A solid title well worth of inclusion in your VR game library.
The VR Case Files gives a great glimpse of how it'd feel to play the classic open world detective adventure in virtual reality. That said, don't go into this expecting to the full L.A. Noire experience. The VR version features only a small fraction (7 cases) compared to its original outing on home consoles (26 cases in the Complete Edition and Remaster, 21 in the original release). This becomes painfully obvious on the latter half of the game. The first couple missions are fairly standalone so you don't feel like you're missing out on the story but as soon as you get to the Homicide desk case, you start hearing references to past cases you never get to play in this version. This issue is at its worst once you hit the last case. You switch to playing an entirely different character that never gets properly introduced in The VR Case Files and the player is left completely out of loop as to what has happened to the main character since you last saw him.
Gameplay is varied with missions being faithfully re-created in a VR setting. You even get the whole city to explore by car, though there is even less of a reason to do so here than in the original game. VR Case Files feature some neat additions such a racing mini-game and office space to fool around in.
While most features work as intended, aiming with guns can be a chore. I think it's due to your character's hands being angled by default (you can see it in the office mirror). I managed to get quite proficient at aligning semi-automatic pistol's iron sights to get those gratifying headshots but longer weapons such as rifle never felt natural or reliable to use. The aiming system becomes even more cumbersome when you're trying to use the cover system with hands often clipping into your body if you're too close to the cover.
While not a perfect title by any means, it provides great value for a VR title and plenty of things to do. That said, due to the reasons explained in the second paragraph, it feels more like a side-piece or a novelty to the veterans of L.A. Noire rather than a full fledged title for everyone.
The VR Case Files gives a great glimpse of how it'd feel to play the classic open world detective adventure in virtual reality. That said, don't go into this expecting to the full L.A. Noire experience. The VR version features only a small fraction (7 cases) compared to its original outing on home consoles (26 cases in the Complete Edition and Remaster, 21 in the original release). This becomes painfully obvious on the latter half of the game. The first couple missions are fairly standalone so you don't feel like you're missing out on the story but as soon as you get to the Homicide desk case, you start hearing references to past cases you never get to play in this version. This issue is at its worst once you hit the last case. You switch to playing an entirely different character that never gets properly introduced in The VR Case Files and the player is left completely out of loop as to what has happened to the main character since you last saw him.
Gameplay is varied with missions being faithfully re-created in a VR setting. You even get the whole city to explore by car, though there is even less of a reason to do so here than in the original game. VR Case Files feature some neat additions such a racing mini-game and office space to fool around in.
While most features work as intended, aiming with guns can be a chore. I think it's due to your character's hands being angled by default (you can see it in the office mirror). I managed to get quite proficient at aligning semi-automatic pistol's iron sights to get those gratifying headshots but longer weapons such as rifle never felt natural or reliable to use. The aiming system becomes even more cumbersome when you're trying to use the cover system with hands often clipping into your body if you're too close to the cover.
While not a perfect title by any means, it provides great value for a VR title and plenty of things to do. That said, due to the reasons explained in the second paragraph, it feels more like a side-piece or a novelty to the veterans of L.A. Noire rather than a full fledged title for everyone.