I'm still playing L.A. Noire sporadically. There are a few trophies left to get on my PS3 and then I'll be entirely ready for L.A. Noire 2. Entirely ready, but I can't imagine what (if any) stage of development it will have reached by then. While I'm still working to clear up these final achievements (including finding two rare vehicle models in all of 1947 Los Angeles), I have a few thoughts on what I might like to see this next go around. I've seen sites and forums where others' ideas have bounced around, and rather than echo those more technical details I'm putting some broader and less practical ideas (#2 through #5, at least) out there. I'm sure Rockstar trolls through the aforementioned forums and obscure blogs like mine, so I feel like I'm doing a lot of good here... You can't see the eyeroll... But let's go!
#1 Keep the Car Names
So my first request is kind of pithy, but it's also a super easy fix. LA Noire brought both classic and unique car makes and models back to life, and I really like the idea of setting a trophy that rewards you for driving all of them. The problem I had, though, was that the name of the car shows up only the first time you get into it (i.e. when you add one more car to your trophy list). With something like 95 different cars to drive, I spent a lot of time climbing Cole Phelps into repeats once I got down to 15 or 20 undriven models. The time it takes to methodically chase down and commandeer every remotely unfamiliar car might pass with less aggravation if I could at least be learning something. It's so cool to have real car models in the game, and since I eat up the culture from that era I'd like to come out of the game with the ability to recognize a few classics. Unfortunately, I can barely name any of them - even the most common ones - because their names haven't appeared in the gameplay since the first or second night I had the game. You can see them in the showroom, but I go there only sparingly because their animation for toggling through the cars makes me cross-eyed.
Solution: Let me see the names of the cars! Every time! Have a special icon/sound effect that is triggered everytime you unlock a car and keep the tally going (i.e. Car number X/95) and the effect of working toward the car trophy won't be lost.
#2 Playable Side Stories
I've seen elsewhere that some folks understandably lost a little interest because of the lack of consequences for a poor performance on a case. You get chewed out, maybe it's hinted that you've been demoted but for all intents and purposes you just keep moving forward. A one-star showing at the end of the case and you still move on the next case, the next desk.
Solution A: If the developers of LAN2 wanted to make it a little more interesting, they could at least build in a few "punishment/demotion" cases or scenarios where you have to play to win back your previos standing. Essentially, you add one or two side missions to each desk as opportunities for redemption, and then you loop back right onto the professional ladder.
Solution B: If the same developers wanted to make it a lot more interesting, there are all sorts of unformed ideas in my head. Either a built-in round of private investigations (off the record, not sanctioned by LAPD) or the option to moonlight as a PI might be cool. There are cooky scenarios and less stringent rules/protocol which would allow for an interesting play on the Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe ilk. The motivations could turn might selfish, too, as police officers have a bevvy of opportunities to turn rogue, doing the bidding of shady characters like Mickey C. for some supplementary income (especially if money does become an object in LAN2).
With alternate good cop/bad cop routes through the game, the replay value of the game would surely go up. You can't truly be a choir boy (just look like one) while you're pushing heroin and protecting kingpins, but the opportunity to earn trophies based on alternate decisions, scenarios, and endings (which one of my favorites, Heavy Rain, did very well) would motivate many players to explore the full potential of a more free-will-driven game.
#3 Convince James Ellroy to Participate
LAN2 probably (definitely) needs some change of character front and center, and some other general issues will need to be addressed. Plot. Antagonist(s). Supporting characters. I mean, it's a new game after all.
Solution: Do as much or as little (likely none) as you like with this suggestion, Rockstar. I mean, take it or leave it. You're the experts. But seriously, just revolve everything around James Ellroy and his novels and most of your work is done.
James Ellroy's books are badass. He has cool characters, plot twists, and plenty of historical events and L.A. lore are tied in. From his L.A. Quartet alone, you have enough personalities (e.g. Dudley Smith, Ed Exley, Lee Blanchard, Trashcan Jack, Dave Klein, Mickey C., Ellis Loew, just limitless) and to carry you through LAN5. Rockstar, have your people contact Ellroy's people and set up a meeting. If you catch him in a good mood, draft a contract with as much participation from him as you can because...
James Ellroy is a badass. I've alluded to both his writing and his personality in a previous post, and if you've seen the guy make a public appearance you have to agree that he would be an interesting component of a period L.A. crime video game. Let him narrate. If he reads lines anything like he reads his own books, the next game would have a weird (if unorthodox) intensity about it. Or make him a bad guy. He can easily pull of creepy, shady, antagonistic, vengeful, angry, psychotic, and (most of all) entertaining.
Don't misunderstand me, L.A. Noire was very cool and nicely done. The same general experience with some minor tweaks and I'm a buyer again. However, I'd rather not wait 5 years for LAN2. In many ways, if Ellroy's storytelling could be captured in my fantasy version of LAN2, it would almost certainly match or best the first game. If it could be done more quickly than that torturous wait for the first installment, all the better.
#4 Recreate Old Celebrities for Cameo Spots
Maybe this is out there. What I noticed (especially on my second playthrough after I had seen all of "Mad Men") was I could recognize a ton of actors in the game. The graphics and paired with those actors' voice work was really awesomely done, and seeing recognizable faces made the game feel all the more like a movie. But we're going for some vintage movie style, am I right?
Solution: Let's get some vintage actors in there - some look-alike sound-alike vintage actors, anyway. I suppose this requires hiring two actors for one role, assuming that the actress who most looks like Betty Grable doesn't sound like her too. I think the technology has obviously come a long way, and I don't see why they couldn't just make amendments to hairstyles, etc. and employ a voiceover to create dead ringers for Vincent Price, Humphrey Bogart, or Rita Hayworth. Never mind even having their names, striving to recreate believable B-movie knockoffs of major stars is still an interesting angle. Read Ellroy's L.A. Confidential then bring him in, he knew how to build up stories of Hollywood mimicry.
#5 Relocate in Time +/or Space
I'm not sure whether this is the best idea or the worst idea. The logical next step for the LAN franchise, if they're being totally predictable about it, would be to take one of the previous characters (presumably the Jack Kelso type) and move forward with the next year or two with the LAPD. Don't get me wrong, that's not necessarily a problem, but a character like Kelso would have to reveal some sort of personal struggle and anti-hero nuances if they want to maintain the noir style and not go forward with a moral superhero (which seems kind of boring for Rockstar, so I'm not worried).
Solution: Anyway, this would be the best opportunity to explore other times and places, after one game is released and before they get into the groove of going with an LAPD chronology. There's a ton left that could be done in LA, but might it also be interesting to do a contemporary story in Chicago or even nearby San Francisco? In that scenario, the games become a Noire franchise rather than an LAN franchise. Even though the former returns to fictionalized NYC, the GTA and Fallout franchises successfully have hopped around the US. In LAN2 or elsewhere in a new Noire game, the opportunity to break free of the progressive qualities of time seem potentially enticing. What about the early years of Hollywood, silent films and prohibition. The latter point welcomes some brand of "Untouchables"-like storylines. The possibilities are endless.
