L.A. Noire

[METALMAN]

Well, history has proven them to be right.

[Lint]

I'm seriously torn by this game. It looks fucking awesome...but at the same time, the previews have given me the "Heavy Rain" feeling where

After beating it once, its pointless to play again

[Maxx]

I'm going to play through it once and try my best to be a wonderful detective. Then I'm going to play through it like 1940's Vic Mackey.

[DMN in the House]

I hope I can be super racist, and beat the shit out of minorities.

You know, for that real LAPD feeling.

[Herr Matzat]

I'm seriously torn by this game. It looks fucking awesome...but at the same time, the previews have given me the "Heavy Rain" feeling where

After beating it once, its pointless to play again

Exept that RockStar has a very good track record of creating games that stay fun while Quantic Dreams Idea of "it will be totaly differnt each time you play" has been proven wrong more than once.

Right now the only thing that keeps me from preordering is that i had my monny burned on repairing my bike and the weather beeing way to awsome (right now i don´t play at all + a got a ton of games i could play if i would... :-( ) ...it looks like so much fun... but i have not even bought red dead, so i could just go cheap and get that untill LA gets cheaper. >_<

[tenaciousg]

I'm seriously torn by this game. It looks fucking awesome...but at the same time, the previews have given me the "Heavy Rain" feeling where

After beating it once, its pointless to play again

Exept that RockStar has a very good track record of creating games that stay fun while Quantic Dreams Idea of "it will be totaly differnt each time you play" has been proven wrong more than once.

Right now the only thing that keeps me from preordering is that i had my monny burned on repairing my bike and the weather beeing way to awsome (right now i don´t play at all + a got a ton of games i could play if i would... :-( ) ...it looks like so much fun... but i have not even bought red dead, so i could just go cheap and get that untill LA gets cheaper. >_<

I can definitely see there being a lot more to do in Noire than just the main story. Hell, knowing how much detail they put into the LA of the period, the first thing I plan on doing once I can get free roam of the town is just driving around to sightsee.

[Herr Matzat]

Hell yeah. I absolutly love the feeling of the games classic timeframe. I think they have not don this since GTA London. (i think that was set in the 70s?)

And there will be DLC. Amazon has some wacky suit that gives you bonus while fighting (laaaame)... but GameStop Germany offers a case called "The nacked City" and Play.com gives the case "A Slip Of The Tongue" (and the Soundtrack as Download!) so there must be some kind of system in place were they can just ad cases as much as they want.

thehut.co.uk has no preorder Bonus, but with the gift code "May2" you are at under 40€.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[zero]

The game is three discs, does it really need to be something you play over and over again? It's okay for a game to be good for one playthrough.

[Herr Matzat]

The game is three discs, does it really need to be something you play over and over again? It's okay for a game to be good for one playthrough.

Well, heavy rain used all the bluray space aswell... size alone dos not matter, it´s how you use it.

But the idea of it being on three discs might say something, maybe it´s liniar for the first disk, open world for the second and liniar again for the final disc? I remember Xenogears losing all it´s open worldedness on Disc 2. But that was PSone times, these days GTA fits on a single disk for xbox 360?

Edited May 7, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[TCO]

The game is three discs, does it really need to be something you play over and over again? It's okay for a game to be good for one playthrough.

Well, heavy rain used all the bluray space aswell... size alone dos not matter, it´s how you use it.

But the idea of it being on three discs might say something, maybe it´s liniar for the first disk, open world for the second and liniar again for the final disc? I remember Xenogears losing all it´s open worldedness on Disc 2. But that was PSone times, these days GTA fits on a single disk for xbox 360?

I dount Rockstar would split their game up into 3 different variations just to cater for the Xbox version. it'd be a bit odd to hit a point on the PS3 version where you're inexplicable not allowed to free roam anymore.

[Herr Matzat]

That has been don often before. Mostly in RPGs and Adventures.... i think they stated this game would not rely as heavy on free roaming as GTA. I think it has to be tied down somehow since the places of intrest need more deteil than GTA were they mostly serv as a space to have gunfights or races in. I expect it to be more like the CSI games, just a lot better.

[zero]

And Heavy Rain was perfectly fine for one playthrough as well. I doubt I'll ever play the game again, but it's one of the reasons I bought a PS3 and I'm glad I did.

[Herr Matzat]

I agree, for one play it was fine, wen you go at it a second time you notice that it´s a lot more stale than they promised it to be. All in All it´s just a rent if you ask me, even if it is a good rent.

While L.A. Noire seems a bit more usual than Heavy Rain, and you might say that this makes it easyer to creat a longer more "plug and play" and replay frindly game, it still feels like Rockstar is going to do a lot of things that have been tried before right for the first time. Interigations for example.

[Quom]

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I'm sick of free roam games that are set in lifeless cities. I don't need the ability to drive all over a city. I don't want a game that is three minutes of mission and 30 minutes of driving. GTA on PS2 was amazing because it was new. I'm now over running over pedestrians or driving around just because.

I played, enjoyed and finished Heavy Rain and would consider it a huge success. I played GTA-IV, got bored of not being able to drive properly and spending most of my time driving around and it has sat in a drawer for the past two years. I have had the same issue with all of the free roam games this gen besides Infamous which was novel in that a city block wasn't an obstruction but something to climb and explore. Red Dead also avoided this by being 90% wilderness so you didn't need to worry about traffic or going off road. Even that I got bored with once I hit Mexico and stopped playing as the world just became too large to navigate easily.

I now want interesting linear adventures, rather than 15 hour games stretching out to 40 by having a massive world that isn't interesting to explore and just takes hours to navigate from A-B.

[TCO]

You can avoid all the navigating in both Red Dead and GTA IV with taxis/stage coaches. I knwo I did a lot for the particularly long commutes between missions.

[Quom]

I know, but because it's there I sort of feel compelled to do it. When I play most games I generally go everywhere. Like I won't go searching for secrets, but if I have a choice to go left or right, I will go left then backtrack and see what was to the right. As such if a games lets me drive around a city, I will even if I don't want to. I sort of want to explore everything in case the creator/s intended me to and it will add to the game or atmosphere.

[Herr Matzat]

I am still fairly certain that i read somewere L.A. Noire would not be a GTA Style driving game.

[Maxx]

Yes it's an open world GTA style game in some aspects, just look at the description of one of the Social Club activities

The fan-favorite 100% Checklist feature that Social Club members loved for Red Dead Redemption is back with L.A. Noire and enhanced for the occasion - with the ability to track every last morsel of action that it will take to reach the coveted 100% completion mark. From cases closed, to street crimes beaten, to landmarks and film reels found and everything else that it takes - the Checklist will track your current progress as well as allow you to compare how you're doing versus your Social Club Friends down to every item. Our dynamic Los Angeles map will also help you find some items that you may need a tip on tracking down.

They've recreated the entire city of Los Angeles circa 1947 for you to explore in. There just won't be a 30+ characters hanging around to give you side quests as you get all your missions from the police station, other than stopping random street crimes. You'll have the open world to explore, but it'll be a bit more linear and story driven.

[Maxx]

Let's put that debate to bed entirely, here's a little video from IGN about the things you can do while not playing the main story cases.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/05/11/la-noire-man-about-town-video-feature?show=HD

[Herr Matzat]

And the XBox 360 version has already been leaked all over the internet.