L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire uses realistic graphics to recreate 1940s Los Angeles, drawing inspiration from actual case files, newspapers, and maps of the time. The player takes the role of Cole Phelps, an officer with the LAPD, to navigate the classic film noir elements of sex, crime, and corruption, set to a soundtrack of iconic jazz.

From the Manufacturer:

"A dark silhouette appears at the end of the alley, and slowly moves toward you as you wait in silent anticipation. The figure is framed by the thin light managing to filter through the dark fog. The streets of Los Angeles are not a welcoming sight at this hour. You pull your hat a little lower, obscuring your appearance from this anonymous informant. He may be on your side, but you aren't taking any chances with a murderer on the loose. You move your hand just the slightest bit and the glint off your revolver finally catches your visitor's eye. He stops dead and you smile. You've got him where you want him, but will he offer up the information you need to solve these heinous crimes? There's only one way to find out.

Experience the thrill of classic detective action with the chill of film noir graphics and themes in L.A. Noire. You'll walk the streets of a perfectly re-created post-war Los Angeles, experiencing the city without freeways, Starbucks or designer dogs. Enjoy this view of 1940's L.A. as you track a heinous murderer committing a series of gruesome brutalities. The drugs, corruption and jazz of this classic decade permeate the storyline and provide an immersive experience you aren't soon to forget. With the open-ended design, you are the only one in charge of your destiny. Will your actions result in a murderer behind bars or will you succumb to corruption and vice?"

* Film noir theme offers a look back at this classic dark genre.
* Open-ended challenge lets you control your own fate.
* Solve multiple gruesome murders in this interactive detection game to make the streets safe again.
* Realistic graphics re-create the Los Angeles of the 1940's.

L.A. Noire preview by Matt Helgeson
"Team Bondi, the studio behind L.A. Noire, has set the bar almost impossibly high with this game. It's not only creating the largest, most detailed open-world game to date, it's attempting to resurrect the long-lost Los Angeles of the 1940s while adding an engaging new adventure-style investigation system to the familiar drive-and-shoot gameplay model. Oh, and along the way the company is pioneering some groundbreaking new technology that it hopes will forever change the way video games are made."
Read the rest of this in-depth preview at gameinformer.

Open World Confidential: LA Noire
"With traditional adventure games, everything is based on what the designer wants you to figure out," says Jeronimo Barrera, vice president of product development at Rockstar. "We've kind of gone for a different approach which is more like real-world detective work."
Read the rest of this interview and walkthrough of one of the episodes of the game at Edge.