LA Noire: Room for improvement

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I loved LA Noire and if it wasn’t for the strong line up of games (Skyrim and Uncharted 3 I’m looking at you) then it probably would have been my game of the year. There hasn’t been a game of its type that has told a story in a way that has had me so gripped. Usually I find that RPGs are the only games where the story alone can keep me playing, even if there are faults in the gameplay. LA Noire proved the importance of a well paced plot with good writing. Even though many of the gameplay elements were not that strong, the game really stuck with me as the story dragged me deeper and deeper into its rabbit hole. By the last five missions I found myself playing until the early hours of the morning, hooked, almost unable to draw myself away.

Of course LA Noire has a lot more than story. New facial recognition technology, original gameplay mechanics and an underused setting in the video game industry made sure that the game would get the recognition that it deserved. This didn’t mean that it was perfect though, in fact LA was far off that 10/10 score that games are so rarely scored because for everything it did well, it also had an aspect that was oozing potential. So here’s our list of ways LA Noire can drastically improve and even though some of these may sound crazy, we can all dream.

*Spoilers Follow*

RPG elements

This is probably the most controversial out of all the ideas on this list, but hear me out. LA Noire perfectly fits into the idea of having RPG elements, when linked to the branching storylines (see below) it works perfectly.

So you’ve been playing the game for a while now, but are you a good cop or bad cop? Are you the kind of guy that pushes around the people he interviews, slamming them against walls and busting up the joint,  or are you a straight-laced guy who soothes and schmoozes with people to get his answers.  This system would be similar to Bioware’s RPGs where, based upon how you’ve played the game so far you would be able to give good or bad choices in conversation trees based upon how you play the game. This would help you feel like you created your own unique character.

There’s a whole load that you could upgrade too. One of the most annoying things about LA Noire was that if you were a completionist, you’d spend vast quantities of time walking round every nook and cranny trying to find every single clue. Yes the little musical note that played helped, but imagine if you could upgrade you ability to find clues, giving them a glowing tint, or the music would even start earlier, getting louder the closer you got.

There are plenty of other upgrades that would be available too. You could do police training to get access to better firearms, cars and other equipment that would help you during missions.

Interactive interrogations

The best example I can think of this is LA Confidential. Edmund Exely has two suspects in separate interrogation rooms. He’s struggling to get the answers he wants from either of the men, so decides to play them off against one another. He questions one suspect to tears and uses the information to push the other into telling him the truth. The new upgrade system would allow for you to get new conversation trees and insight into how to push people’s buttons.

If you are not the intelligent type of character, how about just throwing you weight about, slamming your fists on the table or even playing a little game of Russian Roulette like ‘Bud’ White. Of course the tactics above wouldn’t work against everyone. Try to outsmart some and they’ll look right through you. Likewise throw your weight about too much and you risk getting in trouble with the police board, or some smart-ass suspect getting their highly paid lawyer involved.

More varied set pieces

LA noire had some nice chase scenes but it never really mixed things up. Generally you’d spot someone chase them in a car after knocking them about for a bit, you’d then chase them on foot (if you hadn’t already arrested them) eventually taking them down.

How about a few missions with where a suspect runs to into a local shop taking a hostage. The protagonist could then negotiate his way into the shop and either talk down the suspect or go for a well placed shot, risking the hostages life. You could even work with your partner to create a set up, where one of you distracts the suspect while the other takes them down.

 

Branching storylines

I completely understand why this wasn’t in LA Noire. The story was so well written that putting in branching storylines would have created a lot of issues with pacing. Imagine though if the same effort was put into designing a branching storyline.

In the game you occasionally had the choice of whom to accuse and arrest. If you chose the wrong person then your superior would come in swearing, give you a slap on the wrist and send you out to do some field work. How about this time if you get the wrong person then it creates a different story, new missions and bigger problems. Imagine it, you sent down Mr Jones for murdering the two local ladies of the night, you had enough evidence to send him down,  but all of a sudden another murder under similar circumstances occurs.

Now because you messed up the first case it has been given to those two other hot-shot detectives in the office and you are now dealing with a completely different case. Of course if you can argue your case correctly with the right people, maybe you can be kept  on, just without your partner as he was the one who messed up the case, right?

Partner trust

Ok so your partner is one of the coolest things in LA Noire. Pretty much all the archetypes are covered. Rusty Galloway is the burnt out cop looking for the easy life, Ralph Dunn is the nervous new guy and Roy Earle is you average cocky, scum-bag, bent cop (I hate you Roy).

If you could be a good cop or bad cop, this would let particular partners like you more. It could even open up side quests. Playing dirty with a good cop as your partner may lead you to deal with ways of sorting him out. Likewise as a good cop, you may have to track down and get proof of your partner’s corruption. This would depend on how you have played the game and worked on cases with your partner. The less they trust you, the less help they are likely to give you.

Of course to get to your desired partner you would first have to pay attention to the story, looking at how other cops have worked and their files. Each officer would even have their own set of stats that would be effective in certain situations. For example, you could have a brick house of a policeman with your Cole Phelps type character, making a nice ‘good-cop, bad-cop’ combination for interrogations.

Pass missions successfully with a good amount of clues, successful questioning and the right person arrested and you will open up a bigger choice of partner as your superiors are pleased with your work. Mess up a case and you get put with that guy nobody wants to be with. There’s always one…


A living city

LA Noire was a dead city. Sure the area, people and atmosphere oozed character, but there was pretty much nothing to do other than respond to calls of crime incidents and drive to your next case. In fact I found most of the time that I played the game I asked my partner to drive to avoid these banal incidents.

How about adding a shooting range (which would tie into upgrading you arsenal), a jazz club or even private investigator side missions. These could provide a nice  diversion from the main campaign and the latter could even have its own sub-story. There should be another LA Noire,  even if it is under a different name or with other characters, but it needs to have a little more going on.

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