L.A. Noire

Overview

L.A. Noire is a 2011 action-adventure game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It is set in Los Angeles in 1947 and follows Cole Phelps as he rises through the LAPD, solving cases across several bureaus. A morphine distribution ring that involves some of his former squadmates from World War II pulls him into a conspiracy with prominent figures in the city.

You play from a third-person view in an open world, on foot or in a vehicle. The story is split into cases, and you search crime scenes for clues, follow leads and interrogate suspects and witnesses. In an interview you choose whether to believe, doubt or accuse the person, and you need evidence to back up an accusation. Your performance sets a five-star rating for each case, and there are chases, fights and gunfights too. Between cases you can take on optional street crimes and hunt for collectibles.

The game progresses through the Patrol, Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson desks. For part of the final desk you control Jack Kelso, a former Marine Phelps has a history with. Aaron Staton plays Phelps and Gil McKinney plays Kelso. You can also play the whole game in black and white.

Team Bondi was founded by Brendan McNamara, and work began in 2004 after he left Team Soho. Rockstar took over publishing in 2006. The faces were captured with a technology called MotionScan, which uses 32 cameras to record an actor's expressions from every angle, and it is central to the interrogations. The development team used around 180,000 photographs of the real city as reference. Eleven cases on two desks, Bunko and Burglary, were cut, partly out of worry about fitting on one Blu-ray for the PS3.

The score was written by Andrew Hale and Simon Hale and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, with Woody Jackson contributing, and the in-game radio plays licensed 1940s jazz. L.A. Noire was announced in 2005 for the PS3, went through several delays and came out on May 17, 2011 in North America and May 20 in Europe and Australia. It was the first video game to be an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Reviews were generally favourable, with praise for the facial animation, the story, the performances and the interrogations, and mixed feelings about the driving and shooting. It shipped four million copies in its first month and about 7.5 million by September 2017. The Complete Edition, with all the downloadable cases, reached PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 15, 2011, and an enhanced version for PS4, Xbox One and Switch followed in November 2017.

Official trailer

L.A. Noire - Official Launch Trailer, Rockstar Games. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

L.A. Noire (2011) PS3 Gameplay - No Commentary, M Pro Extra. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure

Developer

Team Bondi

Publisher

Rockstar Games

Composers

Andrew Hale, Simon Hale

Designers

Alex Carlyle

Writers

Brendan McNamara

Producers

Naresh Hirani, Josh Needleman

Directors

Brendan McNamara

Engine

Team Bondi in-house engine, with Havok physics and MotionScan facial capture

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Trophies

Trophies61

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

8

Silver

10

Bronze

42

Total

61

Points

1950

Platinum time

35 hours

Difficulty

3 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1

Playthroughs for 100%

1

Platinum without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

Online servers running

No

Boosting needed

No

Online note

No trophy needs the Social Club.

DLC has trophies

Yes

Platinum includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

Yes

DLC comes in

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition, Rockstar Pass

DLC still for sale

Yes

DLC note

Four packs of 5 trophies, all still sold.

Missable trophies

7

Chapter select fixes a miss

Yes

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

No

Disc-only

No

Trophy list shared with other versions

No

Other versions

The PS4 release has its own list.

Players with the platinum

9.82%

Missable trophies

• Huckster
• Roscoe And Friends
• Round Heels
• Stab-Rite
• The Fighting Sixth
• The Moose
• The Shadow

Grind

• Miles On The Clock and Public Menace
• Collectibles: vehicles, golden film reels and landmarks

Glitches and fixes

• The Brass, The Moose, Lead Foot and Round Heels can fail to unlock.
• Replaying cases can overwrite the main save; keep it separate.

• Platinum Trophy Collect all other trophies to unlock. Platinum 9.82% of players
• Police Academy Complete all cases on the Patrol desk. Bronze 89.98% of players
• Paved With Good Intentions Complete all cases on the Traffic desk. Bronze 74.42% of players
• The Simple Art Of Murder Complete all cases on the Homicide desk. Bronze 53.16% of players
• No Rest For The Wicked Complete all cases on the Vice desk. Bronze 44.41% of players
• Moth To A Flame Complete all cases on the Arson desk. Gold 38.12% of players
• A Cop On Every Corner Complete a single street crime case. Bronze 84.86% of players
• Johnny On The Spot Respond to 20 street crime cases. Silver 31.96% of players
• The Long Arm Of The Law Complete all street crime cases. Silver 15.69% of players
• The City Of The Angels Reach 100% Game Complete. Gold 10.22% of players
• The Up And Up Complete a story case with a five star rating. Silver 53.34% of players
• Shamus To The Stars Complete all story cases with a five star rating. Gold 12.1% of players
• The Brass Achieve maximum rank. Silver 23.63% of players
• Not So Hasty Stop a fleeing suspect with a warning shot as an LAPD Detective. Bronze 40.19% of players
• Asphalt Jungle Chase down and tackle a fleeing suspect on foot as an LAPD Detective. Bronze 62.04% of players
• Traffic Stop Disable a suspect vehicle with help from your partner. Bronze 69.77% of players
• The Straight Dope Use evidence to prove a lie as an LAPD Detective or Investigator. Bronze 82.42% of players
• One For The File Find and inspect a clue as an LAPD Detective or Investigator. Bronze 87.99% of players
• Golden Boy Clear a case finding every clue as an LAPD Detective or Investigator. Bronze 73.34% of players
• The Plot Thickens Find and solve an inspection puzzle. Bronze 85.39% of players
• Stab-Rite At Ray's Cafe, find the bloodstained knife on your first sweep of the crime scene. Bronze 63.26% of players
• Round Heels At the Bamba Club, get Dick McColl to give up the license plate of Celine Henry's male companion. Bronze 66.62% of players
• The Fighting Sixth At the Bus Shooting, talk Felix Alvarro into giving up the Marines involved in the Coolridge heist. Bronze 25.81% of players
• Huckster At Elysian Fields, outwit Leland Monroe when discussing his developments or advertising campaign. Bronze 35.91% of players
• Lead Foot Keep the needle above 80mph for more than ten seconds while driving. Bronze 45.17% of players
• Miles On The Clock Drive more than 194.7 miles. Bronze 21.83% of players
• Wooden Overcoats Bring down a total of 30 bad guys with head shots. Silver 33.35% of players
• Dead Men Are Heavier Shoot and kill a total of 100 bad guys. Bronze 41.26% of players
• Roscoe And Friends Kill at least one bad guy with every gun. Bronze 14.2% of players
• Magpie Find and inspect 95% of all clues. Gold 24.09% of players
• The Shadow Tail a suspect without being spotted, in a single case. Bronze 73.85% of players
• The Third Degree Correctly branch every question in every interview in a single story case. Silver 49.79% of players
• The Hunch Use four intuition points in a single interview session, correctly branching each question. Silver 19% of players
• Star Map Discover all landmark locations around the city. Bronze 13.49% of players
• Public Menace Rack up $47,000 in penalties during a single story case. Silver 12.71% of players
• The Moose Follow Candy Edwards without using cover or incognito, except when starting or picking up the tail. Bronze 14.32% of players
• Keep A Lid On Complete a brawl without losing your hat as an LAPD Detective or Investigator. Bronze 61.56% of players
• Auto Enthusiast Drive 5 different vehicles. Bronze 76.26% of players
• Auto Collector Drive 40 different vehicles. Bronze 28.57% of players
• Auto Fanatic Drive every vehicle in the city. Silver 10.46% of players
• Hollywoodland Find and inspect all gold film reels. Silver 11.64% of players
• The Printer's Devil Complete 'A Slip of the Tongue'. Gold 39.41% of players
• Racing For Pinks Find and inspect all of the Marquee-printed pink slips. Bronze 38.07% of players
• Femme Imbécile Correctly branch every question in the interview with Jean Archer. Bronze 26.03% of players
• Chop Shop During the Industrial Street raid, kill a goon by shooting the hanging engine block. Bronze 16.67% of players
• Nowhere In A Hurry Catch and arrest Cliff Harrison before he is stopped by uniformed backup. Bronze 31.92% of players
• Eight Million Stories Complete 'The Naked City'. Gold 37.97% of players
• A Good-Looking Corpse Find and inspect all of the narcotics in Julia Randall's apartment. Bronze 34.31% of players
• Fakeloo Tail Henry Arnett from Hollywood Station to the pawnbroker and travel agent without being spotted. Bronze 19.53% of players
• Chauffeur Service Escort Heather Swanson to Arnett's apartment without damaging your vehicle. Bronze 23.98% of players
• Give My Regards Shoot every letter down from the tower at the Broadway Hotel. Bronze 23.02% of players
• The Big Unfriendly Complete 'Nicholson Electroplating'. Gold 32% of players
• The Nose Knows Find and inspect the prop spinner at the Nicholson blast site. Bronze 32.85% of players
• Skeletons In The Icebox Find and inspect all clues inside Okamoto's ransacked apartment. Bronze 32.44% of players
• Bulletproof Windshield Kill the drivers of both MP vehicles in the gun battle at Hughes Aircraft, before they pull up. Bronze 15.04% of players
• Out Of The Frying Pan Pursue Vernon Mapes from the burning house to Hughes Aircraft on your first attempt. Bronze 25.4% of players
• Every Herb Bearing Seed Complete 'Reefer Madness'. Gold 33.35% of players
• Spare A Dime Complete the puzzle of the US Morgan silver dollars at Parnell's Soup. Bronze 33.42% of players
• Soup In The Pot Open both soup cans in Juan Garcia Cruz's stash room. Bronze 30.97% of players
• High Flyer Find the flyer at Juan Garcia Cruz's house and proceed straight to the 20th Century Market. Bronze 21.8% of players
• Forcible Rear Entry Enter the Las Palmas stash house via the back door and kill Juan Garcia Cruz. Bronze 24.33% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 12.9 GB

Update patch01.02

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Five extra cases came out in 2011, sold individually or in a pre-purchase bundle called the Rockstar Pass. The Complete Edition disc includes all of them.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Price	Obtainable today
The Naked City	2011-05-31	A Vice case inspired by the 1948 film	US$3.99	Yes
A Slip of the Tongue	2011-05-31	A Traffic case about vehicle theft	US$3.99	Yes
Nicholson Electroplating	2011-06-21	An Arson case based on the O'Connor Plating Works disaster	US$3.99	Yes
Reefer Madness	2011-07-12	A Vice case about reefer operations	US$3.99	Yes
The Consul's Car	2011-07-26	A Traffic case, originally a PS3 exclusive	US$3.99	Yes
Rockstar Pass	2011-05-17	The DLC cases in one purchase	US$11.99	Yes

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

The single-player game plays in full; only the Social Club stats are gone.

Online

Online servers runningNo

Plays offlineYes

The game is single player. Interrogations could show which answer other players picked most, through the Rockstar Games Social Club. Rockstar ended stat tracking for the PS3 version on 16 September 2021.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Social Club stat tracking	closed	2021-09-16

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	89	100
Metacritic	Windows	83	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	8.5	10
Game Informer	8.75	10
GameSpot	9	10
Edge	8	10
Eurogamer	8	10
GamePro	5	5
GameSpy	4.5	5
GameZone	8.5	10
Giant Bomb	5	5
GameTrailers	5	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Writer and director	Brendan McNamara
Producer	Naresh Hirani
Producer	Josh Needleman
Designer	Alex Carlyle
Programmer	Franta Fulin
Programmer	David Heironymus
Artist	Chee Kin Chan
Artist	Ben Brudenell
Composer	Andrew Hale
Composer	Simon Hale
Additional music	Woody Jackson
Actor director	Michael Uppendahl

Cast

Character	Actor
Cole Phelps	Aaron Staton
Jack Kelso	Gil McKinney
Ralph Dunn	Rodney Scott
Gordon Leary	Ned Vaughn
Stefan Bekowsky	Sean McGowan
Rusty Galloway	Michael McGrady
Roy Earle	Adam J. Harrington
Herschel Biggs	Keith Szarabajka
Lachlan McKelty	Randy Oglesby

Notes for collectors

• Eleven cases on the Bunko and Burglary desks were cut during development. The Xbox 360 version shipped on three discs, while the PS3 version fits on one.
• The Consul's Car was a PS3 exclusive case when it launched in July 2011.
• The trophy list has 61 entries: 41 for the base game and 20 for the downloadable cases.
• The on-disc option names were Truth, Doubt and Lie. The 2017 re-release changed them to Good Cop, Bad Cop and Accuse.
• Novels and golden records to collect only exist in the 2017 re-release, not on the PS3 disc.
• The game can be played in black and white from the options.
• Casting was handled by the firm that cast Mad Men, and several actors appear in both.

Credits

Publisher

Rockstar Games

Developer

Team Bondi

Director

Brendan McNamara

Released

2011-05-17

Age rating

ESRB M

Disc ID

BLUS30554

Region

US

Time to beat

about 22.5 hours