L.A. Noire
Platform(s): Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Team Bondi
Maybe it's the track record Rockstar Games has or the seven years it took to develop L.A. Noire, but something ended up souring my experience. Maybe it was the pacing or the stiff cardboard bodies that seemed disconnected from the facial motion capture. Maybe it was the lifeless world or the insanity of protagonist Cole Phelps. Maybe it was the horrible ending or the fact that the gameplay grew incredibly stale after the first playthrough. Maybe it was all of these things.
While the crime caper should be played if only for the brief novelty of it all, the narrative is mismanaged and poorly organized. It might not seem apparent at first, it can be blatantly obvious the second time through. As transporting as the game might be, anything else worthy of praise has been stained by the nasty working environment and the shuttering of Team Bondi.
Runners Up:
- Duke Nukem Forever
- Dragon Age II
- Homefront
- RAGE
