L.A. Noire is a 2011 action-adventure neo-noir crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.L.A. Noire is set in Los Angeles in 1947 and challenges the player, controlling a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, to solve a range of cases across five departments. Players must investigate crime scenes for clues, follow up leads, and interrogate suspects, and the players' success at these activities will impact how much of the cases' stories are revealed. Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood's Golden Age, Cole Phelps is an LAPD detective thrown headfirst into a city drowning in its own success. Corruption is rampant, the drug trade is exploding, and murder rates are at an all-time high. In his fight to climb the ranks and do what's right, Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core.
Game Play
The game takes place in the year 1947, in the city of Los Angeles, a city of glamour, fame, and wealth, but also where crime, vice, and corruption are rife. The player assumes the role of Los Angeles Police Department Officer, and later Detective, Cole Phelps.The game starts with Phelps as a uniformed patrolman, and follows his career as he advances through the police department bureaus (desks) of Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. Two more desks, Bunco and Burglary, were cut from the final version of the game as the game would not have fit on one Blu-ray Disc. This decision caused the removal of 11 more cases.Instead of missions or levels, the game assigns the player with cases. Each desk gives the player a new partner who will help Phelps in his investigations. After each case, the player will receive a rating of 1–5 stars depending on their performance in both interrogations and searching for clues. In some cases, when searching an area for clues to the crime, players can also find newspapers. Besides reading the story, the newspapers give access to a short cinematic that either covers a part of the game's overarching plot or a flashback to Phelps' war memories. Near the end of the final desk, Arson, the player assumes control of Phelps's old Marine comrade Jack Kelso, who becomes the protagonist for most of the rest of the game; although different in appearance and personality, he controls identically to Phelps . The game blends investigative elements such as mystery and crime solving, with fast-paced action sequences, including on-foot and car chases, hand-to-hand combat, interrogations and gunfights.In addition to the storyline cases, the player can work on optional side-investigations known as Street Crimes, which are 40 unassigned cases that are not related to the case that they are working on. In some street crimes, the suspects are people that the player has met in previous cases. The player can travel on foot, as well as in various vehicles. When driving vehicles, the player may drive the full route to the next location, or have their partner drive instead (if the partner drives, the game will automatically skip to the destination). The player can also ask the partner for directions. During the trip to the destination, the player and the partner will have a conversation involving the case or other topics. The player also has a total of ten detective suits available; an initial six, plus four downloadable ones. The suits are equipped with special abilities, such as increased damage protection.
