Red Dead Redemption
L.A. Noire
After living with L.A. Noire for a few weeks finishing the game and playing some of the DLC that has come out for it I have to post some type of update. Now my opinion of the game has not changed much at all in fact I find it even more disappointing the more I think about it. But…
Playing L.A. Noire has raised my opinion and grade of Red Dead Redemption even higher. Both these games were made by the same company. They are both beautiful game environments that must be seen and they are both “sandbox” style games.
Red Dead Redemption unlike L.A. Noire is simply a much more involving interactive “sandbox” experience. In Red Dead Redemption you can go hunting for critters or plants or hunt for buried treasure or play horseshoes or gamble in a game of poker or blackjack or liars dice. You can buy supplies and maps and other neat things in the stores or buy and rent various places to use as your new hideout while visiting that part of the map.
L.A. Noire has none of those things to keep your interest. It reveals itself to be only a one shot play through done and over. It’s idea of a “sandbox” seems to be this long list of cars you can find and drive around in till you go back to playing the game and then poof that car you hunted for is gone and you are back at default. Oh, and there is this long list of landmarks you can visit. You can also collect either these stupid hidden film canisters or these stupid hidden police badges at all the exact same landmark locations making this game a redundant and senseless Easter egg hunt. Why are all these things just laying around all over the place? There is no real reason for it. None of these “side activities” made a bit of sense or added any realism to the game at all unlike the stuff you can do in Red Dead Redemption that was an organic extension of the characters in the story and what they would normally do in the “wild west”.
So L.A. Noire remains a shallow disappointing grade D and Red Dead Redemption proves itself in this comparison and climbs to a well thought out grade B.
Between a Spaghetti Western or a Noire Murder Mystery… I would get my cowboy hat on and start choosing my favorite horse. If you play video games like I do you are going to find that Red Dead Redemption will keep you loading the game back up and wandering around on horseback and just enjoying the scenery for a good long time. At the very least there will never be a traffic jam to get in your way of having fun.
Tags: Video Games
