Some Video Games are too Long

I have a bunch of video games I picked up for $1 and I am trying to get through a number of them. One of them is L.A. Noire from Rockstar Games. I bought it because a friend of mine used to work at Rockstar and got me a t-shirt for this game and I felt obligated to play it. Now I can't wait for the game to be done. This is disappointing because one of my favorite games is Red Dead Redemption from the same publisher and it uses the same game engine.

L.A. Noire is set in 1950's Los Angeles and you are a police detective back from being a marine in World War II. You get to run around trying to solve various crimes by looking for clues and questioning people. One of the unique things about the game is that you have to decide if the person is telling the truth, you doubt their answer, or they are lying. If you accuse them of lying then you need to have evidence to back it up. At first it was interesting and fun. However now the game just keeps going and going. I only have 3 more crimes to solve and then I will be done. If I wasn't so close to the end, I would stop playing the game now, never to pick it up again.

Today I was thinking about why I love Red Dead Redemption so much but hate this game. They are both open world where you can roam anywhere you want. Both have you go off on missions only to interrupt you with other tasks. In RDR you may have to kill an animal or shoot an outlaw. In LAN, you get to respond to street crimes. RDR is much more enjoyable because they are small tasks on the way to larger ones. In LAN you often drive minutes out of your way just to shoot a couple of thugs robbing a bowling alley. Then you have to drive all the way back to where you were heading and in some cases, it is just around the corner from where you were before you got sidetracked. The game tries to make it up to you by sending you past notable Los Angeles tourist sites. While they may be interesting, they are not nearly as fun as killing a Grizzly bear with a knife or rescuing a maiden in distress.

As I try to finish L.A. Noire, I have decided that I just want to get through it and finish the game. I don't care about doing all of the side missions nor do I care about any of the other trophies. That is too bad because if Rockstar released a remastered version of Red Dead Redemption for the PS4, I would totally buy a copy.

L.A. Noire is rated M for mature because of gruesome scenes, strong language, violence, and a number of nude murder victims. Remember that I do work for a video game company and while I try to be unbiased, may not seem so to others. I really did enjoy Red Dead Redemption but can't recommend L.A. Noire even though I only paid $1 for it. I am playing it on my PS3 and just want it to be over.