The virtual review of LA Noire: The VR Case Files

Many remember the epic of LA Noire, one of the few titles made by Rockstar but not developed internally by the software house of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. A videogame with enormous ambitions, on which the fortunes and problems of an entire development studio were based: Team Bondi. Unfortunately the outcome was not the best and the long realization times, together with the huge production costs related to motion capture technologies developed and put in place for the occasion, condemned the company to bankruptcy despite the game had sold a good amount of copies, easily exceeding the six million units according to numerous reports: too few for the Rockstar standards.

La noire cases walkthrough

 

After several years from that release and with another generation of consoles on the market, the company of the brothers Houser has however chosen to try again bringing on the market both a remastered and a special version optimized ad hoc for virtual reality.

 

 We will talk about the latter in the review you are reading that, of course, will focus on the characteristic elements of the gameplay in VR, assuming that you know what is LA Noire or postponing

 

IT STARTS FROM THE BOTTOM …

Let’s start by saying that LA Noire: The VR Case Files is not a new adventure in itself but it is a kind of conversion of a part of the original game. To be precise, seven cases of the twenty-one included in the title produced by Team Bondi , plus a tutorial created specifically to help the player gain confidence with the new commands and original interactions related to virtual reality.

 

Once this is completed and the first mission, all the others will be immediately unlocked and confronted in the order we prefer, for a total of about 6 hours of play.In reality there is nothing really new compared to what we have already experienced at the time, but on a structural level the gameplay has been completely redesigned to meet your favorite helmet and dedicated controllers.

 

In the role of Cole Phelps, the policeman who is the protagonist of the game, as well as our avatar, we will then find ourselves investigating the Los Angeles underworld in the ’40s facing a maximum of four different contexts for each of the cases to be solved.

LA Noire offers a very large part of the Californian metropolis rebuilt for the occasion with historical accuracy and entirely navigable in free roaming using police vehicles.

 

It is possible to get on board a car at any time and wander the streets of the city interacting not only with the steering wheel and with accelerator and brake, cleverly controlled through the triggers of the 3D controllers of the VIVE

 

But also with most of the dashboard and of the elements that characterize the interior,simply by shaking hands and simulating the closing of the fingers. The controls foresee the simultaneous use of the triggers and the side buttons of the pads to open and independently lock the thumb and forefinger or the remaining three fingers of each hand so as to be able to make different grips or close it in a fist.

 

All interactions are physical and therefore will suffice for example to “tap” with the palm of the hand on the horn to sound it, or move the handbrake lever or even open and close the windows and doors,all in a very credible and realistic way.

 

It is therefore a pity that, in practice, there is no real usefulness in going around Los Angeles if not to reach the location of the missions, action that can also be accelerated through a convenient button of “Warp” present near the mirror rearview.

 

The city is in fact lacking in points of interest with which to interact and drive remains an essential activity to the mere shift between waypoints.