So, I normally do our little, ‘While You Were Working’ updates on Wednesdays but I celebrated my second year wedding anniversary yesterday, so I had to postpone the post til now.

First, a minor preamble.  Josh has been talking about Diablo 3 for about a year now.  He even spent 400 some odd dollars building a new PC so he could play THE GAME the way it was meant to be played.  Josh picked up his copy of Diablo 3 this Tuesday.  Due to this, I EXPECTED him to play it right away and be chomping at the bit to share his review with you all but that didn’t end up happening.  Apparently, he hasn’t even started playing it yet (Boo! Hiss!).  So, it has fallen on me to knock out a review in his stead and since I didn’t play Diablo 3 yet either…

LA Noire for the PC: A late review for a game that’s been out for nearly a year

Ok, it’s new to me, at least.  I’ve recently gotten back into my old groove of playing 2 video games a month.  This month, I knocked out Batman: Arkham City and I am in the process of finishing LA Noire.  From what I can tell, this game attempts to be a few things at once.  First and foremost, it’s a Detective Game; you solve crimes using your wits and what little science can afford you in the 1940′s.  Now, the time period allows for the game makers to explore the plot lines of two films they clearly have major woody’s for; The Black Dahlia and, one of my favorite films of all time, LA Confidential.  As much as the game’s tone resembles the latter, unfortunately, the games acting  comes across as far too hammy for it’s own good in some places.  This would be fine, if not for two things; one, although many characters come off as if they are purposely overacting, some other play their roles very straight, leaving the acting as a whole feeling uneven.  And the second reason the acting is an issue is an important part of the game play is reading your suspect’s reactions and questioning them thusly.

The game is also held back by clunky controls (the driving is particularly bad) and an overly linear story that sometimes feels less like you’re solving a case and more like you’re watching it all unfold.

So, what did I think of the game?

I’ve actually really enjoyed it!  It’s far from perfect but I am eerily compelled and excited to finish it.  Something about the way the broadly drawn characters interact inside, ‘Noire’s’ strangely ‘black and white’ World (Don’t worry, the game is in color, I mean the character’s morality seems very ‘black and white’)  is compelling.  Playing the game through the eyes of the main character, Cole Phelps, makes you honestly feel a sense of right and wrong as you decide which suspects should be set free and which should ultimately get pinned with the murder.  I actually felt myself become disgusted with some of the pretend, virtual crimes that Cole was assigned to solve.

All in all, I’d recommend LA Noire for anyone who likes a good story in their games.  But be warned, the first 30 minutes is by far the clunkiest and least rewarding part of the game, so you’ll have to wade through it to get to the good stuff.

Score: 7/10

Oh, and as far as Batman: Arkham City…

Score: 8.5/10

If you’ve played either LA Noire or Batman: Arkham City or even a completely different game you think everyone should play/avoid, let me know in the comment section on this page or on our facebook page.  Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.  Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.

Did I mention how much I loved, ‘LA Confidential’?