L.A. Noire Countdown

Investigating the road to L.A. Noire: Week #3

Incl: L.A. Noire’s Achievement/Trophy Listing

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

L.A. Noire will undoubtedly transform the albeit small detective/crime thriller genre in gaming.

Team Bondi and Rockstar Games are successfully producing what will become the epitome of our [console] generation’s technology, and will set the precedent for many others to follow.

While last week’s theme was modern, we’re going back in time again, but at the same time we’re going forward, confusing – yes? SO read on and let’s see what we can uncover together.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a very good film that did the unthinkable: blending science fiction, film noire and even elements of a crime thriller, Dark City.

And Then Came The Strangers

This week we look at another noire movie called Dark City, which has had 4 iterations over its life.

The very first Dark City setting the screens ablaze with the intense and definitely brilliant Charlton Heston, which was produced in 1950 (Dark City 1950) by Paramount Pictures and was a true ‘noire film’ in the real sense of the word.

This was followed by the 1990′s (Dark City 1990) version which featured Chris Curling as its lead actor, and produced by Canadian production company Filmafrica CSL, Zephyr Films, but did not receive much world-wide notoriety on release. It is based around the premise of seven innocent people who are accused of murdering a politician.

And finally we have the 1998 Dark City film by New Line Cinema. It’s something of a slightly different nature, a genre called “neo-noir.”  It is the film we will be concentrating on this week.

As film noir began to diverge from the original style, new elements that were absent in the originals began to appear. Thus the formation of the ‘neo-noir’. (“neo” being Greek for ‘new’)

Dark City is an intriguing film about a man named John Murdoch (portrayed by Rufus Sewell) who has seemingly forgotten who he is. He’s also being hunted by a cult of people who are in control of much more than he thinks.

No, this is not Unknown set in 1998 (although Liam Neeson would have made the lead role interesting). He awakens in a hotel room to a call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) urging him to quickly leave the hotel, as the cult is already on his tail.

• Critcally acclaimed:-

“No movie can ever have too much atmosphere, and Dark City exudes it from every frame of celluloid. Proyas’ world isn’t just a playground for his characters to romp in — it’s an ominous place where viewers can get lost.

We don’t just coolly observe the bizarre, ever-changing skyline; we plunge into the city’s benighted depths, following the protagonist as he explores the secrets of this grim place where the sun never shines.

Dark City has as stunning a visual texture as that of any movie that I’ve seen.”
—James Berardinelli, writing for ReelViews

Mr. Murdoch is also conveniently being linked to several gruesome murders by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt), all with the same pattern, which he does not remember at all. Worst of all, things seem to keep changing around him. Is he the murderer?  Has he lost his mind?

John eventually comes to find out that The Strangers (the name of the cult) are a group of beings that imprint people inside of this strange city with different peoples’ memories, and control reality.

One day you may be John Murdoch, the next, someone completely different with a different reality. The Strangers are dying out and are trying to find out what it means to be human.

Once again, we have the age-old science fiction theme of the glorification of human feelings and emotions. As with most films of the noire genre, atmosphere and mystery are a big part of the attraction.  Noire means darkness in French and Dark City uses darkness (and later light) to excellent effect, adding to the feeling that something sinister is going on, and that the city is hiding something.

The quest to find the beautiful beach shows the protagonist’s quest to find the truth and find a way out of the dark oppressive cityscape and confusion in his mind.

The characters are also exaggerated almost 1930s style cliches, which enhances the noire aspect.  They wear the period hats, there is the ‘mad scientist’, the dogged detective, the gold-hearted prostitute, and the sultry singer.

• L.A. Noire Game and Dark City Images

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And of course there is the compulsory murder mystery.  The brilliance is in the way the science fiction element folds into this noire reality.

It’s an excellent combination of science fiction and film noir, and is most definitely something to check out if you enjoy either genre.

It’s also to be noted that this is definitely NOT one for the kiddos, especially the director’s cut version!

And as the game approaches – So do the Q?’s

As with all games, the gamers themselves have heaps of questions, and what better way of answering those questions than to use the brilliant social network; Twitter.

Following are several great questions from some L.A. Noire game enthusiast wanting to know such things as “is there any Multiplayer in L.A. Noire?” -

So dig in, check out the Q&A, and if YOU have some of your own questions, make sure you log-in to the L.A. Noire twitter page and ask away.

Rockstar Games will endeavour to answer as many questions as humanly possible, but above all, be polite – of course I know you will – right!

• “What is the official release date for LA Noire?” – received via Twitter

• “Nice to know the dates of release but what about a date for Australia?” – Tommy_Spaghetti

As confirmed officially recently, L.A. Noire will be coming to stores for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on May 17th 2011 in North America and May 20th 2011 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

If you’re in another territory not covered in the above and would like to know when to expect the release of the game, drop us a line atmouthoff@rockstargames.com and we should be able to confirm the release availability for you.

• “Hey Rockstar love the new LA Noire trailer! So you’re tracking down a serial killer the whole game?? Can’t wait to find out more!” – received via Mouthoff

Thanks! And actually the serial killer crimes are really just one portion of the game story. You are hot on the trail of that killer while working the Homicide crime desk, which is just one of five total crime desks Cole Phelps will work.

• “@R* is there multiplayer in L.A. Noire? or just single player?” – ghostcheez

There will be no multiplayer component of L.A. Noire – the combination of innovative technology and unique gameplay that allow you to solve crimes through interrogations and investigation is really one that’s geared entirely for a single-player experience.

Trust us that this is a game unlike any you’ve played before – very different not only for us here at Rockstar but for videogames as a medium. Bolting on generic multiplayer on top of that would not make much sense, or be a good use of our time or development budget! Hope this clears up any confusion.

We thought this would be spelt out in some of last week’s previews, but as it wasn’t, we felt we should clarify ourselves.

• “Hi R*. We heard about interrogations and analyzing a crime scene in L.A. Noire but what about follow a suspect on foot and in car, gathering information from informants, tap a phone call, milk a conversation? ….could be nice to hear more about gameplay.” – realrasta

Glad to see you’re getting into the spirit of it all – and yes, many of those things (but not all) and more will be part of the gameplay of L.A. Noire.

From investigating crime scenes with a keen detective’s eye, to tense interrogations where you’ll have to pick up on nuances of what the suspect may (or may not) be telling you, to action-packed pursuit on foot, in car – plus fights and shootouts.

We really wanted the game to make you feel like you are actually a detective, working criminal cases and making decisions about how you solve crimes and to build out a variety of gameplay moments and experiences to that effect.

Look for a special new gameplay video about this subject called “Investigation and Interrogation” dropping this week.

• “So, will I be able to choose from a wide range of questions when interrogating a suspect?” -The4ourTy67

• “I’m guessing you get to choose from different questions/responses to ask your witness or suspect? Can these interrogations change the course of the game/story if not handled properly? Personally this aspect of the game is the most exciting for me. Nothing beats a good Noire mystery, I really hope that the cases take some serious effort to solve.” – IWIHooligan

You will always be given a range of questions when you interrogate a suspect, but the number and content of those questions is determined by how efficient you’ve been at searching related crime scenes for clues.

The clues you discover can open up different leads to new locations or suspects, which in turn open up new options for a player to decide how to go about solving a case. Then during interrogations, it’s up to the player to correctly analyze a suspect in order to get the most information from them.

Knowing when to believe a suspect, when to doubt them, and when to be certain they are lying (by presenting them with your evidence) will open up new ways for you to solve each case correctly. In every case, there is only one real truth about what happened – it’s up to your skill as a detective to discover it.

• “All of those pre-order bonuses sound awesome but is there any way to get all of them? Hate to have to choose just one.” – received via Mouthoff

All of the L.A. Noire pre-order content will be made available for purchase as DLC at some point after the game comes out.

We have long planned to do this for all digital pre-order items. In case you’re interested, the Red Dead Redemption pre-order items (Deadly Assassin Outfit, Golden Guns Weapon Pack and War Horse) will finally be available for download via Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network this April.

Apologies that has taken so long, but we ran into some technical issues. Stay tuned for more details.

• “R*, will we be able to see the Hollywood sign in L.A. Noire???” – rk8000

Yes, however since the game takes place prior to the year 1949, we have the historically accurate original version “HOLLYWOODLAND” sign in there.

You can read the full history of that iconic landmark at the Hollywood Sign wiki page here, but in short – the sign was originally erected in 1923 to promote the Hollywoodland housing development in the hills.

It wasn’t until 1949 that the city of Los Angeles decreed that the sign be changed to be broadly about the district of Hollywood.

• “So are we playing as a police detective or a private investigator in L.A. Noire?” – ghostx1984

You will play as LAPD detective Cole Phelps – and as the game progresses and you solve more cases, you will rise up through the ranks of the LAPD from a beat cop to other positions. Much more will be revealed about that in due time.

• “Is this going to be a sandbox game? If yes, is it going to be GTA style or more like Mafia where it’s really more of a set story game in sandbox world…” – MarenkaS

L.A. Noire is a detective game – and it is unlike any game we have made or anyone else has made that we are aware of. You solve a series of crimes, some of which are linked and some of which are not, in 1947 Los Angeles.

As a company, we try to design games around the content and setting, rather than form the setting to the game design. So the answer to your question is not a simple yes or no, but it’s definitely not ‘GTA with fedoras’ and is something very original we’re excited for everyone to experience this May.

• “Is the music in the L.A. Noire trailer original to the game?” – received via Twitter

The music in both trailers are pieces of original composition from the soundtrack – we will have full details on all of the music soon.

• “I really like that L.A. Noire artwork [of Cole Phelps]. Are you going to release more artwork soon?” -The4ourTy67

Thanks! And most definitely. Look for lots more original L.A. Noire artwork of characters from the game as well as of some of the grisly crime scenes in the game to be revealed and released in the weeks and months ahead.

• “[L.A. Noire] looks really great!!!! So the real murders and crimes of the 40′s like the Black Dahlia murder are gonna be in this game or something??? I read something on Game Informer that says “suffice it to say that this game might feature some of Rockstar’s grittiest content ever.” Well this sound’s more and more awesome!!!!!!!!” – Mortal91ify

Thank you. Yes, all of the cases in the game that you’ll solve as Detective Cole Phelps are inspired by real life crimes that happened during the 1940’s.

Names and places may have been changed though, along with a good degree of creative embellishment to add extra drama and twists and turns.

L.A. Noire Achievement/Trohpy Listing

• A Cop On Every Corner.

Complete a single street crime case

• Johnny On The Spot

Respond to 20 street crime cases.

• The Long Arm Of The Law

Complete all street crime cases.

• The City Of The Angels

Reach 100% Game Complete.

• The Up And Up

Complete a story case with a five star rating.

• Shamus To The Stars

Complete all story cases with a five star rating.

• The Brass

Achieve maximum rank.

• Not So Hasty

Stop a fleeing suspect with a warning shot as an LAPD Detective.

• Asphalt Jungle

Chase down and tackle a fleeing suspect on foot as an LAPD Detective.

• Traffic Stop

Disable a suspect vehicle with help from your partner.

• The Straight Dope

Use evidence to prove a lie as an LAPD Detective or Investigator.

• One For The File

Find and inspect a clue as an LAPD Detective or Investigator.

• Golden Boy

Clear a case finding every clue as an LAPD Detective or Investigator.

• The Plot Thickens

Find and solve an inspection puzzle.

• Lead Foot

Keep the needle above 80mph for more than ten seconds while driving.

• Miles On The Clock

Drive more than 194.7 miles.

• Wooden Overcoats

Bring down a total of 30 bad guys with head shots.

• Dead Men Are Heavier

Shoot and kill a total of 100 bad guys.

• Roscoe And Friends

Kill at least one bad guy with every gun.

• Magpie

Find and inspect 95% of all clues.

• The Shadow

Tail a suspect without being spotted, in a single case.

• The Third Degree

Correctly branch every question in every interview in a single story case.

• The Hunch

Use five intuition points in conversation with a single suspect, correctly branching each question.

• Star Map

Discover all landmark buildings around the city.

• Public Menace

Rack up $47,000 in penalties during a single story case.

• The Moose

Tail Candy Edwards from the parking lot to her destination without using cover or going incognito.

• Keep A Lid On

Complete a brawl without losing your hat as an LAPD Detective or Investigator.

• Auto Enthusiast

Drive 5 different vehicles.

• Auto Collector

Drive 40 different vehicles.

• Auto Fanatic

Drive every vehicle in the city.

• Hollywoodland

Find and inspect all gold film canisters.

• Plus 9 secret Achievements & Trophies to discover come this May…

• OXCGN Anticimeter

Highly Anticipated

Previously on L.A. Noire Countdown:

• Week 7: Sin City
  
• Week 6: Max Payne
• Week 5: Media Blowout
• Week 4: JFK Assassination
• Week 3: Dark City
• Week 2: The CSI Effect
• Week 1: The Untouchables

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

xxxxxx

• L.A. Noire & Dark City Screenshot gallery

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