L.A. Noire, by Rockstar and Team Bondi, is, without a doubt, a unique experience. The advanced facial technology which is by far the game's most famous feature really is incredible and for that alone everyone should try it out because there's nothing like it.

It's a slow-paced, methodical game. There are action sequences but these are an exception, not the rule, to this game. This game's main strength lies in its investigation and interrogation sequences, coupled with excellent acting and good plot. Note that I'm typing "acting" and not "voice acting". The technology in this game has finally reached the point where I can say that every character in this game is acting, and not just lending their voice to the game.

You can totally mess up in your cases, by the way. Like completely. But even if this happens to you, the main storyline will still keep progressing, albeit in dynamic and different ways. Your partners, peers, and superiors will comment on how you couldn't get that one case done, or if you did, praising you on your foresight. I found this really neat and a lot more investigation games should go for this dynamic direction as well instead of keeping you stuck until you find the perfect solution. (I'm looking at you, Phoenix Wright, and some point and click adventures as well)

As the title implies, it perfectly evokes that feeling of a 40's Los Angeles in a dark, depressing, noir setting. The vehicles, buildings, city, music, up to the radio commercials themselves are spot on. There is freeroam as you'd expect to find in your average GTA, and street crimes which are always action oriented as fun sidequests. The story of LAPD detective Cole Phelps is very interesting and involved, and while this game is about solving crimes, it's also about telling the story of this man, who isn't perfect, has its ups and downs, and is just amazing to go through. Fantastic protagonist.

I will say though that the ending felt kind of rushed, and there were a few loose ends. Closure where it was mainly needed was given though, so don't worry, this game didn't pull a Mass Effect 3.

More games like L.A. Noire need to exist. Even though I've had a LOT of cases to solve, I'm still yearning for more, and I'll definitely replay this after a few years at the very least so my memories won't be as clear and I can fumble about again, because it actually makes it enjoyable and realistic for me, that even the star detective such as Cole could get fooled and get it all wrong once or twice.

It's not all rainbows and sunshine though! This game is a bad PC port. Rockstar are known for being subpar when it comes to the PC, and L.A. Noire is no exception. I've had to open up a bunch of launch commands, even get a .dll file to get my game into a playable state. It doesn't help that its capped at 30 FPS either, because according to Team Bondi, the facial animations could get wonky were you to go any higher than that. 60 FPS fixes were applied and this wasn't seen though, so it's highly debatable.

If you can get this on the PS3 or Xbox 360, then do so as you won't have to deal with these issues. If you can't though, at least try to give it a go anyway because like I said, this is an awesome game if it happens to like your PC and everyone should play it. I'm all for a sequel or a game set in the same style as this one!

L.A. Noire, by Rockstar and Team Bondi, is, without a doubt, a unique experience. The advanced facial technology which is by far the game's most famous feature really is incredible and for that alone everyone should try it out because there's nothing like it. It's a slow-paced, methodical game. There are action sequences but these are an exception, not the rule, to this game. This game's main strength lies in its investigation and interrogation sequences, coupled with excellent acting and good plot. Note that I'm typing "acting" and not "voice acting". The technology in this game has finally reached the point where I can say that every character in this game is acting, and not just lending their voice to the game. You can totally mess up in your cases, by the way. Like completely. But even if this happens to you, the main storyline will still keep progressing, albeit in dynamic and different ways. Your partners, peers, and superiors will comment on how you couldn't get that one case done, or if you did, praising you on your foresight. I found this really neat and a lot more investigation games should go for this dynamic direction as well instead of keeping you stuck until you find the perfect solution. (I'm looking at you, Phoenix Wright, and some point and click adventures as well) As the title implies, it perfectly evokes that feeling of a 40's Los Angeles in a dark, depressing, noir setting. The vehicles, buildings, city, music, up to the radio commercials themselves are spot on. There is freeroam as you'd expect to find in your average GTA, and street crimes which are always action oriented as fun sidequests. The story of LAPD detective Cole Phelps is very interesting and involved, and while this game is about solving crimes, it's also about telling the story of this man, who isn't perfect, has its ups and downs, and is just amazing to go through. Fantastic protagonist. I will say though that the ending felt kind of rushed, and there were a few loose ends. Closure where it was mainly needed was given though, so don't worry, this game didn't pull a Mass Effect 3. More games like L.A. Noire need to exist. Even though I've had a LOT of cases to solve, I'm still yearning for more, and I'll definitely replay this after a few years at the very least so my memories won't be as clear and I can fumble about again, because it actually makes it enjoyable and realistic for me, that even the star detective such as Cole could get fooled and get it all wrong once or twice. It's not all rainbows and sunshine though! This game is a bad PC port. Rockstar are known for being subpar when it comes to the PC, and L.A. Noire is no exception. I've had to open up a bunch of launch commands, even get a .dll file to get my game into a playable state. It doesn't help that its capped at 30 FPS either, because according to Team Bondi, the facial animations could get wonky were you to go any higher than that. 60 FPS fixes were applied and this wasn't seen though, so it's highly debatable. If you can get this on the PS3 or Xbox 360, then do so as you won't have to deal with these issues. If you can't though, at least try to give it a go anyway because like I said, this is an awesome game if it happens to like your PC and everyone should play it. I'm all for a sequel or a game set in the same style as this one!