February 23rd, 2012 
ramdewarkiron
***There are plenty of spoilers here.***
So recently when I was browsing on N4G I came across this article on Cole Phelps. Here Jason Lomberg argues that L.A. Noire’s lead character is a cheating dick who he couldn’t really empathise with. In a way I do agree with him. Cole Phelps was the ‘by the book’ man of the game and the main character you control. Most of the time I hate these characters. They have no individual thoughts and are simply happy doing the job as told and brown-nosing superiors. In fact I can’t think of a single person I have talked to who liked Cole Phelps.
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L.A. Noire was different to other games though. Here we go on journey with Cole Phelps as he makes his way up and down the police ranks. At first I hated the smug look he had when he was given each promotion. I didn’t like him because this seemed to define him. Then along comes the German love interest Elsa Lichtmann. After a few scenes with the two, Cole goes off to her apartment to get his freak-on. When he does this his crooked partner sets him up for a massive fall and he ends up getting demoted and loses his squeaky clean image.
The man who has played things by the book ends up losing his family too and I didn’t feel sorry for Cole. He’s a cheating piece of crap, right? If you have a wife and kids you should know better. He’s now lost everything that he has worked for and the moral compass that has dictated Cole’s character has been broken.
Lomberg argues that while he saw Cole go to visit his German mistress he felt angry “yelling at his television”. To be honest I did the same thing. I remember being shocked by what was happening, what was my straight-laced character doing?
This is exactly when I started loving Cole Phelps. As a lead character he represents something rarely seen in video game narratives. A main character who has been designed to be part of the story instead of being liked by the player. At this point I realised how invested I was in the story. I felt pissed off that Cole had betrayed his image, despite the fact I hated it. Instead of being a completely by the book guy we see how he is tripped up by one of his vices, women. He is three-dimensional character.
In fact Cole is a pretty messed up guy. He has a history in Japan where he massacred a group of innocent people and became a war hero for it. For most of the game he’s so anal about doing everything correctly that the NPCs begin to hate him. This is what makes Cole great. He has flaws, a shady history and his character is strong, even if it is in one of the most annoying ways. I don’t think that Rockstar wanted you to like Cole. In fact I think that his partners were the people that we are meant to empathise with until the end. All of Cole’s partners may have been ripped straight from different films but they all have distinct personalities that clash or blend with Cole’s.
While I may not have liked him as a person I loved how he worked as a character in the game. This was his story and it the designers didn’t change or manipulate his character to make sure that us, the players loved him. This meant that the story could unfold in such a way that rivalled the narratives in films. Too many games try to make the main character likeable, killing the story off completely, as the main characters personality is often the driving force behind the story (e.g revenge, retribution).
By the end of the game I even started to like Cole a bit. I felt sorry for the man after he loses his family, job status and dignity. When I finally saw his demise I was surprised that he died and I praise Rockstar for their decision. Killing Cole was the only way the disgraced cop was going to be forgiven for his sins. His story had been told and I loved it. Although I still didn’t really like Cole himself, I can appreciate how his character was used to create what is, in my view, one of the best storytelling experiences in video game history.
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Check this out:
http://uk.gamespot.com/features/reality-check-is-cole-phelps-a-psychopath-6321644/
While slightly whimsical in its use of certain flaws in L.A. Noire’s mechanics to discern character traits in Phelps, I found the notion interesting.
Was a pretty interesting artilce (think you’ve sent this to me before, or am I mad?). Just goes to show that Cole isn’t some crappy two dimensional character. The guy has some serious depth (and issues clearly).
Just to clarify, Cole was in Japan, not Vietnam (1940s not 1970s). Anyways, I whole heartedly agree with your opinion. I quite I love him as a character. I think a lot people failed to take in mind his past and his mental during the game, so they became frustrated with him. There were a couple hints leading up to his end, but they’re really easy to miss, so the storytelling is a bit off… All in all, I really love Cole and the game so it’s nice to see someone with a similar opinion.
You are completely right. My bad! I think that he is a missunderstood completely. A lot of people only played one half of the game, got annoyed with Cole and didn’t bother completing it. I think that he really opens up after the Dahlia murders too, which is where many people stopped the game as this is where it gets a little bogged down. The game was my GOTY, just because I was blown away by the story and it tried something new in an underused setting. The three storylines all blending into one was brilliant too. I’ll shut up now. I could go on forever!
he’s such a holier than thou punk. i still hate him. there are just some things you cant let go of. i could maybe have let go of the massacre considering it was an error in judgement but when he slept with that ho-bag elsa he new exactly what he was doing and that it was wrong. and then he lectured rusty for being a prick to his ex-wives. i repeat. holier than thou. before he was just an honest to god guy who called people like rusty out on their bullshit but he’s just as bad. and maybe i would have forgiven the cheating thing if he didnt have two little daughters for crying out loud! he’s a punk. i like a character with flaws but a hypocrite i cannot stand for. He seems like the devil to me even in front of other awful video game such as the thugs in the GTA series or the lovely colorful characters of the saints row gang.
oh and saving jack didnt redeem him although i bet thats what the writer was trying to do with his little sacrifice.
Yes, he is an arrogant, by the book guy. The thing I liked about him was that he did make mistakes, he did sleep around and betray his family.
The reason I loved Cole wasn’t because I really empathised with him or loved him. It was because he did mess up and he wasn’t a two-dimensional ‘good-guy’. He had his vices and he paid the price because of it.