From just watching the trailers for L.A. Noire, it’s almost impossible to classify what kind of game it is. But after finally playing through a full case of Team Bondi’s (with plenty of oversight from Rockstar Games) crime drama at a recent hands-on event, I can confidently say the game mixes the open-world elements of Grand Theft Auto with investigation sections that channel, of all things, the Ace Attorney series.
In the overall story, you’re working your way up the cop career ladder from traffic through different police desks (homicide, narcotics, etc.). The demo takes place a little less than halfway through the game; you’re new to the homicide desk and investigating a string of murders involving women who are left dead, horribly battered, and stripped naked. While the plot revolves around trying to discover whether these murders are part of the original Black Dahlia case or from a copycat killer, in this one hour demo, I only lightly touch on the overarching story that ties all the game’s cases together.
