L.A Noire

L.A Noire is a game that concentrated on a lot of facial animation to create more believability with the characters. To create a realistic look and feel Team Bondi (the company that created the facial animation) used motion scanning, rather than motion capture as motion capture even though good for body movements, it didn't really work well enough for facial. The video below shows the setup they used to capture facial movements and expressions. They would capture it from 360 degrees as well as from above and below, this would then go from 2D videos to 3D meshes and then compressed versions for the game.



Another interesting thing about L.A Noire is their use of sound design within the game. When interrogating people different sounds corresponds to whether you have got the answer right or wrong. It also gives you hints here and there, for example when you have found all the clues in a particular area a certain sound is heard. You are able to turn this hints on or off so it is the players own decision to whether they want them or not. There is a lot of interactivity within the game, when interrogating you have to study the faces and expressions of the character, they will give clues to whether they are telling the truth or lying. If you get the question wrong, it may lead to clues being undiscovered as the characters will cut the line of enquiry short, however if correct it may open up another line. Each case can play out very differently depending on how you interrogate someone and the amount of clues you find on the investigation scene. By doing this it randomizes the gameplay so it is not the same going through each case or mission.

Some people could say that L.A Noire is stuck within the uncanny valley, however this technology isn't like motion capture where it captures the bone movement, it captures what's on the outside. It creates a much higher detailed outcome. This article goes into more detail about the technology and gives you a good insight to how it was all achieved:
- How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With A Tech Called MotionScan