Rockstar’s L.A. Noire was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows, and later a remastered version was launched on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in 2017, speaking to the game’s popularity. In the detective action-adventure title, players assume the role of Cole Phelps, a detective operating in 1940s Los Angeles.
Soon after the game’s release, a meme known as ‘Press X to Doubt’ started making the rounds on the internet. The meme was inspired by the interrogation scenes in L.A. Noire when Detective Phelps must question a witness. After the witness gives their statement, the player is given three options – Truth, Doubt, or Lie. The player can either believe the witness testimony, doubt it, or accuse the witness of lying. What’s memorable about the interrogation scenes is that Phelps’ reactions when players press Doubt are particularly animated and loud, with the detective raising his voice despite it often feeling out of place.
As such, the ‘Press X to Doubt’ meme came to life as players couldn’t get over how ridiculous Phelps’ doubtfulness is in the L.A. Noire game. However, Phelps’ doubtful reaction wasn’t exactly planned to be so lively. In fact, the developers were originally going to go with a completely different set of options, one that would’ve replaced Doubt with Force, thus explaining why Phelps is so forceful and aggressive when he's supposed to be feeling doubtful.
Why Phelps Is So Loud When He Doubts In L.A. Noire
When L.A. Noire was remastered in 2017, the interrogation options were changed. Even though the strategies stayed the same, rather than choosing between Truth, Doubt, or Lie, players had choices between Good Cop, Bad Cop, or Accuse. However, back when L.A. Noire was in its original development, an alternative set of options during interrogation scenes were under consideration. The original choices were going to be between Coax, Force, or Accuse, an even more direct set of options to help guide the player through their interrogation. Rockstar clearly wanted to move closer to the original set of options when it remastered the titles in 2017, considering that Accuse directly replaced Lie.
Speaking to Eurogamer in 2011, L.A. Noire’s creator Brendan McNamara explained the reasoning behind the original decision to change the options. The original choices Coax, Force, or Accuse were about “strategy,” he explained, but testers had trouble understanding or growing accustomed to the words. “Then we switched to Truth, Doubt, Lie, because that was more straightforward for people.” However, the problems didn’t end there. McNamara admits the switch made Doubt “weird,” describing Aarton Staton’s (the actor who portrayed Cole Phelps) exuberant performances “slightly psycho.” This performance became one of the most well-known aspects of the game and the origin of the meme.
"But Doubt... what it changed it from was what your strategy was into what was the person's performance like... I don't think it made it bad, it just made Aaron appear slightly psycho on the Doubt button. That's my fault, not his. When people go, he turns into a maniac when you press Doubt, that's my fault, not his."
Cole Phelps’ reaction makes a bit more sense in the remastered version, considering the developers chose to alter the interrogation choices. But had L.A. Noire not made Phelps’ doubtful reactions so memorable, it wouldn’t have inspired the meme that keeps the title fresh in many players’ minds almost a decade since the game’s initial release.
Source: Eurogamer