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Official Information


Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood's Golden Age, Cole Phelps is an LAPD detective thrown headfirst into a city drowning in its own success. Corruption is rampant, the drug trade is exploding, and murder rates are at an all-time high. In his fight to climb the ranks and do what’s right, Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core.

Using groundbreaking new animation technology that captures every nuance of an actor's facial performance in astonishing detail, L.A. Noire is a violent crime thriller that blends breathtaking action with true detective work to deliver an unprecedented interactive experience. Search for clues, chase down suspects and interrogate witnesses as you struggle to find the truth in a city where everyone has something to hide.


As Detective Cole Phelps, you'll rise through the ranks of the LAPD, along the way facing cases across a range of department crime desks. One of the most brutal and harrowing will of course be that of Homicide.

Los Angeles is being terrorized with a series of horrific murders perpetrated on young women. Is this the work of a lone killer or sick copycats? As these cases get reported, it will be up to you to bring the killer or killers to justice.

"The Silk Stocking Murder" is just one of many crimes you'll face while working the Homicide desk.

Developed by Team Bondi, L.A. Noire arrives for PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® on May 17th 2011 in North America and May 20th 2011 in Europe.

L.A. Noire Details

• The game takes place in Los Angeles and involves murder investigations conducted by the L.A. Police Department, not to mention the conflict and corruption within that world.
• The story develops sometime in the late 1940s (possibly 1947), as you can tell by the appearance of vehicles, characters' clothing and accessories, as well as street elements, an old-school photo camera, a billboard on the street, and most importantly, the insurance letter shown in minute 0:44. (Take a look!)
• L.A. Noire has a very special look to it, obviously inspired in the noire film era (40s and 50s). Cinematographic camera angles reveal sinister close-ups of the characters, an emphasis on lights and shadows, and artistic shots from over the shoulder, under the knee, or even behind a character.
• Motion capture is second to none, considering the way characters move and their detailed facial expressions.
• The jazz music and sound effects are equally impressive, with ups and downs that mark the intensity of the moment.
• The actor Aaron Staton, Ken Cosgrove in the popular TV series "Mad Men", will lend his voice and likeness to the main character, Cole Phelps. Talk about appropriate! Also, Detective Herschell Biggs' character has been modeled on Sidney actor Richard Carter.
• Gameplay will take place in an open world and includes meticulous crime scene investigation, intense interrogations, shootings, melee combat, and exciting car chases, to name a few.
• The game is being developed by Team Bondi, an Australian game studio headed by Brendan McNamara, former Director of Development of Sony's Team Soho Studio that created The Getaway, an open-world game that has sold 4 million copies on PlayStation 2.
• L.A. Noire won't be available for PC, at least to start. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners are the lucky winners that will get to play the upcoming game. Since March of 2010, it's no longer a PS3 exclusive.
• The trailer also announces that L.A. Noire is slated to release sometime in the Spring of 2011. That means we won't have to wait a whole lot longer before we get our hands on it!

Gameplay

L.A. Noire is a video game in development by Team Bondi and to be published by Rockstar Games. The games intended platform(s) has not been announced. L.A. Noire is set in "a perfectly re-created Los Angeles" of the late 1940s, with players being given an open-ended challenge to solve a series of murders.

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, but not limited to, crime, sex and moral ambiguity and were often shot in black and white with harsh, low-key lighting.

The game uses a distinctive coloring-style in homage to the visual style of film noir films. The postwar setting is the backdrop for plot elements that reference the detective films of the '40s, such as corruption and drugs, with a classical jazz soundtrack.

Though little information has been disclosed so far about L.A. Noire, Rockstar gives an impression of the game in the first trailer. L.A. Noire is also notable for using Darksprint's real-time global illumination technology. Team Bondi has announced that the game was in its final phase. The game would be finished soon.

Links of Interest:
Official L.A. Noire Homepage
Rockstar Games
Team Bondi

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