Review for LA Noire. Game for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the video game was released on 17/05/2011 The version for PC came out on 08/11/2011
Seeing a Rockstar title on Nintendo consoles is really rare; seeing LA Noire is a unique event. The choice to propose a similar experience, so particular and original, surprised everyone, so much so that very few had believed the rumors about his return that circulated a few months ago. Of course, LA Noire was not and still is not a perfect title, but it is full of interesting ideas and the Nintendo users could represent the perfect audience to appreciate and understand such a production.
LA Noire is not just any open world title, on the contrary: pure action is often accompanied by a weighty narrative component, which makes the interaction with non-player characters its main strength. In our review of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions we have already extensively explored the topic; despite this, a refresher can only benefit the reader. The protagonist Cole Phelps is a newly promoted detective of the city of Los Angeles that during the main adventure will have to face and solve numerous cases that are anything but simple. Despite the initial enthusiasm, Phelps will soon clash with the darker and sicker side of his city, which behind the glossy image of Hollywood hides not only cases of pedophilia and serial killings, but also corruption in the highest echelons of the police itself.
This means that the player will come face to face with the suspects and he will have to investigate himself to get to the bottom of the matter. Collection of evidence, interrogations, analysis of the crime scene: in short, LA Noire lacks nothing of the classic noire works, and this not only in the narrative sector, but also in terms of pure gameplay. Compared to the other versions, the one for Switch also allows you to interact with the crime scene using the touch controls, an input system that, in these circumstances, manages to be much more intuitive than a common gamepad. Faced in this way, these sessions are reminiscent of the glorious graphic adventures of the 90s. You will have understood, therefore, that LA Noire is not the typical free roaming all muscles and no brains, but, on the contrary, it has a unique and much deeper soul than a random Grand Theft Auto.
As we said, however, this production is not free from defects. Among these we find the interrogation system: often the dialogue options are not very clear and in some cases they can determine the failure of the interrogation itself. Fortunately, now the entire gaming system has been revised and streamlined, thus making any failure less burdensome. Even under the performance side there are some imperfections: having been born on a totally different hardware architecture, that of PlayStation 3, LA Noire doesn't perform too well on Switch. Sure, we have improved textures, a realistic lighting system, soft shadows and a dynamic resolution at 1080p, but there is no shortage of pop-up effects during free roaming sessions and on more occasions there will also be annoying frame drops. That said, the experience is still enjoyable (both in portable and docked mode) and represents an interesting technical result.
Is LA Noire in the Switch version passed or rejected? Definitely promoted: the Rockstar Games experiment is as interesting and engaging as six years ago and some adjustments in the gameplay make it attractive also as a portable game. However, do not expect upheavals: many of the original defects are still there and some technical imperfections on the Switch make it the “weaker” version of the three. The challenge is therefore between performance and portability; whatever your choice, know that you are bringing home a product that we can define as almost unique.
► LA Noire is an Adventure-Action game developed by Virtuos and published by Rockstar Games for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the video game was released on 17/05/2011 The version for PC came out on 08/11/2011
