L.A. Noire - work of art, not a video game.

With the release of L.A. Noire imminent all I see on every social media site is the countless hype and praise for the next instalment in Rockstar’s repertoire. I personally, have not fallen in love with the aforementioned--unlike literally everyone else out there. I would like to pose a video-game hypothesis if I may:

"L.A. Noire is a technical masterpiece--a work of art, but not a great video game."

I will of course purchase L.A. Noire, but not because I'm so absorbed by the magic spell that Rockstar seems to have everyone mesmerised with, rather I'm curious to see if my hypothesis will hold true in my own mind first, and then whether people will slowly join my ranks and agree with me.

Let me first go through why I am personally not looking forward to L.A. Noire:

• The idea of playing the most elaborate point-and-click adventure does not appeal to me. From what we know, it is apparent that L.A. Noire's crime-scene investigating is extensive, thorough, long-winded and boring. The idea of rummaging for a cigarette butt in a side street is not my idea of an exciting video game. 

• I am not looking forward to the stereotypical GTA-style driving. They say it has been improved since GTAIV--but it's not difficult to improve on absolute god-awful. 

• I am not in the least bit excited about the GTA-style gunfights. It doesn’t matter how many times they do it, Rockstar’s sandbox games do not ever have enjoyable third-person shooting mechanics. 

• A game where I quote from the developers "the diary will be your most important tool," does not scream excitement to me. The constant need to refer to a diary and the games apparent pacing problems I know will frustrate me beyond any measure. 

I feel that those of you who have played Heavy Rain will be able to sympathise with me. I really enjoyed HR and argued that it too was a piece of technical brilliance and a work of art. But it was very hard in my mind to call it a video game. My feelings are mirrored here with the release of L.A. Noire I struggle to justify defining it as a video game. There is absolutely no denying that what Rockstar have accomplished is brilliant, the incredible facial-construction, brilliant narrative and absorbing story, all blend together to make a fascinating experience--but that's exactly what it is, an interactive experience, not a video game. I feel the true definition of a video game has been lost with the creation of titles such as L.A. Noire.

I will return to this topic once I run through L.A. Noire but I have a strong feeling that my opinion won't change. 

I'd love to hear from you guys, add me on Twitter @ss4Igor.

Edit//

After doing my usual roam around Twitter and other social media sites, I'm beginning to find some great tweets about LA Noire.

Adrian Chmielarz (Director of Bulletstorm)

 

"LA Noire is experience evolved, gameplay devolved - but I couldn't care less. My name is Adrian and I am an LA Noire addict."