L.A. Noire is a neo-noir detective action-adventure video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 May 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on 8 November 2011 for Microsoft Windows; a re-release for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was released worldwide on 14 November 2017. L.A. Noire is set in Los Angeles in 1947 and challenges the player, controlling a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, to solve a range of cases across five divisions. Players must investigate crime scenes for clues, follow up leads, and interrogate suspects, and the player's success at these activities will impact how much of each case's story is revealed.
L.A. Noire
LA-Noire-Box-Art.jpg
Developer(s) Team Bondi[a]
Publisher(s) Rockstar Games
Director(s) Brendan McNamara
Producer(s)
Naresh Hirani
Josh Needleman
Designer(s) Alex Carlyle
Programmer(s) Franta Fulin
Artist(s)
Chee Kin Chan
Ben Brudenell
Writer(s) Brendan McNamara
Composer(s)
Andrew Hale
Simon Hale
Platform(s)
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Release PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
NA: 17 May 2011
PAL: 20 May 2011
Microsoft Windows
NA: 8 November 2011
PAL: 11 November 2011
Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
WW: 14 November 2017
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player
The game draws heavily from both the plot and aesthetic elements of film noir—stylistic films made popular in the 1940s and 1950s that share similar visual styles and themes, including crime and moral ambiguity—along with drawing inspiration from real-life crimes for its in-game cases, based upon what was reported by the Los Angeles media in 1947.[2] The game uses a distinctive colour palette, but in homage to film noir it includes the option to play the game in black and white. Various plot elements refer to the major themes of detective and mobster stories such as The Naked City, Chinatown,[3] The Untouchables, The Black Dahlia, and L.A. Confidential.
L.A. Noire is notable for using Depth Analysis' newly developed technology MotionScan, whereby the actors portraying the game's characters were recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle.[4][5] The technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions to questioning to judge whether or not they are lying. L.A. Noire was the first video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.[6][7] Upon release, the game received wide acclaim for its advances in storytelling and facial animation technology. As of February 2012, both PC and console versions had shipped[b] nearly five million copies combined.[8][9] L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, a subset of the game's cases for virtual reality support through the HTC Vive, was released on 15 December 2017.
