Why Cole is 'psychotic' in LA Noire

Team Bondi's Brendan McNamara explains Cole's sudden, violent mood swings.

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If you've spent some time investigating crimes in LA Noire, you know that detective Cole Phelps has the ugly tendency to treat everyone as a hostile witness if you pick the wrong option. Grandmothers, children, the weeping families of deceased victims -- none are safe from Cole's reign of arbitrarily aggressive terror.

So what's the deal? Apparently in the recording sessions, actor Aaron Staton was given slightly different phrasing to describe Phelps' reactions, resulting in the disconnect.

"It's funny. A lot of people say Aaron turns into a psycho," said Team Bondi head Brendan McNamara at the Bradford Animation Festival 2011, reported by Eurogamer. "When we originally wrote the game the questions you asked were coax, force and lie. It was actually force because it was a more aggressive answer. That's the way we recorded it.

"But when the game came out it was truth, doubt or lie. Everyone always says Aaron on the second question is a psycho. So that's not his fault."

McNamara also addressed the odd sight of the detail in characters' bodies not matching their faces. "That's because we had all this animation in the neck and all this animation in the face, but the clothes don't move. Once you get to the level that people can actually see that level of realism, then people expect to see clothes moving and the rest of the body moving in a way we can't replicate in video games." He says it's subtle, but once you see one thing realistically rendered, "then you start looking for the other things."

If you haven't played LA Noire yet, the Complete Edition launched this week on PC, which includes all of the DLC from the console versions.

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  • reply
    November 9, 2011 9:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Why Cole is 'psychotic' in LA Noire.

    Team Bondi's Brendan McNamara explains Cole's sudden, violent mood swings.

    • reply
      November 9, 2011 9:40 AM

      Tech people in charge of creative elements -- never fails.

    • reply
      November 9, 2011 9:49 AM

      My biggest problem has to do with the MAJOR change in direction three quarters of the way through the game. To me, that was a very bad decision and the game would have been better if the focus had not changed.

      • reply
        November 9, 2011 10:13 AM

        I have to disagree, as that was just when the game was starting to feel repetitive and predictable. It was good to have a wrench thrown in there.

      • reply
        November 9, 2011 10:39 AM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      November 9, 2011 8:35 PM

      What he says about suddenly expecting realism from everything else is true. LA Noire gets the most realistic rendering of facial expressions ever and people instantly jump onto other things for not also looking that great.

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