Today saw the release of Rockstar and Team Bondi’s LA Noire. Sort of an LA Confidential for the Grand Theft Auto generation, although from what I have heard it plays more like a modern day adventure game than Rockstars previous outings, I intend to dive in to it’s 1st act once I have finished here but in the meantime I thought I’d chime in on a trend that is becoming more prevalent across the full range of my interests.
Retro has been cool on and off for a long time, As a child of the 90’s I have seen several things that I loved come back in a big way, Transformers is the first that comes to mind and though I can’t say I entirely appreciate the way Michael Bay has handled his cash cow of late, I will be the first to admit I was in that cinema on day 1. However it’s more widely reaching than that,
1940 – 1985 if you are creating something right now, this is your target. Perhaps because we wish for a simpler time, maybe we are secretly afraid of progress or even in a wish to innovate we are being lazy and looking at what hasn’t been done for a while rather than what hasn’t been done before. One way or another here are some examples plucked from the stuff I enjoy with that vintage influence,
In Video Games:
L.A. Noire [1947] the aforementioned game that brought me to this post intends to give us the feel of the classic film noir genre with the backdrop of a stunningly recreated 40’s Los Angeles, waistcoats and fedoras? count me in.
Call of Duty: Black Ops [1961 – 1968] one of the biggest games of last year was based entirely in the 60’s gleefully and liberally using it’s cold war backdrop, we got everything from Creedence to Soviet sleeper agents and the assassination of JFK.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker [1974] taking outlandish liberties with technology from the time period but then showing utter devotion to its setting with ample info on the Cuban Missile Crisis, El Che, the Cuban revolution, and the post Vietnam military industrial complex. It’s cold war science fiction at its finest.
Mafia II [1943 – 1951] an excellently presented rise and fall tale in the vein of The Godfather that portrays the transition from a wintery WWII era city into the rocking 50s with great attention to detail, clothes cars and crime.
Bad Company 2: Vietnam [1965 – 1975] released on the heels of Black Ops this Battlefield BC2 expansion was an exercise in what 2004’s Battlefield: Vietnam would be like in the new engine. Answer? awesome.
Interesting no? all of these released since 2010. . more from film, comics, fashion and automotive later. For now? L.A. Noire; here I come.
-Expatriategamer
Expatriategamer 