L.A. Noire is a third person action-adventure video game developed by the now defunct Team Bondi, and published by Rockstar Games. It was first released on 17 May 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Synopsis
Set in 1947 Los Angeles, L.A. Noire follows Cole Phelps, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and current police detective rising among the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department as he solves a range of cases across various bureaus. When he is tasked with investigating a morphine distribution ring involving several of his former squadmates from World War II, Phelps finds both his personal and professional life falling into turmoil, and reluctantly joins forces with his estranged former comrade, Jack Kelso, as they uncover a major conspiracy involving prominent Los Angeles figures.
GTA+ Games Library
As of 2 May 2024, L.A. Noire are available for Grand Theft Auto Online players with a GTA+ Membership, included with other classic Rockstar Games titles in the GTA+ Games Library.
References to L.A. Noire in Grand Theft Auto
- Provisional stock footage of L.A. Noire gameplay is used multiple times on television in Grand Theft Auto V.
- Footage of one character killing another one is used in the introduction cutscene for Did Somebody Say Yoga? on Michael De Santa's TV, representing a classic Vinewood movie.
- Footage of a diner from L.A. Noire, including its interior, is used in TV commercials to represent Los Santos' very first Up-n-Atom Burger outlet in the 1950s. The original building has been edited to include the fast-food chain's logo for this commercial footage.
- Various shots of buildings, areas and pedestrians from 1947 Los Angeles in L.A. Noire are used to represent 1950s Los Santos footage in the Up-n-Atom Burger commercial.
Controversy
Credits
While the game was developed primarily by Team Bondi, additional support was provided by Rockstar North, Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar New England.
After the game's release, the development staff complained about Rockstar Games overshadowing the original creators and over-marketing the game as "a Rockstar game". Rockstar's redesign of the original game logo to include "Rockstar Games Presents" on top of the title was reportedly met with criticism from management at Team Bondi due to the absence of their company logo.[2]
Additionally, both the in-game credits and manual credits were inaccurate, missing over 100 developers from Team Bondi who worked on the game for nearly seven years.[3]
Team Bondi launched a website containing the accurate credits of L.A. Noire in lanoirecredits.com (Archived). The domain for the website was acquired by an unrelated company years later.
Trivia
- Rockstar Games attempted to acquire Team Bondi and rebrand it as "Rockstar Sydney" during the development of the game.[2]
- Video Games Deluxe, founded by Team Bondi's founder Brendan McNamara, was acquired by Rockstar Games in 2025 and rebranded as Rockstar Australia.