A Quick Tour

A Quick Tour

Our getting started guide to L.A. Noire.

When the first thing you see is a neon sign, and the soft riffs of a piano invite you to press start, it gives you a very specific notion of what is coming... Sets the tone if you will, and the start menu made from shadows on the wall are a nice touch.  We should take a few minutes to get used to the game and its controls and menus now, just to get that out of the way.

-- The Main Game Menu --

If you have already played the game, you can just hit RESUME from here to continue your game, if you have not, then you will need to create a new game save, which you do by hitting NEW.  LA Noire uses an Auto-Save System to make game saves, removing the responsibility from you -- but you need to pay attention to the animated symbol that the game uses to indicate when it is saving the game (a swirling thingy) and be absolutely sure NOT to turn off the game when it is doing that, because if you do there is an excellent chance that you will corrupt your save and lose all of your game progress.

There are two sets of choices to be made from this menu -- internal game selections and external.

External game selections include the 'X' Button, which will show you any DLC for the game with descriptions, and tell you what you already have.

The 'Y' Button will load the Rockstar Social Club menu (see that in the video above) which among other things shows you some stats for your game, and other information.  Use the 'X' Button to access the Social Club to see if you have unlocked any cool in-game content as the result of your membership -- as you can see I unlocked the Chicago Lightning Suit because I am already a member, a suit that improves my accuracy with the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the Thompson Submachine Gun, and the Shotgun.

Joining the Social Club is a really good idea -- and I recommend you do so -- because in addition to neat in-game extras you get a newsletter that keeps you informed about DLC, games, and other important gaming news.

From the main menu for the Social Club you can also review some of the stats for your friends who are playing the game -- how far they have gotten, the number of cases they have closed, and their discoveries in the game.  This not only tells you how well your mates are doing in the game, but which mates are playing.

The internal selections include NEW, RESUME, CASES, and EXTRAS.

The Car Catalog

-- EXTRAS --

Selecting EXTRAS gets you a menu for the Vehicle Showroom and the Credits, in case you want to view either.  The Showroom will only reveal car silhouettes until you have actually driven one of the cars -- but you can display them here based on their Class (using up and down on the D-Pad):

-- 2 Door (25 cars)
-- 4 Door (19 cars)
-- Sports (8 cars)
-- Service (19 cars)
-- Bonus (15 cars)
-- Police (9 cars)

To view the different cars in each class use left and right on the D-Pad.

Initially the only car that is unlocked is the 1947 Ford Police Special, but as you play the game that will change.

The Credits are just what it sounds like -- the Credits for the game.  As the Credits roll you get a period tune and the names of all the people who contribute to the making of this amazing game.  Of course unless you know one of them, chances are you will never look at this.

-- CASES --

This is a folder with all of the cases you have completed -- including the CS's related to them -- and allows you to replay them whenever you like.

If you missed some clues you can go back and replay the cases through this menu rather than replay the entire game, and how cool is that?

-- RESUME --

This allows you to pick up at the last save point from previous play, or select one of the save points that are listed in the menu here.  While you cannot begin a mission mid-way through, the Resume Menu does increase your options substantially.

-- NEW --

Selecting NEW gets you an introductory tour of Los Angeles -- but not an LA you would recognize today, an LA from the 40's, when The Man had power.  You get a wide view of society as a Jack-Webb voice describes what you are seeing and then you slide into the patrol car that was driven by the bloke you saw leaving his house earlier -- you as it turns out!

Patrol Car 14-Adam gets a call from dispatch -- the detectives need some warm bodies to search a scene for evidence, and you are up on the wheel, so you are the warm bodies.  Bummer.

Before you go racing off through the city hit the Start Button to pause the game, and we will quickly review the Pause Menu.  You have six choices here: Map, Log, Statistics, Options, Restart, and Quit.  Now I know you are no quitter, so we can safely ignore that one, right bub?  You haven't done anything so you don't need to Restart -- but you know that they are there, that is the important thing.

-- The Map --

Click on Map first, and you will find a street map of LA -- that will come in handy!  Let's take a closer look at the Map, because believe it or not, this is going to be one of the most frequently used tools in your toolbox! 

The first thing you will notice as you use the left joystick to move around is the city is bloody huge!  Yeah, well, don't worry, you can handle it...  Now use the Right and Left Trigger to zoom in and out -- yeah bub, that is much better because now you can read the street names and you can see that this map actually shows you the cities of Hollywood, Wilshire, and the Central District -- you being in the latter.

The Right and Left Bumpers allow you to move from location marker to location marker on the map, and the location is currently marked with a yellow flag.  You can also set a custom destination, and your partner will drive you there automatically -- just so you know.  Hit the 'Y' Button to open the Legend, which tells you what the different symbols mean on the map -- and 'A' to set a custom destination.  The 'B' Button will take you back to the Menu.  Use it now.

-- The Log -- 

When you select the Log, hey, surprise Bub!  You got a printout of everything that narrator said in the opening sequence, followed by your last call from Dispatch and your current orders.  That could come in useful later, if you get confused, so remember that it is there, right?

You do not know it yet, but your name is Cole Phelps -- Officer Cole Phelps -- and you are a uniform officer assigned to the Wilshire Division in a two-man prowl car, and your partner is Officer Ralph Dunn.

If you are curious, the reason you are named Cole is because your parents admired Cornelius Cole (September 17, 1822 – November 3, 1924) a wealthy politician from California who served a single term in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican representing the state from 1863 to 1865, and another term in the United States Senate from 1867 to 1873.(1)  Clearly your parents were impressed by the man who has a county named for him in the Bear State, so now you know.

-- Statistics --

This is one of those FYI sort of thing, you know -- For Your Information -- as it tells you all sorts of useful stuff, like how far you traveled on foot, in a car, the items you have collected and the locations you have discovered -- stuff like that.  It also lets you know how many crimes you have solved -- you will want to know that, right?

-- Options --

That just leaves Options for us to look at, and assuming you are an experienced gamer, you should know what this is all about already.  There is really only one setting that we probably should change here -- under Sound we should move the slider for music three clicks to the left -- that way we will never miss anything that is being said because of the music... 

If you are a flyer you may want to reverse the Y-Axis but other than that, the settings should be peaches and cream.

-- A bit about the Game --

Set in the post-war era during the boom of Hollywood's Golden Age, you are Cole Phelps of the LAPD, and you start out as a Patrol Officer but you work your way up the rank structure by solving crimes and getting perp's off the street. 

Corruption is rampant in LA, and the drug trade is exploding.  Murder rates are at an all-time high, and your path to higher rank and more responsibility -- and your need to do what’s right --  takes you along a path that has you unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of your own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core. (2)

Before you get the idea you are some goody-two-shoes law-and-order type, you may want to consider your motivation for being such a nice guy -- and that starts with your guilty conscience over some things you did during World War Two -- you bastard! 

Well, that is what you need to know for now, so go ahead and hit 'B' now, and then 'B' again to return to the game, and drive to the scene of the crime!  Use your siren and try not to hit anything -- or anyone -- as you race to the scene of the crime.