L.A. Noire (2011)

This title is a captivating detective adventure published by Rockstar Games, set in a stunningly detailed recreation of 1947 Los Angeles. The MC is called Cole Phelps, a decorated war veteran turned LAPD detective, as he works his way through various police divisions, traffic, homicide, vice, and arson, each filled with intricate cases inspired by real crimes of the era.

What sets L.A. Noire apart is its revolutionary facial motion capture technology, which brings every character to life with unprecedented realism. Reading subtle facial cues and body language during interrogations is central to the gameplay, blending intuition and observation in a way few games have managed since. The result is an experience that feels closer to an interactive film noir than a traditional open-world game.

Though some people may find its slower pace and repetitive case structure less exciting compared to other Rockstar titles, the game’s authenticity, atmosphere, and cinematic storytelling make it stand out. From its smoky jazz soundtrack to its morally complex narrative, this game remains one of the most ambitious and distinctive crime dramas ever made in gaming.

Beyond its core investigations, it also excels in the quiet moments between cases, when you cruise through rain-soaked streets, respond to spontaneous street crimes, or simply absorb the ambient life of post-war Los Angeles. The game map feels grounded, reinforcing the commitment to realism over spectacle. The MC's personal journey adds emotional weight to the procedural structure. While it may not offer the chaotic freedom of other Rockstar Games titles, this itle distinguishes itself through restraint, period authenticity.

Played this recently for the first time and I'm baffled by how immersive the experience was. The facial animations were truly ahead of their time and shockingly still more nuanced than what we see today in games. The story is gripping, the voice acting is stellar and the setting is impressively authentic to the times. Even the driving and shooting is solid, but the real show stealer is the interrogation system, which truly challenged my observational skills. While some of the tells were B.S., I still have to admire what was attempted here because it was innovative af. Praying that Rockstar make a sequel to this. Full playthrough below:

It's been a while, but I remember really liking this. There were a few points that I don't think were explained well, unless I really just wasn't paying attention - e.g. Cole's affair with Elsa being revealed, which I initially thought he was being framed for and was both confused and frustrated about why he was just accepting being fired over it. I also think it's silly to set that up as a reveal when the game never bothered to show us Cole's wife and family, or even really mention them, so there was zero investment in that relationship.

Aside from that, though, I loved the atmosphere, the characters were interesting, most of the twists were engaging, and I actually had a lot of fun with the gameplay and the cases themselves. Even when it did get repetitive, I found it a pretty enjoyable little routine to fall into until the next plot swerve occurred.

I'll need to replay this someday to get a clearer and more up-to-date impression of it, so watch this space.

Cole Phelps Badge 1247

Just completed the game and man I wish it got a remake or remaster for PC because it really looks dated and there are a lot of visual bugs which ruins the experience.

Putting graphics aside, the story is really gripping and interesting, there are a lot of seemingly separate stories going on in the beginning which all connect towards the end. I also like that most characters are portrayed with depth and all of them are flawed. Also the whole backdrop of ww2 just ending and the city of LA rapidly growing is depicted well. The ending does get a bit muddy and botches the landing but its nothing terrible.

Overall this is a very unique experience everyone should try that I wish we got more of; more single-player story first offline games are always welcome in my book.

LA Noire is a curious title, in the sense that as hard as I look and as deep as I dig, I can’t find a game that I would slot in the exact same sub-genre. Sure, at its core this is a somewhat magnanimous action-adventure whodunnit game, with an open world and mechanics that will feel very familiar to anyone who has played any Rockstar open world titles. But at the heart of it sits a very unusual, possibly unique mechanic that gives it an undisputed layer of originality.

Facial scan in this game is used in a way I hadn’t quite seen before. The lip syncing and non-verbal language are unbelievably good considering its release date - I played the remastered version, but from what I’ve seen these haven't changed much between releases. Though more than that, it’s how much these systems inform your interactions when interviewing suspects / persons of interest that make them special. This was impressive to me. It doesn’t always land - sometimes facial expressions are a bit off compared to how you're supposed to interpret them, and there is a bit of conflict between the ‘bad cop’ and ‘accuse’ options. But for the most part, it works surprisingly well in the way of immersing you in the cases you’re investigating.

LA Noire is a lot more than an engaging questioning system, however. In typical Rockstar fashion, it features great characters, narratives, writing and dialogue, at times with very obvious Bully sensibilities. The meat and potatoes of the game are its investigations. As a detective, you go through different cases in different departments, cracking cases and gaining promotions along the way, which in turn changes the nature of your assigned crimes. The moment-to-moment of the cases you’re in charge of is awesome, usually evolving with a very organic feel. The clues are one of its main aspects, with a system that works well and (usually) logically, and that is backed by competent head-tracking motion.

The main story became a lot more emotional and engaging than I had initially expected, with a coupe of shocking and aggressive moments, narratively speaking, and I really enjoyed its cohesion with a couple of exceptions (Phelps’ occasional sudden vocal outbursts when interviewing people, for example made little sense). Throughout LA Noire’s main campaign there are some genuinely staggering segments when looked at under the lenses of today’s gaming environment, both in language and in physical violence, which was refreshing to see. All of this is continuously fuelled not only by incredible acting across the board but also a near-perfect period soundtrack. I greatly appreciated how all the narrative branches connected in some way, though parts of the story seemed poorly fleshed out in comparison to highs (the affair was never properly explained, therefore feeling very out of place for what we knew about Phelps’ personality).

Not everything in the game is fun and games though. Again, even though they were only partially involved, this is the quintessential Rockstar game design experience, for better (characters, writing, immersion) and worse (movement, driving, shooting). Your character feels clunky to maneuver, almost confrontational, and mechanically the whole thing hasn’t aged particularly well. As good as the story is, pacing is a bit of an issue here. The middle act is clearly stronger, with the game lasting longer than it should have, feeling quite repetitive towards the later stages as a consequence. The side quests (street crimes) you can engage in are fun at first, but they quickly devolve into a ‘been there, done that’ impression and could’ve strongly benefited from a) more variety, and b) a closer thematic connection to whatever department you happened to be working in at that point. In fact, these quests are in complete odds with most of the main quest line in terms of realism, often feeling like a clash between a GTA vibe and a Sherlock Holmes one, which obviously doesn’t help in the way of consistency. Finally, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the world on its own felt a bit sterile, although at the same time, the story gave it enough body for it to never become a real issue.

All put together, I loved my time with L.A. Noire. At its best, this is a masterful delivery of a gripping, almost epic noir detective story, whose tone is set from the very beginning with one of the coolest-looking intro menus ever. The game’s issues bring it down a notch, but the whole experience is stylised and unique enough that it becomes very easy to recommend to any fan of this style of games. 8.5/10

I like playing crime and detective games. As a non american, i never knew the 50s setting could be so gorgeous and it got me fully immersed in the game as detective Cole. There were a LOT of content / stories with varied plots. It was like watching an interactive detective series in different seasons! I thoroughly enjoyed this game. The facial expressions were mind blowing to me at that time. The acting was top notch cause they hired real hollywood actors for the characters and did motion capture for the animation.

As for the gameplay, interrogating suspects made me nervous, with varied endings depending on your responses and chasing them down the alleys by running or with a car was thrilling as heck.

This is my first platinum trophy game meaning i got every achievement eventhough im so lazy on this stuff. I read that Rockstar was supposed to make more 'cases / storylines' but got bankrupt? They built this vast city so there's so much to see outside of the main storylines! It was a wasted potential, id say. So I spent numbers of hours cruising around, enjoying the views, looking for those hidden collectible cars. That i made myself so dizzy and spent a whole 30 minutes on the bed not moving, hoping i dont throw up lol

Years after my initial play, im still hoping for a part 2! 😆

I feel bad for LA Noire. While it's not a forgotten gem, it often gets overshadowed by the other games in Rockstar's roster. And if I remember correctly this game came out a year after Red Dead Redemption & during the off season of gaming, like in March or April? It doesn't get brought up for possible sequels as much as Bully or the eventual GTA 6. I'm a huge film noir fan, heck I bought Blues & Bullets knowing it wasn't complete. It also means this is going to be a deep, lengthy review cause I love dissecting these types of stories.

As the title suggests, LA Noire is drenched in film noir-ism. To go off on a tangent, I think there's two types of film noir, the traditional noir and the stereotypical noir. Stereotypical noir is what we see nowadays; the drunken private eye, constant rain, and jazzy sax music. Whereas when you look at the actual film noirs from the 40s & 50s, they aren't all about private eyes & the music is a little more orchestral. LA Noire is based more on the archetypes of a traditional noir.

The game is set in 1947's LA & it's been lovingly recreated. There's no freeway yet, the streets are lined with period billboard advertisements, and period cars clog the streets. As someone who would take a chance to travel back to the 1950s in a heartbeat, it's great to be immersed in that time period. Actually, I would have preferred the game to be set a few years later into the 50s, then they could pull from more history to have cases that relate to the Cold War & the purge of Communists from Hollywood, the Civil Rights movement, and the Korean War. It also would have a stronger aesthetic to the whole world. Being in '47, LA is still in a transition, the buildings and cars still look like they're stuck in the 40s, with the 50s slowly coming in. So, you have this mix of the dingy 40s and the colorful 50s. I also like the cars of the 50s better as well, the 40s cars are sorta ugly with their big hatchbacks. Speaking of cars, they have a challenge to drive every car in the game, which is hard to do cause there's 100+ cars, and they all look very similar, it's hard to tell a Buick from Pontiac.

Now that I've gushed on about the 1950s, let's move onto the story. You play as Cole Phelps, a go-getting, straight arrow detective who rises through the ranks of a crooked LA police department. You have four desks you go through with some overarching story strands. The Traffic desk almost feels like you're playing through a season of Dragnet, less like a noir story. You have a mix of self-contained cases to solve, with your blank slate partner, Bekowski. Homicide has by far my favorite partner, Rusty Gallows, the closest this game has to the stereotypical PI who is tired of his lot in life & just looks forwards to his next drink. All the Homicide cases center around a fictionalization of the Black Dahlia killer. It makes the game feel very repetative, as they all boil down to, "investigate crime scene, interrogate husband, arrest him". I would've liked at least one case that sort of serves as a break from the rigamaroll. In the end, it turns out you have to let the Dahlia killer go because he's connected, but really because we can't alter the real history. This makes the whole Homicide desk feel like an exercise in futility.

Then you get into the VIce desk, with the partner everyone loves to hate, Roy Earle. Here is where all the overarching story strands you've been following through newspapers start to finally come into play in Cole's world. I'll save those for later, but in Vice you've got a few cases that involve tracking down government morphine. This desk takes the most advantage of Hollywood, you visit clubs, investigate jazz musicians, and visit a lot more swankier places in general. After Vice, you end up in Arson. This has my second favorite partner, Herschel Biggs. I mostly like him because he's voiced by the guy who did Joshua Graham. In Arson, you don't get a lot of cases investing fires, it's mostly more the story of Cole coming to a point.

The overarching story is good, but it's shoved into the background a little too much. If you were to somehow miss a good majority of the newspapers scattered across the cases, you'd miss a lot of backstory to the Vice cases. Now, here's spoilers for a 8 yr. old game. Through the game there's hints that the LAPD is crooked, but in the VIce Desk we're all the sudden learning about a brothel madame that has dirt on half the force. I wouldn't be surprised if the Vice & Arson desks were plotted first, as they have the bulk of the noir of LA Noire, and Traffic & Homicide were added to meet length.

And then there's Cole Phelps. He's a good noir character, if a bit undercooked. We are only exposed to the professional side of Phelps, we known how he acts as a detective, but not so much as a person. Cole's a by-the-books detective who wants to uphold the law & close cases. We see in flashbacks to WWII, that Cole has always been a go-getter and he wanted to find his glory in the war, even though he turned out to be a poor leader. These flashbacks along with Cole's drive to make up for the war medal he feels he didn't deserve makes me believe he's suffering from battle fatigue, or PTSD. This may also explain why he cheats on his wife. Yeah, out of left field, our straight-arrow detective decides to sleep with a German lounge singer. It seems out of character for the Cole we've been shown, if we had more personal development of Cole this could've been avoided. My explanation is the pain from the war & the feeling that no one back home understood his pain drew Cole to a woman with similar issues. Course, Rockstar could've just done it because "this is a noir tale". This comes out at the end of the Vice Desk and we don't get to explore it much in Arson as most those missions have you playing as Jack Kelso. I do like Jack, he's more of our PI character, a sardonic ex-Marine with a quick tongue. He doesn't get along with Cole & they've a good dynamic.

The ending of this story is great though for all it's failings. It's not a happy ending, these type of stories rarely get those. Courtney, the misguided medical student, gets killed for wanting to just help his ex-Marines. Jack & Cole uncover the vast conspiracy that only gets developed in the Arson Desk. In the end, Cole dies. When I first played this, I thought they killed Cole because they saw the great impact it had with John Marston a year prior, but now I see it helps seal the noir feeling. We end with Cole's funeral, his eulogy given by Roy Earle, who sold Cole up the river. The same administrators that used Cole as a scapegoat, now sit in front of his casket and sing his praises. It's all very melancholy & doesn't leave you with a good feeling, which means it's masterful noir storytelling.

Okay, now that I'm done with my thesis on LA Noire's story, let's talk about the gameplay of this game. Rockstar made a good choice to keep this game realistic. You spend most your time scouring crime scenes, and they use music cues to help point out clues. It's a good way to direct the player without having glowing items or hovering arrows. If you don't like adventure/puzzle games with a slower pace, this isn't for you. There's not a lot of combat in this game, you are a police officer can't go shooting up the town whenever. The shooting handles fine &, in a good move, you can't soak up a bunch of lead. Most the action in this game is chasing down perps, either on foot or car. If you aren't enjoying playing detective, the cycle of investigate, chase, interrogate can get mundane.

The graphics of this game are not aging well I hate to say. The big thing this game sold on was it's new facial recording feature, where they recorded the actors speaking the lines then applied it to the in-game models. It makes this weird uncanny valley of faces, because they move & animate almost lifelike, but the textures of the time hadn't quite caught up, so they look like talking rubber humans, especially the non-main characters. It also makes all the women look ugly in this game because I'm guessing how the camera worked, they couldn't add in long hair, so all the ladies look like they have screen printed on tied up hair. They start to all look the same, and you never come across any men with substantial beards or mustaches either.

All in all, This game reaches some of it's goals, but there feels like a lot of potential left on the drawing room floor. Cole is a unique character, who you are supposed to dislike a little, he has noticeable flaws. Getting to play a detective in the 40s is immensely enjoyable to me. I wish there was more to do in the city, maybe a Cole off-duty section where he could take in a show or spend time with his family. I would love a sequel to this game, maybe focusing on Jack, or a spiritual successor set in another city, maybe Chicago Noire.

L.A. Noire is a good game that I can certainly recommend to people who don't play much and love some interesting stories and not usual setting. For people who prefer more action it could be disappointing and in its worst it can be dismissed as one-trick-pony.

It certainly relies on a aesthetics and entourage, therefore action-shooting part wasn't good. It's just okay and it offers nothing new.

Game buildup has one minor flaw if you're plaiying full version with bonus cases. Playing the game as is actually helps the flow and shows rapid rise of Cole to the top.

With 5 DLC cases Traffic desk time feels kinda bloated - not that the cases are bad, but they're not that interesting. It's ok because you're still under the effect of novelty (Crime scenes and interrogations, yeah!). Also it's the most frustrating time - you're new here, you need some time to get used to game logic (guessing when use "doubt" and when "lie" and guessing what Cole will say, sometimes he's really unpredictable) and car physics (it reminds me about Third GTA era). Homicide cases are good, but again, they were artificially stretched and their ending is, may I say, arguable. Vice desk is interesting and Arson... it's good just because finally the story accelerates. Actually the last 4 cases is when L.A. Noire finally brings the action to the table.

Flashbacks and story under newspapers are starting to make sence only after the half of a game - there probably was a better way to add them, but it's still not bad as is.

L.A. Noire was made with so much love and attention to the details and have a good plot. Unfortunately, sometimes gameplay just wasn't there. The game gets better if you're solving 1-2 cases per day and ignore side missions.

I can be wrong about good plot, actually it has one flaw - even the key deeds of Cole weren't explained well and it doesn't help to get into his role.

P.S. If there's a pipe, you're probably will climb on it one day. Too much transitions like that can make you crazy.