Recent reviews by FallopianGolem

L.A. Noire is a game that highlights revolutionary developments in graphics. Showcasing its MotionScan technology, the game began paving the way for titles like The Last of Us and Until Dawn. Its open world, set in bustling 1947 Los Angeles, is full of historical monuments, an original score mixed with real world tunes, and many cases based on real crimes from the 20th century. This works aptly to create an immersive piece of historical fiction. Granting any player an action filled adventure, full to the brim with detective drama and seedy corruption. All within the iconic atmosphere RockStar games has been producing for 26 years.

Overall, the gameplay of L.A Noire is mediocre in today’s standards, even with the game’s remaster hitting shelves in 2017. Gun play is fairly smooth and finds a way to keep you on your toes most of the time; while both car and foot chase scenes can leave a lot to be desired. Driving without a police siren shows how poorly NPC AI is, as cars and pedestrians make continuous mistakes. Leading to collisions with the player and other NPCs. It may not be bothersome to most players, but having to constantly drive with the siren to get between locations breaks immersion and creates continuous white noise while attempting to enjoy conversations with your partner or L.A’s historic scenery.

The puzzles and cases in the game range from being idiotically obvious or oddly stupefying; making each case interesting in its own way. Interrogating witnesses and suspects still feels unique when compared to videogames before and after L.A Noire’s release, and the “Doubt” meme still circles around some internet circles in 2024. Signifying it’s still remembered in some of the cultural psyche. This feature allowed Team Bondi to spotlight the MotionScan technology they spent years attempting to perfect, as cluing in on facial features and paying attention to evidence is vital to solving these portions of every case.

Unfortunately though, the cost of using MotionScan and the time involved with incorporating it into the game caused the team to cut some corners, while still undergoing RockStar game’s infamous “crunch”. Something that was far too common in the ambitious titles of the 2010s, and is still prevalent into today's titles. At times, L.A. Noire’s story feels rushed and unexplained. Gathering various collectables around the map is encouraged, as they help fill those gaps. Still, I often found myself wondering about a character's motivations because of a lack of build up, and sometimes I found myself disappointed with the outcome of various cases and storylines because of this. Despite it all, L.A Noire pays great homage to classic Noir media. Upholding the genre’s various stereotypes in a tasteful manner helps paint a picturesque, morally grey area. Purposefully leaving the player with proper disappointment and/or philosophical interludes as a means to uphold the grisly themes of the genre. Sometimes the line between rushed content and purposeful writing choices is blurry. Making it hard to digest what’s going on and leaving it up to the consumer to decide if something’s missing or if it was a masterful design choice.

L.A. Noire is not just a historical benchmark for the videogame industry but also a historical piece of media as a whole. Despite its flaws, the game holds up. Offering us an interactable look into the Noir genre while exploring its dark themes and storylines. The game asks you to question not only the evidence and witnesses but also the motives of Cole Phelps, his partners, Jack Kelso, and every other prevalent NPC that weaves their way into the story. Anyone looking for a change of pace should consider visiting, or revisiting, the deadly streets of 1947 Los Angeles.

This adds a funky flair to the game itself, but the fact that it turns the Greys in the final area invisible is annoying. For those attempting to speedrun the game with the effect on, it makes it a smidge more difficult because of it.

Greyhill Incident has the potential to be a great game, but unfortunately it falls flat for a few reasons. Typos and grammatical errors, inconsistent dialogue and subtitles, and unintuitive controls are issues that should've been ironed out before being released. The objectives and story-line itself leaves you with a lot of questions. With the largest one being, "What's the point?" After overcoming an obstacle you're immediately given another odd task with little rhyme or reason, and they all loosely connect to one another before ending in an unexplainable ending. All coming together to formulate a mediocre alien abduction story featuring quirky, stereotypical characters with little depth.

A few of the game's redeeming qualities are it's graphics and suspense. The lighting does a great job masking the aliens which makes you really have to slow down and look. The game's audio ques do a great job adding to the suspense of encountering an alien. While there aren't any intentional jump scares, I often found myself turning a corner or looking over my shoulder only to find a grey stalking me. Even though the enemies themselves aren't necessarily the hardest, the game's ambience helps you constantly be afraid of them and your environment.

I'm only recommending this game based on the fact that I bought it for roughly $10, and I'd suggest anyone else interested in trying out Greyhill Incident not pay anymore than that. If I could give this game a middle of the road recommendation, I would. This game, or a redone version, has a lot of potential to be a unique addition to the horror game scene.

This game is full of twists and turns. It's a cinematic experience that tells a compelling story of love, isolation, loss, and companionship. Firewatch also features a beautiful map that's actually fun to explore, and it has a camera function that makes me stop and think about what I'm looking at. Overall I'd say this is a fantastic game. If you enjoy immersing yourself in a short story or visual novel, then take a chance with Firewatch. 10/10

This game is absolutely great. Especially if you're a fan of Katamari Damacy! It's incredibly charming and tells a simple yet compelling story about a Raccoon and their donuts. I can't recommend this game enough if you're looking for a chill 90 minute play through.

This game is the worst walking simulator I've ever played. The music doesn't even redeem it. I did unfortunately pay for the DLC because I didn't know you could just get it for free from the menu. Let me tell you this, the Mars level makes the game worse because it takes EVEN LONGER to walk to the objective. 5+ minutes on the moon, or spend the $2.99 to walk 13+ minutes on Mars.

Some friends and I just grinded this game for seven hours because we lost track of time. Overall this is a fun hoard shooterwith some unique customization and build options. The story is kind of wacky and all the enemies have pretty good designs. My friends and I did have some connectivity issues every now and then, but closing the game and reopening it seemed to fix it. For a game that came out in 2012, I'd say it still holds up!

Pretty Good Game

A Great game. This is the third platform I've owned it on now. I'm always learning new stuff, and encountering new enemies. A perfect game to play with friends too!

I've always enjoyed the Fallout franchise. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas are stellar games. If you enjoy open world action RPGs then this is a game for you. My only complaint is that there aren't any achievements on the Steam version, despite the fact that Xbox has them and PS3 has trophies for the game.