L.A. Noire



The details for the upcoming game from Rockstar, L.A Noir has been revealed on Game Informer`s March Issue. Initially announced as only for the PlayStation 3, the game was later confirmed to also be scheduled for release on the Xbox 360.

L.A. Noire is an open-world action-adventure game set in "a perfectly re-created Los Angeles" of the late 1940s, with players being given an open-ended challenge to solve a series of murders. I know this is Rockstar`s game but don`t expect the "shoot everyone" madness in GTA. This one is completely different their GTA titles.

IGN:
You play as Cole Phelps, a beat cop looking to clean up the streets of L.A. It won't be easy, seeing as how the L.A. police force is mired in corruption from top to bottom. Phelps has his own issues to deal with, including some very bad things he did in World War II. Though he starts low on the totem pole, over the course of L.A. Noire Phelps progresses through a series of "desks" in the department, including traffic, vice and, ultimately, homicide.

As a detective, you have to solve cases through a mixture of investigations, interviews and interrogations. According to the article in GI, when you come across a scene, you won't find highlighted items sitting in obvious places. Crime scenes are said to look natural and require a deft eye to spot important clues. See a pair of glasses on the ground of a supposed murder scene and you can pick them up, noting details such as the brand etched on the inside of the frame. These little bits of information are jotted down on your notepad, which can be brought up at any time.

Things get a little more interesting in regards to the interview system. Team Bondi is using revolutionary technology that could change the way games are made. The new facial motion capturing system sets actors alone in a giant room with cameras all around. In full make-up, the actor delivers their dialogue. Every facial moment is recorded, from the most exaggerate of motions to the slightest twitch of an eye. The dialogue is recorded at this time as well, creating a seamless scene. All of this is then translated into a 3D game landscape with no animators needed. The result? According to GI, it's a picture-perfect rendering of the actor's scene. That's important to the gameplay.

When you interview someone, you'll need to watch their face and determine if they're lying. Like Mass Effect, your dialogue choices come from a handful of general options: coax, accuse or force. The way you handle an interview or interrogation is greatly determined by the reactions you get from the suspect. You can also refute testimony by selecting clues from your notebook.

Unfortunately, GI wasn't shown any of the gunplay, so the set-up for the action sequences is still a mystery.


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