During my three days at PAX East I spent most of my time running around the enormous expo hall trying my best to sample every game there. With such a crowd and being the only Game Judgment representative at the show, it was simply impossible to do everything. Fortunately the press was given the chance to get into the expo hall an hour early on Saturday so we could get a little work done without having to shove our way through 50,000 other people. I had the chance to see three press only screenings before the hour was up. Three screenings I could not record or photograph. I choose Battlefield 3, Portal 2, and L.A. Noire.
I’m not sure how E3 works. I’ve never been, but what I witnessed that Saturday morning almost had me on the floor laughing. I’ll admit I was a bit naive, but it was still really funny. As all the other attendies lined up for the expo hall the press got to line up at smaller points around the convention center. Everyone was there including representatives from IGN, 1Up, and Kotaku as well as smaller blogs such as ourselves.
Now you have to understand something. A lot of the people from the larger blogs are quite a bit older, I’m talking grey hair and big guts older. Then you have a bunch of young kids, quite a few of them cosplaying, trying to break into the business. Now I didn’t realize this but when those doors open to let the press in everyone launches into a full sprint. I should have done the same, but I was too busy bracing myself against a wall trying not to fall over as I watched a guy who had to be in his fifties, try to out run a twenty year old girl dressed as a pikachu to the Duke Nukem Forever booth. I spent about five minutes watching the calamity around me and then I got to work.
L.A. Noire by Rockstar Games was my first stop after I got into the expo hall. Despite the mad dash that everyone but myself participated in I still managed to get into the first screening of the day. They wouldn’t let us record any of what we saw. In fact they actually had an employee stand at the back and his only job was to make sure we didn’t pull out any sort of recording device. At least they let us take notes. What we got to see was about twenty minutes of the first homicide case you take on in the game. You play as detective Cole Phelps newly appointed to the homicide division of the L.A. police. The preview opened with Cole being promoted and receiving his first case. You are assigned to your new partner Bukowski, and head off to the crime scene.
The case we got to see was called The Red Lipstick Murder, and it was intentionally similar to the Black Dahlia case. What is interesting about the game is that running and gunning in every situation is considered to be a last resort. In order to advance the game in what one would consider a positive manner you have to act like a detective. Considering I studied law in school I was openly salivating during the preview. You can take a closer look into everything at crime scenes including inspecting bodies for different types of trauma such as the black eye of the victim.
After discovering a lighter from a social club at the crime scene the player is encouraged by his partner to head there and question people. If you find yourself stuck your partner serves as a guide. He’ll let you know where you should be heading next or if there is something you should take a closer look at. It’s here that the quick travel mechanic is shown. Instead of accessing a menu to move around all you have to do is get into the passenger side of the car and your partner will automatically drive which will load your destination right away. If you would rather see the sights just get in the driver’s seat yourself.
When arriving at the social club you are inclined to speak with the bartender. It is here that you learn how to use your notebook. It is the most important tool in the game. Information about crime scenes, evidence, and interrogation are all written down in this magical little device. The first interview is shown here when you speak with the owner of the bar. Divulging certain information to the person your speaking with will lead you down paths of questioning. Depending upon earlier information you have gathered and the visual reactions of the people you’re speaking with you can do 1 of three things. You can choose to believe what they tell you and select truth, you can doubt their claim, or you can accuse them of lying. If you accuse them of lying you better have the evidence to back it up.
While speaking to the owner of the club and the bartender you learn vital information including the victims name, her address, that she is an alcoholic, that the victim left drunk with an unknown man and that the bartender called the husband to come pick her up more than once. All this information is important and is retained in your notebook.
After visiting the club your leave to check out the victims address. When you arrive you find that one of the windows in the back is smashed open. After entering the house you are free to inspect the area. This is were you have to be thorough. If you are you’ll find a note the husband left his wife explaining that he’ll be staying at a different address for the time being. It is also smart to talk to the neighbors. One such neighbor explains that she heard a fight the couple were having the night before, and that she believes that the husband hit his wife during that time. If you inspected the body carefully at the crime scene you’ll be able to determine this is where her black eye came from.
Finishing up at the home the preview takes us to the husband’s other address. After breaking in the door and detaining the suspect you are given the chance to inspect the area. Remember, acting like a detective is key. If you do you’ll find a notepad in the kitchen, and using an old shading trick you can find out what the last thing written on the pad was. It happens to be a note written by the husband which talks about “taking care” of his wife.
After inspecting the scene you can speak with the husband. Presenting the husband with news of his wife’s death leaves him visibly shaken, but he still lies about knowing where she went after the fight. Of course if you’ve been a good detective you know that the bartender of the club spoke with him the night before to come pick her up from the club. You can call him on it which leads to more information. Eventually presenting him with evidence of the note he had written leads the player into a hand to hand fight.
At first glance the fighting mechanic appears to be a little stiff, but as the fight continues different ways of dodging, blocking, and punching are shown. After winning the brawl the suspect is once again detained. This is where our preview ended and I can say with all certainty that I’m looking forward to the games release in May.
Next up Portal 2.
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