With studios such as Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Detroit: Become Human) or Naughty Dog (Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, The Last of Us 2) giving crazy importance to facial animations and what that they can release, one would have thought that Rockstar Games was sending LA Noire and its Motion Scan to the scaffold; but after several hours of play, we must admit that the magic still works. At the limit, we could have some reservations about certain expressions that are a little too exaggerated to be natural, but from a strictly technical point of view, there is no way to open it. The lip synchronization is perfect, the imperfections of the skin are extremely well rendered, and the gaze of the characters is capable of conveying a whole palette of emotions. Fortunately, moreover, since it is from these facial expressions and other tics that Detective Cole Phelps will have to determine if the suspect he is interrogating is lying or telling the truth. Generally, the first interviews are easy to conduct and the defendants find it difficult to do it upside down. It's only then that things really get tougher, with individuals strong enough in their heads not to let anything show through. In order not to crash like a rookie and be demoted to traffic, it is therefore essential to rake the scenes of infraction - or crime - to recover as many clues as possible.
If you're one of those who haven't tasted LA Noire on Xbox 360 and PS3, now is the time to let yourself be carried away by the Motion Scan and the incredible facial animations it is capable of producing.
Magnanimous, the developers of Team Bondi have put in place some assistance thanks to which we can know if we have missed a crucial element. For example, as long as you hear the little melody that accompanies each investigation phase, it means that all the objects in the area have not been examined. When you pass near a possible exhibit, the controller can also start to vibrate. Of course, not everything in the perimeter is necessarily useful to the investigation, like bottles of beer, cups of coffee, or vases that keep coming back. This is undoubtedly where LA Noire's main weakness lies, namely the lack of variety in the “lures”. Indeed, we end up spotting at first glance the elements that are only there to delude, which somewhat reduces the challenge. Afterwards, it is always possible to deactivate the aids to sharpen your sense of observation. In any case, in the manner of Columbo, Cole Phelps notes everything in his notebook to better put the suspects in front of their contradictions via the action "Accuse". Sometimes you have to insist to get the worms out of their faces, which is what the "Intimidate" command is used for. Finally, we can very well have to deal with an honest witness; in this case, it is the “coax” option that is useful.
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This would undoubtedly have involved even more colossal work, but we would have appreciated real scriptwriting branches. There, Phelps tends to fall more or less on his feet, whether he is wrong or not. Sometimes you can put an innocent person behind bars, but don't expect a whole host of different endings. The consequences are limited, and we will focus above all on not giving ourselves a bad evaluation once the investigation is complete. The most gifted will gain in XP and will even be given intuition points for each new grade reached. And since we're talking about it, let's emphasize that the points of intuition reduce the risk of being wrong with, for example, the possibility of appealing to the community (Rockstar Social Club) in order to be put on the right track. We would tend to forget it, but LA Noire is not content to chain interrogations, Phelps having the opportunity to stretch a little with shootings and chases. Well, the arsenal is quite limited to tell you the truth. It's not enough to explain the relative softness of the gunfights, but it contributes anyway. On the other hand, impossible to resist the magnificent atmosphere of the game and the Los Angeles of 1947 for which the developers collaborated with historians. For the sake of authenticity, thousands of archives have been consulted, and one of the game's investigations even takes up the famous case of the Black Dahlia. In short, nothing was left to chance, which is also valid for the jazzy soundtrack from which no false note escapes.
The other good point for the Nintendo console is the tactile features that make the controls intuitive, whether to consult the map, take a look at the notebook, or even retrieve the clues.
As for the realization on Xbox One and PS4, LA Noire logically displays cleaner textures than on the previous generation. 4K is even available on Xbox One X, hence the download of 13 GB of additional data. In any case, it is not a Shadow of the Colossus remake on PS4, while an overhaul of the animations would not have been luxury. Basically, the characters' rigid movements contrast with the hyper-realism of their faces, and it's even more obvious on today's consoles. Regarding the Nintendo Switch version, we are entitled to classic: 720p in portable mode, 1080p on the living room screen. We're not going to hide it from you, with the console docked, the result isn't the most dazzling – aliasing and clipping are eye-catching. In fact - and this is sadly the case with most Switch games - it's best played on the console's screen, its smaller size naturally smoothing out any visual flaws. In terms of controls, Maxime has already mentioned them at this address in a long preview, and we will just remember that even in possession of the physical version of LA Noire, a 13 GB download and some dust on the eShop will be essential to recover the entire content of the game, that is to say with the DLC.
