Cam's Eye View: 3 Game Special part 2: L.A. Noire for the PS3 and 360

Sometimes, it is nice to play something different. I mean, it seems like the industry is buried in Call of Duty games, Street Fighter 4 games, and thankfully, no more music games. I like to see companies break out of the mold and do something different. I think the company I am most proud of is Rockstar. I have played their Grand Theft Auto franchise, but I don’t really see the big deal about the games. I can understand their popularity and well thought out story to some extent, but it really isn’t my kind of franchise. That is why I was pleasantly surprised about Red Dead Redemption. I mean, yeah, the story dragged on near the end, but it was a very solid game and definitely worth the Game of the Year award. Personally, I would have chosen Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Mass Effect 2. When I heard Rockstar was doing a game where the setting was the 1940’s and you were a detective, I was intrigued and when I saw the trailers, I was excited. Some of the review scores for this next review can be a bit biased and overblown, but it is definitely worth playing, rather than games like Bullet Storm or Gears of War 2. The game in question is Team Bondi’s first game and hopefully not their last, L.A. Noire. Like I said, this game does have its share of faults, but they really aren’t that big. Besides, I have to talk about the game first and not just say all the bad things first. So, put on your nicest suit from the 40’s, this is my review of L.A. Noire

The story puts you into the shoes of detective Cole Phelp, a post-war hero and small-time police officer, who throughout the story rises from the ranks of police officer to a homicide detective. During the story, you meet interesting characters, from the different sidekicks you get through the story to the suspects and criminals you encounter. The story overall is well told, interesting, and keeps you guessing as to what was going on with Cole Phelp during the war and why he wants to bring justice to the crime-ridden city of Los Angeles. It kind of reminds me of Law and Order: L.A. since it has the same atmosphere. However, as an early warning, the third act in the story where you are the homicide detective can drag on a little more than it should. Still, an entertaining story

The gameplay is mixed between a sort of linear adventure game mixed with gunplay, driving, and detective work. You get a case handed to you, and you go to each location looking for clues, and interrogating the suspects or witnesses. The main gimmick in the game is to talk to the suspects and watch their facial reactions to your comments. You then have to know if they are either lying, doubtful, or telling the truth. If you think they are lying, make sure you have evidence to back it up. It can be rather difficult at the beginning to get used to this mechanic in the game, but you get used to it as you play through the game more. The other mechanics are to drive around town to each destination or to other side cases like shoot-outs or suicides to name a few. The other part is just standard third person shooting. A lot of things can score you on each case, like how you drive, how many clues you find, and how many questions you get right. Overall, you should get about a 12-hour experience, which is worth the money, in my opinion.

The graphical look of the game on the PS3 looks great and the whole 40’s look of the game is amazing. A lot of attention has been paid to detail and making sure that the 40’s in L.A. was about as accurate as you could get. It might not be super accurate, but I think it looks the part, from he shine on the cars, to the facial animation captured on the people’s faces, it all looks great. There are a few glitches here and there, but it is an overall polished graphical package. The voice work is also amazing with some great voice works done by the actors. For example, the actor for Cole Phelps is Aaron Staton who if you’re a Mad Men fan is Ken Cosgrove. There are other actors like Michael McGrady from Southland and John Noble, but there are a lot of TV actors that you could probably recognize more than me. The music is also very well done with great jazz tracks, and different songs from the 40’s. It’s fun to listen to and it fit the part most of the time.

However, in this game, as unique as it is, they could have used a few more months to iron out some of the flaws. A lot of people have asked why there isn’t some co-op play, but I am not going to complain about that since I don’t think the game needs it. My complaint comes from the sluggishly repetitious 3^rd act. All the cases are basically revolving around this one killer and no other killers. It’s tedious and it drags the end of the story and the game on a little longer than it should have. People who haven’t played this or are not accustomed to this style of game will probably get bored and not want to play. There is no other game like this coming out this year, so in my opinion, they could have polished things out a little before it was released. I also wish the game was a bit more open-ended since it is more of a linear game even though it has side missions you can do during the main mission. I say this since it’s being published by Rockstar, the king of free roaming games, so I expected more freedom to the game.

Overall, L.A. Noire is pretty unique, and it is one of the better games of 2011. I would say if you’re a fan of Rockstar, get it. It still has that good story and character development you get from Rockstar games, even though the third act is a bit rough and slow. You could wait for the price to go down and then pick it up. Sometimes, we need to play something different from our usual catalog of games. Maybe you all should do the same. Why not start with L.A. Noire

This game gets an 8 out of 10

Cam's Eye View: Red Dead Redemption for the PS3/360 review

Recently, I have wanted to see a lot of western films. I want to see films like Tombstone, Unforgiven, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, that one awesome Samurai Jack episode parodying that last film I mentioned, and you get the idea. I have also been wanting to play some western-set games like Samurai Western, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and even a game I am currently playing called Wild Arms. Overall though, I want to play a really good western game. I am still currently playing Wild Guns, so don’t email me about that game. I also wanted to find a copy of Sunset Riders for the SNES, but there is one game from Rockstar that has gotten critical acclaim and I have actually been looking forward to reviewing it. What is that game? GRAND THEFT AUTO 4! No, I’m kidding. It’s Red Dead Redemption. That is right, people. I am actually going to play a Rockstar game. Don’t get your hopes up since I don’t really care much for Grand Theft Auto series, but I just like the idea of a free-roaming open world set in the Wild West. I mean, who didn’t want to be a cowboy when they were a young kid? It was like one of the big fantasies next to being a cop and a firefighter. Heck, sometimes I dream of being in those stand-offs and then wake up right when I hit the guy with a bullet. So, let’s put on our ten-gallon hats, get on our horse and ride into Red Dead Redemption!

The main story centers around bounty hunter John Marston who is sent to New Austin to kill members of his old gang he used to be a part of. If he doesn’t, the government will never release his wife and son back to him. This story is unique, since it’s like watching a marathon of western films all in one game. Granted, the beginning can be a bit sluggish in pace, but once you get going, the game sets you in an interesting world with great and memorable characters.

The gameplay is of a third person sandbox game that stretches through New Austin to Mexico, as you ride around stopping robberies, saving civilians, taking down bounties, skinning animals, playing poker, shooting down powerful men, and doing anything you want. Like I said, this is a Rockstar game, so this will give you A LOT to do since it will take about 30 hours or even more to do everything. John Marston’s main forms of attack are multiple varieties of guns, like a sniper rifle, rifle, handgun, and shotgun, to name a few. You can hoof it through the entire game by foot, but it’s more fun to grab yourself a horse and ride around. Sometimes, you will be able to ride on carriages to either get to locations or to defend people. On your down time outside the main missions, you can do multiple side quests like I listed above. You can collect bounties, play a lot of gambling games, or just take care of random encounters. You can also kill or capture animals to skin them and sell the meat and fur to shops to buy items and more guns. While gun fighting, you can slow down time and choose multiple targets and then shoot them all down like they were nothing! Outside of the main game, you can go online and do mostly the same stuff you can do in the main game, but with more people, like multiplayer poker, horse racing, shootouts, and liar’s dice. You will be getting a lot of playtime that is worth the price tag.

The graphics are pretty impressive with everything getting a lot of detail and shine. There are a lot of funny little glitches from time to time, and they are fun to find also. The voice acting is top notch as everyone sounds like they are supposed to, with not a lot of hiccups in the script. I also like the animation on everyone since it looks like everyone was motion-captured, including some of the animals. Horse riding during the sunrise in the game is so much fun. I have good memories of just running through the sunrise on the back of your horse to get to your family. The music is also nice to listen to, like stuff you would hear in a western film with a few songs that are pretty cool to listen to when you’re in certain areas of the game.

This is a pretty good package with very few low points that I am going to address. One thing I just don’t like about the game is its pacing. It just seems rather slow, and I don’t mind it most of the time, but it’s a really REALLY long game, and it just seems like some points in the story could have been easily cut out, since in my opinion, some areas didn’t really progress the story that much. From my time of playing it, I thought it never ended. It goes like this 1. You go kill a bad guy, 2. You go kill another bad guy, 3. You think you’re going home, but you then are forced to kill the main leader of the bad guys, 4, You think you have finally beat the game, you see your family, but you still do work around the family farm. Does this game ever end? It does, but it just seems like there could have been some way to make the official ending where you meet up with the family. It’s a little overwhelming how long the story is, and I just wanted to get it done. It also doesn’t help that most missions are time-based, meaning you have to be there at a specific time to do that mission. It’s just tedious and, in my humble opinion, not that fun to wait around. Well, there you have it. My review of Red Dead Redemption. It’s a good game with a lot of things going for it. You will definitely get major playtime for the price tag, so I say go get it unless they come up with a gold edition or something. Overall, it was really good and I wonder if there will be a sequel for this game. For the time being though, I won’t touch the game for a while. Thanks for reading and have a good day.

This game gets a solid 9 out of 10



Game Review: Grand Theft Auto

Game Review: Grand Theft Auto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsOGy7Bm8ZQ

Thats right, the original GTA, I hope you enjoy the review, and thanks for watching!