L.A. Noire Previews and Character: Capt. Donnelly

Time for a good helping of L.A. Noire news. First up, check out some previews from various sites:


L.A. Noire graced the front page of this weekend's New York Times' Arts section with a feature-length preview detailing how the game recreates one of the most violent years in L.A.'s history as well as the MotionScan technology used to replicate actor's performances in game.

"It is steeped in gorgeous renderings of 1947 Los Angeles, from the exterior of Musso and Frank Grill and Grauman’s Chinese Theater to the 'Hollywoodland' sign up in the hills. Characters curse, smoke, drink, fight — the whole noir playbook, over moody jazz, in bright color by day and neon-flecked shadow after dark."

Read more.

While in the UK, The Guardian's Keith Stuart discusses the game's concept:

"What L.A. Noire represents is a new era for interactive entertainment. Over the past 30 years, games have been based around challenging the player's hand-eye co-ordination – the ability to react quickly with a controller. But in LA Noire, the main skill is emotional perception, being able to judge body language and facial "tells' – the little nervous tics that betray liars. These are the same skills we use in real life and that allow us to engage with characters in TV and movie dramas. Suddenly then, games are a universal medium."

Read more.

And finally, for an inside look at the research that went into recreating 1947 Los Angeles, check out this article from our friends at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, who provided L.A. Noire with fantastic reference material during the development of the game.

"The game designers digitally stitched together some 300 maps, creating a working template that captured the broad sprawl of the city, from the Sunset Strip to East L.A. and beyond. They then added dimension and detail with the aid of topographical information from the U.S. Geological Survey, aerial photographs from the era from UCLA’s Spence Air Photos collection, and thousands of period photos. The final result is a gritty, three-dimensional virtual city where gamers will be able to immerse themselves in a realistic world of noir."

Read more.

Next, check out the background on one of your co-workers, Captain Donnelly:


In L.A. Noire, Captain James Donnelly is both respected and feared throughout the department as the pragmatic, no-nonsense Officer-in-Charge of the Homicide desk. This Irish-born LAPD career veteran provides briefings and debriefings to Phelps and the other desk detectives as they work all manner of murder cases across Los Angeles.

Less concerned with the letter of the law and more concerned with hard results, he's known to push a bareknuckle enforcer’s demand for confessions and convictions. Careers are made and broken on Captain Donnelly’s word. Check out some brand new screens of Captain Donnelly below, which can be seen in high def at his official dossier page on the L.A. Noire website.




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