barely recognized because of how much they had changed in 70 years.



Many people have been complaining about the game not allowing you to do random shooting sprees, run down every pedestrian you see, or other general bit of mayhem. What they fail to grasp is that LA Noire is not Grand Theft Studebaker; it is a detective game, you are a cop, you're job is to maintain public order, not create total anarchy and break the laws you are sworn to uphold. Many people saw that the publisher was Rockstar and that it was an open world game and automatically assumed it was just 1940's GTA, it isn't. The game is about deduction, critical thinking and plot advancement, not chaos, destruction, and popping a cap in a hooker you just solicited.

THE BAD

As mentioned before, this is a deduction game, and critical thinking for clues and interrogation is key. Part of this comes back to interpreting the facial gestures of suspects, how evidence is linked to the case, filtering red herrings, and using some good old fashion intuition. If you can't do this, you'll need to use walk-throughs. Along these lines also with most interrogations there is only one correct interrogation path; though getting a few questions wrong is not a game ender, it does change how the case progresses.



One of my biggest pet peeves in the game is that when you are chasing suspects on foot or in a car no matter how fast you go they will be able to just keep ahead of you or catch up to you over long distances. Mind you, this is a classic pet peeve of mine from the days of the arcade racers because besides violating the laws of physics, it feels like you are being forced along a scripted sequence.

A common complaint is actually that even the the game is open world, the storyline is quite linear. Once you are on a case you can only progress by following the chain of investigation, action and interrogations that have been set out for you. You do have the ability to roam freely in the game, however this is basically site seeing, or easter egg hunting for all the hidden film reels, landmarks, or badges.

THE UGLY



Well, consider this for a moment: its 1947 LA, and you play as a cop who handles everything from Traffic to Vice cases. There are naked corpses, racist language, drugs, sex, booze, profanity, gore, even child prostitution. In the games defense, you are trying to stop most of this, however the developers pulled no punches with the reality of the times.

CONCLUSION

The game has a spectacular polish to it, however it is aimed more at the story driven gamer over the action/multiplayer online gamer. Voice acting, and character acting is film quality with several acclaimed actors putting on excellent performances. Gameplay is challenging, but more inline with an old school adventure game than a modern sandbox chaos fest. The world is very deep for those who wish to delve into it, however for those looking for a frag fest they will be bored quickly.

An excellent game and a fine example of gaming as art, but not for everyone. I loved it, but I know that there are many who wouldn't.

HIGHLY recommended.

Portal 2: the Good, the Bad, and the Lemons

Following up on my last posting about catching up with reviews I am now doing my write-up for Portal 2. Now, if any of you have read my previous review of The Orange Box you'd know that I really liked Portal, but didn't like how short it was. I was rather surprised when Valve announce that Portal 2 was its own stand alone expansion and that it was going to be “Twice as long” as the original. With these in mind, I sat down to Portal 2 on my PS3 with my companion cube, a piece of cake, and humming Still Alive. It's go time.


THE GOOD

Portal 2 had a lot to live up to from the first game. Graphically Portal 1 was rather bland, however the development team must have sat back and said “Yeah, we can make it look better”, because they did just that. The boring white test chambers have been replaced by a world that nature has partially retaken. In the beginning of the game the whole of Aperture Science has been overgrown and decaying from years, if not centuries of neglect. The pallet doesn't just follow this design either, as in the bowels of the facility you come across test labs from the 50's, 60's and 70's; as well as the reconstructed and cavernous test labs that make up the heart of the modern Aperture Science.



Gameplay is still the same usage of portals to traverse and physics obstacle course. Added to this mix is the addition of color gels that let you change the properties of a surface, lasers for powering switches, hard light bridges and tractor beam emitters for moving items, gels, or even yourself. The gels add a unique puzzle element because they can be used to make a surface bounce you like Flubber, accelerate you like a race track, or place portals on surfaces not normally usable. Added to this is using the portal gun, tractor beams, and even basic gravity in order to apply the gels in a manner to let you proceed forward.

The story itself starts off with you meeting a new AI core, named Wheatley. Wheatley is a nice change from the GlaDOS AI who seems to be hell bent in killing you in a very passive aggressive fashion. He is more of a lovable goof-ball who lacks common sense, or any real ability, but makes up for it with gusto and ambition. This also leads into your introduction to Cave Johnson in the old test labs in the bottom of the facility. Through recording made over the years for different test projects (i.e. insane experiments for the sake of insane experiments), you can start to build a picture of the company through the 30 years of 'Science' they perform. This also gives you insight into the origins of the GlaDOS AI that has been your taunter and tormentor since the first game.



One of the unique features of the PS3 version of the game is that it actually links to Steam and allows you to download a PC version of the game for free as part of this link, and allows you to share Steam and PS3 achievement/trophies from whichever format you are playing. Along with this comes the 2 player Co-op mode where you are a friend (or random stranger) play as two bots created by GlaDOS and use two player portal usage to complete your own small storyline in the series.

THE BAD

The most common complaint about the game is that on the PC version there are a series of downloadable items one can purchase with real money for visual add-ons to the Co-op bots. They change nothing about the game, but cost between $2 and $6 bucks for visual comical items.



Puzzles in the old section of the test labs can be challenging as well since the large environments and sometimes hard to spot portal location can frustrate the casual gamer, along with that there is only one way to solve the puzzles and you need to hit it correctly in order to proceed.

While not a problem with the game itself, this is also worth mentioning. Shortly after the release of Portal 2 the PSN network went down for a 3 week period, and for those with the PS3 version and no gaming PC the Co-op game was completely locked out for them, causing quite a stir among online gamers and people reviewing the game on marketplace forms.


THE UGLY

Nothing. Seriously, the game is rated T and up, and has no mature content of any kind in it.

Seriously.


CONCLUSION

Portal 2 is a fun game with many hours worth both a first time play through and repeat play-through for the challenging puzzles, the witty dialog and the well told story. The puzzles are challenging and when solved will give the player a feeling of accomplishment as well as a wicked brain cramp at times. Co-op is well implemented with greater challenges in the puzzles that require team work, but also with hilarious dialog from GlaDOS in her comments to both robots, and long with the robots' child like enthusiasm in their task.

This game is a Must Buy.

Crysis 2: The Good, the Bad and the Nanotech

It's been a while since I've done a review, mostly because life has been catching up with me, making my review writing up time very limited. In this time I've had a chance to play several games, including some major releases, such as the one I'm reviewing now. In the past, Crysis was considered the Gold Standard at testing a computer on its capabilities for processing and video rendering. This was in part due to subtle details of environmental physicals, particle details, lighting, rendered detail, and the massive scale that the maps had. When it was announced that Crysis 2 was coming to consoles as well as the PC, well, I was a little skeptical to say the least. The question is; did it live up to the original Crysis, or is it a pale shadow of its progenitor?


THE GOOD

Crysis 2 follows the path of the first game of make it real, and make it gritty. Moving from the Philippines to New York City we find yourself in a world under siege. Gone is the KPA from the first game, and instead they are replaced by a private security company employed by the in-game designers on the Nanosuit. The Nanosuit itself has been given both graphical and technical upgrades, including a thermal 'nanotech' vision, speed and strength skills being blended into a single 'Power' ability, being able to make running slides to improve visceral combat, and the ability to upgrade talents within the armor itself by collecting nanotech samples from the Ceph aliens.

Story wise the game is well paced; with in game cinematic moments that engage the player but do not force you into a control locked cinematic sequence. Music is scored more like a film to help build the tension in firefights, or stealth objectives, and keep the adrenaline high when you need it. Added to this is the familiar New York locations being seen in the light of total war from both the alien invasion, the alien plague, and the in-fighting of the US military and the PMC faction. The game also takes a much more vertical approach to the environment, giving you the option to vault between buildings and structures, and pull yourself up for new strategic options.



Part of the new scope function in the game is the classic ability to highlight enemies and vehicles so you can track their movements, but also being able to highlight weapon caches, strategic positions, objectives, and options for combat. Along with this also comes the new Alien infantry types who are no longer 'flying squid robots' but well armed infantry who vary from standard shock trooped, to armored assault units, even walking tanks and aerial gunships. Each has their own strengths, and weaknesses and require strategic use of both the nano-suit and weapons at hand in order to take them down.

THE BAD

My first complaint to the game is you can only carry 2 weapons; not just 2 rifle weapons and a pistol, but 2 weapons period. You would think that with a multi-billion dollar, advanced prototype nanotech weapon suit that they would at least include a leg holster for a pistol as a back-up weapon... You know, kind of like what they had in the first Crysis. This is also a complaint I've had with the Halo series, but at least in that you can dual-wield pistols and SMG weapons from Halo 2 forward. No such luck here.



Secondly, the game very much feels like it was made for consoles first, then ported over to the PC. The maps are rather small, very linear, and lack the true 'open' feeling that the first Crysis had. Case in point, in Crysis 1 you had an early missions of "You are here" and you had to get to the other side of the coast by using whatever route, method and combat/stealth strategy you wanted. In Crysis 2, it is more of follow the corridor, enter open area, see that you only have 3-4 options presented to you in this combat arena, and then lather, rinse, repeat. For a game series and a developer who have prided themselves in large scale, open combat style this was very disappointing. Along with this game the total redesign of the alien Ceph. We no longer see their trademark cold based weapons from Crysis 1, or their aerial attack squids. They play more like the human enemies and seems like a complete and total departure from the aliens in the first game.

Along with the changes mentioned early about the modifications down to speed and strength, they also modified the armor ability. Before, armor was the default setting for the suit; you run out of juice, system kicks over to armor mode while your power regenerates. Now armor mode slows you down and constantly drains energy from your suit; making you a slow moving target that can only take a few hits in combat before you zero out on power. In the multiplayer part of the game, it seems all but useless. Having spent several hours playing the multiplayer just to get a complete feel for it, I can tell you that even in armor mode it sometimes seems like 2 or 3 direct hits from an SMG or assault rifle will go right through armor mode, and kill you. Basically the same effect as if you didn't have it on at all.



This makes a good lead into my multiplayer complaints. First off, the multiplayer is basically Call of Duty 4 with nanotech armor. Let me see if this sounds familiar: Small close quarter combat maps - Check, Skill perks - check, Kill streak skills - Check, skill levels that unlock new weapons - Check. When I first started playing it, I kept thinking that 2007 called, they want their idea back. It is so much like the multiplayer game play of Call of Duty that it almost feels like a direct rip-off. The injury to the insult of it was on the PC version on release there were already people using hacks to give unlimited nanopower in multiplayer, with no apparent fixes from EA or Crytek until several weeks after release. At that point the damage had already been done, and people lost interest in playing it.


THE UGLY



In this case, we have people dying of a nanotech plague and being liquified by alien technology. Some language issues, but in all no worse than your average summer action flick.


CONCLUSION

This game had a lofty pedigree to live up to, sadly it doesn't measure up. The game is limited by working within the constraints of being playable on consoles as well as the PC, environments are linear, multiplayer is about as generic and over done as one can get, and the feel is that of a 2nd unit production over a 1st line director.

The story is well told however, and the single player is fun to play, but feels more like a Micheal Bay movie in compared to the J.J. Abrams feeling of the first game.

In the end, rent for your console, get some achievements/trophies, but it's just not worth buying.