User blog comment:JackFrost23/L.A. Noire: The Big Snooze/@comment-3455248-20110602154440

I just finished L.A. Noire last night. My feelings about the game are in line with Hobbes' comments - I agree with the issues you mentioned and feel some areas of the the game could have used a lot more attention, but still enjoyed the game overall. For me, the aspects of the game that were different than any other game I've played (e.g. interviewing and interpreting suspects) outweighed the areas that were different in a bad way (e.g. lack of freedom). I also didn't mind all the driving - as with GTA IV and RDR, I'm content to escape from the game aspect and just experience the environment at times.

Cole Phelps is definitely less likable and harder to identify with than John Marston, Niko Bellic, or other main characters. The switch to playing Jack Kelso was very abrupt and unexpected, but was a welcome change. I think the game would have been better if the story had been structured to let Cole and Jack split screen time more evenly and with changes in more expected places - playing Cole for one chapter then switching to Jack for the next chapter, for example.

When I got GTA IV, it was my favorite PS3 game to that point and I saw it as the first game to deliver the kind of rich, detailed experience that the current generation of consoles are capable of. Red Dead Redemption then took that experience to a new level and also added the same rich experience to multiplayer, becoming my most-played game of all time. L.A. Noire is not in the same league, but I think it shows the potential of the technology to deliver future, more immersive crime/detective-type games.