L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire is an open-world action-adventure neo-noire crime thriller video game developed by Australian company Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games that was released on May 17, 2011 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America, a PC version was released on November 8, 2011 in North America. The game is set in 1947 in Los Angeles, California as the player controls a Los Angeles County Police Department (LAPD) officer that tries to solve a wide-range of cases throughout five departments. The player must find clues, follow up leads and interrogate suspects to solve the cases as what you do, effects the outcome of the game.

The game draws heavy influences of film noire, made popular in the 1940s and 1950s that share similar themes and plot elements including crime and moral ambiguity, several plot elements references real life killings including the murder of Elizabeth Short (also known as The Black Dahlia) and films such as Key Largo, Chinatown and L.A. Confidential.

L.A. Noire is most well known for it's graphical style, mainly using Depth Analysis's newly developed technology MotionScan which involves the actors portraying the game's character, recorded by 32 cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle, the technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions to questioning to judge whether or not they are lying cause of this, it was the first video game to be showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Upon release, the game received widespread acclaim, critics praising the advances in storytelling and facial animation technology. The game was the best selling game of May that year in the U.S. and as of February 2012, sold almost 5 million copies.

Plot
The story begins with Officer Cole Phelps (Aaron Staton) on the Patrol Desk at the Wilshire Division 7 Police Station as a fairly new member of the Los Angeles Police Department in 1947 Los Angeles, California, successfully investigating a murder with his partner, Officer Ralph Dunn (Rodney Scott). The game follows Phelps' progress through the ranks and through different departments, such as the Homicide department, where he defeats a serial killer (Andrew Lukich) (who is depicted as the perpetrator of the real life |Black Dahlia murder, and who happens to be the half-brother of an unnamed high-level American politician, a fact which Phelps and his partner are warned by their superior to never speak publicly about), and shows the collapse of his reputation and marriage to Marie after being publicly exposed on falling for German lounge singer Elsa Lichtmann (Erika Heynatz).

When a U.S. Marine from Phelps's former unit is found brutally murdered, Phelps discovers many of his former squad members are being assassinated as well, and after meeting with his old comrade, Jack Kelso (Gil McKinney), he deduces that the men in his unit were selling surplus morphine after stealing a large supply from the USS Coolridge, the ship that carried the unit back to Los Angeles at the end of World War II. The men are being killed by mobsters who are working for Mickey Cohen (Patrick Fischler) who controls the drug trade and resent the competition.

Further investigations by Phelps and Kelso lead them to discover that the money from the morphine sales is being used to fund a program known as "The Suburban Redevelopment Fund." They discover that while the fund publicly has good intentions — to build houses for homecoming American servicemen — it is actually a front for an insurance fraud scam, run by a tycoon named Leland Monroe (John Noble), where sub-standard houses are built and then fall victim to arson in order apparently to claim the insurance money. This is finally revealed to be only a small part of the fraud, as the true fraud was against the federal government regarding eminent domain. The Suburban Redevelopment Fund aimed to build entire communities, albeit with matchstick houses, to fool the federal government into paying much higher prices for the land where they were constructed, as they are in the path of the proposed Whitnall Parkway in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles. The scam involves local businessmen, dignitaries and even the police chief. It also involves Monroe and a pop-psychiatrist named Harlan Fontaine (Peter Blomquist) and a headstrong member of Phelps and Kelso's unit, corpsman Courtney Sheldon (Chad Todhunter), who is later killed by Fontaine. After a shoot-out at Monroe's mansion by Kelso, it is revealed that the arsonist killed Fontaine and has kidnapped Elsa Lichtmann. It also revealed that the arsonist was Ira Hogeboom, a former flamethrower operator from Phelps' and Kelso's unit, suffering from PTSD and schizophrenia after inadvertently killing a large number of civilians in what was thought to be an enemy encampment at the Battle of Okinawa on (then) Lieutenant Cole Phelps' orders. Hogeboom was being manipulated by Fontaine to torch the houses of holdouts who refused to sell out to the Suburban Redevelopment Fund, in order to (unbeknownst to Hogeboom) aid the insurance fraud - but after Hogeboom inadvertently incinerates a house with an entire family inside, Hogeboom goes completely insane.

At the Los Angeles River Tunnels, while trying to rescue the kidnapped Elsa, Phelps and Kelso fight their way through corrupt policemen and thugs trying to stop them from exposing the Suburban Redevelopment Fund scam. Outside the tunnels, the Assistant DA blocks the corrupt chief of police from sending additional officers after Phelps, and makes a deal where he sells out the other Fund conspirators. Kelso kills Hogeboom to put him out of his mental anguish and he and Phelps rescue Elsa and flee from the tunnels while struggling against a sewer level that is rising after heavy rain. Eventually, the trio finds an open manhole that they use to get Elsa up to the surface. As the water begins to rise, Phelps voluntarily lifts Kelso to the surface as well; as there is no one else to help Phelps, he says a final goodbye to his comrades as a current sweeps him away, killing him.

Later, a funeral is held for Phelps. Biggs says to Kelso that Phelps was never his friend. Kelso acknowledges that, and says that he was never his enemy. Biggs says that Phelps knew that, as the speech for Phelps finishes. It is revealed during the funeral ceremony that Leland Monroe was brought to justice, but the other SRF conspirators (the Police Chief, the newspaper editor, Vice Squad Detective Roy Earle, among others) have apparently escaped justice - as they are all present at Phelps' funeral speaking (hypocritically) in his honor.

In the epilogue post-credits in a flashback scene Kelso, Sheldon, and their other fellow G.I.'s find surplus morphine on their ship home. Sheldon convinces the others to sell the drugs, making a profit. However, Kelso refuses, telling Sheldon and the others that his respect for them as soldiers will be ceased if they go through with the drug profiting. They do, leading to the events of the game.

Gameplay
The game takes plays in 1947 in Los Angeles, California as the player takes control of LAPD Officer and later Detective, Cole Phelps. The game follows Phelps' career as a officer from uniformed patrolman to Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson, two more desks, Bunco and Burglary, were cut from the final version of the game as the game would not have fit on one Blu-ray Disc. This decision caused the removal of 11 more cases. When first starting a case, the player must go to the crime scene and find clues, curtain clues are involved in the actually case while others are not, whenever an investigation starts, music starts and when you found all the clues, the music stops, clues are indication by a 'ding' sound effect and the controller vibrating. During this, newspapers are located throughout the game that either covers a part of the game's overarching plot or a flashback to Phelps' war memories. The player will get a rank of 1 to 5 stars depending on their performance in both interrogations and searching for clues.

In addition to the story cases, the player has an option to do Street Crimes which are cases that are not related to the case that they are working on. Some crimes involve characters that the player has met in previous cases. The player can travel on foot, as well as in various vehicles. When driving vehicles, the player may drive the full route to the next location, or have their partner drive instead (if the partner drives, the game will automatically skip to the destination). In addition to finding clues, the player must interrogate suspects while doing this, the player must pay very close attention to the story they give and their facial expressions this may convinced the player that the suspect is telling the truth, they doubt the suspect or they accuse the suspect of lying, if the play accuses of lying, they must need evidence to back it up. If the player interrogates two people at the police station, the player will be able to decide who to charge with the crime. The captain's attitude will tell if the player charged the right person.

Development
The development of L.A. Noire took seven year which included a change of publisher, expansion from a single platform to three, and numerous cancelled release dates. Brendan McNamara, director of the PlayStation 2 game The Getaway, left his position at Team Soho in October 2003 to form Team Bondi in Australia. In June 2005, the developer revealed that the game would be called L.A. Noire, and it would be an exclusive PlayStation 3 title, at the time, little was known about the game except that it was described as a "detective thriller". It was also revealed that Team Bondi was in an exclusive agreement with Sony to produce two more PlayStation 3 games, a year later, the publishing agreements changed when Rockstar Games announced that it would be publishing L.A. Noire. Rockstar's announcement only referred to it as a "next-generation crime thriller", with no platforms specified.

Take-Two Interactive, the sole publisher of Rockstar Games, re-confirmed the release of the PlayStation 3 version by listing it amongst its "announced to date" titles for "fiscal 2008" in a press release regarding the company's second quarter financial results. Despite the game being missing from Take-Two's updated release list for 2009, speculation of a release increased when Team Bondi increased its staff levels in 2009.

Technical


The re-creation of 1940s Los Angeles was done with aerial photographs taken by Robert Spence, Spence took over 110,000 aerial photographs of Los Angeles, the developers used the photos to create traffic patterns and public transport routes as well as the location and condition of buildings. While striving to recreate an accurate model of 1947 Los Angeles, the developers also took some artistic licence, such as including the appearance of the film set for D. W. Griffith's Intolerance; the set had actually been dismantled in 1919.

According to Game Informer, over 20 hour of voice over work went into the game, Mad Men actor, Aaron Staton lent his voice and likeness to the main character, Cole Phelps other Mad Men actors voiced characters in the game including Vincent Kartheiser (Walter Clemens), Rich Sommer (John Cunningham), Michael Gladis (Dudley Lynch), Patrick Fischler (Mickey Cohen) and Morgan Rusler (Charlie Conway). Singer and model Erika Heynatz plays the main female character, Elsa Lichtmann. Various American actors also play parts in individual cases, such as Greg Grunberg who plays a character falsely charged with his wife's murder.

Development controversy
After the game's release, former Team Bondi members created a website named lanoirecredits.com containing 100 names which had been left off or incorrectly listed in L.A. Noire's credits. This was followed by a series of claims and counter-claims about working hours and company managerial style during the game's development, along with leaked company emails concerning the state of the relationship between Team Bondi and Rockstar Games.

Marketing and release


L.A. Noire was heavily marketed by trailers on the internet and on television and through promotions that played on its noir and movie background. The game was showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival, the first videogame to be recognized by the festival, as well was screened as a sixty minute long film on 25 April 2011, followed by a question and answer session on the game's story and the technology used to make the game.

Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets on preorder bonuses available through store chains throughout the world. The pre-order bonuses were the bonus case The Naked City, the side quest The Badge Pursuit Challenge, the bonus detective suits "The Broderick" and "The Sharpshooter" and the traffic case A Slip of the Tongue. In addition to the pre-order bonuses, all new North American copies of the PlayStation 3 version of the game came with an extra traffic case, The Consul's Car. The Consul's Car traffic case became available for purchase from PlayStation Store on 27 July 2011, for European players. On 6 June 2011, Rockstar published L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, a collection of short stories from noted crime authors, all based on the L.A. Noire universe.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was scored by Andrew Hale and Simon Hale, the sound track also includes songs from the 40s.

L.A. Noire Soundtrack tracklisting:

Remix EP
A second soundtrack album for the game, Verve Records and Rockstar Games presents L.A. Noire Remixed EP, was released, consisting of six jazz classics from the era, remixed by contemporary DJs. Advertised as a "special installment" of the Verve Remixed Series, the album includes songs by artists of the period, such as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, remixed by DJs such as Ticklah, DJ Premier, and Moodymann.

Reception
L.A. Noire received universal acclaim. It holds an overall score of 89 out of 100 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and an overall score of 83 out of 100 for the PC on Metacritic.

IGN gave the game 8.5 out of 10, stating "L.A. Noire may not reach the emotional heights of a game like Heavy Rain, but it's something everyone must try out. It reaches high and almost succeeds as a brilliant new type of video game narrative." GameTrailers gave the game a 9.1 out of 10, concluding that "L.A. Noire floors you out of the gate, loses some steam due to repetition, but eventually wins the day thanks to its subtlety, attention to detail, and stunning character interaction." Gamespot's Carolyn Petit awarded the game a 9 out of 10, concluding that "L.A. Noire's absorbing investigations and intoxicating sense of style make it an unforgettable journey through the seamy side of the City of Angels." GameZone gave the game an 8.5/10, stating "The story is intriguing, albeit a little slow at first. L.A. Noire takes an old school approach toward its storytelling. It’s a much slower approach, similar to older movies, with a heavy emphasis on detail. It is that attention to detail that sets L.A. Noire apart from other games and makes it enjoyable to play."

Official PlayStation Magazine gave it 9 out of 10, and stated that "In many ways, L.A. Noire is similar to an AMC series... It's a slow build, but once hooked, we couldn't get enough of this provocative adventure, with its compelling characters and innovative gameplay. It's not perfect, but it's also unlike anything else on the PS3 right now." Official Xbox Magazine gave it 8 out of 10, and concluded with "Yes, it's flawed, but L.A. Noire is an honest-to-goodness detective crime thriller – a genuine breath of fresh air that values narrative and story above all else in an age where scripted action sequences and online deathmatch rule the day. It's the closest thing Xbox has to PlayStation's unique adventurer Heavy Rain." GamesMaster gave the game 92%, and concluded that L.A. Noire is "Rockstar's most mature take on open-world fun to date, brought to life with incredible tech."

Despite the overall positive reception, some reviewers thought that the game had too many redundancies in the cases and left too little control to the player, leading to the game being boring at times. Although 1UP gave it a perfect score, they also warned that the extended cut-scenes in the game could make some players feel they lost control of the action.

Potential sequel
On 22 May 2011, Team Bondi's Brendan McNamara told GamerLive.TV that a sequel to L.A. Noire would take less than the five years it took to develop the first as the technology already exists. McNamara also stated that they are considering using the MotionScan technology for full body performances rather than only faces. The same week, in an investor conference call, Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, said that L.A. Noire was "a very successful release" and that they "have every reason to believe that L.A. Noire is another strong franchise for this company". He reiterated that they "do see L.A. Noire as a powerful new franchise".

During an investor call in November 2011 Zelnick re-iterated the importance of the game to Take-Two, stating that the game "has become an important franchise for the company." Zelnick announced that the game was Take-Two's "most successful new release" in the past fiscal year and has become a key property in its portfolio. Also in November 2011, it was announced that McNamara's next game would be titled Whore of the Orient, which is described as "one of the great untold stories of the 20th century". It will be published by KMM Studios. On 31 August 2012, the first screenshot for Whore of the Orient was released, and is being developed for next-generation consoles and PC.

On 13 February 2012, Rockstar Games answered numerous fan questions about their games, including a question regarding the future of the L.A. Noire franchise. Rockstar said that they are "considering what the future may hold for L.A. Noire as a series", adding that they "don't always rush to make sequels". They also announced that no further DLC or additional content would be developed for the current edition.

It was announced on 14 November 2012, that KMM Interactive and WB Games had scheduled a release of Whore of the Orient in 2015. The game has been revealed to be set in 1936 Shanghai, China.

In March 2013, Karl Slatoff, chief operating officer of Take-Two Interactive, revealed that the company has an "extensive pipeline of unannounced titles in development" and mentioned that the L.A. Noire franchise as being important to the company, possibly referring to a sequel to L.A. Noire.

In June 2013, it was announced Team Bondi and KMM Interactive had received $200,000 in funding from New South Wales' Interactive Media Fund.