David Emery OnlineHollywood shuns intelligent entertainment. The games industry doesn't. Guess who's winning?
23 May 2011
And then there's LA Noire, the James Ellroy-inspired crime drama, which has caused a stir, and rightly so, with its firm focus on narrative and staggering new facial animation technology. I'm a massive dweeb who keeps up with the latest gaming developments, and even I was astounded at what they've pulled off here. You're watching actors give genuine performances – within something that is still defiantly and unapologetically a video game.
There’s no doubt that LA Noire isn’t perfect – the game elements in places are a little bit repetitive maybe, and I for one have frequent issues with the interrogation scenes where I have no real idea what my character is going to say next – but there’s also no doubt that it has pushed the medium of interactive storytelling on several great strides.
If anything, it gets all the film-like bits right more so then the game like elements (and more right then many films do), but the way it melds the two together – you really are interacting with the story – is what’s most impressive.
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