I was looking through my collection of games across my consoles and computer and I saw more than a few by Rockstar. For those that don't know, Rockstar is famous mostly for making the Grand Theft Auto series of games. Now, I won't lie, I own a couple GTA games. I own the original, San Andreas and GTA 4 and to be honest, I've never been able to play them for more than just a few hours before I get sick of it and turn it off.
It's not the violence, God knows I play violent as fuck video games. Where I start taking issue with these games is the horribly overblown stereotypes and the language. I swear like a sailor, but when every third word out of the main character's mouth is a racial slur that I refuse to repeat, I start getting sick to my stomach. Surround that main character with five other stereotypes that talk the same way and I shut the game off. I thought GTA 4 would be a little better with that; seeing as the main character is a European immigrant, I figured the racial slurs would be minimal, and I was right. Honestly I couldn't tell you why that game bugs me, but it does.
The two games that I keep coming back to in Rockstar's catalogue are Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. I love these games, not only because they represent two genres that are cliches in movies but under used in games, but because they show that Rockstar as a company is maturing. Sure, the stereotypes are still there, although I don't find them as gratingly annoying as in GTA, and they tend to play the same as the aforementioned series, but its the subject matter that really shines. RDR is similar to GTA, except in the wild west. It's been called Grand Theft Horsie, which I find annoying, because I enjoy RDR even despite its similarities to GTA. It may have something to do with how jaw droppingly beautiful the game is, or that I'm a sucker for westerns, so much so that I actually own Red Dead Revolver, the game that Redemption is a spiritual sequel to.
L.A. Noire is a completely different beast altogether; its main controls are almost identical to GTA and Redemption, but the subject matter couldn't be more different. It's a cop drama, stylistically made to look like a film noire, in fact there's an option to put it in black and white, just to keep that noire film feeling. Set shortly after WWII, the player is in the polished wing tips of rookie cop, Colton Phelps. What's revolutionary about it is the interrogations, where the player must pay attention to the suspect's facial expressions to tell if they're lying. You also have to look for clues and evidence and whatnot. Spanning two disks, it's so huge and there's so much to see and do, that I have yet to finish it.
Hopefully these two games, Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire are a sign that Rockstar is maturing and is getting ready to leave the offensive bullshit that Grand Theft Auto has always been and bring us something that's worth playing.
