wr.

By Marc Thompson

LA. Noire tells the story of Cole Phelps,
a retired marine officer, now serving as a
police detective in the city of Los Angeles
during the late 40’s. You investigate
crimes, interrogate witnesses and watch
as Cole moves up in the ranks until he
uncovers a massive conspiracy. While
LA. Noire is based on Rockstar Games’
Grand Theft Auto engine, this is no
sandbox. You are expected to keep to a
fairly linear path to crime scenes, and
it goes without saying that you don’t
get points for running or gunning down
civilians. You investigate crimes, carefully
examining each scene for clues and
questioning witnesses and suspects. A
selling point was the facial capture system
that captures an incredible range of facial
expressions, allowing you to figure out
whether someone is lying or not when you
interrogate them.

The graphics are fantastic, and
I’m sure that the capture technology
will be used again in other upcoming
products. The setting and style of L.A.
is exceptional, with Rockstar’s usual
incredible attention to detail. The
acting is topnotch, without a single bad
performance, even bit parts. The game
also has a nice soundtrack filled with both
period music and a few mood appropriate
themes. They got the style and tone just
right, and the writing of dialogue and in
individual cases is quite good. |

The problem is, while it’s very
pretty, there’s damn little game here—it’s
more of an interactive movie with the
game play added as an afterthought.
Investigation doesn’t really get your brain
working—you don’t make any amazing
deductions requiring logic or insight,
you just look for clues at the scene and

Noire style, no substance

‘L.A. Noire’ is a decent movie, but a lousy game

 

then interrogate subjects. There are a
ton of games from Telltale software that
do the adventure game far better than
implemented here. The actual action
in L.A. Noire (gunfights, car and foot
chases) aren’t anything you haven’t seen
before in any other GTA game. In fact,
if you’ve played any sandbox driver/
shooter, you’ ve probably found them
ridiculously easy. Once you’ ve finished
the game, you’ll want to return this.
There’s just not enough fun here for
me to ever want to drive the streets of
L.A.—no T.V. programs nor mini-games,
no mob wars going on, no challenges nor
stunts, no reason to explore. It feels like a
massive step backwards from Red Dead
Redemption (2010) and GTA IV (2008).
L.A. Noire might have still been
worth it if the interactive movie was good
enough to drop my jaw, but it really isn’t.
I just don’t care about the protagonist;
Phelps is the straight man, and that
doesn’t really work when most of your
partners are also straight-men. This wasn’t
helped by the little glimpses of other plots
and flashbacks, which seemed to be telling
a much more interesting story than the one
I was in. :
Despite its amazing graphics, I can’t
really recommend L.A. Noire. It has
absolutely no replay value once you finish
the main story. The best parts play more
like a movie, and it isn’t one gripping
enough to justify the sixty dollar price.
tag. Borrow, rent, or wait till it hits half
price in the used bin. Use that money on
some classic Noire movies or maybe buy
some independent adventure games from
Telltale.
2.5/5

Fern,
ae
oe

 

R and J

By Julia Siedlanowska

director Evan Frayne’s “The Verona

Project” —yet another modern
adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet. I wanted so badly to be won over
by innovative lighting and set design,
fresh costuming, stimulating sounds and
ingenious staging...but wasn’t. I was
sorry to say there were no surprises in
Stone’s Throw Productions version of R
and J. Especially when we have director
Stephen Drover’s “Denmark”, a modern
adaptation of Hamlet, that graced Douglas
College’s Studio Theatre last fall to
compare it to.

Speaking with Maryanne Renzetti
(who played the nurse). about the
director’s vision, and what she will take
away from the show, she said, “Even
though a story may be well-known, that
doesn’t mean that it isn’t still relevant and
accessible.” Of course, the goal of good
story telling is always to make something
relatable. And of course, when I was a
fourteen year old girl I was naive (and
maybe still am), but I could never relate to
the complete idiocy of Juliet.

I could never relate to the complete
selfish and moronic decisions that our
two lust driven heroes made. So I do give
big props to Aslam Husain (Romeo) and
Susan Coodin (Juliet) for doing a great job
getting into those roles that Shakespeare
so wonderfully set up for us. Coodin
seemed especially emotionally connected
to her role throughout most of the show.
Mack Gordon (Mercutio) also did a great
job of bringing his role into present day.
Coming out on stage with plastic rings

[« high hopes for up and coming

 

please exeunt forever...

Romeo and Juliet at the Pacific Theatre

 

_ from a six pack worn as a bracelet, his

character was just like any young goof we
may know in life.

Other than the love scene of Romeo
and Juliet’s first night.together, which
I remember as being fairly believable
and ambient, the set, lighting, and sound
didn’t add very much to the mood of the
show. I’m scared to mention the fight
scenes, which were lame to say the least.
They weren’t convincing enough for me
not to need fake blood on stage (though
it’s doubtful that would have saved them).
In the end, there were too many breathing
dead bodies after too many unconvincing
deaths to let me suspend my disbelief and
enter into the tragedy of it all. Adding a
few contemporary curse words wasn’t
enough to make me relate to the conflicts
either.

I found out later that the actors were
in change of costuming themselves,
which ended up looking un-cohesive
and outdated (perhaps this is the way the
world actually looks). _

It being Evan Frayne’s last piece
as an apprentice director at The Pacific
Theatre, his bittersweet speech before
the show was touching. Renzetti said “I
think mostly I’ll take away this experience
of working with this fantastic group of
people and being a part of something
very special.” With actors enjoying the
experience and Frayne being so obviously
passionate, it shows that he is capable of
getting people to see his vision. I hope
for the director to take time to innovate,
brainstorm, and most of all take risks. The
story came across, but I don’t want to see
it again until I can sit.through it without
squirming and thinking, ‘Just die already!’