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1947 is the future

With E3 happening next week, it seems like a good time to talk a little bit about a video game.

LA Noire was released a few weeks ago with great fanfare and a positive mainstream media story, a rarity these days. MotionScan is the incredible technological advancement that has people talking about the future of both gaming and movies as one in the same. Just over a year after Jimmy Cameron fooled us into thinking that a gruff Antipodean bloke could actually be a lanky tree hugging smurf, now motion capture has been knocked up a notch with a blast from the spice weasel … Bam!

MotionScan uses a sophisticated rig of 32 HD cameras to pick up every tiny detail and movement of the human face to create a near identical three-dimensional model of an actors face and performance. It picks up every minute glance, twitch, quivering lip every movement in the face can be seen in the game. Just to put this in context, the point of this in terms of gameplay is down to the sections where you have to interview/ interrogate suspects and witnesses and then decide whether or not they are telling you the truth or a porky pie.

All this new tech ends up making the game a lot more involving that a lot of other games with cut scenes. It used to be that cut scenes where an opportunity to nip to the fridge and grab a drink, or tuck into that final piece of pizza pie, in the last few years however cut scenes have the points at which the storyline is continued, they were at best a passive part of the overall experience, there if you wanted them, skipable if you didn’t. LA Noire is completely different, these cut scenes are actually the part of the game where you have to concentrating the most, watching your interviewee like a film nerd watch for anachronisms, goofs and errors. Therefore LA Noire is an entirely active experience that manages to combine aspects of both games and movies.

Indeed LA Noire does stick to many of the codes and conventions of the film noir genre, the moral ambiguous plot, the damaged and flawed lead character, the femme fatale and more corrupt policemen, ruthless gangsters and shady businessmen than FIFA, well may not that many. There’s also its mostly authentic setting, 8 square miles of Los Angeles, circa 1947, has been recreated and make no mistake, this is noir country in it’s most classic sense. As you cruise round town with your partner hunting for clues and tailing dames, you’ll feel like you’re a part of a classic noir film like Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) or The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953).

It is worth mentioning Grand Theft Auto, as LA Noire is also published by Rockstar Games. While there are a number of similarities between the two games, as well as last years Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire is by no means a period policeman version. For one LA Noire completely lacks the satirical humour which has become a mainstay as the GTA franchise. Also LA Noire doesn’t let you the player go on mindless rampages through the streets, pedestrians seem to be able leap out of the way as cars and weapons can only be used when the situation allows for them. On top of that penalties are incurred for destruction and damage incurred to city property and civilian cars. Oh and you don’t violently jack cars in LA Noire, you commandeer them, with the citizen asking you to drive carefully as you career off straight into a lamppost or mail box. In fact LA Noire eschews GTA’s non linear structure, where GTA allowed you to slump back into one of your apartments and watch TV or change outfit, LA Noire simply hints at Phelps off duty life, and at no stage can he do bowling or to a strip club for a lap dance.

These changes make LA Noire a fairly refreshing game and particularly help to define the seemingly clean-cut nature of the lead character, Cole Phelps as well as his role as a supposedly dedicated police officer. I don’t want to get particularly spoilery but Phelps is a former war hero, awarded the silver star, who has now joined the LAPD as a rookie cop. Early in the game, as you drive to the scene of a traffic case Phelps tells his new partner that most people don’t like talking about religion and politics, “you can add the war to that list for me.” The back-story of Phelps time in the war is told through strange flashbacks and paints a less flattering picture of our supposed hero. To convey this dramatic aspect of the character and with the help of MotionScan, the developers drafted in Mad Men actor Aaron Staton, as well as a handful of other familiar faces from Mad Men and beyond in other parts. With all these bona fide actors lending entire performances (voice, face and body) we can now get film quality acting and story in an interactive experience that cinema simply can’t offer.

So where does this leave cinema? Is this the first step that will kill off movies as the dominant part of mass entertainment? The nature of video games is technological and emotional evolution. Through both developers strive to build a greater connection with the player / audience and allow for a more immersive and active experience. LA Noire seems to be taking some progressive steps in this direction; it is by no means a flawless game but a risky move in a climate of the Call of Duty’s and the Guitar Hero’s. It blends the two formats into one fairly well; you’ll either see it as a plot heavy and talkie game or an interactive movie. But in the end does it matter what it is, if we play it or watch it we’ll still enjoy the experience.