L.A. Noire
Encyclopedia
L.A. Noire is a 2011 crime
video game developed by Team Bondi
and published by Rockstar Games
. It was released for PlayStation 3
, Xbox 360
, Microsoft Windows
. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the story. L.A. Noire is set in Los Angeles
in 1947 and challenges the player, controlling a Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) detective, to solve a range of cases across five crime desks. Players must investigate crime scenes for clues, follow up leads, and interrogate suspects, and the players' success at these activities will impact how much of the cases' stories are revealed.
As the title suggests, the game draws heavily from both plot and aesthetic elements of film noir
– stylistic films from the 1940s and 1950s that shared similar visual styles and themes including crime, sex, and moral ambiguity and were often shot in black and white with harsh, low-key lighting. The game uses a distinctive colouring-style in homage to the visual style of film noir, including the option to play the game in black-and-white
. The post-war setting is the backdrop for plot elements that reference the detective films of the '40s (as well as James Ellroy
's novel L.A. Confidential
and the Curtis Hanson
film
based on it), such as corruption and drug
s, with a jazz
soundtrack. L.A. Noire is also notable for using Lightsprint's real-time global illumination
technology, as well as Depth Analysis's newly developed technology for the film and video game industries called MotionScan
, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. The technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions to questioning to judge whether they are lying or not.
L.A. Noire is the first video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival
. Upon release, the game received critical acclaim.
, a city of glamour, fame, and wealth, but also where crime, vice, and corruption are rife. The player assumes the role of LAPD Police Officer and later Detective Cole Phelps. The game starts with Phelps as a uniformed patrolman, and follows his career as he advances through the police department bureaus of Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. Instead of missions or levels, each new bureau gives the player a new partner who will help Phelps in his investigations. After each case, the player will receive a rating of 1-5 stars depending on their performance in both interrogations and searching for clues. When searching an area for clues to the crime, in some cases, players can also find newspapers. Besides reading the story, the newspaper give access to a short cinematic that covers a part of the game's overarching plot or a flashback to Phelp's war memories.
The game blends investigative elements such as mystery and crime solving, with fast-paced action sequences, including on-foot and car chases, hand-to-hand combat, interrogations and gunfights. In addition to the storyline missions, the player can work on optional side-investigations known as Street Crimes. The player can travel on foot, as well as in various vehicles. The player also has a total of ten detective suits available; an initial six, plus another four downloadable ones. The suits are equipped with special abilities, such as increased damage protection and increased aim when firing a gun.
If the player is having trouble completing an action sequence, after three failed attempts, they will have the option to skip past and continue through the narrative.
Unlike Rockstar
's Grand Theft Auto series
, the player cannot freely create chaos and kill civilians with weapons and cars, as the character is a police detective, but players are allowed to commandeer civilian cars, and cause property damage up to a certain extent, although doing so will cause a significantly negative impact on the player's mission score. Weapons are only allowed in appropriate circumstances and only when a player is working on a case where a weapon is warranted. The game features a free roam mode called "The Streets of L.A.", which is unlocked on completion of a quest. In this mode, players can solve street crimes, search for gold film reels and badges or just drive around the city.
detective who is troubled by his actions in World War II
. Phelps is from San Francisco and is a Stanford University
graduate who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
in 1942. Along with fellow Marine Jack Kelso, the two often clashed over matters regarding military procedure. The events of L.A. Noire take place after the end of World War II, following Phelps as a police officer. Kelso has moved on to become a private investigator for the insurance company California Fire and Life, who hopes to put the demons of the war to rest as well.
Phelps served as a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Marine Division in the Battle of Okinawa
, where he witnessed his fellow Marines killed by Japanese soldiers on Sugar Loaf Hill. When he witnessed this, Phelps went into shock and spent the whole battle curled up in a fox-hole, until he was found by Kelso the next morning. For his actions, Phelps was awarded the Silver Star
and was promoted to First Lieutenant, finally achieving status as a war hero. However, Phelps was disregarded by his unit, who saw him as a coward. Phelps was ashamed of this throughout his life, and he wished to prove his courage to the other Marines later on.
Near the end of the Battle of Okinawa, Phelps was given orders to clear out any houses or caves that may be housing Japanese soldiers. Eventually, Phelps came upon a large cave that he suspected to be holding soldiers, and he requisitioned a flamethrower from another squad in order to clear it out, wanting to "do it by the numbers." When flamethrower Corporal Ira Hogeboom showed up, he advanced upon the cave and had it burned. Soon after, Phelps and his squad realized the cave was a makeshift medical hospital for innocent Japanese civilians. Phelps, with his squad hysterical and panicking himself, ordered his men to execute the civilians to "put them out of their misery" and then leave the cave. Pushed to the breaking point by Cole's orders, medic Courtney Sheldon shoots Cole in the back. Kelso orders for Phelps to be taken to an Army field hospital and then tells the men to never speak about what had happened.
The game begins with Phelps on the Patrol Desk at the LAPD Wilshire Division 7 Police Station as a new member of the Los Angeles Police Department
in Los Angeles
in 1947, investigating a murder with his new partner, Officer Ralph Dunn. After catching the killer, Phelps discovers a pay-out notebook, which contains the name of an LAPD Homicide detective who is in charge of the case, Floyd Rose, whom the two dislike. Despite this, Phelps calls in the dispute, even though he thinks that the detective might be corrupt. Phelps then continues to work as a patrolman. After successfully interrogating a murder suspect and bringing him to justice, the Captain of the Homicide Desk gives Cole a promotion to the Traffic Desk of the LAPD.
Now a detective, Phelps receives his new partner, Detective Stefan Bekowsky. The two then solve a case involving a man who faked his own death, catch a double-homicide suspect involved in a hit-and-run, and finally bring to justice a film producer responsible for statutory rape
and attempted murder. Phelps is then promoted to the Burglary Desk of the LAPD. Phelps also meets the corrupt Vice Desk Detective Roy Earle on the desk, who introduces Cole to an emotionally damaged German lounge singer, Elsa Lichtmann, at a Hollywood jazz club.
After serving six months at Burglary, Phelps is once again promoted, this time to Homicide, where he and his new veteran and old school partner, Detective Finbarr "Rusty" Galloway solve a series of very similar and gruesome murders committed by a serial killer: the same man who killed Elizabeth Short in The Black Dahlia
murder that same year. At first, Galloway believes all the murders to have been committed by the victim's husband or boyfriend, and believes that each is only a copy-cat of the previous, with no connection at all. Finally, however, they realise, after arresting five innocent men, that the murders were committed by one man. The two then track him to an abandoned church catacombs, following a trail of notes and clues left by the killer. They discover the killer is one of the bartenders Cole spoke with while investigating one of the first murders, who strung the two along. Once he is killed, Captain Donnelly dismisses the case and releases the innocent quietly, explaining that the killer is a relative of one of the most powerful politicians in the country, and that releasing the information could cause a massive scandal.
Phelps is then promoted to the Vice Desk. He and his new partner, corrupt Chief Detective Roy Earle, succeed in halting Los Angeles
's government-issued morphine
and marijuana drug trade, and bringing down several drug dealers, including associates of mobster, Mickey Cohen
. However, Phelps's past comes back to haunt him when a U.S. Marine from his former unit is found brutally shot dead. Phelps then discovers many of his former squad members are being assassinated as well, and after meeting with his old comrade, Jack Kelso, Phelps deduces that the men in his unit were selling morphine on the street after stealing a large supply from the U.S.S. Coolridge, a ship that carried Phelps' unit back to Los Angeles
at the end of World War II. The men are being killed by the mob, who currently controls the drug trade and refuse to have competition. At the same time, Phelps begins a love affair outside of his marriage with Elsa. Because of the corrupt actions taken by the LAPD, Roy agrees to disclose Phelps' affair to get the public eye away from the corrupt members of city hall and the LAPD, including the mayor, police chief, and himself as a distraction. Because of this, prior to the conclusion of the drug trade by the members of his former unit, Phelps is removed from the case, suspended, and later demoted to Arson.
On the Arson Desk, Phelps partners with cynical World War I
veteran Herschel Biggs, an expert on fires. Trying to reattain his former glory, Phelps investigates a series of house fires which he believes to be caused by an arsonist working for a company called Elysian Fields Development. Elysian Fields is running a program known as "The Suburban Redevelopment Fund," which hopes to build houses for homecoming American servicemen while obtaining more land. However, many of the houses made by the Suburban Redevelopment Fund keep burning down, and Phelps believes that Elysian Fields is burning down the houses as part of an insurance scam.
Initially, Phelps makes progress with Herschel on the case, but he is warned off by Roy Earle, who is on the Elysian payroll. Realising there is no way to investigate further by himself, Phelps manages to get Jack Kelso to work with him and Herschel (Kelso works as an insurance investigator for California Fire and Life.) Through their work, they manage to not only topple Elysian Fields, but also the morphine case from Vice (the money made from selling the morphine was being invested in the Suburban Redevelopment Fund.) They also discover that the Suburban Redevelopment Fund is much more than an insurance scam. It is a scam in which houses are overly insured by California Fire and Life, then cleared to make way for a new highway, resulting in complete recompense for the owners and a turnover of millions of dollars for the members of the fund. Eventually, Kelso finds out that the identity of the mysterious arsonist is Ira Hogeboom, the flamethrower in Phelp's squad. After the war, Hogeboom suffered from extreme guilt and mental anguish due to his actions in the war. Elysian used him to burn down the houses, but he eventually became out of control, burning down houses that he was not told to burn and sometimes with the families still in the house. Hogeboom believed that by burning houses, he was helping people be together, and uniting them with God faster.
While hunting down the arsonist, Kelso finds out that Hogeboom has taken Elsa to the Los Angeles River Tunnels where he is trying to hide. Phelps and Kelso race to the River Tunnels and fight their way through corrupt policemen and thugs trying to silence all of them from uncovering the Suburban Redevelopment Fund scam. Due to a heavy rain, the waters in the sewer continue to rise to a dangerously high level. Eventually, they find Hogeboom and Elsa hiding from the thugs in the tunnels. Phelps, Kelso, and Elsa flee from the tunnels after Kelso puts Hogeboom out of his misery. Eventually, the trio finds an open manhole that Hershel uses to lift Elsa up from the surface. As the water begins to rise, Phelps voluntarily lifts Kelso to the surface as well, sacrificing himself (as there is no one else to help Phelps) and before a current sweeps him through the tunnels, causing him to drown in the torrent; He says a final goodbye to his comrades.
Days later; Phelps' funeral and memorial service takes place and all of Phelps' partners attend along with Kelso, Elsa, and his ex-wife and children. As Roy Earle delivers the eulogy, it is shown that many of the corrupt police officers and politicians are in attendance. As Roy delivers a eulogy, Elsa stands up and berates him for belittling Cole's memory, and she subsequently walks out. Before going after her, Herschel tells Kelso that Kelso was never Cole's friend. Kelso replies that they were also never enemies. Hershel tells him that Cole knew that and then walks out as well. An end credits sequence shows the members of the Sixth Platoon on the way home from China on the USS Coolridge, planning the morphine theft. While reading the paper, the soldiers learn of Cole's success as a police officer, and become jealous that they are not remembered as heroes in such a way. Kelso tells the other Marines that no matter how anyone else views them, he will always remember them as heroes, but that if they steal the morphine and go down a path of crime, they will become nothing. Unfortunately, the theft goes as planned, laying the foundation for much of the game's story.
. We have a long-term exclusive arrangement with SCEA." In October 2005, Brendan McNamara, director of the PlayStation 2 game The Getaway
, left his position at Team Soho
in London to form his own studio in his native Australia. The former employee of SCEE named the new six-person studio Team Bondi
and immediately announced that the company had begun work on its first project, a game for "a next-generation Sony platform." In June 2005, the developer revealed that the game will be called L.A. Noire, and it will be an exclusive PlayStation 3 title. Little was known about the game except that it was described as a "detective thriller." It was also revealed that Team Bondi was in an exclusive agreement with Sony to produce two more PlayStation 3 games.
In September 2006, Rockstar Games announced that it will be publishing the debut title from Australian studio Team Bondi, L.A. Noire. While the game was originally revealed as a PlayStation 3 game to be published by Sony, Rockstar's announcement only referred to it as a "next-generation crime thriller," with no platforms specified. On 11 June 2007, Take-Two Interactive
, the sole publisher of Rockstar Games, re-confirmed the release of the PlayStation 3 version by listing it amongst its "announced to date" titles for "fiscal 2008" in a press release regarding the company's second quarter financial results. However, during the shareholders conference-call, a spokesperson for Take Two implied that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases were likely and that "L.A. Noire is being developed for next-generation systems." At that point, however, L.A. Noire had only been officially announced for the PlayStation 3.
On 10 September 2007, as part of their Q3 2007 financial disclosure, Take Two announced the game had been delayed until their 2009 fiscal year. On 21 January 2010, in a Question and Answer section on their blog, Rockstar said "There will be something great to see soon – a proper in-depth look at the game and why it is so ground-breaking and innovative, both in terms of the game's design and the amazing new technology to support it. Expect to see a long-awaited reveal via a big cover story next month." On 4 February it was announced that L.A. Noire would be on the cover of the March 2010 issue of Game Informer
, which confirmed that the game would also be available on Xbox 360 and it will arrive in September 2010. The issue of Game Informer arrived with the long-in-development mystery game's film-noir-style visuals splashed across the cover. On 3 March 2010, Take-Two confirmed that L.A. Noire will be released during the August-October quarter. On 2 September 2010, Tako-Two delayed the game to first half of calendar 2011.
An in-game trailer was released on 11 November 2010, which subsequently confirmed the release date as Q1/Q2 2011. L.A. Noire was featured on the cover of the February 2011 edition of PlayStation: The Official Magazine
, which confirmed that the game would be released sometime in March 2011. However, several US retailers listed 5 April as the launch date, though Rockstar had "no comment." A trailer for L.A. Noire, called "Serial Killer", was leaked on 22 January 2011, two days before its planned official release. It showed 90 seconds of new gameplay footage as well as a release date. Take-Two later had the video removed from websites, citing copyright infringement. The video noted that L.A. Noire will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 17 May.
L.A. Noire has a considerable amount of voice work, over 20 hours according to Game Informer. Aaron Staton
from Mad Men
lent his voice and likeness to the main character, Cole Phelps.
Team Bondi recreated 1940s' Los Angeles by using aerial photographs taken by Robert Spence. In a career spanning over 50 years, Spence took over 110,000 aerial photographs of Los Angeles. The developers used Spence's photographs to create traffic patterns and public transport routes as well as the location and condition of buildings. While striving to recreate an accurate model of 1947 Los Angeles, the developers also took some artistic licence, such as including the appearance of the film set for D. W. Griffith
's Intolerance
; the set had actually been dismantled in 1919.
On 23 June 2011, it was announced that a PC version is in development by Rockstar Leeds
for a Q3/Q4 2011 release. Enhancements include keyboard remapping and gamepad functionality, increased fidelity, improved graphical enhancements, and stereoscopic 3D
support. On 28 September, Rockstar officially announced the L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition for launch on 8 November in the US and 11 November in Europe on PC, Steam and OnLive. In addition to the original full game, The Complete Edition comes with a multi-use code to access all downloadable add-ons and cases. This includes all previously released DLC from the console versions, including: the Nicholson Electroplating Arson case, Reefer Madness Vice case, The Consul’s Car Traffic case, The Naked City vice case (heavily based on Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name
) and A Slip of the Tongue Traffic case.
Just over a month after L.A. Noires release, an article was published on IGN Australia entitled "Why Did L.A. Noire Take Seven Years to Make?". The article contained quotes from 11 anonymous ex-Team Bondi employees, who discussed the managerial style of the studio, the studio's staff turnover rates, and the working hours and conditions associated with L.A. Noire. The article also interviewed Team Bondi studio head Brendan McNamara, as well as Erin Hoffman, the author of the "EA Spouse
" blog, which focused similar attention on the labour practices of Electronic Arts
in 2004. Further internal emails, and comments from staff members were released in July 2011 on Gamesindustry.biz. Lead programmer, Dave Heironymus claimed that ex-staff members were on a mission to 'destroy Team Bondi' by ruining its reputation, and that the studio would learn from its mistakes.
A week after the IGN article was published, the IGDA announced that it would investigate the claims over working conditions at Team Bondi; with IGDA chairman Brian Robbins saying, "Certainly reports of 12-hour a day, lengthy crunch time, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and harmful to the individuals involved, the final product, and the industry as a whole."
In July 2011, two more former employees came forward and offered up internal e-mails which they claim is further evidence of these allegations; the e-mails highlight the contentious relationship between Bondi and Rockstar and indicate that the two companies are unlikely to work together again. Speaking about this situation, a source who worked with Team Bondi, and spoke to GamesIndustry.biz on condition of anonymity, stated that "I've heard a lot about Rockstar's disdain for Team Bondi, and it has been made quite clear that they will not publish Team Bondi's next game. Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged -- Brendan treats L.A. Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project. They continued to sink money into L.A. Noire, and their marketing was fantastic. Without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago." In the interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the same source also claimed that:
On 9 August 2011, numerous outlets reported that Team Bondi's intellectual property
and assets had been sold to Sydney-based multimedia production firm Kennedy Miller Mitchell. However a transfer of ownership to KMM plays out, it won't include the L.A. Noire name, as that intellectual property is owned by Rockstar Games.
According to forms lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
, Team Bondi was placed into administration on 30 August 2011.
On 2 October 2011, Team Bondi officially closed. A liquidator has been appointed to wind up the company at the request of creditors, according to documents filed with the Australian Securities And Investments Commission. The liquidator will handle the sale of Team Bondi's remaining assets and payment of outstanding debts.
On 7 October 2011, it was revealed by documents provided to the Australian Securities And Investments Commission that Team Bondi creditor owed £900k, with unpaid wages or bonuses accounted for over 75 percent of the L.A. Noire developer's debt. 33 staff credited for their work on the Rockstar game were owed a combined $1,074,283.28 (£678,459) in unpaid wages or bonuses. Among those, studio head Brendan McNamara claimed to be owed $102,495.16, general manager Vicky Lord $99,155.21 and gameplay lead David Heironymus $43,652. Depth Analysis, McNamara's Sydney-based firm that developed MotionScan, L.A. Noires facial animation technology, is also reported to be owed $145,795.83.
In a series of interviews with Eurogamer in November 2011, Brendan MacNamara commented on the sucess of L.A. Noire and the staff disputes. When asked if he had any regrets, MacNamara said "I have lots of regrets. The process was hard and difficult. Lots of people [at Team Bondi] were very upset about their experience and first time in video games. But it's a pretty hard and difficult business. It's a business that's on an 80-20 business model. If it isn't happening then you aren't going to get paid. That's the bottom line for it. You either push very hard or you don't and then you don't get anywhere anyway, and everybody's out of a job.Having said that, we're trying to do things differently this time around." Commenting on the allegations that Rockstar didn't want to work with him again, MacNamara said "We're all pretty volatile. We had our ups and downs in the making of it. But we're all big boys. We were all trying to make something that was financially risky. I've known Sam [Houser, co-founder and president of Rockstar Games] for maybe fifteen years. We go a long way. We still talk when we need to. Anything that was part of the process is all water under the bridge to me."
, as well as original 1940s style songs composed by The Real Tuesday Weld
and sung by Claudia Brücken
.
classics from the era, remix
ed by modern DJs. Advertised as a "special installment" of the Verve Remixed Series
, the album includes songs by artists of the period, such as Billie Holiday
, Dinah Washington
, Ella Fitzgerald
and Louis Armstrong
, remixed by DJs such as Ticklah, DJ Premier
, and Moodymann
.
(which is actually featured in-game as a location), take an Esotouric Black Dahlia bus tour, and play the game a month before its official release.
On 29 March 2011, Take 2 Interactive announced that L.A. Noire had been selected to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, the first videogame to be recognised by the festival. L.A. Noire was screened as a sixty minute long film on 25 April 2011, followed by a question and answer session on the game's story and the technology used to make the game.
On 6 June 2011, Rockstar published L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, a collection of short stories from noted crime authors, all based on the L.A. Noire universe.
In addition to the pre-order bonuses, all new copies of L.A. Noire bought for the PlayStation 3 in North America came with an extra Traffic desk case, The Consul's Car. It involves the stolen Packard
of the Argentine Consul General to Los Angeles. The Consul's Car episode became available to download from PlayStation Store
on 27 July 2011.
Rockstar is one of the first game companies to introduce a Season Pass for DLC. The concept is described as "a long term, pre-paid, post-launch downloadable content plan," which is later used by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Mortal Kombat and by Microsoft Studios
for Age of Empires Online
and Gears of War 3
.
The game was released on 8 November in North America, and 11 November internationally. On 20 October 2011, Rockstar announced that the same edition would be available for consoles a week after the PC release, on 15 November in North America, and 18 November internationally.
for Xbox 360 and PS3 while the PC edition received an overall 83 out of 100 on Metacritic
. GameRankings rated the PlayStation 3 version 88.23%, and the Xbox 360 version 87.72%. L.A. Noire has been widely praised for its advances in storytelling and facial animation technology. The first review was published by UK newspaper The Guardian
, which awarded the game a perfect score, and stated "Ever since it first worked out how to assemble pixels so that they resembled something more recognisable than aliens, the games industry has dreamed of creating one thing above all else – a game that is indistinguishable from a film, except that you can control the lead character. With LA Noire, it just might, finally, have found the embodiment of that particular holy grail."
IGN gave the game 8.5 out of 10, stating "L.A. Noire may not reach the emotional heights of a game like Heavy Rain
, but it's something everyone must try out. It reaches high and almost succeeds as a brilliant new type of video game narrative." GameTrailers
gave the game a 9.1 out of 10, concluding that "LA Noire floors you out of the gate, loses some steam due to repetition, but eventually wins the day thanks to its subtlety, attention to detail, and stunning character interaction." Gamespot's
Carolyn Petit awarded the game a 9 out of 10, concluding that "L.A. Noires absorbing investigations and intoxicating sense of style make it an unforgettable journey through the seamy side of the City of Angels." GameZone
gave the game an 8.5/10, stating "The story is intriguing, albeit a little slow at first. L.A. Noire takes an old school approach toward its storytelling. It’s a much slower approach, similar to older movies, with a heavy emphasis on detail. It is that attention to detail that sets L.A. Noire apart from other games and makes it enjoyable to play."
Edge
praised the facial technology, but pointed out that while there are no other major aspects of the game that had not been done better elsewhere, the fact that Team Bondi had brought together such a wide range of game genres in such a stylish, atmospheric, and cohesive manner was an achievement that few developers had managed. Joystiq
gave the game a score of 9, and stated that "L.A. Noire may not always be "fun" in the traditional sense, but it's also unsatisfied with being "merely fun," and the result of that aspiration is something that no one who cares about video games should miss."
Official Playstation Magazine
gave it 9 out of 10, and stated that "In many ways, L.A. Noire is similar to an AMC series...It's a slow build, but once hooked, we couldn't get enough of this provocative adventure, with its compelling characters and innovative gameplay. It's not perfect, but it's also unlike anything else on the PS3 right now." Official Xbox Magazine
gave it 8 out of 10, and concluded with "Yes, it's flawed, but L.A. Noire is an honest-to-goodness detective crime thriller - a genuine breath of fresh air that values narrative and story above all else in an age where scripted action sequences and online deathmatch rule the day. It's the closest thing Xbox has to PlayStation's unique adventurer Heavy Rain." GamesMaster
gave the game 92%, and concluded that L.A. Noire is "Rockstar's most mature take on open-world fun to date, brought to life with incredible tech."
Despite the overall positive reception, some reviewers thought that the game had too many redundancies in the cases and left too little control to the player, leading to the game being boring at times. Although 1UP
gave it a perfect score, they also warned that the extended cut-scenes in the game could make some players feel they lost control of the action.
Although the game has generally been praised for its depiction of post-war Los Angeles, the accuracy of the depiction has been criticised on some points by some architectural and social historians.
Responding to criticism that accused the character's bodies of being lifeless, despite the game's use of motion capture. Brendan McNamara stated in an interview with Eurogamer "People were saying people were dead from the neck down. That's because we had all this animation in the neck and all this animation in the face, but the clothes don't move. Once you get to the level that people can actually see that level of realism, then people expect to see clothes moving and the rest of the body moving in a way we can't replicate in video games." In the same interview McNamara also responded to quiries about why Phelps sometimes responds with particularly aggressive lines of dialogue during interrogation scenes. "It's funny. A lot of people say Aaron (Aaron Staton - the actor who portrays Phelps) turns into a psycho.". "When we originally wrote the game the questions you asked were coax, force and lie. It was actually force because it was a more aggressive answer. That's the way we recorded it. But when the game came out it was truth, doubt or lie. Everyone always says Aaron on the second question is a psycho. So that's not his fault."
and Xbox 360
experienced game freezes due to overheating of the consoles. After initially judging that the problem was due to the latest PS3 firmware, Rockstar
later acknowledged the problem on their game FAQ. In a subsequent joint statement, Sony
and Rockstar declared that the problem was caused by neither the PS3 firmware update nor the game. In a statement on 20 May, Rockstar reiterated that neither the game nor the console manufacturers were at fault. It also stated that the troubleshooting tips on its website had been "erroneously picked up by some news outlets as a 'story, and that those stories were "categorically untrue".
The PC release also has numerous errors, some which stop the game from working at all. It has many incompatibilities with existing common use software, Firewalls and virtual drive. With some versions of windows it requires the user to be logged in as administrator.
According to NPD Group
, L.A. Noire was the best-selling game in the United States in May 2011, at 899,000 copies across the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Through a comparable time period, Red Dead Redemption had sold 1.5 million, which means L.A. Noire tracked behind Red Dead Redemption by about 40%, and it is believed that L.A. Noire will not reach Red Dead Redemption sales, but will still sell "handsomely". L.A. Noire went straight to top of the UK games chart and became the fastest selling new IP
ever in the UK. It sold 58% copies on Xbox 360, as opposed to 42% on Playstation 3. It stayed top of the UK game chart for three weeks. In Australia, the stores that had the game for sale reported that it was going out of stock after a week. L.A. Noire debuted in Japan for the week of 4–10 July and sold a combined 71,057 units on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 version topped the chart, with 58,436 units sold, and the Xbox 360 version moved 12,621 units.
technology for full body performances rather than only faces. In an investor conference call, Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, said that L.A. Noire was "a very successful release" and that they "have every reason to believe that L.A. Noire is another strong franchise for this company". He reiterated that they "do see L.A. Noire as a powerful new franchise".
During an investor call in November 2011 Zelnick re-iterated the importance of the game to Take-Two, stating that the game "has become an important franchise for the company." Zelnick announced that the game was Take-Two's "most successful new release" in the past fiscal year and has become a key property in its portfolio. He also announced that 4 million copies of the game had been shipped by June 2011.
In November 2011, it was announced that McNamara's next game would be titled Whore of the Orient which is described as "one of the great untold stories of the 20th century". It will be published by KMM Studios.
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
video game developed by Team Bondi
Team Bondi
Team Bondi was an Australian independent third-party game developer. The company was founded by Brendan McNamara, who was the former Director of Development for Sony Computer Entertainment’s Team Soho Studio in London and writer and director of The Getaway.-History:Team Bondi was founded in 2003...
and published by Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
. It was released for PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the story. L.A. Noire is set in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1947 and challenges the player, controlling a Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
(LAPD) detective, to solve a range of cases across five crime desks. Players must investigate crime scenes for clues, follow up leads, and interrogate suspects, and the players' success at these activities will impact how much of the cases' stories are revealed.
As the title suggests, the game draws heavily from both plot and aesthetic elements of film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
– stylistic films from the 1940s and 1950s that shared similar visual styles and themes including crime, sex, and moral ambiguity and were often shot in black and white with harsh, low-key lighting. The game uses a distinctive colouring-style in homage to the visual style of film noir, including the option to play the game in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
. The post-war setting is the backdrop for plot elements that reference the detective films of the '40s (as well as James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
's novel L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
and the Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
film
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
based on it), such as corruption and drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, with a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
soundtrack. L.A. Noire is also notable for using Lightsprint's real-time global illumination
Global illumination
Global illumination is a general name for a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics that are meant to add more realistic lighting to 3D scenes...
technology, as well as Depth Analysis's newly developed technology for the film and video game industries called MotionScan
MotionScan
MotionScan is a motion capture technology developed by Australian company Depth Analysis, a sister company of Team Bondi. It was first showcased at E3 2010 and its use was first popularized by the successful 2011 video game L.A. Noire...
, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. The technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions to questioning to judge whether they are lying or not.
L.A. Noire is the first video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
. Upon release, the game received critical acclaim.
Gameplay
The game takes place in 1947 Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, a city of glamour, fame, and wealth, but also where crime, vice, and corruption are rife. The player assumes the role of LAPD Police Officer and later Detective Cole Phelps. The game starts with Phelps as a uniformed patrolman, and follows his career as he advances through the police department bureaus of Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. Instead of missions or levels, each new bureau gives the player a new partner who will help Phelps in his investigations. After each case, the player will receive a rating of 1-5 stars depending on their performance in both interrogations and searching for clues. When searching an area for clues to the crime, in some cases, players can also find newspapers. Besides reading the story, the newspaper give access to a short cinematic that covers a part of the game's overarching plot or a flashback to Phelp's war memories.
The game blends investigative elements such as mystery and crime solving, with fast-paced action sequences, including on-foot and car chases, hand-to-hand combat, interrogations and gunfights. In addition to the storyline missions, the player can work on optional side-investigations known as Street Crimes. The player can travel on foot, as well as in various vehicles. The player also has a total of ten detective suits available; an initial six, plus another four downloadable ones. The suits are equipped with special abilities, such as increased damage protection and increased aim when firing a gun.
If the player is having trouble completing an action sequence, after three failed attempts, they will have the option to skip past and continue through the narrative.
Unlike Rockstar
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
's Grand Theft Auto series
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...
, the player cannot freely create chaos and kill civilians with weapons and cars, as the character is a police detective, but players are allowed to commandeer civilian cars, and cause property damage up to a certain extent, although doing so will cause a significantly negative impact on the player's mission score. Weapons are only allowed in appropriate circumstances and only when a player is working on a case where a weapon is warranted. The game features a free roam mode called "The Streets of L.A.", which is unlocked on completion of a quest. In this mode, players can solve street crimes, search for gold film reels and badges or just drive around the city.
Synopsis
L.A. Noire tells the story of Cole Phelps, an LAPDLos Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
detective who is troubled by his actions in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Phelps is from San Francisco and is a Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
graduate who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
in 1942. Along with fellow Marine Jack Kelso, the two often clashed over matters regarding military procedure. The events of L.A. Noire take place after the end of World War II, following Phelps as a police officer. Kelso has moved on to become a private investigator for the insurance company California Fire and Life, who hopes to put the demons of the war to rest as well.
Phelps served as a Second Lieutenant in the 6th Marine Division in the Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
, where he witnessed his fellow Marines killed by Japanese soldiers on Sugar Loaf Hill. When he witnessed this, Phelps went into shock and spent the whole battle curled up in a fox-hole, until he was found by Kelso the next morning. For his actions, Phelps was awarded the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
and was promoted to First Lieutenant, finally achieving status as a war hero. However, Phelps was disregarded by his unit, who saw him as a coward. Phelps was ashamed of this throughout his life, and he wished to prove his courage to the other Marines later on.
Near the end of the Battle of Okinawa, Phelps was given orders to clear out any houses or caves that may be housing Japanese soldiers. Eventually, Phelps came upon a large cave that he suspected to be holding soldiers, and he requisitioned a flamethrower from another squad in order to clear it out, wanting to "do it by the numbers." When flamethrower Corporal Ira Hogeboom showed up, he advanced upon the cave and had it burned. Soon after, Phelps and his squad realized the cave was a makeshift medical hospital for innocent Japanese civilians. Phelps, with his squad hysterical and panicking himself, ordered his men to execute the civilians to "put them out of their misery" and then leave the cave. Pushed to the breaking point by Cole's orders, medic Courtney Sheldon shoots Cole in the back. Kelso orders for Phelps to be taken to an Army field hospital and then tells the men to never speak about what had happened.
The game begins with Phelps on the Patrol Desk at the LAPD Wilshire Division 7 Police Station as a new member of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1947, investigating a murder with his new partner, Officer Ralph Dunn. After catching the killer, Phelps discovers a pay-out notebook, which contains the name of an LAPD Homicide detective who is in charge of the case, Floyd Rose, whom the two dislike. Despite this, Phelps calls in the dispute, even though he thinks that the detective might be corrupt. Phelps then continues to work as a patrolman. After successfully interrogating a murder suspect and bringing him to justice, the Captain of the Homicide Desk gives Cole a promotion to the Traffic Desk of the LAPD.
Now a detective, Phelps receives his new partner, Detective Stefan Bekowsky. The two then solve a case involving a man who faked his own death, catch a double-homicide suspect involved in a hit-and-run, and finally bring to justice a film producer responsible for statutory rape
Statutory rape
The phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...
and attempted murder. Phelps is then promoted to the Burglary Desk of the LAPD. Phelps also meets the corrupt Vice Desk Detective Roy Earle on the desk, who introduces Cole to an emotionally damaged German lounge singer, Elsa Lichtmann, at a Hollywood jazz club.
After serving six months at Burglary, Phelps is once again promoted, this time to Homicide, where he and his new veteran and old school partner, Detective Finbarr "Rusty" Galloway solve a series of very similar and gruesome murders committed by a serial killer: the same man who killed Elizabeth Short in The Black Dahlia
Black Dahlia
"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short is an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful...
murder that same year. At first, Galloway believes all the murders to have been committed by the victim's husband or boyfriend, and believes that each is only a copy-cat of the previous, with no connection at all. Finally, however, they realise, after arresting five innocent men, that the murders were committed by one man. The two then track him to an abandoned church catacombs, following a trail of notes and clues left by the killer. They discover the killer is one of the bartenders Cole spoke with while investigating one of the first murders, who strung the two along. Once he is killed, Captain Donnelly dismisses the case and releases the innocent quietly, explaining that the killer is a relative of one of the most powerful politicians in the country, and that releasing the information could cause a massive scandal.
Phelps is then promoted to the Vice Desk. He and his new partner, corrupt Chief Detective Roy Earle, succeed in halting Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
's government-issued morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
and marijuana drug trade, and bringing down several drug dealers, including associates of mobster, Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...
. However, Phelps's past comes back to haunt him when a U.S. Marine from his former unit is found brutally shot dead. Phelps then discovers many of his former squad members are being assassinated as well, and after meeting with his old comrade, Jack Kelso, Phelps deduces that the men in his unit were selling morphine on the street after stealing a large supply from the U.S.S. Coolridge, a ship that carried Phelps' unit back to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
at the end of World War II. The men are being killed by the mob, who currently controls the drug trade and refuse to have competition. At the same time, Phelps begins a love affair outside of his marriage with Elsa. Because of the corrupt actions taken by the LAPD, Roy agrees to disclose Phelps' affair to get the public eye away from the corrupt members of city hall and the LAPD, including the mayor, police chief, and himself as a distraction. Because of this, prior to the conclusion of the drug trade by the members of his former unit, Phelps is removed from the case, suspended, and later demoted to Arson.
On the Arson Desk, Phelps partners with cynical World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran Herschel Biggs, an expert on fires. Trying to reattain his former glory, Phelps investigates a series of house fires which he believes to be caused by an arsonist working for a company called Elysian Fields Development. Elysian Fields is running a program known as "The Suburban Redevelopment Fund," which hopes to build houses for homecoming American servicemen while obtaining more land. However, many of the houses made by the Suburban Redevelopment Fund keep burning down, and Phelps believes that Elysian Fields is burning down the houses as part of an insurance scam.
Initially, Phelps makes progress with Herschel on the case, but he is warned off by Roy Earle, who is on the Elysian payroll. Realising there is no way to investigate further by himself, Phelps manages to get Jack Kelso to work with him and Herschel (Kelso works as an insurance investigator for California Fire and Life.) Through their work, they manage to not only topple Elysian Fields, but also the morphine case from Vice (the money made from selling the morphine was being invested in the Suburban Redevelopment Fund.) They also discover that the Suburban Redevelopment Fund is much more than an insurance scam. It is a scam in which houses are overly insured by California Fire and Life, then cleared to make way for a new highway, resulting in complete recompense for the owners and a turnover of millions of dollars for the members of the fund. Eventually, Kelso finds out that the identity of the mysterious arsonist is Ira Hogeboom, the flamethrower in Phelp's squad. After the war, Hogeboom suffered from extreme guilt and mental anguish due to his actions in the war. Elysian used him to burn down the houses, but he eventually became out of control, burning down houses that he was not told to burn and sometimes with the families still in the house. Hogeboom believed that by burning houses, he was helping people be together, and uniting them with God faster.
While hunting down the arsonist, Kelso finds out that Hogeboom has taken Elsa to the Los Angeles River Tunnels where he is trying to hide. Phelps and Kelso race to the River Tunnels and fight their way through corrupt policemen and thugs trying to silence all of them from uncovering the Suburban Redevelopment Fund scam. Due to a heavy rain, the waters in the sewer continue to rise to a dangerously high level. Eventually, they find Hogeboom and Elsa hiding from the thugs in the tunnels. Phelps, Kelso, and Elsa flee from the tunnels after Kelso puts Hogeboom out of his misery. Eventually, the trio finds an open manhole that Hershel uses to lift Elsa up from the surface. As the water begins to rise, Phelps voluntarily lifts Kelso to the surface as well, sacrificing himself (as there is no one else to help Phelps) and before a current sweeps him through the tunnels, causing him to drown in the torrent; He says a final goodbye to his comrades.
Days later; Phelps' funeral and memorial service takes place and all of Phelps' partners attend along with Kelso, Elsa, and his ex-wife and children. As Roy Earle delivers the eulogy, it is shown that many of the corrupt police officers and politicians are in attendance. As Roy delivers a eulogy, Elsa stands up and berates him for belittling Cole's memory, and she subsequently walks out. Before going after her, Herschel tells Kelso that Kelso was never Cole's friend. Kelso replies that they were also never enemies. Hershel tells him that Cole knew that and then walks out as well. An end credits sequence shows the members of the Sixth Platoon on the way home from China on the USS Coolridge, planning the morphine theft. While reading the paper, the soldiers learn of Cole's success as a police officer, and become jealous that they are not remembered as heroes in such a way. Kelso tells the other Marines that no matter how anyone else views them, he will always remember them as heroes, but that if they steal the morphine and go down a path of crime, they will become nothing. Unfortunately, the theft goes as planned, laying the foundation for much of the game's story.
Development
In February 2004, Brendan McNamara, Team Bondi's president, responded to an interview with Kristen Reed that "the project is wholly funded by Sony Computer Entertainment AmericaSony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. We have a long-term exclusive arrangement with SCEA." In October 2005, Brendan McNamara, director of the PlayStation 2 game The Getaway
The Getaway (video game)
The Getaway is a video game series focused on gang life and the police in the city of London. The series was created by Brendan McNamara and is developed by Team Soho for the PlayStation 2...
, left his position at Team Soho
Team SOHO
thumb|The Team SOHO LogoTeam SOHO is a British video game developer based in Soho, London and a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe . It started out developing titles for the original PlayStation, including such acclaimed hits as Total NBA '97 and Porsche Challenge, followed by the...
in London to form his own studio in his native Australia. The former employee of SCEE named the new six-person studio Team Bondi
Team Bondi
Team Bondi was an Australian independent third-party game developer. The company was founded by Brendan McNamara, who was the former Director of Development for Sony Computer Entertainment’s Team Soho Studio in London and writer and director of The Getaway.-History:Team Bondi was founded in 2003...
and immediately announced that the company had begun work on its first project, a game for "a next-generation Sony platform." In June 2005, the developer revealed that the game will be called L.A. Noire, and it will be an exclusive PlayStation 3 title. Little was known about the game except that it was described as a "detective thriller." It was also revealed that Team Bondi was in an exclusive agreement with Sony to produce two more PlayStation 3 games.
In September 2006, Rockstar Games announced that it will be publishing the debut title from Australian studio Team Bondi, L.A. Noire. While the game was originally revealed as a PlayStation 3 game to be published by Sony, Rockstar's announcement only referred to it as a "next-generation crime thriller," with no platforms specified. On 11 June 2007, Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
, the sole publisher of Rockstar Games, re-confirmed the release of the PlayStation 3 version by listing it amongst its "announced to date" titles for "fiscal 2008" in a press release regarding the company's second quarter financial results. However, during the shareholders conference-call, a spokesperson for Take Two implied that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 releases were likely and that "L.A. Noire is being developed for next-generation systems." At that point, however, L.A. Noire had only been officially announced for the PlayStation 3.
On 10 September 2007, as part of their Q3 2007 financial disclosure, Take Two announced the game had been delayed until their 2009 fiscal year. On 21 January 2010, in a Question and Answer section on their blog, Rockstar said "There will be something great to see soon – a proper in-depth look at the game and why it is so ground-breaking and innovative, both in terms of the game's design and the amazing new technology to support it. Expect to see a long-awaited reveal via a big cover story next month." On 4 February it was announced that L.A. Noire would be on the cover of the March 2010 issue of Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
, which confirmed that the game would also be available on Xbox 360 and it will arrive in September 2010. The issue of Game Informer arrived with the long-in-development mystery game's film-noir-style visuals splashed across the cover. On 3 March 2010, Take-Two confirmed that L.A. Noire will be released during the August-October quarter. On 2 September 2010, Tako-Two delayed the game to first half of calendar 2011.
An in-game trailer was released on 11 November 2010, which subsequently confirmed the release date as Q1/Q2 2011. L.A. Noire was featured on the cover of the February 2011 edition of PlayStation: The Official Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine is a magazine originally known as PlayStation Magazine . After Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine was canceled, Sony Computer Entertainment announced on October 1, 2007 that PSM would become "PlayStation: The Official Magazine"...
, which confirmed that the game would be released sometime in March 2011. However, several US retailers listed 5 April as the launch date, though Rockstar had "no comment." A trailer for L.A. Noire, called "Serial Killer", was leaked on 22 January 2011, two days before its planned official release. It showed 90 seconds of new gameplay footage as well as a release date. Take-Two later had the video removed from websites, citing copyright infringement. The video noted that L.A. Noire will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 17 May.
L.A. Noire has a considerable amount of voice work, over 20 hours according to Game Informer. Aaron Staton
Aaron Staton
Aaron Staton is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ken Cosgrove in Mad Men and his role as Cole Phelps in the video game L.A. Noire.-Personal life:...
from Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
lent his voice and likeness to the main character, Cole Phelps.
Team Bondi recreated 1940s' Los Angeles by using aerial photographs taken by Robert Spence. In a career spanning over 50 years, Spence took over 110,000 aerial photographs of Los Angeles. The developers used Spence's photographs to create traffic patterns and public transport routes as well as the location and condition of buildings. While striving to recreate an accurate model of 1947 Los Angeles, the developers also took some artistic licence, such as including the appearance of the film set for D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's Intolerance
Intolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
; the set had actually been dismantled in 1919.
On 23 June 2011, it was announced that a PC version is in development by Rockstar Leeds
Rockstar Leeds
Rockstar Leeds is a British video game developer. Based in the eponymous city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, Rockstar Leeds has primarily published handheld games for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance , as well as developing Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Grand Theft Auto Stories games for the...
for a Q3/Q4 2011 release. Enhancements include keyboard remapping and gamepad functionality, increased fidelity, improved graphical enhancements, and stereoscopic 3D
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
support. On 28 September, Rockstar officially announced the L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition for launch on 8 November in the US and 11 November in Europe on PC, Steam and OnLive. In addition to the original full game, The Complete Edition comes with a multi-use code to access all downloadable add-ons and cases. This includes all previously released DLC from the console versions, including: the Nicholson Electroplating Arson case, Reefer Madness Vice case, The Consul’s Car Traffic case, The Naked City vice case (heavily based on Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name
The Naked City
The Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge the Whitehall Building and an apartment building on West 83rd...
) and A Slip of the Tongue Traffic case.
Staff complaints
At the start of June 2011, a group of former Team Bondi employees launched a website called lanoirecredits.com, which contained 100 extra employee names that had not been in the game's credits list or that had been incorrectly listed in it. The majority of the names were employees that had either left Team Bondi or been made redundant as the game reached completion. The omission of the names "went against the International Game Developers Association’s (IGDA) framework for games crediting which aims for ethical representation of those who contribute to games of all sizes."Just over a month after L.A. Noires release, an article was published on IGN Australia entitled "Why Did L.A. Noire Take Seven Years to Make?". The article contained quotes from 11 anonymous ex-Team Bondi employees, who discussed the managerial style of the studio, the studio's staff turnover rates, and the working hours and conditions associated with L.A. Noire. The article also interviewed Team Bondi studio head Brendan McNamara, as well as Erin Hoffman, the author of the "EA Spouse
EA Spouse
EA Spouse is the name commonly used to refer to a blog post originally made on November 11, 2004 to LiveJournal that sharply criticized the labor practices of Electronic Arts...
" blog, which focused similar attention on the labour practices of Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
in 2004. Further internal emails, and comments from staff members were released in July 2011 on Gamesindustry.biz. Lead programmer, Dave Heironymus claimed that ex-staff members were on a mission to 'destroy Team Bondi' by ruining its reputation, and that the studio would learn from its mistakes.
A week after the IGN article was published, the IGDA announced that it would investigate the claims over working conditions at Team Bondi; with IGDA chairman Brian Robbins saying, "Certainly reports of 12-hour a day, lengthy crunch time, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and harmful to the individuals involved, the final product, and the industry as a whole."
In July 2011, two more former employees came forward and offered up internal e-mails which they claim is further evidence of these allegations; the e-mails highlight the contentious relationship between Bondi and Rockstar and indicate that the two companies are unlikely to work together again. Speaking about this situation, a source who worked with Team Bondi, and spoke to GamesIndustry.biz on condition of anonymity, stated that "I've heard a lot about Rockstar's disdain for Team Bondi, and it has been made quite clear that they will not publish Team Bondi's next game. Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged -- Brendan treats L.A. Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project. They continued to sink money into L.A. Noire, and their marketing was fantastic. Without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago." In the interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the same source also claimed that:
"Rockstar also made a huge contribution to the development; their producers were increasingly influential over the last two years of the game's development, and overruled many of the insane decisions made by Team Bondi management. At a lower level, Rockstar also pitched in with programmers, animators, artists, QA, etc. Part of the conflict between Team Bondi and Rockstar was due to Rockstar's frustration with Team Bondi's direction, and eventually Team Bondi's management in turn resented Rockstar for taking lots of creative control. It's also worth pointing out that Rockstar used to be very keen on making Team Bondi something like 'Rockstar Sydney' - the more they worked with Team Bondi management, the more they came to understand that this was a terrible idea. I have a few logs (see below) that show the relationship souring."One of the logs, an email from Team Bondi boss Brendan McNamara to the rest of the studio, shows disagreement between McNamara and Rockstar over pulling out of 2010's E3. A second log is a bit more fiery and shows McNamara's reaction to a Rockstar redesign of the L.A Noire logo and the lack of a Team Bondi logo on the game announcement.
On 9 August 2011, numerous outlets reported that Team Bondi's intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
and assets had been sold to Sydney-based multimedia production firm Kennedy Miller Mitchell. However a transfer of ownership to KMM plays out, it won't include the L.A. Noire name, as that intellectual property is owned by Rockstar Games.
According to forms lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator...
, Team Bondi was placed into administration on 30 August 2011.
On 2 October 2011, Team Bondi officially closed. A liquidator has been appointed to wind up the company at the request of creditors, according to documents filed with the Australian Securities And Investments Commission. The liquidator will handle the sale of Team Bondi's remaining assets and payment of outstanding debts.
On 7 October 2011, it was revealed by documents provided to the Australian Securities And Investments Commission that Team Bondi creditor owed £900k, with unpaid wages or bonuses accounted for over 75 percent of the L.A. Noire developer's debt. 33 staff credited for their work on the Rockstar game were owed a combined $1,074,283.28 (£678,459) in unpaid wages or bonuses. Among those, studio head Brendan McNamara claimed to be owed $102,495.16, general manager Vicky Lord $99,155.21 and gameplay lead David Heironymus $43,652. Depth Analysis, McNamara's Sydney-based firm that developed MotionScan, L.A. Noires facial animation technology, is also reported to be owed $145,795.83.
In a series of interviews with Eurogamer in November 2011, Brendan MacNamara commented on the sucess of L.A. Noire and the staff disputes. When asked if he had any regrets, MacNamara said "I have lots of regrets. The process was hard and difficult. Lots of people [at Team Bondi] were very upset about their experience and first time in video games. But it's a pretty hard and difficult business. It's a business that's on an 80-20 business model. If it isn't happening then you aren't going to get paid. That's the bottom line for it. You either push very hard or you don't and then you don't get anywhere anyway, and everybody's out of a job.Having said that, we're trying to do things differently this time around." Commenting on the allegations that Rockstar didn't want to work with him again, MacNamara said "We're all pretty volatile. We had our ups and downs in the making of it. But we're all big boys. We were all trying to make something that was financially risky. I've known Sam [Houser, co-founder and president of Rockstar Games] for maybe fifteen years. We go a long way. We still talk when we need to. Anything that was part of the process is all water under the bridge to me."
Cast
| Name | Title | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cole Phelps | LAPD Police Officer and later Detective | Aaron Staton Aaron Staton Aaron Staton is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ken Cosgrove in Mad Men and his role as Cole Phelps in the video game L.A. Noire.-Personal life:... |
Protagonist |
| Jack Kelso | Insurance Investigator (later DA's Investigator) | Gil McKinney | Deuteragonist Deuteragonist In literature, the deuteragonist is the second most important character, after the protagonist and before the tritagonist. The deuteragonist may switch from being with or against the protagonist depending on the deuteragonist's own conflict/plot.-History:Greek drama began with simply one actor,... |
| Finbarr "Rusty" Galloway | LAPD Homicide Detective | Michael McGrady Michael McGrady Michael Steven McGrady is an American theater, film and television actor. He is best known for playing Detective Daniel "Sal" Salinger in the television series Southland... |
Partner |
| Roy Earle | LAPD Chief Detective, Admin. Vice Squad | Adam Harrington Adam Harrington (actor) Adam John Harrington is an Canadian-American actor and producer. He is known for his role as Roy Earle in the video game L.A. Noire.-Personal life:... |
Partner, Secondary Antagonist |
| Herschel Biggs | LAPD Arson Detective | Keith Szarabajka Keith Szarabajka Keith Szarabajka is an American actor and voice artist.-Early life:Szarabajka was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Anne, a school teacher, and Edward Szarabajka, a savings and loan officer.... |
Partner |
| Stefan Bekowsky | LAPD Traffic (later Homicide) Detective | Sean McGowan | Partner |
| Ralph Dunn | LAPD Patrolman | Rodney Scott Rodney Scott Rodney Scott is an actor best known for playing David Cassidy/Keith Partridge in the 1999 television movie Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story, and William 'Will' Krudski, one of the leading characters in the TV series Young Americans, a role that originated as a recurring character on... |
Partner |
| Elsa Lichtmann | Club Singer | Erika Heynatz Erika Heynatz Erika Heynatz is an Australian model, actress, singer and television personality.-Career:... |
Phelps' Love Interest |
| Leland Monroe | Land Developer | John Noble John Noble John Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the... |
Secondary Antagonist |
| Dr. Harlan Fontaine | Doctor | Peter Blomquist | Primary Antagonist |
| Dr. Malcolm "Mal" Carruthers | L.A. County Coroner | Andy Umberger Andy Umberger Andy Umberger is an American actor, mainly appearing in minor roles in television.He has been credited in many television hit series, beginning in the mid-90s, although generally only in one episode of each.... |
Coroner |
| Mickey Cohen Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:... |
Jewish Mafia Kingpin | Patrick Fischler Patrick Fischler Patrick Fischler is an American actor best known for his roles as Jimmy Barrett on the drama series Mad Men, Dharma Initiative worker Phil on the drama series Lost and Detective Kenny No-Gun on the police drama Southland... |
Secondary Antagonist |
| Johnny Stompanato Johnny Stompanato John "Johnny" Stompanato , also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen... |
Right-Hand Man and Bodyguard of Mickey Cohen | Andy Davoli | Minor Antagonist |
| Garrett Mason | "Werewolf"/Black Dahlia Serial killer | Andrew Lukich | Secondary Antagonist |
| James Donnelly | LAPD Homicide Captain | Andrew Connolly | Phelps' Captain, Homicide |
| Lachlan McKelty | LAPD Arson Captain | Randy Oglesby Randy Oglesby Randy Oglesby is an actor, best known for his recurring role as Degra on Star Trek: Enterprise. He is also known for his other Star Trek roles, including the Miradorn twins, Ah-Kel and Ro-Kel, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Vortex", Silaran Prin in "The Darkness and the Light" and as... |
Phelps' Captain, Arson |
| Gordon Leary | LAPD Traffic Captain | Ned Vaughn Ned Vaughn Ned Vaughn is an American actor known for his television work. He attended Lee High School in Huntsville, AL and Birmingham-Southern College.-Filmography:*The Rescue, 1988 - Shawn Howard... |
Phelps' Captain, Traffic |
| Lt. Taylor | LAPD Bunco/Burglary Lieutenant | Unknown | Phelps' Lieutenant for deleted Bunco or Burglary desks |
| Lazarus Cafarelli | LAPD Vice Captain(Unseen) | Unknown | Phelps' Captain, Vice |
| Courtney Sheldon | Medical Student | Chad Todhunter Chad Todhunter Chad Todhunter is a Canadian/American actor, born in British Columbia. He is best known for his roles on numerous television series.-Career:Todhunter began his career as a member of the Vancouver Youth Theatre... |
Secondary Antagonist |
| Archibald Colmyer | LAPD Vice Lieutenant | Steve Rankin | Phelps' Lieutenant, Vice |
| Mel Fleischer | LAPD Watch Commander | Michael Emanuel | Phelps' Watch Commander |
| Ira Hogeboom | Former U.S. Marine | J. Marvin Campbell | Tertiary Antagonist |
| Jacob Henry | Scott MacDonald Scott MacDonald (actor) Scott MacDonald is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring roles as Captain Manning on short-lived series Threshold, Burley from HBO series Carnivàle, and as Commander Dolim from Star Trek: Enterprise, and as the title character from 1996 horror film Jack Frost.He grew up in Libby,... |
Husband of murder victim | |
| Albert Lynch | LAFD Fire Investigator | Albert Shamus Wiles | Fire Investigator, Arson |
| Ray Pinker | LAPD Technical Services Investigator | JD Cullum JD Cullum John David Cullum, known as JD Cullum , is an American actor who made his film debut in the CBS Afternoon Playhouse Special Revenge of the Nerds in 1983, playing a jock.... |
Crime Scene Investigator |
| Heather Swanson | Erin Chambers Erin Chambers Erin Chambers is an American actress commonly known for her roles in LDS films and as the Irish girl Siobhan McKenna on General Hospital. She has made guest appearances in a number of television shows... |
Person of interest in the pre-order DLC case "The Naked City The Naked City The Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge the Whitehall Building and an apartment building on West 83rd... " |
|
| Henry Arnett | Matthew Del Negro Matthew Del Negro Matthew Del Negro is an American actor. He was born in Mount Kisco, New York as the youngest of three children. He is a graduate of Boston College, where he played Division I lacrosse. After graduating, he began to study acting, and after appearing in several minor commercials and independent... |
Director of the Arnett Clothing Emporium | |
| Vernon Mapes | Jack Conley Jack Conley (actor) Jack Conley is an American actor with an established career as a guest actor on a long list of television series. His wife Francesca Casale is also an actor, working primarily in theater.-Filmography:* Hit the Dutchman as Thomas Dewey... |
Corrupt Detective, Vice | |
| Grosvenor McCaffrey | Chris J. Johnson Chris J. Johnson Chris J. Johnson is an American actor.Born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, Johnson had a supporting role as a young agent in XXX: State of the Union. Johnson also played the lead in Three Blind Mice and Daydream Believer. His other film credits include Straight-Jacket, Cursed and Fifty Pills... |
Suspect in Murder Case | |
| James Tiernan | Will Collyer | Murder suspect | |
| Hugo Moller | Greg Grunberg Greg Grunberg Gregory Phillip "Greg" Grunberg is an American television actor. He is best known from starring as Matt Parkman on the NBC television series Heroes. Other notable roles included the characters Sean Blumberg on Felicity and Eric Weiss on Alias , both created and produced by childhood friend J. J... |
Husband of Murder Victim | |
| Leroy Sabo | Jeffrey Vincent Parise | Owner of Ray's Cafe | |
| Eli Rooney | Courtney Gains Courtney Gains -Life and career:Gains achieved success during the 1980s with a variety of roles in films such as Children of the Corn, Hardbodies, Lust in the Dust, Back to the Future, Can't Buy Me Love, Colors,Wing Commander III, The 'Burbs and Memphis Belle... |
Murder Suspect | |
| Lorna Pattison | Kate Norby Kate Norby Katherine Winifred "Kate" Norby is an American actress.Norby's filmography includes Rob Zombie's horror film The Devil's Rejects. She guest-starred in many television series, and had recurring roles in Boston Public, Nip/Tuck and Swingtown.... |
Wife of Murder Victim | |
| Dudley Lynch | Michael Gladis Michael Gladis Michael Gladis is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Paul Kinsey on the television series Mad Men, where he appeared in the series' first three seasons. Prior to Mad Men, he played Eugene Rossi in four episodes of Third Watch... |
Person of Interest in a Traffic case | |
| Shannon Perry | Amanda Booth | Person of Interest in a Traffic case | |
| Carlo Arquero | Jim Pirri | Person of Interest and murderer of Candy Edwards | |
| Candy Edwards | Jessica Kiper Jessica Kiper Jessica Michele Kiper is an American actress and singer. Kiper was also a runner-up contestant on Survivor: Gabon where she placed third. She was more commonly known to the viewing audience during her run on Survivor as Sugar. She returned to Survivor to compete on the show's 20th season:... |
Person of Interest in a Vice desk case | |
| Gordon Leitvol | Michael Chieffo | ||
| Frank Morgan | William O'Leary William O'Leary (actor) William O'Leary is an American actor. Bill made his Broadway debut as "Art" in "Precious Sons" at the Longacre Theatre, starring Ed Harris and Judith Ivey.... |
Suspect in murder case | |
| Walter Clemens | Vincent Kartheiser Vincent Kartheiser Vincent Paul Kartheiser is an American actor known for playing Connor in Angel and Pete Campbell in Mad Men.-Early life:Kartheiser was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Janet Marie and James Ralph Kartheiser... |
Insta-Heat Employee, arson suspect | |
| Matthew Ryan | Eric Nenninger Eric Nenninger Eric John Nenninger is an American actor, best known for playing Scott Braddock in the 2003 horror film, Jeepers Creepers II and for his recurring role as Cadet Eric Hanson on Malcolm in the Middle.-Biography:... |
Insta-Heat Employee, arson suspect | |
| Reginald Varley | Jamie Martz | Insta-Heat Employee, arson suspect | |
| Enrique Gonzales | LAPD Patrolman | Alexis Cruz Alexis Cruz Alexis Cruz is an American actor, known for his performances as Rafael in Touched by an Angel and as Skaara in Stargate and Stargate SG-1. Cruz was born in The Bronx, New York of Puerto Rican descent. His mother, Julia, was a songwriter. He currently resides in Los Angeles. He went to Boston... |
|
| William Shelton | Ron Morehouse | Murder Suspect | |
| Walter Beckett | Matthew Alan | Ex-Marine | |
| Michael Driscoll | Evan Helmuth | Ex-Marine | |
| Clem Feeney | Brian Krause Brian Krause Brian Jeffrey Krause is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Leo Wyatt on the WB Network TV series Charmed from 1998 to 2006.-Background:... |
Murder Suspect | |
| Patrick Connolly | Jonathan Chase Jonathan Chase (actor) Jonathan Chase is an American actor.Chase was born Jonathan Shane Greenfield in Plantation, Florida. A graduate of the University of Florida, he is best known for his role as Cash in the final season of the UPN show One on One starring Kyla Pratt... |
Ex-Marine | |
| Felix Alvarro | Manny Montana | Ex-Marine | |
| Christopher Majewski | Blake Griffin Blake Griffin Blake Austin Griffin is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association . Griffin had a renowned high school career at Oklahoma Christian School, winning state titles each of his four years under his father, Tommy Griffin, who was the... |
Ex-Marine |
Soundtrack
L.A. Noires soundtrack consists of an original score by Andrew Hale and Simon HaleSimon Hale
-Life:Hale was born in Birmingham, England in 1964, being dually raised there and in South Manchester before moving to London, where he studied performance and composition at Goldsmiths College, University of London between 1982-85...
, as well as original 1940s style songs composed by The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld are a British band, fronted by lead singer and founder Stephen Coates. They are known for producing jazzy cabaret-style music with subtle electronica influences, a style dubbed "antique beat" by Coates. They have six albums, several singles and eps and many tracks on...
and sung by Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken is a German singer who fronted the synthpop groups Propaganda and Act. Since 1996 she has been working with OMD member Paul Humphreys, first without a name, since 2004 as Onetwo...
.
Remix Album
A second soundtrack album for the game was also released, consisting of six jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
classics from the era, remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed by modern DJs. Advertised as a "special installment" of the Verve Remixed Series
Verve Remixed
Verve Remixed is a series of albums released by Verve Records centered on the concept of classic Verve tracks, remixed by contemporary electronic music producers and DJs...
, the album includes songs by artists of the period, such as Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
and Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, remixed by DJs such as Ticklah, DJ Premier
DJ Premier
Christopher Edward Martin , better known by his stage name DJ Premier , is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru...
, and Moodymann
Moodymann
Moodymann also known as Kenny Dixon Jr or KDJ for short, is a Techno/House musician based in Detroit, Michigan.He creates a thoroughly hybrid form of techno/house dance music, jazz, soul, disco and funk via his innovative use of reworked riffs, samples , and grooves taken from...
.
Marketing and release
Rockstar ran a competition to win a trip to Los Angeles to attend the Festival of Film Noir at the Egyptian TheatreGrauman's Egyptian Theatre
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, is one of the world's most famous movie theatres. Opened in 1922, it was the venue for the first-ever Hollywood premiere.- History :...
(which is actually featured in-game as a location), take an Esotouric Black Dahlia bus tour, and play the game a month before its official release.
On 29 March 2011, Take 2 Interactive announced that L.A. Noire had been selected to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, the first videogame to be recognised by the festival. L.A. Noire was screened as a sixty minute long film on 25 April 2011, followed by a question and answer session on the game's story and the technology used to make the game.
On 6 June 2011, Rockstar published L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, a collection of short stories from noted crime authors, all based on the L.A. Noire universe.
Downloadable content
On 25 February 2011 Rockstar announced a number of additional game content rewards for people who pre-ordered the game. The content differed depending upon retailer:- The Naked City: A bonus Vice case where Phelps investigates the apparent drugging and murder of a fashion model. It also contains the "Badge Pursuit Challenge" where the player is tasked with finding 20 police badges hidden around the city. Upon completing the task the player is rewarded with the "Button Man" suit; an in-game piece of clothing that allows the player to carry extra ammo for all weapons in the game. During the challenge, each badge will add 5 XP points to the player's abilities, which will help to unlock Intuition Points that can be used to give an investigative advantage in-game.
- "The Broderick": A detective suit that boosts Phelps' fighting ability as well as his resistance to damage.
- A Slip of the Tongue: A bonus Traffic case where a simple car theft escalates into a large scale investigation into one of the largest car fraud rackets in the city's history.
- "The Sharpshooter": A suit that enhances Phelps' aim with pistols and rifles.
- "The Chicago Piano": A machine gun favoured for its reliability, ergonomics, compact size, large 45-round magazine, and high rate of automatic fire. This bonus weapon will be stored in the bootTrunk (automobile)The trunk or boot of an automobile or car is the vehicle's main storage, luggage, or cargo compartment. Trunk is used in North American English and Jamaican English; boot is used elsewhere in the English speaking world. Trunk is also primarily used in many non-English speaking regions, such as...
of Phelps' car throughout L.A. Noire. - "The Chicago Lightning": A bonus suit available to players that sign up for the Rockstar Social Club. It enhances the player's accuracy with automatics and shotguns.
- "The Badge Pursuit Challenge": A bonus side quest in order to find 20 badges throughout the city. If all the badges are found, a bonus suit called "Button Man" is unlocked.
- There were also other promotions involving T-Shirts and vouchers.
In addition to the pre-order bonuses, all new copies of L.A. Noire bought for the PlayStation 3 in North America came with an extra Traffic desk case, The Consul's Car. It involves the stolen Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
of the Argentine Consul General to Los Angeles. The Consul's Car episode became available to download from PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
on 27 July 2011.
Rockstar Pass
All of the downloadable content, with the exception of The Consul's Car, became available to the general public on 31 May 2011. Each item was released individually, as well as in a pack called the "Rockstar Pass". The "Rockstar Pass" also includes access to two post-launch downloadable content cases: Nicholson Electroplating, an Arson case that was released on 21 June 2011 and Reefer Madness, a Vice case released on 12 July 2011. Both cases were also released individually.Rockstar is one of the first game companies to introduce a Season Pass for DLC. The concept is described as "a long term, pre-paid, post-launch downloadable content plan," which is later used by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Mortal Kombat and by Microsoft Studios
Microsoft Studios
Microsoft Studios is the digital media production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the creation, aggregation, distribution, management and measurement of content...
for Age of Empires Online
Age of Empires Online
Age of Empires Online , is a history-based real-time strategy computer game released on August 16, 2011 with digital download and retail distribution. It was originally being developed by Robot Entertainment, but on February 24, 2011, it was announced that Gas Powered Games, the creators of Supreme...
and Gears of War 3
Gears of War 3
Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011....
.
The Complete Edition
On 28 September 2011, Rockstar Games announced a PC version of L.A. Noire, dubbed "The Complete Edition", which contained all of the previous DLC from the game, including the 'Nicholson Electroplating' Arson case, 'Reefer Madness' Vice case, 'The Consul's Car' Traffic case, 'The Naked City' Vice case, 'A Slip of the Tongue' Traffic case, The Badge Pursuit Challenge, and all weapons and outfits released to date.The game was released on 8 November in North America, and 11 November internationally. On 20 October 2011, Rockstar announced that the same edition would be available for consoles a week after the PC release, on 15 November in North America, and 18 November internationally.
Reception
L.A. Noire received positive reviews. L.A. Noire holds an overall score of 89 out of 100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
for Xbox 360 and PS3 while the PC edition received an overall 83 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. GameRankings rated the PlayStation 3 version 88.23%, and the Xbox 360 version 87.72%. L.A. Noire has been widely praised for its advances in storytelling and facial animation technology. The first review was published by UK newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, which awarded the game a perfect score, and stated "Ever since it first worked out how to assemble pixels so that they resembled something more recognisable than aliens, the games industry has dreamed of creating one thing above all else – a game that is indistinguishable from a film, except that you can control the lead character. With LA Noire, it just might, finally, have found the embodiment of that particular holy grail."
IGN gave the game 8.5 out of 10, stating "L.A. Noire may not reach the emotional heights of a game like Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain is an interactive drama psychological thriller video game created by Quantic Dream exclusively for the PlayStation 3. The game is written and directed by Quantic Dream's founder and CEO David Cage....
, but it's something everyone must try out. It reaches high and almost succeeds as a brilliant new type of video game narrative." GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
gave the game a 9.1 out of 10, concluding that "LA Noire floors you out of the gate, loses some steam due to repetition, but eventually wins the day thanks to its subtlety, attention to detail, and stunning character interaction." Gamespot's
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
Carolyn Petit awarded the game a 9 out of 10, concluding that "L.A. Noires absorbing investigations and intoxicating sense of style make it an unforgettable journey through the seamy side of the City of Angels." GameZone
GameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
gave the game an 8.5/10, stating "The story is intriguing, albeit a little slow at first. L.A. Noire takes an old school approach toward its storytelling. It’s a much slower approach, similar to older movies, with a heavy emphasis on detail. It is that attention to detail that sets L.A. Noire apart from other games and makes it enjoyable to play."
Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
praised the facial technology, but pointed out that while there are no other major aspects of the game that had not been done better elsewhere, the fact that Team Bondi had brought together such a wide range of game genres in such a stylish, atmospheric, and cohesive manner was an achievement that few developers had managed. Joystiq
Joystiq
Joystiq is a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG World of...
gave the game a score of 9, and stated that "L.A. Noire may not always be "fun" in the traditional sense, but it's also unsatisfied with being "merely fun," and the result of that aspiration is something that no one who cares about video games should miss."
Official Playstation Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine
PlayStation: The Official Magazine is a magazine originally known as PlayStation Magazine . After Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine was canceled, Sony Computer Entertainment announced on October 1, 2007 that PSM would become "PlayStation: The Official Magazine"...
gave it 9 out of 10, and stated that "In many ways, L.A. Noire is similar to an AMC series...It's a slow build, but once hooked, we couldn't get enough of this provocative adventure, with its compelling characters and innovative gameplay. It's not perfect, but it's also unlike anything else on the PS3 right now." Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
gave it 8 out of 10, and concluded with "Yes, it's flawed, but L.A. Noire is an honest-to-goodness detective crime thriller - a genuine breath of fresh air that values narrative and story above all else in an age where scripted action sequences and online deathmatch rule the day. It's the closest thing Xbox has to PlayStation's unique adventurer Heavy Rain." GamesMaster
GamesMaster (magazine)
GamesMaster is a monthly multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom.GamesMaster is the biggest selling multi-format video games magazine in the United Kingdom, outselling its sister publication Edge.-History:The magazine was launched in...
gave the game 92%, and concluded that L.A. Noire is "Rockstar's most mature take on open-world fun to date, brought to life with incredible tech."
Despite the overall positive reception, some reviewers thought that the game had too many redundancies in the cases and left too little control to the player, leading to the game being boring at times. Although 1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
gave it a perfect score, they also warned that the extended cut-scenes in the game could make some players feel they lost control of the action.
Although the game has generally been praised for its depiction of post-war Los Angeles, the accuracy of the depiction has been criticised on some points by some architectural and social historians.
Responding to criticism that accused the character's bodies of being lifeless, despite the game's use of motion capture. Brendan McNamara stated in an interview with Eurogamer "People were saying people were dead from the neck down. That's because we had all this animation in the neck and all this animation in the face, but the clothes don't move. Once you get to the level that people can actually see that level of realism, then people expect to see clothes moving and the rest of the body moving in a way we can't replicate in video games." In the same interview McNamara also responded to quiries about why Phelps sometimes responds with particularly aggressive lines of dialogue during interrogation scenes. "It's funny. A lot of people say Aaron (Aaron Staton - the actor who portrays Phelps) turns into a psycho.". "When we originally wrote the game the questions you asked were coax, force and lie. It was actually force because it was a more aggressive answer. That's the way we recorded it. But when the game came out it was truth, doubt or lie. Everyone always says Aaron on the second question is a psycho. So that's not his fault."
Technical issues
Shortly after the release, a minority of players on both PlayStation 3PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
experienced game freezes due to overheating of the consoles. After initially judging that the problem was due to the latest PS3 firmware, Rockstar
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
later acknowledged the problem on their game FAQ. In a subsequent joint statement, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
and Rockstar declared that the problem was caused by neither the PS3 firmware update nor the game. In a statement on 20 May, Rockstar reiterated that neither the game nor the console manufacturers were at fault. It also stated that the troubleshooting tips on its website had been "erroneously picked up by some news outlets as a 'story, and that those stories were "categorically untrue".
The PC release also has numerous errors, some which stop the game from working at all. It has many incompatibilities with existing common use software, Firewalls and virtual drive. With some versions of windows it requires the user to be logged in as administrator.
Sales
On the day of the game's US release, shares in Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games' parent company, closed up 7.75% on the day; a three-year high for the company. The rise was attributed to the positive reviews that L.A. Noire had been receiving. , the game has shipped over 4 million copies.According to NPD Group
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
, L.A. Noire was the best-selling game in the United States in May 2011, at 899,000 copies across the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Through a comparable time period, Red Dead Redemption had sold 1.5 million, which means L.A. Noire tracked behind Red Dead Redemption by about 40%, and it is believed that L.A. Noire will not reach Red Dead Redemption sales, but will still sell "handsomely". L.A. Noire went straight to top of the UK games chart and became the fastest selling new IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
ever in the UK. It sold 58% copies on Xbox 360, as opposed to 42% on Playstation 3. It stayed top of the UK game chart for three weeks. In Australia, the stores that had the game for sale reported that it was going out of stock after a week. L.A. Noire debuted in Japan for the week of 4–10 July and sold a combined 71,057 units on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The Playstation 3 version topped the chart, with 58,436 units sold, and the Xbox 360 version moved 12,621 units.
Possible sequel
On 22 May 2011, Team Bondi's Brendan McNamara told GamerLive.TV that a sequel to L.A. Noire would take less than the five years it took to develop the first as the technology already exists. McNamara also stated that they are considering using the MotionScanMotionScan
MotionScan is a motion capture technology developed by Australian company Depth Analysis, a sister company of Team Bondi. It was first showcased at E3 2010 and its use was first popularized by the successful 2011 video game L.A. Noire...
technology for full body performances rather than only faces. In an investor conference call, Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, said that L.A. Noire was "a very successful release" and that they "have every reason to believe that L.A. Noire is another strong franchise for this company". He reiterated that they "do see L.A. Noire as a powerful new franchise".
During an investor call in November 2011 Zelnick re-iterated the importance of the game to Take-Two, stating that the game "has become an important franchise for the company." Zelnick announced that the game was Take-Two's "most successful new release" in the past fiscal year and has become a key property in its portfolio. He also announced that 4 million copies of the game had been shipped by June 2011.
In November 2011, it was announced that McNamara's next game would be titled Whore of the Orient which is described as "one of the great untold stories of the 20th century". It will be published by KMM Studios.