The game sits in my top 5 games of all time. ((I don't know whether that still applies but I think it does.))
- When you ram a car, the driver will get out and walk like he/she got crippled.
- When someone shoots in your arm, blood will drop from under your sleeve.
- Within buildings where people smoke, you see the smoke hanging on the ceiling.
- All name tags you find on walls and on desks are high res and readable.
- A ton of places in the world are high res. Even places you never have to go for the storyline or sidequests! For example all the backyards of houses are all very detailed and there is for example diversity in regards to the fences.
Also, even GORGIOUS small river beds and creeks. Like seriously, why don't we have to go there for missions?!
- Weapons reload realistically. For example: with the Thompson you see him bending the weapon in half. Instead of a simple reload clip animation.
- Your character takes stairs step by step. Instead of walking like they are on a flat hill.
- In the Hall of Records, you have to use an authentic altitude/longitude tracker + an old school calculator.
- When you call dispatch, you hear signal noise on the line.
- Your foot steps sound different depending on where you walk.
- There is a museum where a lot of objects are very detailed.
- You see tears in driveways to a house.
I can go on but this is a quick list I could think of.
I also didn't just go into houses to check for clues and get going, but I was a lot of time simply sight seeing because I love that era.
I also had the "hint music" disabled so finding clues really meant you have to look; not listen.
The game starts rather slow storywise but really picks up towards a great ending.
The last few missions consist of revealing a conspiracy you had seen snippets from during the earlier missions.
But it's really only towards the end of the game that the game really delivers.
I now plan to search for Film Reels; just cruising around in the city with random cars and 40s music on.
((In the end I didn't really go after the majority of those Films Reels since it became a bit tedious and I had already well taken in the sceneries during the storyline and sidequests.)
For me personally, it was the 2nd or 3rd time I ever got emotional in a game.
I feel sad Team Bondi isn't anymore. I really hope we see a successor to this magnificent game.
My downsides?
Besides looking for clues and interrogations, there should be some more variety in missions. I did over half of the side missions but there should be more content.
Also, normally I finish games one after the other. Really a complete-and-delete system.
I can normally find enough enjoyment in a game to not feel "saturated" and having to play something else.
With LA Noire it was bit hard, so I went to play another game I was planning to play afterwards: Rage.
When that game was finished, I went straight back to LA Noire and finished it.
Again, it's WELL worth it to see the ending of LA Noire!