L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1358 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 994 out of 1358
  2. Mixed: 268 out of 1358
  3. Negative: 96 out of 1358
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  1. Xon
    Nov 20, 2011
    9
    I like games which are interactive novels or movies. L.A. Noire neatly meets this criteria and brilliantly recreates a colourful period of L.A.'s history. I have never seen a game populated by believable characters who inspire compassion in the player. Nor have I seen real faces with real emotions, from the slight twitch of nervousness to red-faced, bulging eyes of fear.

    I didn't pay this    I like games which are interactive novels or movies. L.A. Noire neatly meets this criteria and brilliantly recreates a colourful period of L.A.'s history. I have never seen a game populated by believable characters who inspire compassion in the player. Nor have I seen real faces with real emotions, from the slight twitch of nervousness to red-faced, bulging eyes of fear.

    I didn't pay this game for its challenges or playablity. I want to be immersed in a world and interact with the environment. I want a riveting story that rings true.

    L.A. Noire delivers this and then some. I loved every second of this hard-boiled slice of life. In later years this game will definitely be looked back on as one of the most ground-breaking games of all time. It is the first game that I felt emotionally involved. And it was a riveting experience.    … Expand
  2. Rikdyou
    Nov 15, 2011
    10
    You know what your getting with this package. A fantastic game with all the bells and whistles. Im sure you've seen other reviews of L.A Noire, so il just say what's new in this. It features all of the previously released downloadable content for L.A. Noire, including the â
  3. Skoggra
    Nov 13, 2011
    5
    After playing this game for five days I am still just giving it a 5 out of 10 due to technical issues. Despite some people claiming its the users fault, the game is simply not optimized for some hardware. Numerous reviews have also commented on the less than acceptable FPS on many systems.I am playing on a Intel Duo core 3ghz, 4gb ram and geforce 560 ti, and even on low it is unplayable. IAfter playing this game for five days I am still just giving it a 5 out of 10 due to technical issues. Despite some people claiming its the users fault, the game is simply not optimized for some hardware. Numerous reviews have also commented on the less than acceptable FPS on many systems.I am playing on a Intel Duo core 3ghz, 4gb ram and geforce 560 ti, and even on low it is unplayable. I can run Shogun 2 and Skyrim in full glory, no FPS slowdown whatsoever. There is no reason why LA Noire needs a quad core to run acceptably on low using a mid range system. The fault lies with a shoddy port, not with peoples' systems. If you make a port, do it right, or don't do it at all.… Expand
  4. largallama
    Jan 4, 2012
    8
    After taking a few levels to get to grips with this game i think that it is a brilliant game,it does have its flaws tho. I am playing it on a pc with 2x 1gig 4870`s in Crossfire,8 gig of ram and a AMD Phenom BE quad core @3Ghz and i cannot get this game to play smooth at all. I have gone from CF to a single card,had settings on max,had settings reduced,changed GPU drivers but nothing helpsAfter taking a few levels to get to grips with this game i think that it is a brilliant game,it does have its flaws tho. I am playing it on a pc with 2x 1gig 4870`s in Crossfire,8 gig of ram and a AMD Phenom BE quad core @3Ghz and i cannot get this game to play smooth at all. I have gone from CF to a single card,had settings on max,had settings reduced,changed GPU drivers but nothing helps which is a big shame because i think its a brilliant game. The thing i don`t get tho is that apart from the characters faces the graphics arn`t all that,i can run Crysis better than this game and that game is in a completely different league when it comes to graphics. I thought that when this was released later for the pc that they had not just ported it from console but it seems that they have done just that.Also the controls are a bit awkward but with all that said,i do think its a clever game,not just some shoot`em up,it does get you thinking,lets just hope that with the second one,they iron out the faults and its because of these faults it only gets a 8.… Expand
  5. Dm2k12
    Jan 11, 2012
    7
    I first played this on a mates ps3 so when it came to I got it on the first day this comes with all the extra add on stuff that ps3/xbox360 owners had to pay extra for on pc the only fault is the controls They will make you mad at first but I got used to them the fight controls are stupid this is worth a try
  6. whitespider999
    Mar 3, 2012
    9
    Since this is relevant to pc games, know this first. The game has been capped at 30 frames per second, this can be removed via the latest patch and a -60fps command. So I won't mark that against the game. The game also requires a very powerful pc to be able to run at 60 frames per second. It is choppy and unplayable on lower end hardware. If you have a duel core cpu and a low end gpu, takeSince this is relevant to pc games, know this first. The game has been capped at 30 frames per second, this can be removed via the latest patch and a -60fps command. So I won't mark that against the game. The game also requires a very powerful pc to be able to run at 60 frames per second. It is choppy and unplayable on lower end hardware. If you have a duel core cpu and a low end gpu, take this as a warning. Now, onto the actual game. La noir is a breath of fresh air, taking cue's from adventure games in it's mystery solving, focus on clues, and providing you with the successful illusion that you are solving them. It tells a long and involved story though a string of murders you have to solve, that delves into the territory of serial killers, police corruption and more, and it allows you to travel around an open world while doing so. This alone is enough to cement this game in an interesting heavy rain territory. However it goes a step further by introducing some facinating and downright impressive face animation mapping technology - and implements it in an innovative and involving way. You have to actually study peoples faces to gauge their honesty/personality, and make final decisions that rely entirely on your very own instincts. Putting actual detective skills in the players hands is so worthy of praise - that it makes other game's "new and innovative features" seem dull and lifeless in comparison. When you are as ambitious as this game is however - there will always be a price. In this case the main issue this game has is the outcomes for failing/succeeding. They mostly lead to the same results. Guess wrongly? You still progress in the same way minus a few points that can unlock intuition points (a free answer, basically). This makes your actual detective skills feel consequence free. And that's a shame. In the end, what the game does provide - is unique. Entertaining. Sometimes emotional. An experience like nothing else on the market. If you don't have a monster pc - get the ps3 version instead.… Expand
  7. Shaan4everyone
    Feb 12, 2012
    9
    Absolutely brilliant game... back in 40's. its a bit refreshing to play as a cop. n LA is shown beautifully. the game-play n technology used is fascinating
  8. feda1
    Nov 11, 2011
    8
    A solid game plagued by a few issues: 1) letterboxing on monitors with 5:4 aspect ratio 2) severe stuttering on some systems despite requirements being met (can be fixed by using the command line arguments -npd -str)
    3) interface could be better
    4) a big city, but very little to do
  9. Joelelel
    Nov 15, 2011
    8
    8 of people including me, having a lag issue with this game and all of us using duo/dual core. even you have the best vga card. it's not going to help you from this lag cuz this game is not optimized for duo/dual core. even thought, this game is way better port comparing with GTA4 only issue is the dual/duo core problem

    get this game if you have quad core or better and do not get this    8 of people including me, having a lag issue with this game and all of us using duo/dual core. even you have the best vga card. it's not going to help you from this lag cuz this game is not optimized for duo/dual core. even thought, this game is way better port comparing with GTA4 only issue is the dual/duo core problem

    get this game if you have quad core or better and do not get this game if you using dual or duo core. I have to wait for the patch to fix this problem just like GTA4 that ported by Rockstar    … Expand
  10. AscAnsio
    Feb 12, 2013
    9
    This game has the best face animations of characters you can see in a video game, thanks to a newly developed "face mimics motion capturing technology", which belongs to Rockstar Games. Period. Besides that, the story is strong, gameplay is enhanced with so much fun, graphics are mostly stunning, sounds and musics, that mirrors the NOIR theme of that era, is just amazing. Do not hesitateThis game has the best face animations of characters you can see in a video game, thanks to a newly developed "face mimics motion capturing technology", which belongs to Rockstar Games. Period. Besides that, the story is strong, gameplay is enhanced with so much fun, graphics are mostly stunning, sounds and musics, that mirrors the NOIR theme of that era, is just amazing. Do not hesitate on buying this game. The Complete Edition deserves all the praises it receives.… Expand
  11. humor4fun
    Feb 6, 2012
    8
    This game is a ton of fun. The story takes a very strange turn towards the second half, but it was very well written.

    I had a few small complaints about the game, but the only things I want to mention here is that there is ZERO replay value other than achievement hunting.
  12. reanimatrix
    Feb 19, 2012
    8
    Beautiful game, brilliant plot-- love the way they interwove three stories into one game. I'm also incredibly fond of all the characters, and the animation is brilliant, particularly the expressions. LA is beautiful, and so are its cars. Someone really knows their history as well, and it shows. Over all, excellent and under rated game.
  13. offspring3003
    Feb 22, 2012
    8
    Very nice game.A great story. Poor management and optimization = 10-2 = 8 A lot of people compare this game with the Mafia game is absolutely wrong they have in common only the fact that the action games there in the first half of the 20th century in this respect, the game is much closer to those games like Heavy rain and Alan Wake. Most of the game like a very sad ending is drawn inVery nice game.A great story. Poor management and optimization = 10-2 = 8 A lot of people compare this game with the Mafia game is absolutely wrong they have in common only the fact that the action games there in the first half of the 20th century in this respect, the game is much closer to those games like Heavy rain and Alan Wake. Most of the game like a very sad ending is drawn in detail the injustice of our lives, where the good die first, and the bastards are still living… Expand
  14. bernlin2000
    Feb 18, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was a game that built up slowly, until I was completely hooked onto the plot and the way the entire story twists and turns: very impressive. The gameplay itself is typical from the publisher of GTA, perhaps a bit more pedestrian than usual (in terms of combat), but it was easily made up by the enjoyable car physics (and various things your partner would say while running into a variety of things...always entertaining) as well as the incredible gumshoe framework. Gathering clues and interviewing people never got boring. The most disappointing part of the game for me, in the end, is actually the finale: yet another gigantic combat scenario with a finish that left a HUGE bitter taste in my mouth. SPOILER: The ending is just awful, imo: everything that Phelps is working toward is completely erased, and his memory is pissed upon at his funeral, with the corruption of the police establishment firmly intact. I suppose that there's hope that the honest ADA who remains could, over time, fight for less corruption, but it would have been nice to have more details about what happened in the future, so that I didn't feel like all the work I put into my character was all for nothing. Not being able to bring the chief of police down is a MAJOR disappointment, and although it might have been "historically accurate" it left the plot completely unsatisfying. Makes me less sad that the developer went out of business after the production of this game: they clearly aren't very good at plot endings.… Expand
  15. AlienSpaceBats
    Jul 9, 2012
    9
    An instant classic, trades in a linear play style for excellent presentation and acting, superb story and cinematic gameplay. Some users have reported technical difficulties getting this game to run even on high-end systems but mine was fine (at the time I used AMD Phenom X4 9750, 4GB RAM, Radeon Sapphire HD 6850 running at 1440x900).
  16. skeith
    Mar 2, 2012
    9
    You can really feel the discrimination of platform from the developers by playing this game on PC. I mean, those guys could have done better on the PC. Well, I could really give 10/10 if they can make it better on PC. For the game, great story, great gameplay. I really feel like I am a detective in the game. Great voice casting too. Also, very convincing facial expression and veryYou can really feel the discrimination of platform from the developers by playing this game on PC. I mean, those guys could have done better on the PC. Well, I could really give 10/10 if they can make it better on PC. For the game, great story, great gameplay. I really feel like I am a detective in the game. Great voice casting too. Also, very convincing facial expression and very detailed world. If you guys happen to own a Xbox360 or PS3 buy, just buy the game for the consoles. If you have a PC, you can really give it try.… Expand
  17. KouDy
    Jul 19, 2012
    9
    This game is basically must get for all fans of L.A. Confidential movie. L.A. Noire brings good combination of adventure and GTA games together in glittering shine of post war era. Graphic is nice, sounds are well handled. For some downside might be 30fps cap. The game is fairly linear but i don't think it would help if you could try solving 3-4 cases at once. It would get fairly complex.This game is basically must get for all fans of L.A. Confidential movie. L.A. Noire brings good combination of adventure and GTA games together in glittering shine of post war era. Graphic is nice, sounds are well handled. For some downside might be 30fps cap. The game is fairly linear but i don't think it would help if you could try solving 3-4 cases at once. It would get fairly complex. Interrogations are sometimes more of guessing than really figuring out whether that person is lying to you or not. Over all this game is pretty solid.… Expand
  18. zareh_m
    Aug 13, 2012
    8
    If you ever wanted to be a detective, interrogate people and find clues, then play L.A. Noire. A great detective game with bunch of cases, interesting and groovy story. You don
  19. Kp_109
    Jul 13, 2012
    9
    Its a very interesting game, you have 21 cases and every case is interesting in his own way, the city is very big and you have over 50 different cars to drive. But from my point of view its sometimes hard to follow the cases especially if they are talking about cases that you solved some time ago. Another big minus for me is the steering of the car. It is very hard to control a car withIts a very interesting game, you have 21 cases and every case is interesting in his own way, the city is very big and you have over 50 different cars to drive. But from my point of view its sometimes hard to follow the cases especially if they are talking about cases that you solved some time ago. Another big minus for me is the steering of the car. It is very hard to control a car with the W A S D keys at high speed with the keyboard. The firefights are ok but not very spectacular. Overall a very interesting and good game.… Expand
  20. eyeball002
    Dec 3, 2013
    8
    L.A. Noire is solid adventure game overall. Narrative is top-notch, and the overall setting is authentic enough for most of gamers to immerse themselves into this game. I can confidently say that L.A. Noire is just like GTA, but taking place in 1950's Hollywood. This means, that L.A. Noire suffers same shortcomings that GTA has also suffered.

    I want to start off with interrogation    L.A. Noire is solid adventure game overall. Narrative is top-notch, and the overall setting is authentic enough for most of gamers to immerse themselves into this game. I can confidently say that L.A. Noire is just like GTA, but taking place in 1950's Hollywood. This means, that L.A. Noire suffers same shortcomings that GTA has also suffered.

    I want to start off with interrogation system first, as it is the main focus of the game. Here, you need to find out whether suspect is hiding something or speaking truly by looking at their facial animations. Then, players can choose three options after listening to the suspects you can either believe them, doubt them, or prove them that they are lying. This is where the problems with interrogation sequence kicks in There are no place for player's reasonings to come in. You just choose one of three options, and your avatar Cole Phelps or his sidekick will do come up with all the reasonings. It is fatal flaw for game that focuses heavily on investigations for its gameplay. Rather than feeling like detective in 50s, it feels more like watching detective film. That said, if you buy this game looking for action, you better look for other games.

    This is same problem suffered by the GTA series. You'll feel freedom when you're racing through highway with cops on your tail, but there are little to no freedom regarding what you do in in-game missions. In L.A. Noire, whole game is basically an in-game mission of GTA, so there aren't any freedom in it, except maybe running over some innocent citizen with bouquet on their hand. Lack of freedom leads to one conclusion L.A. Noire didn't do well enough to utilize its open world setting. Although there are whole world to explore, after finding few hidden cars and solving emergency dispatch missions, you'll just going to hear lot of "straight through the intersection." You'll find the open world interesting at first, but it will just all come down to boring rollercoaster ride once the amazement has weared off.

    The action part of the game is... questionable. Since it is an adventure game that focuses on the investigation, it is normal that the action part cannot compare to other AAA quality TPS games. One might argue that the action part is good enough for games like this, but one might also argue that the developers could've done better job with it. It depends on your perspective really, so there aren't much to say to it. Only problems I've found is that each emergency dispatch missions basically all boils down to "run from point A to point B" or "Shoot all the baddies" or "Smash baddies' car", or "run point A to point B, shoot all the baddies in process and smash baddies' car" so even though there are over 40 emergency dispatch missions, there aren't a lot of incentives to play it unless you want to desperately prolong your playtime of this game.

    So, from what I just said, L.A. Noire just looks like a adventure game with questionable action sequence and questionable investigation sequence, but here is a catch this game is heavily narrative driven, and L.A. Noire does supreme job with their narrative. Believable settings, authentic looks and reference to the 50's culture all adds up for great narrative factor. This game feels like watching detective film, but a good one at that. Also, all those flaws I've listed, I didn't notice it until I completed the whole story mode. Each cases in story mode takes almost an hour to complete, and even more if you're looking for all five-star completion. There are many cases to solve in this game. So, what are you waiting for? grab your fedora and detective badge. The case isn't going to solve itself, right?    … Expand
  21. BudSpencer
    May 13, 2013
    8
    This game gets a 8 not a 7 or 6 because many people exaggerate totally and they don´t enjoy the atmosphere, they don´t play with controller, they don´t play the game how it should be played, so they ruin their own experience. It´s on the PC yes, but non or less the game has to be played with a controller, because you have to sit in a comfortable chair and enjoy the world. The graphics areThis game gets a 8 not a 7 or 6 because many people exaggerate totally and they don´t enjoy the atmosphere, they don´t play with controller, they don´t play the game how it should be played, so they ruin their own experience. It´s on the PC yes, but non or less the game has to be played with a controller, because you have to sit in a comfortable chair and enjoy the world. The graphics are not as beautiful as people expected. The new technology which has been used for the facial expression which is a essential gameplay factor in this game, let animations be so smooth and realistic that you think this game was touched by god! The game is mainly about being a detective solving cases so if you are more the action guy, you shouldn´t buy this game especially because all the action happens only in side quests. The side quests are emergency calls from your police station, you can answer to in your police car. Sometimes you have to stop a bank robbery and sometimes smaller things like killing some gunmen. The story is fantastic and well written and you will suck it up fast. So the game is good, it has it´s flaws in graphics and it has not enough action for most people, but everything else is just perfect. WELL, the PC port is not quite as good as the console versions. The framerate is limited to 30 frames because that gives the game a movie like feeling. I understand that. No fps drops though, its stable, but they up DX11. DX9 runs smooth, but DX11 has some technical issues for some. Just test it out. It´s recommended to play the game with a controller, but the mouse and keyboard works fine too. Despite the fact that the technical side of the game is non or less weak except for the animations which are the best ever seen, the game is really only for slow paste type guys who like a adventure with case solving elements. Go and get it, lick the sexy looking box and play more than 20 hrs of pure climax! OH before i forget it: GET A QUADCORE YOU HILLBILLY! What do you expect? A dev who never developed for PC to optimize the game on your oldass Dual Core which can´t even play Black Ops straight? you should get a console then, you poor bastard. OR maybe getting a new job. Idiots… Expand
  22. pomidomi
    Jun 8, 2013
    8
    Brilliant detective story with amazing characters
  23. Mahdiar
    Jul 6, 2016
    8
    Gameplay : 7
    Graphics : 7
    Story : 9
    Sound : 7
    **********************************************************************************
    Overall : 8
  24. jkrules
    Oct 16, 2013
    9
    This game is crazy good. This game did what other sandbox games couldn't. Every aspect of the environment could give you clues to break the case. Facial expressions are great they could give you just information you need to call someone on a lie and get viable information for the case. I've not seen a game like this yet and that what makes this game so good. I highly recommend to try this game.
  25. Yamorimlo
    Aug 2, 2015
    8
    L.A. Noire is a fun detective game. Although, it doesn't come without faults. The game is clearly not very optimized for PC, as there are bugs concerning keyboard and mouse control. Using a mouse to select stuff while doing detective work can sometimes be frustrating. The options menu is lackluster with the video options, making you have to fine tune everything in the .ini file. Also, theL.A. Noire is a fun detective game. Although, it doesn't come without faults. The game is clearly not very optimized for PC, as there are bugs concerning keyboard and mouse control. Using a mouse to select stuff while doing detective work can sometimes be frustrating. The options menu is lackluster with the video options, making you have to fine tune everything in the .ini file. Also, the game is capped at thirty frames per second.

    I've enjoyed my time with L.A. Noire so far though. The voice acting is well done, the lip sync technology is awesome. I'm generally not very peeved off by clunky controls; I get over them quite well. Some people might not though, so you might want to play the game with a controller or on a console.    … Expand
  26. Overvulture
    Nov 9, 2015
    8
    A great experiment with mixed results, the use of face capture technology is very impressive but probably won't age well. Tying the unique tech to an interrogation mechanic is a great idea, though sometimes the interrogations themselves can be frustrating and illogical, even to the point that I'd just restart the mission if it became a wash. Shooting and driving are both passable andA great experiment with mixed results, the use of face capture technology is very impressive but probably won't age well. Tying the unique tech to an interrogation mechanic is a great idea, though sometimes the interrogations themselves can be frustrating and illogical, even to the point that I'd just restart the mission if it became a wash. Shooting and driving are both passable and functional, except for a frustrating sequence in the finale which involves way more shooting than the rest of the game.

    What I love most about this game is its adherence to Noir style, complete with all the backstabbing intrigue that comes with it. Nearly every Noir trope is in full effect here, and there's some truly excellent acting to be found, on par with Hollywood productions, probably because there are a great deal of talented character actors involved that you'll probably recognize from this thing or that. The story is solid and kept me hooked, and its final scene is brilliantly delivered. As with others I've enjoyed, this is a game I recommend not for the strength of its mechanics, but for its "feel", and in terms of making you feel like a hard-boiled Noir detective, you won't find anything better on the market.    … Expand
  27. Nicoteen
    Mar 9, 2016
    10
    " L.A. Noire is totally underrated! It's one of my favourite games of all time. The setting, the style, the acting, the story, everything is just awesome. It starts pretty good but, you longer you play it's getting better, better, better,... In the end L.A. Noire is a Masterpiece."

    OVERALL RATING: 10.0
  28. killer1237
    Oct 24, 2018
    7
    A cool and unique detective game that gets stale and repetitive about halfway through.
  29. MetaCthulhu
    Oct 28, 2018
    7
    This is a good detective investigation game for sure. But sadly, it has many flaws: Driving car is clunky, the open world is not very interactive and the cases and investigation styles are repetitive. Biggest problem: Very often this isnt about deduction or interrogation techniques but just random choice clicking, hoping for the best result. You can't judge the face movements and behaviorThis is a good detective investigation game for sure. But sadly, it has many flaws: Driving car is clunky, the open world is not very interactive and the cases and investigation styles are repetitive. Biggest problem: Very often this isnt about deduction or interrogation techniques but just random choice clicking, hoping for the best result. You can't judge the face movements and behavior of the interrogated suspects properly because they are not well done. So in the end good new ideas and concepts, but somehow not the best implementation.… Expand
  30. achittranshi
    Feb 9, 2022
    5
    One of the most overrated games I have ever played. So banal. I was bored to death
  31. Uarabei
    Feb 21, 2022
    7
    Great noir atmosphere, cool facial animation for its time.

    But the game is terribly long, and the last part has already become a little boring.
  32. Oceansize
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    I'm surprised at the relatively low scores here. I think this game is fantastic. It is what Mafia II was supposed to be on the storytelling/narration front. I'm normally very sensitive to shoddy ports, but this port doesn't seem to have consolitis at all in my opinion. I never played the console version so I can't compare. It certainly seems to control better than, say, Dead Space 1I'm surprised at the relatively low scores here. I think this game is fantastic. It is what Mafia II was supposed to be on the storytelling/narration front. I'm normally very sensitive to shoddy ports, but this port doesn't seem to have consolitis at all in my opinion. I never played the console version so I can't compare. It certainly seems to control better than, say, Dead Space 1 or 2 did on the PC. The acting, story, and facial animations are world-class, and the facial animations really do raise the emotion of the scenes...you can see people's Adam's apples move when they gulp, for crying out loud! Doesn't sound very important except when you consider that much of what you're doing in the game is trying to find out if people are lying or not. I would say this is a GOTY contender if it weren't for the fact that Arkham City is about to come out, which I assume will dominate. My only gripe is that the cars handle way too well for cars of that era. They're very 'sticky'. It has worked perfectly 'out of the box' for me (purchased on Steam), no stability issues at all, except the game crashes whenever I quit. Obviously that is a non-issue, doesn't affect the experience at all because it only happens when I quit. I also don't have any of the frame-rate issues that some are reporting.… Expand
  33. BillGR17
    Jan 2, 2012
    8
    this game is awesome it has a lot of good stuff in the storyline and you are a true detective (from other games that i have played) the only bad stuff that i didnt like is that the faces was doing weird things when they lied and when they not lying most of them just stay still like they frozen LOL the graphics on the mouth and the eyes are perfect but on the hair or on the trees is like ithis game is awesome it has a lot of good stuff in the storyline and you are a true detective (from other games that i have played) the only bad stuff that i didnt like is that the faces was doing weird things when they lied and when they not lying most of them just stay still like they frozen LOL the graphics on the mouth and the eyes are perfect but on the hair or on the trees is like i an old game play game! its like they just took the same graphics from the console and put it for the pc just like that without working on it so it was a little bit disappointing :(… Expand
  34. idfdefender
    Dec 24, 2011
    10
    This is more of a mystery game for me than adventure. Adventure is just a part of this game but the mysteries between the cases are just realistic and are based on history.
  35. chatins
    Jan 2, 2012
    9
    Game starts out like a GTA 4 but within 40 minutes an experienced gamer should make the promotion to detective. 1940's world is incredibly detailed. New face rendering tech is emersive. Fantastic game on sale for $12.49.
  36. theadam
    Apr 22, 2012
    7
    Boooring. I love noire movies. But those convey atmosphere and an interesting plot. The L.A. city looked very convincing, but the atmosphere was barely there. There was something missing. In the retrospective I cannot imagine how this could have worked in a sem sandbox world. The "noirness" of the noir movies comes from conersations, camera work, rightly cued music. Many of those elementsBoooring. I love noire movies. But those convey atmosphere and an interesting plot. The L.A. city looked very convincing, but the atmosphere was barely there. There was something missing. In the retrospective I cannot imagine how this could have worked in a sem sandbox world. The "noirness" of the noir movies comes from conersations, camera work, rightly cued music. Many of those elements cannot take palce when you are running around etc.… Expand
  37. PeyoteCoyote
    Jan 24, 2012
    7
    Pretty much just a storytelling game. The extent to which a player actually effects the outcomes is fairly limited. Sure you can pin a murder on x when it was probably y, but... so what. You still slog through the story same as before. As far as graphics and gameplay complaints voiced by others, I did not experience any problems whatsoever. I ran the game on full graphics with minimalPretty much just a storytelling game. The extent to which a player actually effects the outcomes is fairly limited. Sure you can pin a murder on x when it was probably y, but... so what. You still slog through the story same as before. As far as graphics and gameplay complaints voiced by others, I did not experience any problems whatsoever. I ran the game on full graphics with minimal tweaks and did not experience any framerate or crash issues at all. The detail level was fairly impressive. This game will keep you busy for a day or two, but after that, you'll either be finished or bored, and it's replay value is non-existant.… Expand
  38. mitzle
    Mar 22, 2014
    7
    I don't know if I am just too incompetent to play this game right or if it is the game itself that manages to demoralize me every step of the way. This game is about interrogation and I think it's a great idea but sometimes I get the feeling that you can't really predict anything Detective Phelps is gonna say nor do I know if there is anything to back up doubts or accusations. This feelsI don't know if I am just too incompetent to play this game right or if it is the game itself that manages to demoralize me every step of the way. This game is about interrogation and I think it's a great idea but sometimes I get the feeling that you can't really predict anything Detective Phelps is gonna say nor do I know if there is anything to back up doubts or accusations. This feels kinda blurry to me and crashes the fun a bit because you're not being rewarded. And even if you get 90% of the questions in a case right the tall grump (your boss) is gonna diminish your police work - that sucks at best!
    Okay, away from that main point to game mechanics:
    Walking and driving feels dull and clumpy. Your mouse won't respond the way you'd expect. Thanks for porting the game so badly... The shooting sequences should've either been taken out of the game or done better - those are really boring to be honest. Run. Duck. Wait for the others to reload. Quick shooting session. Done. Always the same. I don't even want to get started on certain bugs as auto climbing failing to work, your keyboard/mouse input is just being ignored by the game and so on...
    Conclusive it is a decent game with a very neat idea and overall awesome facial expressions that unfortunately WON'T give you any hint what people are up to... sad but true. So it's either me and my minimalized mind for crime or really the game. That's why 7/10    … Expand
  39. TheBank
    Dec 28, 2011
    7
    First off, the game runs fine for me. I had a glitch off the bat when I got it through steam: all of the animations and actions involving facial animation were omitted until I restarted steam, and then the game updated. Just so you know the game was about 12 gigs, and then a 2 gig update to fix the problem I mentioned (if bandwidth is an issue, buy it in a store). There are a couple ofFirst off, the game runs fine for me. I had a glitch off the bat when I got it through steam: all of the animations and actions involving facial animation were omitted until I restarted steam, and then the game updated. Just so you know the game was about 12 gigs, and then a 2 gig update to fix the problem I mentioned (if bandwidth is an issue, buy it in a store). There are a couple of gripes I have with this game. I would like to play through scenes a little more specifically rather than doing every case over from the beginning to try and obtain a perfect score (the save and load features didn't seem that obvious). This is a good game, but if you're buying this based off of "I like GTA" then this might not be for you. While the game does have a GTA feel, it is not really a sandbox and they give you the option to let your partner drive you to locations for a reason (saving time, and causing city damage lowers your score). This is a game for people who like point and click adventures, mystery games, or puzzle games more than a game like GTA.… Expand
  40. DameLCFC
    Jan 2, 2012
    9
    Bought this game in the STEAM winter sale and it was probably the best Ã
  41. Boilrig
    Nov 19, 2011
    8
    While there is mention that this game is 'unplayable', which is not the case. L.A. Noire beings a whole new genre to the gaming industry, using certain camera technology to actually show between lies and the truth, its an unforgettable experience. While not fully optimized for the PC, it is playable, the errors people get are the same with every game and just a simple restart of the gameWhile there is mention that this game is 'unplayable', which is not the case. L.A. Noire beings a whole new genre to the gaming industry, using certain camera technology to actually show between lies and the truth, its an unforgettable experience. While not fully optimized for the PC, it is playable, the errors people get are the same with every game and just a simple restart of the game fixes them. It's storyline and graphical system are different from other games, this is a game which allows you to actually play detective, and its a game which you cannot leave behind.… Expand
  42. DeiCide
    Jan 10, 2012
    9
    Once I picked this game up I haven't put it down! I'm addicted!! What they do well is immersion. The game makes you feel like your in the 1940's. The detective work, which maybe a little easy for some, I found very interesting & exciting. As the levels progress the cases get more detailed and try to keep you guessing. I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did. 9/10.
  43. MagSun
    Mar 4, 2014
    6
    Hyped as it was to be an amazing detective game where you can see people lie to you, by using a state of the art facial motion capture system, this game should be a milestone in video gaming. I think the facial animations are not that good. They seem accurate to the dialog, but look like blending over images from a 3D scanner: teeth and lips morph into a goo of polygons.... Driving throughHyped as it was to be an amazing detective game where you can see people lie to you, by using a state of the art facial motion capture system, this game should be a milestone in video gaming. I think the facial animations are not that good. They seem accurate to the dialog, but look like blending over images from a 3D scanner: teeth and lips morph into a goo of polygons.... Driving through this city is horrible. Despite you are a cop obeying the traffic laws, other cars stop in front of you at green lights for no reason or pedestrians run in front of your car, dropping their bags, turning around, heading a totally different direction and don't give a damn about their missing stuff. Do people actually not want to go somewhere!? Are they just aimlessly wandering around!? Interrogation is also difficult. You can tell, when people are holding back or lying to you (looking around after the statement). But it is weird, that it is incorrect to accuse them of a lie using a piece of evidence on them, where it was correct to doubt their statement, where the dialog uses exactly that evidence you originally failed with (replayed the game). Street crimes are also resolved by killing every armed criminal, no chance to overpower them or persuade them to give up like "Hey, I just shot your ten friends! Do you want to die as well!?" This makes so little sense. *** The game has its good ideas but some of them are poorly executed. Details the player sees cannot be pointed out in the game (Lemma of player knowledge vs. character knowledge). Some general things are repetitive and annoying (better let your partner drive when you can!). It is -- as said -- a diamond in the rough.… Expand
  44. kane148
    Dec 13, 2012
    6
    This game has some interesting concepts, but largely fails in the execution of them: the shootout action sequences are clunky and boring, driving the streets is tedious and the vehicles handle poorly, and collecting clues for your cases is a rather haphazard affair. Then there's the interrogation segments, which regularly involve your character verbally abusing a suspect when you chose toThis game has some interesting concepts, but largely fails in the execution of them: the shootout action sequences are clunky and boring, driving the streets is tedious and the vehicles handle poorly, and collecting clues for your cases is a rather haphazard affair. Then there's the interrogation segments, which regularly involve your character verbally abusing a suspect when you chose to "doubt" them, followed by you apologizing and backtracking. The whole interrogation system is just too illogical and unpredictable: you have no idea what your character will actually say, given any particular option, and backing up your accusations relies on having previously discovered particular clues--catching them in a lie or making reasonable deductions doesn't seem to count for much. One thing the game does do well is providing a detailed and convincing environment of 1940's LA, and the facial graphics are pretty advanced. But these aren't enough to make LA Noire more than a mediocre game in my opinion.… Expand
  45. EmuChicken
    May 10, 2012
    6
    I managed to grab this on some sale at steam or other, but it did actually shine out amongst the other games as you actually get to play as a detective, in what-seems to be a GTA game (from Rockstar, so what do you expect?)
    Starting out the game, its a standard GTA-like story driven game. The "sand-box", or "free" style of gameplay however, is very lacking in comparison however. The game    I managed to grab this on some sale at steam or other, but it did actually shine out amongst the other games as you actually get to play as a detective, in what-seems to be a GTA game (from Rockstar, so what do you expect?)
    Starting out the game, its a standard GTA-like story driven game. The "sand-box", or "free" style of gameplay however, is very lacking in comparison however. The game follows the career of a Detective, some "bad-ass" veteran from WW2 and his hijinx. It would be reasonable to say that this is a cross between an adventure game and a very small part action. - That said, there is also an "interrogation" mini-game to find clues or whatever.
    Whilst on the cover it seems to sound pretty damn cool, it is actually let-down by a number of issues. Firstly, them damn graphics. I mean, they'd be quite good... if it was released by the same time San Andreas came out. But by the release, them flickery shadows, and jaggy edges - you can see that they must have been cutting a few corners. Dated.
    Secondly- the "motto" of Rockstar, so far, (if you looked at GTA, or even Red Dead)- would be SAND BOX. This game is VERY linear. there are "street crime" events that happen in the city, but you'll be doing the same thing for each - Chase, shoot, suspect dead, repeat. To progress the story line, you had to go around interrogating people. you get 3 options "TRUE" , "FALSE", or "DOUBT". - there were many-a-time I had meant things in a certain way and the detective goes nuts for no reason-poopie! That said. > you could actually ask mostly wrong questions for all your suspects- then STILL manage to continue the story. - as punishment, solve street crimes- then carry on the story. pagnnhn!

    Conclusion > I actually had a good time for the first hour or two. I mean, the story isn't bad, but it's vastly inferior to anything that GTA gave out. Graphics? They're OK. Game-play? Not too good- not going to touch this for a LONG time. Instead of a detective game like I wanted, it was more like a Japanese style graphic novel where you just watch.
    As a Graphic novel, Im gonna give this a 7, but cos its in the "Games" section, ... 5? but... I did actually want to know what happened... so.. 6? yah...

    - I think its time I dug out that copy of "Blade Runner" again, now THAT was detective work!    … Expand
  46. calla
    Dec 30, 2011
    7
    L.A. Noire is a good game, but it's far from perfect. The story is great, the facial animations are amazing, but the controls are a bit off. I played the PC version and it took a while to get used to. The controls aren't terrible, but I'm guessing the game is better on a console (bad port?) or with an actual controller. This game is definitely not for everyone. It requires a lot ofL.A. Noire is a good game, but it's far from perfect. The story is great, the facial animations are amazing, but the controls are a bit off. I played the PC version and it took a while to get used to. The controls aren't terrible, but I'm guessing the game is better on a console (bad port?) or with an actual controller. This game is definitely not for everyone. It requires a lot of patience and if you're the type of person who just wants to kill everything in sight and be done with it, this game is not for you. TL;DR ver. Rent. It's a good game, it just doesn't have a lot of replay value. I've been waiting a while for this to be released on PC and while it's not the best game I've played in a while, it's still worth checking out.… Expand
  47. frast
    Jan 6, 2012
    9
    The game really very good. Perfectly conducting investigations, nice story in each of the new investigations, to the personal story of the main character. And then there also cool the climate of those years, super-chases, as well as on foot or in car. The game is great, although sometimes scheme implemented here that could at times when bored at times but only because the game is super allThe game really very good. Perfectly conducting investigations, nice story in each of the new investigations, to the personal story of the main character. And then there also cool the climate of those years, super-chases, as well as on foot or in car. The game is great, although sometimes scheme implemented here that could at times when bored at times but only because the game is super all the time. Rockstar and Team Bondi please for more adventure. My rating - 8.5 / 10… Expand
  48. Sennekaul
    Dec 2, 2012
    9
    I cannot believe how immersive this game is. The compelling stories, the life-like characters, and the intricate period details, all add up to one of my favorite game experiences this year. Minus a point for some technical glitches and awkward combat controls.
  49. leondaniel21
    Nov 12, 2011
    9
    LA Noire pc version, has left me and it was amazing what I expected, Rockstar finally made â
  50. kravenhart
    Nov 18, 2011
    7
    Very good and interesting game. But the fact of play the full scene again and again, and don't be able to manually save frustrate me a bit, bad player experience for me. I feel like Groundhog Day. And some random crashes of the full pc... bad optimized for PC like ALL the Rockstar's games
  51. ineffable
    Nov 19, 2011
    7
    So the top rated negative comment blathers about bad controls... I would like to know what the hell this guy is talking about. The controls are fine. Took me about 5 minutes to get used to them.

    Anyway, it may be a bit early for me to write a review, as I have not finished the game, but oh well. The game is good. Not great. The cases are interesting (as are the WWII sequences). The    So the top rated negative comment blathers about bad controls... I would like to know what the hell this guy is talking about. The controls are fine. Took me about 5 minutes to get used to them.

    Anyway, it may be a bit early for me to write a review, as I have not finished the game, but oh well. The game is good. Not great. The cases are interesting (as are the WWII sequences). The gameplay is fun, good mix of detective work and violence (maybe a bit light on the violence for certain tastes). All in all, worth playing, even though I know it will have no replay value whatsoever.    … Expand
  52. Mofoso
    Dec 30, 2011
    10
    L.A. Noire involves breath taking graphics and structure of the story so that as you play it, you have to constantly remind yourself to use the controller because you drift away thinking you are watching a 1940's detective movie. The facial expressions (animated by real actors and 32 different cameras to get every possible angle of the expression) , will blow you away. A great mix of clueL.A. Noire involves breath taking graphics and structure of the story so that as you play it, you have to constantly remind yourself to use the controller because you drift away thinking you are watching a 1940's detective movie. The facial expressions (animated by real actors and 32 different cameras to get every possible angle of the expression) , will blow you away. A great mix of clue finding, interrogating, and action, make this a game that I for one, had trouble stepping away from. The story line is intense and awe inspiring. A very recommended game for those who enjoy the action, adventure, and mystery genre.… Expand
  53. Dalek
    May 28, 2012
    6
    This game is rushed, and could had been optimized better. The driving in this game is very unrealistic. Its EXTREMELY linear, there is no freedom in this game what so ever, its just mission after mission and I've played up to detective mode and a few missions after-wards. However the facial expressions in this game are amazing and are really well done and are great for asking questions toThis game is rushed, and could had been optimized better. The driving in this game is very unrealistic. Its EXTREMELY linear, there is no freedom in this game what so ever, its just mission after mission and I've played up to detective mode and a few missions after-wards. However the facial expressions in this game are amazing and are really well done and are great for asking questions to see if they're lying or not. However it doesn't really show if they're lying enough to make a clear suggestion right.… Expand
  54. Fr0s7y
    Nov 18, 2011
    7
    Considering that this title was ported by Rockstar, I'm rather surprised at how well it was optimized for PC (in comparison to GTA4, that is). The game is thoroughly enjoyable, and the new facial animation technology is really quite incredible. My only real complaints are with gameplay, in that the game feels quite linear and the enormous city of Los Angeles feels pretty dead outside ofConsidering that this title was ported by Rockstar, I'm rather surprised at how well it was optimized for PC (in comparison to GTA4, that is). The game is thoroughly enjoyable, and the new facial animation technology is really quite incredible. My only real complaints are with gameplay, in that the game feels quite linear and the enormous city of Los Angeles feels pretty dead outside of whatever investigation you happen to be on. That said, I find this game to be fun and would recommend it to anyone interested in the adventure genre.… Expand
  55. kaicooper
    Nov 10, 2011
    9
    L.A NOIRE is huge success more then consols
    i finished it on XBOX360 and it was Epic but fail in graphics and loading and etc

    PC version is the copy we waited for..the best ever with all DLC
    just GREAT
  56. qwasm
    Nov 19, 2011
    7
    Good adventure game with great characters, graphics, and atmosphere. The faces in the game are simply amazing. I have never seen a game yet with this detailed facial animations and expressions. I also really love the setting: a noire story set in the late 40's.

    However it's far from perfect, the controls are bad and the game is too short.
  57. n3whous3
    Nov 20, 2011
    9
    I pre-ordered the game and was all hiped up to play with it, so let's start the review. GRAPHICS: well face motion capture is awesome, you feel like you are in a movie... The city is big enough and the content is really ok, the stores have 3D fronts having a lot of things in it and also, what is thrilling is that you will see, a lot of non-gameplay places are even detailed, just go to theI pre-ordered the game and was all hiped up to play with it, so let's start the review. GRAPHICS: well face motion capture is awesome, you feel like you are in a movie... The city is big enough and the content is really ok, the stores have 3D fronts having a lot of things in it and also, what is thrilling is that you will see, a lot of non-gameplay places are even detailed, just go to the union station or go into some sight-seeing buildings which you can enter... ANIMATION: Hell yeah, euphoria engine and so on. Which is a bit disappointing are the cars' movement (not the controlling, that is good enough, but see how are cars going on the streets). CONTROLS: good enough, no signs of f****d-up console porting imho. And the challenging part is when you have to aim on bad guys behind boxes and covers, you don't see the aiming point which is a good thing. STORY: I am in the start-middle of the game but the cases are really awesome, I am currently waiting how things will join together later because there is a big thrilling story behind all cases as I know. The characters are really movie-like, I feel like I am back that time and place and that is what I liked in Mafia for example. Games which can bring you a unique indistinguishable feeling are the greatest of all. Noire feeling is also ok. ORIGINALITY: 99%. OPTIMIZED HARDWARE-USAGE: I did not have problems but i am a kind of exception as I saw, most of the gamers had problems with the game. Let's hope for a good patch boys and girls. GAMEPLAY: A bit single threaded but a great story have to do this with a game. Just think again of Mafia (of course I talk about the first, the second game was totally sh**). Some other minor things like you can collect cars and take some street calls and go sight-seeing to some dedicated places... The last one and the car collecting I think is a bit ruining the overal gameplay, I mean I am in the middle of a story, I don't want to go other places. Maybe when I will end the story I start it again and go sight seeing... OVERAL: 10 points where I mean 95% and this 5% minus is for the inconsistency of extra content (i don't want to interrupt a case for going to sight seeing and so on) and the unoptimized graphics… Expand
  58. loloynage
    Nov 27, 2011
    8
    It's a great game, other then the rather bad visuals, the crimes are very well made and controls are easily mastered if given a chance. Needless to say, it's worth playing, but don't think this is some kind of great gaming revolution.
  59. HuckleberryPie
    Mar 13, 2012
    7
    Yet another brilliant port from Rockstar. *sarcasm* In all seriousness, I guess this is what happens when you focus more on the consoles than on all platforms, or maybe they're just too plain incompetent, as the only good port I saw from R* was the PC version of Vice City. And it didn't help that they used a clunky DRM system that reminds me of some draconian anti-cheat system from Korea.Yet another brilliant port from Rockstar. *sarcasm* In all seriousness, I guess this is what happens when you focus more on the consoles than on all platforms, or maybe they're just too plain incompetent, as the only good port I saw from R* was the PC version of Vice City. And it didn't help that they used a clunky DRM system that reminds me of some draconian anti-cheat system from Korea. The storyline and overall concept is brilliant though, plus the addition of licensed cars and a (mostly) accurate depiction of downtown Los Angeles adds to the charm.… Expand
  60. SJ555
    May 20, 2012
    8
    Its good thing to try ... may get boring in sometime .. but still with good narrative plot and nice facial motion .. this game is cool .. The interrogation events can be bit letdown too .... just need to have focused mind
  61. Gamed2long
    Mar 8, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I just completed this game. At least the main "case load" including DLC. While I found the overall gameplay experience joyful at times I also found it quite tedious other times as well. Overall I rate this game a bit above mediocre.
    I must give Rockstar props. Its an original concept no-one has ever tried before. I am a fan of Film Noire and so when I learned that a game based upon the same style and philosophy was being created I was very excited. In practice, sadly, I've got to say the plot of the game often disappoints. It is frustrating in the middle of the game when you know full well your fingering innocent people for the black dahlia murders but have no real option other than to arrest innocent people for the crimes. Case completed! You locked up some innocent sap. The main plot line of the game doesn't really rise up except in newspaper clippings until you are 2/3 through the game and I found that disappointing as well. You never really see the bad guy's get the comeuppance. One of them is killed by the doctor who gets choked by his own servant later on (So you weren't involved at all) and another gets shot in the leg. Thats it. As well there is the bizarre move for you to take command of another avatar for 3 of the last 4 missions. You've been playing as Phelps for the entire game and his blank by the book manner is great if not tiring after a while but why switch to a different protagonist? Or if your going to go that route integrate it into the whole game experience. Not just the last couple of missions. Strange.

    This brings me to my largest complaint of the game. Mismanagement of time allocation. How much time does it take to program a set of pipes? Some. And yet you need to "build" them to fine a piece is missing and it counts as a clue. There are some odd finesse pieces in the game that are often completely retarded. Swear to god. Only game I've ever played that required me to use an in game calculator. And guess what? Its less intuitive and harder to control than the actual calculator that comes with windows. All to unlock a clue. What sort of skill testing is that? What were they thinking?
    I could understand these points if the main body of the game was more polished but they aren't. As others have complained the driving mechanic (where you end up spending about 50% of your time) is reminiscent of one of the early GTA games. We know they have better code for a driving mechanic than that. Why? The shooting mechanic is also sub optimal. Either pretend bullets are endless or show how many you've got left. Nothing like your big gun running out mid fight only to have to go back to you handgun. Some of the "street crimes" were rewarding however I eventually began to dread them. It's like they were programmed to pop up on the farthest corner of the map at the least opportune times to stretch the game out. Additionally I liked the unlockable cars even if they all drove somewhat badly. However being unable to trigger street crimes in them meant I stopped using them and didn't go back. The main feature of the game was the "interview" mechanic. It was certainly the most hyped feature. However in practice I found it became like taking a quiz after a while. And as pointed out before sometimes the evidence for a lie made no sense whatsoever. In practice I ended up doing each interview multiple times and quitting before it saved so I could repeat it until I got the "right" answer. Not the most enjoyable experience. Especially when I had to re-search a scene before the interview. Overall though its not a bad game. It is a finished product. There were some novel elements and fun to be had. They did a good job of the noire feel while driving between clues, and at a lot of the cut scenes. It just easily could have been a better game. With a bit better direction and a smarter plot. If they had re-focused their energies on the components most used it would have been a better experience. The last mission for instance you get a flamethrower right before the end but it is so horrible to use you wish you could go back to your handgun to take out the last 6 thugs. Outside of gameplay I should comment I had major issues with the game installation for the first time in my life (And I am a quite seasoned gamer). The necessary download patch that came out after I purchases a hard copy of the game failed to install correctly preventing me from playing the game and it was a month before they released an improved patch which fixed it. Rockstar tech support is a step above useless it turns out. Lastly I'd like to point out to anyone looking to purchase this game. According to Rockstar social club 9% of the people who started this game are doing the last missions or more likely finished the game. They show a nice breakdown of which 1/5 of the game people are in. It looks like a lot of people got 1/4 to half way into the game and quit because the numbers didn't change the entire month I played    … Expand
  62. ingreenblue
    May 1, 2014
    7
    An interesting concept. The interrogation gameplay is fun and exciting on your first playthrough and the storytelling is excellent. The city of L.A. is beautifully presented but somehow doesn't feel alive. Do not expect a well optimized port.
  63. spoonfreak
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    If you're reading these reviews about it being unplayable even on high-end PCs, well these guys must have other problems. Don't have a great PC at all, but it's playing very smoothly for me. Quad Core 2.33ghz, gts 450, 3 gigs ram. Maybe because my top resolution is only 1440x900, but I'm not experiencing problems. Great, great game as well.
  64. mtroni
    Dec 12, 2011
    10
    Bravo, Rockstar! They've managed to finally cut through the standard mission - shoot - drive type formula to make something engrossing, immersing and totally satisfying. Amazing acting, with especially the interrogation and investigation scenes jumping out, this game is one to be reckoned with - and to be seen as an examplary piece of storytelling, one that merits further elaboration! SoBravo, Rockstar! They've managed to finally cut through the standard mission - shoot - drive type formula to make something engrossing, immersing and totally satisfying. Amazing acting, with especially the interrogation and investigation scenes jumping out, this game is one to be reckoned with - and to be seen as an examplary piece of storytelling, one that merits further elaboration! So game developers, get your **** together and start hiring the Team Bondi guys as they know where it's at if you want to make a real game. Thanks a million for bringing back storytelling and adventures to the gaming world in hi-def! Suggestions for improvement: make he interrogations more interactive, maybe with actual dialog / question choices (a la Monkey Island), make the investigations slightly more difficult- but this is the way things should be heading!… Expand
  65. TitaniumDragon
    Feb 21, 2013
    9
    LA Noire is an excellent game. The investigative gameplay is enjoyable, as is quizzing the suspects and witnesses. The weakest parts of the game are car chases and foot chases/shootouts, but fortunately those are brief and far in between.

    The story is good and the main body of the game is good. While the ending is not as good as it could be, overall, the game is still quite excellent    LA Noire is an excellent game. The investigative gameplay is enjoyable, as is quizzing the suspects and witnesses. The weakest parts of the game are car chases and foot chases/shootouts, but fortunately those are brief and far in between.

    The story is good and the main body of the game is good. While the ending is not as good as it could be, overall, the game is still quite excellent and well worth your time (and money).

    Why not a 10/10? A few reasons.

    1) The ending. After spending the whole game investigating, the final level of the game involves you running around killing people with a flamethrower. I'm not even joking. While this sort of gameplay is interspersed throughout the game and isn't wonderful when it comes up, it is rare enough that it is fine. It overstays its welcome at the end of the game.

    2) While the acting in the game is overall quite good, when you let suspects sit around after questioning them, some of them behave... very oddly. And not in the "oh we're obviously guilty" way, but in the "the actor is clearly trying to convey SOMETHING but it is hard to tell what" kind of way. The motions end up exaggerated, and as this is one of the things you're supposed to be using to tell whether a suspect or witness is lying or not, it is a bit of a problem the motions are so unnatural that you can't tell what they're supposed to be doing.

    3) This is a minor point, but there are a few times in the story where you are presented with two suspects and you are forced to charge one or the other, but it is obvious that neither of them is actually guilty of the crime at hand there's no option NOT to charge them, which would be the correct choice. While not a big deal, it would have been nice to have the ability not to lay charges in some cases.    … Expand
  66. CastleFox
    Jan 7, 2012
    9
    A breath of fresh air! The game I've been waiting for Rockstar or someone else to MAKE this game!
    THE GOOD GUY! This is like Mafia II, but you are the good guy, has great car controls and movement control of the characters. Had Mafia II been able to get their vehicles to control as good as L.A. Noire it would have been almost just as good. Their new facial movement technology really helps    A breath of fresh air! The game I've been waiting for Rockstar or someone else to MAKE this game!
    THE GOOD GUY! This is like Mafia II, but you are the good guy, has great car controls and movement control of the characters. Had Mafia II been able to get their vehicles to control as good as L.A. Noire it would have been almost just as good. Their new facial movement technology really helps you get into the story with way more realism. Call me strange, but I'm always bothered by boxy, jerky mouths and unnatural body movement in cut scenes.

    My only complaint so far is it's not as "open world" as GTA 4 but there is plenty to do. This game does a good balance between a true to live Police game and a fun action game. Not 100% real, not 100% action and killing. If you are looking for an open world like GTA this might not be the game for you. But if you are looking for a fun game as a Police Officer/Detective with mixed action, clues, shoot outs, chases, investigations, and more, it's a great game! I gave it a 9 out of 10 and knocked off 1 point because it would have been nice to have either multiplayer or a "FREE RIDE" open world option. THANKS ROCKSTAR for finally coming out with a "GOOD GUY" game    … Expand
  67. Funksatron
    Apr 24, 2013
    2
    It's hard to something positive to say about L.A. Noire. I suppose the detail in the city of LA was fantastic, which, while it was artistically impressive, didn't add much to the enjoyment of the game. I'm giving Rockstar a little credit for the effort. I appreciate what they set out to do, but I don't think it was executed competently. Firstly, the foundation of the gameplay isIt's hard to something positive to say about L.A. Noire. I suppose the detail in the city of LA was fantastic, which, while it was artistically impressive, didn't add much to the enjoyment of the game. I'm giving Rockstar a little credit for the effort. I appreciate what they set out to do, but I don't think it was executed competently. Firstly, the foundation of the gameplay is crime-solving via scrutiny of simulated facial expression and a collection of evidence. This means you are evaluating the veracity of statements based on the performances of actors (of variable talent) who are all essentially lying (since they are acting) as reinterpreted through the facial rendering engine. This technology is another failure. It looks like nothing more than low res video being played over a 3D model of a human head. All the characters looked like dead-eyed, shifty, slime-faced androids. Many were hard to distinguish. Which brings me to the characters. There was a lot of content to this game, about 18 hours for me, but it was vastly more concerned with breadth than depth. I never felt invested in any of the characters because none of them felt human. I still don't understand the motivations of the protagonists. This game could possibly have been something in another studio's hands, I still find the idea intriguing, but in the state it was released it's not worth either the investment of time or money.… Expand
  68. holtafd
    Dec 12, 2011
    6
    The game has a great story with some inventive mechanics. however for the pc Version it is clearly a port. the are lots of problems with objects that just pop in even on advanced pcs.
  69. SlickNick
    Jan 4, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I came to point out more examples of extremely frustrating interrogating and how stupid the game's logic is. Example 1:

    You're chasing a boyfriend (unknown location) and girlfriend suspects. You've caught up with the girlfriend and are interviewing her. You just found a train ticket on her dresser that's 1-way from Hollywood to Akron OH. You ask about her "Plans to leave town". Your character inquires if she's trying to skip town. She says she's not and has no idea what I'm talking about. Obviously you have solid evidence she's lying. So "lying" would be the obvious choice with the train-ticket as evidence. Nope. If you click "lying" your character accuses "You know where your boyfriend is, tell me!". The girlfriend challenges "You can't prove I know where my boyfriend is!". Ok... but these things are totally unrelated to the original statement. WTF game.
    Example 2:
    You find a dead wife, you go to her husband's residence and look around for clues. One of the clues is some boat rope found hanging off a boat in his yard, your character notices its the same braid as the ligature marks on the victim's neck. When questioning the husband you ask about "Potential Suspects" by asking the husband if anyone didn't like his wife. He answers "No, she was well liked by everyone, she's fun to be around, I don't know anyone who didn't like her". The correct answer is "lying" because of the boat rope. WTF? How does boat rope prove the husband knows of someone that didn't like his wife?

    How about those apples? Game just slapped me in the face. How dare you think the game has to make any sense.    … Expand
  70. WilliamTopping
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    First off. Most modern PC games now require Quad core. If you have a dual core, you're so out of luck. A dual core is no longer considered mid range even. Even basic boxes all come with dual core. Quit kidding yourself.

    I also hear this is a bad port. I got news for you guys, PC's only represent 10% of the gaming market. Until the next gen consoles come out that all support DX11,    First off. Most modern PC games now require Quad core. If you have a dual core, you're so out of luck. A dual core is no longer considered mid range even. Even basic boxes all come with dual core. Quit kidding yourself.

    I also hear this is a bad port. I got news for you guys, PC's only represent 10% of the gaming market. Until the next gen consoles come out that all support DX11, you're going to have to live with this. Take Skyrim for example. You played it yet. Don't expect a massive improvement from Oblivion. Despite the 4 years, it's still DX9, why... Why do you think.

    The facial animation on this is outstanding. Go play Skyrim. Tell me what you think. Also, if you're looking for COD non stop action, you really should not be playing a detective game. Put it one way, in Skyrim, you're walking for 90% if the time. COD, its non stop. This game, it's stop start, but that's to be expected, it's a Adventure game, like the old school games. If you're game does not run on steam, contact their tech support. Or Rockstar, I seriously doubt it's not working for everyone who purchased it on steam (like me). Obviously it's your machine configuration. You seriously can't give a game a zero because of this, especially a game you obviously haven't played.

    The atmosphere is excellent. The facial animation, characters are great. It really sets the scene for that era. I read that the cars are "sticky" and that they don't suit the cars from that period. Really. You've actually drove cars from that period have you. I imagine they would be sticky, given the weight they used to be. But anyway, it's not a driving simulation. I don't want to spend my time trying to be a formula 1 driver, I want to play the actual game, which is detective work.

    If you like the old adventure games, you'll love this. If you don't, why did you buy a detective based game in the first place. Do you not realise that the majority of the time will be spent looking for clues and trying to deduce motives... Wait for GTA V if you want action, or call of duty if you don't want to think. Or skyrim if you're REALLY into hiking.

    FWIW, this game is awesome. People are giving a low score because they bought something they had no idea about and thought it was going to be something else, or they are deluding themselves about what kind of rig they have, or they have technical issues that they feel is someone elses fault to resolve.

    You're going to need a quad core CPU (as did GTA IV). It runs smooth as silk on my stock SB 2500K and 560ti. at 1640 x 1050, everything maxxed out. If you have anything around this, and like adventure games, you'll love this game.    … Expand
  71. Vixremento
    Apr 9, 2012
    10
    Fantastic game - a very big shock to find myself enjoying it as much as I did - I was pleasantly surprised.  
    Sure it may not have a lot to do in the very large open world that it includes but the story itself more then makes up for that. I did realise that I'm not as great a detective as I thought I would be though!  
    Performance wise I'm not sure if I'm just lucky    Fantastic game - a very big shock to find myself enjoying it as much as I did - I was pleasantly surprised.  
    Sure it may not have a lot to do in the very large open world that it includes but the story itself more then makes up for that. I did realise that I'm not as great a detective as I thought I would be though!  
    Performance wise I'm not sure if I'm just lucky but I was running it on my rather old GTX295 without any performance hassles (at 1920x1200 with 2x Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering with everything set at Quality settings) that I could notice. The cars physics are a little off at times and on the rare occasion I had a car vanish in traffic right in front of my eyes (perhaps I should lay off the whisky?).  
    Controls were fine on PC and the overall I never had any crashes, freezes or any other silly things so I can't complain.  
    A fantastic gem of a game that I had put off for so long - if you enjoy solving riddles and something a little deeper than the "gun down Mr X, Pop Mr Y" then you'll love L.A. Noire!    … Expand
  72. giskard
    Mar 15, 2012
    5
    Poor console based controls on the PC Version, poor support of hardware forcing you to turn down the detail to play a game that should easily be able to run smoothly on max settings and a cut scene heavy game to tell a story with very poor sections of game play in between. This is more movie than game and the game play elements are really pretty poor over all. If you like movies, perhapsPoor console based controls on the PC Version, poor support of hardware forcing you to turn down the detail to play a game that should easily be able to run smoothly on max settings and a cut scene heavy game to tell a story with very poor sections of game play in between. This is more movie than game and the game play elements are really pretty poor over all. If you like movies, perhaps renting the movie version of this if they make one would be a better and cheaper than buying it full price as a game only to end up watching the best parts because the interactive gameplay parts really suck.… Expand
  73. Jack91
    Mar 22, 2012
    9
    Only get the game on Steam as otherwise you will probably have problems. I got it on disc and it wouldn't run, so grabbed it in the Steam sale and works like a charm. I love the storyline and by no means is it easy, you can judge a characters face who clearly looks suspicious but yet could be telling the truth. You get a Truth Doubt or Lie choice on interview, and if you choose lie have toOnly get the game on Steam as otherwise you will probably have problems. I got it on disc and it wouldn't run, so grabbed it in the Steam sale and works like a charm. I love the storyline and by no means is it easy, you can judge a characters face who clearly looks suspicious but yet could be telling the truth. You get a Truth Doubt or Lie choice on interview, and if you choose lie have to back it up with evidence from your notebook. Each time you gain rank you gain 1 intuition point, which allows you to see what the rest of the community chosen on a specific answer with a percentage of who got it correct. A really good game.… Expand
  74. obelis
    Nov 8, 2011
    9
    So far runs smooth. Controls are great I am using a 1st gen corei7 6 GB and Ait 5870 with the preview drivers for rage and battle field so nothing that fancy . One bug have to launch steam in admin mode for My game to launch setting are set to quality
  75. Awesomegamer7
    Mar 22, 2012
    9
    This game is a awesome game, not a master piece but a really good game!
    Lets start by the gameplay, in the first 2 hours of the game its just freaking good.
    But then the game starts to get a little repetitive, there are some new things to the gameplay later on, but its still repetitive. Its not boring or anything, like the cars chases and fight scenes those are so cool even if you play it    This game is a awesome game, not a master piece but a really good game!
    Lets start by the gameplay, in the first 2 hours of the game its just freaking good.
    But then the game starts to get a little repetitive, there are some new things to the gameplay later on, but its still repetitive. Its not boring or anything, like the cars chases and fight scenes those are so cool even if you play it over and over it will still be fun.
    Now lets talk about controls.
    The controls are just simple,classic and good, W-A-D-S to move, mouse and space-bar to investigate, fights etc...
    Now lets talk about the graphics.
    The graphics are just wonderful...The faces are super-duper realistic, the city is really realistic too and the voice actors help a lot to create a more realistic aspect.
    People say that the game is too "strong" on the graphics and most of the people say its unplayable, I have a PACKARD-BELL IxTreme with Intel Core I5 and a NVIDIA Geforce GT320 1024MB VidoCard, The game runs smoothly but some times has a little slow down, expect that the game is just fine.
    I give this game a 9/10 because I really enjoyed it.
    I think if you like detective games this one will be for you!    … Expand
  76. mymyst
    Jan 11, 2012
    9
    The basic idea of the Game, which is actually solving crimes, is something very rarely seen nowadays. Thats why i liked it so much, it feels like something new. However the mini games are nohting special, but suits into the game style. The motion Capturing thing impresses me a lot, although the rest of the graphics isnt so shiny at all. But it doesnt need to since the story is very great.The basic idea of the Game, which is actually solving crimes, is something very rarely seen nowadays. Thats why i liked it so much, it feels like something new. However the mini games are nohting special, but suits into the game style. The motion Capturing thing impresses me a lot, although the rest of the graphics isnt so shiny at all. But it doesnt need to since the story is very great.
    For those who like story games and solving crimes is that the game u are searching for.    … Expand
  77. viegasn
    Apr 14, 2012
    10
    If LA Noire was a masterpiece, and in my opinion one of the best games ever made, this version with all DLC already included, which increases experience, and bring back to LA of 1940 to the fore. This edition creates something just as incredible that any player that if preze can not lose. Simply a Masterpiece
  78. TheGameAndrew
    Nov 27, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game goes into my favourite list. The game may have some technical issues, but the game itself it is just amazing. They have made an real life effect into the game, and in the game it is much things that is like real life detective cases. I think Rockstar Games and Team Bondi did make this game really look awesome. This game may not be loved by everyone, but I like it as an fan of murder/detective games.
    I give this game a 10/10. In case you like detective/murder games then I highly recommend you to buy this one.    … Expand
  79. crackuh
    Mar 16, 2012
    7
    A very unique and original game in my opinion. Loved the 1940's LA setting. Driving is one of the highlights - controls feel very smooth. One of the few PC games I preferred a gamepad over mouse/kb. With over 20 cases in the Complete Edition the storyline started to drag in the middle, but picked up toward the end. Interrogations can be frustrating if you repeatedly guess wrong. FeelsA very unique and original game in my opinion. Loved the 1940's LA setting. Driving is one of the highlights - controls feel very smooth. One of the few PC games I preferred a gamepad over mouse/kb. With over 20 cases in the Complete Edition the storyline started to drag in the middle, but picked up toward the end. Interrogations can be frustrating if you repeatedly guess wrong. Feels like too much time is spent watching cut scenes. Overall a quality experience, recommended.… Expand
  80. Magnethead
    Jan 18, 2015
    10
    This game is ambitious beyond reason but also hugely successful in its execution. It really brings to life the world of James Ellroy to an extent I didn't think we could see in a game, at least not yet. The plot is intricate, the characters are cruel but nuanced, the city itself is alive. The ending is excellent. It holds no punches and it makes no excuses - it is the thinking man's GTAThis game is ambitious beyond reason but also hugely successful in its execution. It really brings to life the world of James Ellroy to an extent I didn't think we could see in a game, at least not yet. The plot is intricate, the characters are cruel but nuanced, the city itself is alive. The ending is excellent. It holds no punches and it makes no excuses - it is the thinking man's GTA (which is how we also explain the less daunting sales figures) and if you want to piece every part of the plot together, you'd better pay attention. If you find this appealing, this game is bound to be something very special for you, otherwise you shouldn't bother.

    The good:
    Just driving through LA (which you will do a lot of) is astounding in itself. For a long time, the game suffered from poor graphics performance and fairly weak visuals but with the DX11 version now running perfectly, the game is absolutely great to look at. And that's really important when so much of the game is the ambiance, the visual details, the feel of driving through 40s LA. The gameplay is original and the storyline is fascinating. Your fellow characters have real depth and so does your primary protagonist and the city itself. The world is dirty, corrupt, greedy, harsh, sad, all the things the world of Ellroy needs to be and it pulls no punches. There are no heroes here but that doesn't mean they're all villains either. The content is very large for a linear, story-driven game. Lots of cases, lots of societal aspects covered and unapologetically unfolded before us, lots of nasty little secrets to uncover. If you ever felt drawn to the world of true noire detectives, this is for you.

    The bad:
    Very little, obviously, since I give it a 10. A few times, the game mechanic used during suspect interviews can feel a little arbitrary - that what you expect something to mean isn't what is actually meant by accusing a certain person of something at a specific time. Sometimes the game and the player will misunderstand each other which will lead to the player quitting and replaying a segment and feeling annoyed because he expected a different outcome from an action than the game presented and the player had no way of anticipating this. It isn't always exactly clear what the consequences will be from selecting a specific dialogue but most of the time it works. The facial animation can still seem slightly outdated (or very) but you can recognize the actors and the acting itself is top notch.

    Do not buy this game if you're looking for a new GTA, do not buy if you don't like stories and want action. But if you like stories, noire literature/film, Ellroy, just trying something a bit new to gaming, you HAVE to play this game. Very rewarding, extremely well done. This game was cared for down to its smallest detail, I hope we see more like this.    … Expand
  81. GolovA
    Jan 23, 2016
    7
    By no means is it a GTA. No. L.A. Noire is rather an interactive movie. It is not a bad port - i have seen much worse, so this one is ok, although there are a couple of bugs like disappearing cars (when you drive around in one car, park, and enter another - the previous car is gone). Also - DRM. Really, devs - can you please stop with this DRM crap already? And the auto sign in doesBy no means is it a GTA. No. L.A. Noire is rather an interactive movie. It is not a bad port - i have seen much worse, so this one is ok, although there are a couple of bugs like disappearing cars (when you drive around in one car, park, and enter another - the previous car is gone). Also - DRM. Really, devs - can you please stop with this DRM crap already? And the auto sign in does not work, by the way, so every time i log into the game i need to input the Rock Star Social Club password. Seriously, i have good internet connection, but sometimes my internet goes down. What then? I'm pissed is what then! So minus one point just for that.

    Alright. Got that out of my system. Moving on.
    The story is pretty good and damn extensive - it's really a novel of a game. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing that kept me playing L.A. Noire. I thought long and hard about why the game just isn't working and i have come up with this - the style of the gameplay just does not fit the mechanic chosen by the developers. This is a detective game, but it's not an adventure in the classical sense - you don't really solve any puzzles. You blindly hunt for clues in a limited area, then confront the potential culprit via a dialogue. Yes, you do have choices as to how the dialogue proceeds, however, they are limited to three ambiguous groups which almost never fit the situation, namely "Truth", "Doubt", and "Lie". My game experience was that almost never could i predict the response of Phelps (the protagonist you play) based on these three vague categories. You would think that "Doubt" would mean what it says, but instead, when you choose this specific branch of response, Phelps intimidates, threatens, accuses, and verbally assaults his interlocutor, instead of politely and politically correctly doubting with some logical reasoning and supporting arguments. When you choose "Lie", Phelps will accuse the suspect of something and then has to present the evidence in support of the allegation. However, once again, you never know what he will accuse the suspect of - and many a times, i was completely surprised as to where the dialogue went, since i had no supporting grounds for the accusation. So, in short - dialogue is pretty unpredictable, "streamlined" as they call it, made for children who can read only one-syllable words. But RockStar, let me ask you this - you make such a deep game, with such convoluted and twisted criminal cases, and them you give us three dialogue choices which plunge a good game into the arcade genre? Why?

    Moving on. Phelps. As the protagonist, i did not enjoy playing him. But it doesn't have to be a bad thing. He is a very strong character, very well portrayed, pretty deep, and believable. However, playing him was not a joyful ride - it wasn't a torture - but i would rather play his "friend" (not gonna give away any spoilers).

    The gameplay basically comes to this - look for clues, talk to suspects, next case. You don't even have to drive around the city, since there is an automatic get-to-the-place feature. From these two, clue-hunting is interesting during the first few cases, then - it becomes a monotone routine. As for the dialogue - see above. Thus, the game is very repetitive and one dimensional. Compare, for example with GTA - every mission was so different it was amazing. Why not do this here. I mean every case in L.A. Noire is pretty damn good, interesting, intense. The characters (suspects and partners) are so damn good. The voice overs are amazing, the facial mimicry is photo-realistic! And yet the monochrome gameplay ruins it all with a wave of a wand.

    Well, thanks to the story which kept me going, i finished the game in 30 hours.
    Can i recommend it?
    For $5, Yes. Not for more. And keep it mind - DRM.

    Overall, such a good chance was missed in this project. Ouch.    … Expand
  82. 2FAST2REAL
    Jan 9, 2013
    9
    Only just got this game recently all ways looked at it never bought it but couldn't not buy it on special Overall i like this game it has given me alot of game play which i look for in a game and is pretty good challenge i like decent free roam game It is a easy to play game and has alot of good quality's that would appeal to a wide range of people from investigating crime scene toOnly just got this game recently all ways looked at it never bought it but couldn't not buy it on special Overall i like this game it has given me alot of game play which i look for in a game and is pretty good challenge i like decent free roam game It is a easy to play game and has alot of good quality's that would appeal to a wide range of people from investigating crime scene to driving to shooting its all there plus get to be good guy and solve crimes rather than commit them The bad well every game now days has bad points this game is shooting psychics for me they just dont feel right Overall i will keep playing this game and probably replay it once i have completed it i think Rockstar did good job here getting into something no one else has I would really like to see this game put into modern times and made to fit in with todays crimes and investigations techniques i think that would take off because old style will not appeal to all… Expand
  83. JimCorbett
    Apr 21, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If this game wasn't so unique it would have fared far worse than a 7/10. The crime solving and scouring for clues and reading peoples face expressions are all just so damn fun to do and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you correctly call someone out who was lying. The groundbreaking technology used for the facial expressions is amazing, unfortunately not every character in the game has it so the animations for those characters looks really bad when they are side-by-side with one that does. Also, sometimes people will do the exact same thing when they tell the truth and when they lie, making telling the difference quite difficult. The game also has numerous "noobie friendly" features such as intuition points that can show you locations of clues or tell you whether someone is lying. If you fail a chase sequence or shootout a few times in a row you will get the option to skip it and continue on with the crime solving.

    Unfortunately this game has a large amount of bugs and flaws. I have only played the PC version so I am not sure if some of these are specific to the PC version or not. The sound can glitch during some cutscenes. I had the sound of my machinegun firing throughout an entire cutscene a few times and then it continued after as well, forcing me to quit the game and restart. The actors use modern lingo a few times such as "legit" and that really bothered me as the voice acting was suberb and lingo from the 40's was prevalent throughout. Sometimes cars will just disappear off the screen. THis one was quite common and I found cars just vanishing from my screen as I approached an intersection. The controls are floaty and when you run you feel like you are that fat cop who eats donuts all day instead of an agile ex-marine. The combat and cover system is bad. I would commonly fund myself unable to move through my cover, leave cover or even go into it. You can still get shot while behind cover. Aiming isn't fluid and you will often find your crosshair skipping along. I can see why the xbox version had aim assist as it is just hard to do manually. The graphics on weapons isn't very good, but the effects of the guns shooting and the recoil of them is very well done.

    There are a lot of collectible that are made easy to find by the Rockstar Social Club which lists all of your accomplishments in detail on their site. The story was great and the ending was great as well (But it seems some people didn't feel this way) The big twist that came near the end of the game was seemingly out of nowhere, i'm not really sure why the character did that but what came after that point was a more sensible, easier to follow story that i really enjoyed. The biggest problem i had, and this was prevalent on all version of the game, is that the FPS lags a ton. THis is very noticeable during driving sessions as your vehicle will skip forward. Luckily you can fast travel anywhere in the world which is great. Overall, the uniqueness of this game makes it well worth a look, but there are many flaws to bring it down. Do careful research before purchasing.    … Expand
  84. Xardon
    Jul 23, 2012
    6
    When I first started playing this game I thought, "How did I go this long without finding this gem?" But as I continued to play, I realized that the scenarios were basically all the same, just different suspects/crimes, etc mixed in. It follows a very linear style as it is, what I consider to be, "mission driven." With such a large city, I was shocked that you can only explore it whileWhen I first started playing this game I thought, "How did I go this long without finding this gem?" But as I continued to play, I realized that the scenarios were basically all the same, just different suspects/crimes, etc mixed in. It follows a very linear style as it is, what I consider to be, "mission driven." With such a large city, I was shocked that you can only explore it while on a mission/scenario. With the "random" events happening within a scenario which you can choose to do, or skip, it's up to you. It's not as free roaming like GTA. Hopefully a next version will make it a free flowing and working city, that's more open, with the story elements tied in. Overall, a good game, especially if you got it during Steam's Summer sale at $4.99.… Expand
  85. indyogb
    Feb 22, 2012
    7
    This is a good game. Not as much freedom as the GTA series, but the ambiance of 1940's L.A. is great. The game doesn't have much replay-ability due to the aforementioned lack of freedom. You kind of have to go from one point to the next (even though you can choose to answer calls while en route). My machine is relatively modest, but tends to play most new games at medium settings, butThis is a good game. Not as much freedom as the GTA series, but the ambiance of 1940's L.A. is great. The game doesn't have much replay-ability due to the aforementioned lack of freedom. You kind of have to go from one point to the next (even though you can choose to answer calls while en route). My machine is relatively modest, but tends to play most new games at medium settings, but this one doesn't run smoothly even on the lowest settings. It appears to be a rather poor port from the consoles (shock). Despite this, the game is pretty good. I would especially say it is worth a try especially if you can get it at less than full price.… Expand
  86. LighterThings
    Mar 29, 2012
    6
    When the game did run, L.A. Noire for the PC was one of the most enjoyable, and intriguing, video games I've ever played. The problem is, it hardly ran. Rockstar's woefully-terrible DRM methods made trying to get this game to even start almost impossible until the first patch. After that, the loading times, and general stuttering of the game made it unplayable most times. It's reallyWhen the game did run, L.A. Noire for the PC was one of the most enjoyable, and intriguing, video games I've ever played. The problem is, it hardly ran. Rockstar's woefully-terrible DRM methods made trying to get this game to even start almost impossible until the first patch. After that, the loading times, and general stuttering of the game made it unplayable most times. It's really unfortunate, too, because I played a bit of the console version and was just blown away. While the PC version has potential of playing just as well, Rockstar really needs to nail down the performance issues before this game can ever be thoroughly enjoyable.… Expand
  87. caralho
    Dec 4, 2012
    7
    I bought this game on steam during the black friday week for only 5 bucks. For the price paid, it was worth every penny. All in all, the story is great, the characters are enjoyable, the ending could have been definitely better. With the exception of shooting and driving, the controls are often awkward, remembering it is a console port. The graphics are great. The city is big, but theI bought this game on steam during the black friday week for only 5 bucks. For the price paid, it was worth every penny. All in all, the story is great, the characters are enjoyable, the ending could have been definitely better. With the exception of shooting and driving, the controls are often awkward, remembering it is a console port. The graphics are great. The city is big, but the interaction with it is limited to what pertains to the cases you are working on. The investigation is good, the questioning and intuition system is a great addition. For most people, it is a one play through game. For completionists, they will probably have a second play through. With the lack of alternate endings, I doubt I will play it over again.… Expand
  88. jim109109
    Jul 19, 2012
    7
    The game requires much more computer power than its graphics call for; the game was just badly ported to the PC with little thought about performance. Games like Just Cause 2 have better graphics, more textures and more amazing visuals with half that lag. What helped my performance was to run the game in single processor mode; for some reason, it ran faster since then. Now: about the gameThe game requires much more computer power than its graphics call for; the game was just badly ported to the PC with little thought about performance. Games like Just Cause 2 have better graphics, more textures and more amazing visuals with half that lag. What helped my performance was to run the game in single processor mode; for some reason, it ran faster since then. Now: about the game itself. It's cinematically a masterpiece, it feels like you're watching real actors - which you are! The story is the only reason to play this game, however, as the gameplay is just an excuse for progressing through the story and is nothing amazing. The funnest part of the gameplay is to watch the interviewed characters and decide if they are lying or not by their facial expressions, and to select the evidence that counters their claims. Although the game is not nearly challenging enough, or even challenging for a detective game, I found it satisfying to detect when the subjects were lying for the sheer satisfaction of being right. Otherwise, there is no real penalty apart from lengthened missions. I'd say this game is on par with games like bioshock, so I'm rating it a 7, for its unmatched acting, great story and good integration of detective work, however with some issues like being a laggy PC port, lacking challenge and having a boring gameplay if you strip away the story elements.… Expand
  89. RealMuthaF
    Nov 22, 2017
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game just doesn't work as intended. And I don't mean any technical issues, I just mean the plot and the overall game design.

    In terms of plot and characters it borrows an awful lot from the movie called L.A. Confidential, which in 2 something hours manages to tell a much more compelling and engaging story than what we have here. The overall plotline with corrupt officials doing a scam with increased land price is plain boring, as are the characters, whose archetypes are blatantly stolen from Confidential. To add to this the game fails to invoke any feelings for the characters, any drama. The final death of you know who in the sewers was just laughable.

    Mechanically the game suffers from its linearity, namely, during interrogations. The fact that there is only one right answer to every question means that you are compelled to either look for a walkthrough in advance, or reload and try the interview again, which is tedious. The word "tedious" also applies to walking through scenes looking for clues. The action sequences suffer from clunky controls. And the open world here is just redundant, L. A. Noire is basically a high-budget quest game about picking up objects and guessing answers. The developers apparently realize that, hence the option to skip all the fight and chase scenes, as well as the ability to skip driving to the next destination. Moreover, the shooter part spoils some of the overall "realism" with things like Kelso and his friends raiding a mansion, killing a couple of dozen guys and there being no consequences whatsoever.

    It took me 5 damn years to beat this game. I bought it off a Steam sale back in 2012, solved like 5 cases and got bored. Then in 2015 I started over, this time making my way all over to Vice before giving it up for some more exciting game. Now I've finally finished what I started due to temporary lack of games on my PS4, and I got to say I'm not sure if the journey was worth it.    … Expand
  90. shaunc356
    Sep 14, 2012
    7
    The story was enjoyable however I felt the gameplay became too repetitive and slow. The city was also too big and boring to drive around. The game for me only got good towards the end.
  91. kanpot2002
    Oct 1, 2013
    7
    The good
    - very high quality
    - the best animation - the best voice and sound The bad - not fun as a game - way too hard without walkthroughs - way too boring with walkthroughs This one has a very good quality. They produce the game that look much like a real world. The way people speak, act, and their faces are too real. But somehow it failed as a fun game. There is not much    The good
    - very high quality
    - the best animation
    - the best voice and sound

    The bad
    - not fun as a game
    - way too hard without walkthroughs
    - way too boring with walkthroughs

    This one has a very good quality. They produce the game that look much like a real world. The way people speak, act, and their faces are too real.

    But somehow it failed as a fun game. There is not much fun in it. The detective part is just too hard, especially for non-native English speaker.

    That's it. This game prove that even though how great your graphics are, it doesn't mean it will be a great game.    … Expand
  92. Toffenuff
    Jul 14, 2013
    7
    Bought this game because it was supposed to be a great one. Turns out it's not great, but not bad either. I personally found parts of it to be tedious, boring, and slow for my tastes. But there were fun, interesting, and exciting elements to it as well.

    Plot is interesting enough as it unfolds and I did want to find out what was going to happen next every time something I finished a    Bought this game because it was supposed to be a great one. Turns out it's not great, but not bad either. I personally found parts of it to be tedious, boring, and slow for my tastes. But there were fun, interesting, and exciting elements to it as well.

    Plot is interesting enough as it unfolds and I did want to find out what was going to happen next every time something I finished a part of a case or even a whole case itself. There is a steady progression in the overall story and it's admittedly exciting to see it all come together by the end.

    Voice acting is superb, however it seems like every interrogation is a shouting match and I didn't find that believable in some instances. There's A LOT of talking in this game so the high quality voice acting is of course expected. Sounds and music fit the era and add to the atmosphere.

    Content and gameplay are good. There's a lot of tailing/sneaking, car chasing, perp chasing, shoot-outs, and of course various cases to solve. Crime scene investigations are cool as you get to test out your CSI skills. Interviewing is particularly satisfying because you have to decide whether what they are saying is true, doubtful, or an outright lie and you can tell by their facial expressions (some are easier to read than others).

    Graphically decent, with particularly stellar work on facial graphics and character models in general they looked very life-like. Other than that though, the LA that they've created doesn't look anything spectacular given how other games look.

    I did not have any trouble running this on highest settings on my system, unlike some people apparently. 3GHz Quad Core i5, 8gb RAM, Radeon 7950 3gb.    … Expand
  93. joshxdr
    Jan 15, 2013
    6
    LA Noire is a strange game, in that it is a combination of 4 action games (car chase, foot chase, fist fight, gun fight) and an adventure-y detective game that is focused around interrogations. Since all these elements are woven around the same story, it really works, at first. After about five or six cases, it loses its luster somewhat. The foot chases, gun fights, and fist fights are tooLA Noire is a strange game, in that it is a combination of 4 action games (car chase, foot chase, fist fight, gun fight) and an adventure-y detective game that is focused around interrogations. Since all these elements are woven around the same story, it really works, at first. After about five or six cases, it loses its luster somewhat. The foot chases, gun fights, and fist fights are too easy. The car chases are easy too as long as you remap your keyboard so that you are driving with two hands. The interrogations are HARD. Even if I read all your evidence carefully, and review your conversation log, and look carefully at the expressions of the suspect, I still get the answer wrong almost half the time. When you get an answer wrong, you often miss out on evidence that is necessary for later interrogations. So once you start bad, things just go downhill. The case always "solves itself" at the end no matter how bad you screw up the interrogations, and it does this in a very confusing way. It is very frustrating because you can tell you have missed out on half the story. I have replayed some of the cases using a walkthrough, and found out there were big chunks of the story that I completely missed because I botched the interrogations. I replayed a few cases hoping that I could learn to do better on the interrogations, but it hasn't helped yet. The concept of the detective part of the game is very cool, but in the end too difficult and frustrating. The action part of the game is a little too easy and a little too repetitive. The graphics are very good, the facial detail, the period music and details are great, clearly a AAA game in terms of production values. It seems like this game went straight from concept to game, without any play-testing to calibrate the gameplay to a level where it is challenging but still fun.… Expand
  94. xv4xv4x
    Apr 7, 2013
    10
    Amazing game, loved it, Best detective game i've ever played and ever better, its made by Rockstar Games! This also has some nice graphics and I learned that it is not all that laggy like the GTA IV graphics engine but yes, If you want to be a detective and ask criminals lots of questions then this is your game.
  95. ibitato
    Jun 22, 2013
    10
    For people 38+ like me, that have been gaming since early 16, this game is a dream come true.
    Amazing story telling, voice action, environment and slow but interesting path with action sub-phases.
    the game is a black novel by itself, and lets you enough freedom to wander around a lovely city and progress on the story line as well. this game deserves a 10. I respect all opinions but this    For people 38+ like me, that have been gaming since early 16, this game is a dream come true.
    Amazing story telling, voice action, environment and slow but interesting path with action sub-phases.
    the game is a black novel by itself, and lets you enough freedom to wander around a lovely city and progress on the story line as well.
    this game deserves a 10. I respect all opinions but this is a niche game for me, that excels.
    add some sweetFX to it, and the visuals are just awesome.
    The game play might be between adventure games and 3rd person action games, but the combination is just right. Get a few drinks, a pack of smokes, and be ready to deep yourself on a black novel all the way. Rep+ to Rockstar    … Expand
  96. emirizilla
    Jun 23, 2013
    5
    Some of these positive reviews HAVE to be fake. While I love the idea behind L.A. Noire, the execution leaves much to be desired. Do not buy on PC unless you are patient with crappy mechanics/sloppy concept execution and the game is on megasale.

    The most challenging aspect of this game is overcoming the game mechanics to enjoy the story. The 'investigation' part is less about finding    Some of these positive reviews HAVE to be fake. While I love the idea behind L.A. Noire, the execution leaves much to be desired. Do not buy on PC unless you are patient with crappy mechanics/sloppy concept execution and the game is on megasale.

    The most challenging aspect of this game is overcoming the game mechanics to enjoy the story. The 'investigation' part is less about finding clues and more about walking around designated spaces and waiting for a chime. You don't have to figure out what objects are relevant since the game does it for you. You can't go first person and you don't get a visible cursor meaning this "detective" game isn't about attention to detail or finding clues as much as it pretends to be. So if it's not about this it must be about the interrogation and using social finesse to get the truth out of people, right?

    Yet, if that's the case why are interrogations are linear rather than dynamic? They are an it's A (truth) B (doubt) or C (lie) right or wrong type situation. If you get it wrong, that line of questioning is shut down. This means you can't accuse people of lying or doubt them to get them to reveal more information like feeling desperate to prove they are telling the truth. It therefore becomes formulaic and repetitive interrogating people; if you think they are telling the truth you pick truth, if you don't think they are doubt them unless you have solid evidence. You don't have any control over the tone of what your character says or any notion of what he will say when you select something (he nearly always comes off rude). It takes all the subtly out of the art of interrogation and the control of the interrogation out of the player's hands. That does leave you with trying to read body language and determine if someone is lying and that's interesting but it takes all the fun out of it when you can't purposefully choose to say things, even if untrue, to gauge their reactions.

    Reason I give it a 5? There's excellent acting and the fun of driving around like a maniac GTA style but not much else. I still want to know what happens in the story. It's just one of those games I have to force myself to finish just to say I played it all the way through.    … Expand
  97. Dcruize
    Nov 3, 2013
    10
    I dislike GTA and find games of the interactive novel genre to be a bore. However, I loved almost every second of this game. It played perfectly on my average spec gaming Win7 PC (5.9 system rating) and I didn't experience any of the technical issues reported by others such as low frame-rate or sluggish controls. So, why did I enjoy it so much? For a start, the main storyline wasI dislike GTA and find games of the interactive novel genre to be a bore. However, I loved almost every second of this game. It played perfectly on my average spec gaming Win7 PC (5.9 system rating) and I didn't experience any of the technical issues reported by others such as low frame-rate or sluggish controls. So, why did I enjoy it so much? For a start, the main storyline was fantastic. Not only was it original, it was also both suspenseful and pretty deep without being far-fetched. The characters were believable and were strongly developed over the course of the game. As for the gameplay, it combines open-world driving and gun fighting with crime-scene investigation and witness/suspect interviews. There's a healthy split between GTA-style action and clue-hunting with the option to skip the majority of the driving by asking your partner to take the wheel. I disabled the crime-scene visual/audio clues and would suggest doing the same if you want a challenge. The interviews are quite hard but if you pay attention to clues and people's body language they're doable.

    There are quite a lot of cut-scenes but they are of high quality and really help with the immersion.

    My only criticism of the game would be the lack of first-person perspective. I grew up playing FPS and find the recent shift to forced 3rd person cameras in PC games to be a pathetic pandering to console kids but hey, that's an issue with the gaming industry not the game.

    I mentioned how I dislike GTA.... no matter how much I try to enjoy it I always get bored after about an hour of gameplay. If you're the same, try L.A. Noire. However if you really liked GTA you might really hate this game, since all my GTA loving friends who have tried it said they found it too boring. Personally, I'd rather investigate the murder of a hooker than run one over and steal their purse.    … Expand
  98. WillG027
    Oct 31, 2013
    10
    This game oozes more class and atmosphere in one case than most games do in their entirety.
    Top notch story, acting, music and production.
    Could of used a little more 'game' content and was a shame not to 'use' more of the huge L.A. map they made.
    One of the best games out there and sincerely hope Rockstar makes a follow-up.
  99. Adresadini
    Apr 12, 2014
    7
    This game looks coo, at the start,ut after getting halfway trough the game,it's pretty boring.
    You got the same things over and over again : Investigate, Interrogate, Go from place to place, On foot chase, Car chase and maybe a shooting sometimes, then some last interrogation.
    I know that looking at people faces to see if they are lying is interesting, but after sometime it gets boring.
    7/10
  100. NShep53
    Sep 11, 2015
    7
    L.A. Noire was a very hyped game for years. With countless delays and rumors, you never knew what was happening with it. Finally Rockstar released it in 2011 to great critical acclaim. But it L.A. Noire actually good? You play as Cole Phelps, an up and coming police officer in 1940s LA. The city is made very nicely, but besides doing the main story missions, there isn't anything to do inL.A. Noire was a very hyped game for years. With countless delays and rumors, you never knew what was happening with it. Finally Rockstar released it in 2011 to great critical acclaim. But it L.A. Noire actually good? You play as Cole Phelps, an up and coming police officer in 1940s LA. The city is made very nicely, but besides doing the main story missions, there isn't anything to do in it. The motion capture actors are amazing in this game. While the graphics alone aren't amazing, the expressions on people's faces are something no game has done before or since L.A. Noire. Besides the standard GTA run and gunning, the gameplay consists of solving crime scenes with a ton of variety. You can actually mess up an investigation, which is cool. The main issue with this game is the asking questions/interrogation mechanics/gameplay. It is simply awful. You may choose to ask someone something from the options given and Phelps might say something completely out of left field. This really hurts the game many times. Plus the story overall tries to be L.A. Confidential, but ends up just cheaply copying off of it. It L.A. Noire a good game? All I can say is: it's okay.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Best PC Game of 2011
26
#26 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
15
#15 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 29, 2012
    90
    A unique adventure game that borrows many features from mystery and action games, incorporating them seamlessly in the narrative flow, thus creating a truly special game that not everyone will enjoy. And that's because it has its own character, defying contemporary 'fast food' games that are churned out today and because it's reminiscent of endeavors made in another era, where immersion of an ultimate single-player experience was the first and last goal of their creators.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 19, 2012
    90
    Ingenious game merges a classic adventure with sandbox action titles, resourcefully. Playability is not always perfect but overall impression is stunning. [Christmas 2011]
  3. Games Master UK
    Jan 12, 2012
    92
    The wannabe detective's definitive version to plump for. [Feb 2012, p.101]
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