The life of a LAPD detective isn’t pretty, but it sure looks like it makes an entertaining game.
L.A. Noire has had a very long and interesting history – it was originally mentioned as a PS3 exclusive way back in 2004 (!), essentially became vaporware, and then showed up as a multiplatform title that looked pretty damn sharp. Either way, after a half-decade of development L.A. Noire is finally almost out, hitting stores worldwide next week.
And right on schedule, here comes a launch trailer for Team Bondi and Rockstar Games’s crime drama. In it, we catch a brief glimpse of the career of LAPD member Cole Phelps, who players guide from beat policeman to arson detective. It’s not pretty, but the life of a police officer rarely is.
While the trailer assures gamers that there will in fact be action segments for those among us with cripplingly short attention spans, L.A. Noire actually has more in line with a game like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney than Grand Theft Auto – Phelps and the player will be investigating crimes and trying to determine guilt.
Determining said guilt involves looking at the characters’ facial expressions as rendered by the 32-camera MotionScan technology. No idea how it’ll work in-game, but damn if it doesn’t make for the most realistic expressions I’ve ever seen in a game.
Really, the only thing this trailer is missing is the music from Inception. L.A. Noire is out on May 17th in North America and May 20th in Europe.
