With La noire review Rockstar has not only re-proposed one of its most beautiful and controversial titles on the market, but has planned a real re-launch in style: the HD version dedicated to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has therefore acted as an adaptation for Switch , and now comes also The VR Case Files to complete an offer that covers most of the platforms currently on the market.
Exclusive to HTC Vive, The VR Case Files allows us to tackle seven of the most interesting cases in the original game, appropriately adapted for virtual reality, and therefore able to offer a level of involvement never before experienced.
On the streets of Los Angeles
The initial impact with The VR Case Files leaves us speechless: at the appearance of the logo of the game, a short fade takes us into a dark and dirty alley, crossed by a drainage channel that houses a small stream, in full noir style.
Just look around to see that we are already wearing the clothes of Cole Phelps, agent of the LAPD: in the upper part of our view then protrudes the visor of the cap, while the hands, perfectly modeled and animated, stretch out of the shirt and jacket , with the badge attached to the lapel.
La noire cases walkthrough
On the left wall the menu that allows us to start the adventure is camouflaged, but not before being passed from our office to the police command. The surrounding environment takes on almost melancholic nuances, in black and white, giving us the opportunity to become familiar with one of the most particular control systems tested in VR, especially in terms of locomotion.
The tutorial therefore urges us to interact with the scenario, collecting the objects on the desk and also offering the possibility to challenge the typical revolver in vogue in those years, clear sign of how the shootings are also present in the VR version of La noire vr oculus rift .
But it is the first case that allows us to really enter the heart of the action, bringing us to the scene of a murder: as soon as the detectives arrive on the scene they treat us sufficiently and leave the novices the burden of looking for the murder weapon, not present near the victim’s body, now removed and taken to the morgue.
Grabbed a torch we begin to examine the industrial area in which we find ourselves, looking for the gun that most likely the killer has left to flee.
The incipit of the case is very similar to the one in the original game, but in the VR version it has been modified appropriately, enlarging the explorable spaces in such a way as to move more easily.
Just the movement system is the element that, in the title, really makes the difference, as it is possible to cross the environments both with a method similar to the most classic graphic adventures or “walking” through a quite peculiar interactive stratagem.
In the first case, just look at a sensitive element of the scenario and, at the touch of a button, an animation of connection will show our body moving to reach its destination, bringing us back into subjective view after a short transition.
If you want to explore more freely it is sufficient to move your hands along your hips, some if you are walking: at that point our character will start to orientate in the direction we are looking at, with a speed directly proportional to the rhythm with which let’s swing our arms.
It is a curious but extremely functional method, which has the advantage of greatly increasing the sense of presence, minimizing the risk of the occurrence of motion sickness phenomena.
Field survey aside, many other elements of LA Noire have been brilliantly adapted for Virtual Reality and the guide is a prime example: once climbed into the car, opening the door wide after grabbing the handle in a very natural way, there we will find sitting in the cockpit, holding our trusty agenda and a pencil. Moving the point on the name of the place to be reached we can set the destination on the map, then physically turning the starter key to make the engine rumble.
La noire release date
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
- NA: 17 May 2011
- PAL: 20 May 2011
Microsoft Windows
- NA: 8 November 2011
- PAL: 11 November 2011
Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- WW: 14 November 2017
