Thursday, May 30, 2013

Want to feel the atmosphere of the 20's, 30's? Play computer games! Part 1: L.A.Noire

Hello everyone!
Today I decided to change the topic a little bit. Instead of showing you another make-up technique, I want to tell you about two different computer games, which can help you to feel the atmosphere of 20's, 30's and even 40's. I`m talking about Mafia II and L.A.Noire.
Have you ever played them? I hope yes, because these games are amazing! But we will discuss them today.
In this very part, let`s talk about L.A.Noire.
It should be noticed, that this is a difficult game to review. But I`ll try :)

L.A. Noire takes place in Los Angeles 1947after the Second World War. You play as Cole Phelps, a new detective for the L.A.P.D. Being Cole Phelps, you go through one case to another, looking for clues and interviewing suspects and witnesses in order to solve the cases. But everything is not that simple! This game is full  of drama, where you find out, that not everyone is a good cop in the police department, that the beautiful fillms full of love and tendernes are just a lie.

But the first very thing and the reason, why I decided to talk about this game in my blog  is how authentic the recreated city of Los Angeles looks and how realistic the citizens and characters appear. Everything is taken into consideration: the open city, which is wide, expansive, and allows you to explore it at anytime; people, crowd, they are real! Women and men are wearing the outfits of that epoch, women also have a native make-up! You can see it here:


The gameplay is something to be...admired. You have everything for a real detective game: shoot-outs with the criminals, chasing down people across town and across rooftops, car chases with gangsters. You can fell the atmosphere of that controversial period on 100%: all the problem with people`s moral issues, the style of life and a true building of an american dream.

The true elements of gameplay is in the searching for clues around a crime scene and interviewing the witnesses and suspects. L.A. Noire takes interactive gaming to the next level as you search the crime scene for any clues that could bring you closer to solving the case. There will  be many pieces of evidence that will help you a lot. You will also examine dead (and live) bodies and find documents. The realistic images and people add a real atmosphere to the game!.

Finding clues, however, is just the first half of a case. The other half is the interviews. And it is another thing to discuss. This is where the incredible facial motion capture comes into play. While taking an interview, you must decide whether the person tell you the truth or not. You can doubt their statements, or tell them they are lying. Be sure you have the evidence to support your claims though. But as for the facial expression, it is magic! You can see it here:



The game comes by its title honestly, doing just about everything to give us a feeling of that atmosphere. That ranges from the dress style, make-up, costumes, cars, houses. The big-orchestra OST feels completely appropriate for the setting and style.

The game itself is brilliant.It shows the underside of Los Angeles, that it is an ugly place: racism, misogyny, rape, pedophilia, betrayal, and a lot of corpses (that you'll get up close and personal with) are just some of the elements that will help you to feel everything.



Hope you like it! If you do, let me know and I`ll make some more posts on the "retro-styled" games!

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