I finished my review run of L.A. Noire a few days ago and promptly started a new run just to enjoy the game. It fits into my wheelhouse way more than the Grand Theft Auto games or Read Dead Redemption. It’s more along the lines of Heavy Rain, but with more traditional gameplay. It mixes in elements of Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center with some light action. I really dig the game’s atmosphere — awesome music and a very cool black-and-white mode. Aside from that, I’ll be playing my usual assortment of iPad 2 games to break things up.
How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?
Going to my mom's place this weekend to party it up! Shes going to St. Martin for a wedding and we got the go ahead to crash her house, although we will have to take care of four horses as well (while being as sober as possible). I'm taking the 360, all four controllers and all my games so I will be playing everything this weekend (while being as sober as possible ;)).
Get the horses drunk and let them play Xbox.
Lmao imagine that! I can see the youtube video now.
Tetris….and lots of it. The girl that is living with me now is determined to beat me in Battle Mode.
I am going to try to get her to play some FPSs or maybe Uncharted.
Planning on finding a copy of LA Noire for the long weekend though.
I've been going back through L.A. Noire and trying to get 5 stars on all the cases. I've also been playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 to break things up. I started Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale last night, but it's not very deep. I may or may not pick it up again.
I played the D&D demo yesterday. I'm not sure that I like it. The game seems too slow. Hard to explain I guess.
I really should have played the demo rather than buying it for $15. But I really liked the old Baldur's Gate and Champions of Norrath dungeon crawlers for the consoles.
Unfortunately not a lot of gaming in my near future. I have a wedding that I am in tomorrow and I have to go to the rehearsal and everything here in just a little bit. Then on Sunday it's the Indy 500!!!!!!! And my fiance and I are going to my parents place for a day or so, but mostly I just care about the Indy 500 that day. I'm pissed one of my friends is getting to go this year and I'm not, but I'm surprised he really wanted to go anyways because he loves Nascar and usually hates IRL. However, I will have my DSi with me all weekend so Pokemon Black won't be too far away.
It's not your wedding, is it?
-M
Nope, a friend's wedding is this weekend. Mine isn't until the end of July.
Well this is my last bit of internet for the weekend most likely (no internet at the hotel, which I'm rather upset about).
Beat FU2. Quite a fun game. I disagree with some of the criticism.
I'd like to kill zombies this weekend but I'm sure I'll wind up shooting kids instead in Black Ops.
If it's Dead Rising 2 you're talking about, count me in. I've just discovered a new way of killing zombies that is quickly becoming my favorite: The flaming cow skull. It's just awesome.
Let me know if you ever get bored of Black Ops.
-M
I'd be down for some DR2, but my Gold ran out and I'm rolling on chump status.
I should be squared away next week.
I'm busy knocking out some of those grinding achievements like "Zombie Fu" and "Head Trauma" among others. It honestly never occurred to me to kill a zombie by swinging an entire metal shelving rack at it.
When you're squared away, I'd like to do Case West if you're up for it. I got to level 50 a while ago.
-M
@N8R What do you think of the NFL's proposed Steeler's rule?
I want to use the simile that it is like adding soy to a hamburger and still calling it an all-beef patty. It's watering down the game which should never happen more than it already has.
I feel that injuries are a big part of football. They can make or break a season which adds excitement. I also feel that the players know that when they sign up and take the money. I understand the owners position… but I'm positive that the NFL owners have become detached from the fans position at the same time (with exceptions). I think they should keep in play the package they have for the guys who suffered career ending injuries and make the retirement plans for all players better. I think that would be a worthwhile investment if I were in their shoes. It would add extra security to the players morale and that would lead to better games which would lead to more fans.
Imagine how terrible hockey would be if their league owners were as timid and stingy as the NFL's.
I pray that there's a lockout for next season. The Heat and Marlins are doing so well, that I don't want to ruin it by brining in the sub-mediocre Dolphins into the picture and jinx our respected professional sports.
On the bright side; at least we’re not Detroit.
-M
That happened in Pittsburgh a few years back. Both the Steelers and the Penguins won the championships. Now it's time for baseball season… and here come the Pirates (sigh).
There were shirts all over the city that said "City of Champyinz" with Steelers and Penguins logos. Lots of people wore them. You'd then ask "Hey, how 'bout them Buccos?" and they'd be like "SHUT UP, DUDE!!!"
The Pirates have been pretty interesting this year.
*puts hand over face and sighs*
You have now made this the 18th or 19th season in a row where I heard someone say something along the lines of "The Pirates are looking better this year". Every other year it looked okay at the beginning… and then the trades happen.
Nobody in Pittsburgh is fooled anymore.
It all went downhill right before the strike. As soon as Sid Thrift (our GM back in the day) was let go, the team went to hell. Our manager was Jim Leland and we had Barry Bonds for Christ sake… those guys are headed to the HOF… and the Pirates are headed further down the toilet.
I will say that this year is the best we've done in almost 2 decades though. We stayed over .500 for longer into the year than any other year. Right now, we are at .469 and about to get passed by the Cubbies… it's not gonna get better… only worse.
@N8
They should go back to the old school ugly hats. Perhaps it will give them a boost?
They should go back to the owner they had when they wore those hats.
I rented L.A. Noire yesterday. I played it for a bit……and I don't like it. I just started a mission called 'Driver's Seat". That is about 2 hours or more into it. The story is just awful. None of it makes sense and not even in the "oh I can't wait to figure that out" way.
The cars (I say cars but I mean the 1 car you drive) are so damn jerky. I liked the way the cars felt in Mafia 2.
I guess people who play more rockstar games are used to the 'tips' being displayed in the upper corner, but I find them annoying and distracting.
Taking the game back and getting a refund today.
You must not have gotten very far into the Driver's Seat mission because I thought uncovering a child porn ring disguised as casting auditions was pretty cool and original for a video game. How did it not make sense?
As for the cars (and you can take other)… they are 1940's cars. They were much heavier, the shocks weren't as good, and the rides were very jerky not to mention that seat belts weren't a standard until the 60's. I'm a history geek, so the accuracy was impressive to me. Mafia 2 had 50's cars (and less accuracy) which had better horsepower as well as handling.
You can also have your partner drive most of the time. So, you really only have to drive during the chases.
This isn't a typical Rockstar game.
My boy gave me the 1st disc of LA Noire but I wont be able to play it until Monday.
Here are my issues with LA Noire:
You have a partner the whole time… Why is there absolutely no form of co-op to speak of? That doesn't make sense.
After all is said and done, the game is kind of thin. The sandbox element usually found in Rockstar games is almost stripped out making the replay factor less attractive. I see how it focused more on story, but the free roam levels should at least let you shoot pedestrians.
I would have liked to play some WWII military levels. If anything, just to add more action for the gamers who crave it.
I would of also liked to see a karma level of a sort. Why can't I just go completely corrupt? I want to take bribes and become a hophead. Kinda like a post-depression Bad Lieutenant.
I'm down with the whole "reading body language" mechanic (in doses), but all the clues to be found were too easy. Detective work is never like that. Not one person threw the weapon in the river or the sewer. Fingerprinting has been in America since the 1880's… never had to lift any prints.
I also REALLY wanted to go further into West Hollywood. But, the map cuts off.
However… this plus Heavy Rain has me anticipating a new genre of "mystery" games that could spread like wildfire.
Agree with some of your points. Don't see how cooperative gameplay would have been easy to implement. That would have taken a lot of work and level compromises.
It could be a free roam only aspect for all I care.
I thought how the missions would end up, and ultimately they'd be pretty boring. The only fun way I could see to bring in a second player to the cases is after you beat the case… you have now unlocked the co-op feature. That way you experience the core of the game, and get to mess around with a friend later.
Also… collecting those film reels, vehicles, and badges (when PSN store comes back to life) would just be much less grinding if I had someone to talk to and assist while I was doing it.
Someone needs to make a guide for all 95 vehicles. I've found over 70 of them on my own, but I'm at the point where I've seen so many cars that I can't tell them apart anymore to try and track down the last 20-25 of them.
I only need like 7. 1 2 Door, 1 Service, and 5 4 doors. I found one guide, but 1) it's inaccurate and 2) you have to cross-reference it with a list in the order they are in the showroom so you know which cars you are missing.
But so far, getting those vehicles is the hardest part of the whole game. As soon as I get those 7, I hit 100%.
I've got all the other collectables as well. Just need the last few cars. That and I'm going back and trying to 5 star the last few cases that I have 4 or lower.
Yeah, I'm rounding out those cases as well. I actually did pretty good on my initial run and got 5 stars on most of them. Maybe it's my people person personality.
Mainly the ones I missed on my first run were Lies that I picked the wrong proof for or Doubts I chose Lie for because I thought I had proof.
Then there's a clue I missed that adds a question to a later interrogation in Golden Butterfly. That's about all I missed.
I'm gonna shoot for the Platinum trophy with this game. It will be my first Platinum… throw me a party!
I did pretty good on the Traffic and Homicide desks. Vice, not so much. I'm blaming it on my crooked partner, whom I REALLY wanted to bust. I think that would have been awesome. I did better again when I got to the Arson desk.
Did you end up sticking with the PS3 version? It's a little bit better than the Xbox 360 version.
I did, and I figured it would be ultimately.
The nail in the coffin was the 3 discs versus 1 disc thing. I'm too old and lazy to be changing discs anymore. I also prefer to install all my games… I wasn't about to find out how that would work for a 3 disc game.
So, I may be lazy… but I am patient enough to wait until the PSN store comes back to play the 2 DLC missions that came with my pre-order.
@ RPad
By the way, when Nightshade says "Someone needs to make a guide for all 95 vehicles", I think he really means is "Someone *who wants ALOT of hits to their website* needs to make a guide for all 95 vehicles".
@ Nightshade
By the way, when Nightshade says "Someone needs to make a guide for all 95 vehicles", I think he really means is "Someone *who wants ALOT of hits to their website* needs to make a guide for all 95 vehicles".
@ both
If we can find a way for the 3 of us (and anyone else who wants to help) to work as a team to create a list and map… I'm up for it.
This is the best I've found so far:
http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/la-noire/108551-…
But… it lies in a few places and it's not in the order the showroom is like here:
http://lanoire.wikia.com/wiki/Vehicles
If you click on those names, it has a pic of the car which is awesome.
@n8
Theres an iphone app with a map to all the vehicles, locations and reels. It's 2.99 i think.
I'm broke like the national budget.
I'd love to get it though, but I may not need it.
What is it exactly you do to get $14 trillion into debt?!
-M
War, war, war, how do you like it, how do you like it?
It would be so much easier if these were all just in one of the free roams. Ugh. I only need 13 cars and I'll have the full 100%.
I'm down to 3. I need 3 cars as of right now.
I'm at 7. If the list I found online is correct (and if I scratched out all the right names) I still need the following:
Studebaker Commander
Buick Eight Coupe
Packard Custom
Ford Tudor Convertible
International Metro KB1M
Buick Ambulance
Nash Deluxe 600 Army
I just got done.
I got lucky as hell on a few of them.
That Packard Custom tries to cut you off in the Hot Property street crime (Arson Desk).
The Nash Army is pretty easy too. I think if you struggle with any of those, it will be the Ford Tudor.
I'm down to two, the Buick Eight Coupe and the International Metro KB1M.
If I can just find the Buick Eight Coupe I'd be done with this. I'm beginning to think that's one of the ones that guide lies about.
I touched on a lot of my issues with the game in my review of it, but my biggest issue with the game is the same issue I have with every Rockstar game. The controls are mediocre. I don't like the gunplay very much, and I don't like the driving very much. On the plus side, those elements are not the center of the gameplay, unlike GTA4.
Also, I could stand without being funneled towards a resolution to every case. Sure there are potentially different outcomes, but I think that if you do poorly enough you shouldn't have enough evidence to even charge anybody. Doing poorly should cause you to get lower profile cases, where as doing well should reward you in the opposite fashion.
That being said, I think it's a great game. But I also realize it's not for everyone and I like it more than some other people would.
I agree.
I can call this game the beginning of what could be an awesome franchise. GTA3 was earth shattering at the time, but everyone said things like "they need motorcycles", "they need more weapons", "the hand to hand should be better", and things like that. By the time San Andreas dropped… all those complaints were quelled and then people started asking for a story. Tomb Raider 1 was okay, but Tomb Raider 2 changed the big picture.
I think once they shrink the code for the mechanics and add the elements we discuss (and I'll give them 2 sequels to follow through), they could be looking at a San Andreas sized hit. But, I may just be a forward thinking optimist.