Rockstar Games has today announced that the oft-forgotten L.A. Noire will reveal a new trailer this Thursday.
For those of us who are not completely familiar with the embattled detective story, here's a bit of a recap. Set in "a perfectly recreated Los Angeles" circa the late 1940's, L.A. Noire, clearly, is in the stylistic composition of 40s and 50s film noire; black and white, low-key lighting, offset camera angles, and dark storylines. Well maybe not black and white, who would want to play a game devoid of color? Rockstar isn't gutsy enough to take that gamble. Nevertheless, gumshoes, sex, drugs, corruption, and a touch of jazz music will surely be a good chunk of Noire's subject matter, how it will all intertwine is yet to be seen.
The game has some promise, if done right. And it wouldn't be a Rockstar release if it didn't come with buckets of hype, but the thing is, this game has been hyped for more 8 years. Yes, L.A. Noire has been in development since sometime around 2002. That's an awful long time to develop a game, true-to-life Los Angeles or not, isn't it? After multiple delays, the title is finally on track for a mid-2011 release. We know what happens when your game gets delayed too many times. Sure, delays are for the best, iron out everything that could be wrong, put out a refined product, all that jazz, but damn. We've seen a lot of platforms and a lot of technologies come and go in a span of 8 years. As a once PlayStation exclusive, you can't have us believe Noire's been in development for the PS3 since 2002. If your game has to be adjusted for more powerful hardware mid-development, you're playing with fire in a bad, bad way.
For those of us popping the Noire Viagra, Rockstar's announcement couldn't be better news. Though in honesty, I wonder how many people wiped the detective story's existence from their memory. As an ever-vigilant Rockstar contrarian, Thursday's trailer better be something really fantastic if L.A. Noire plans on capturing my affection. 1940s GTA ain't gonna cut it here, for that, I could just be playing Mafia II. If you want us to drink the Kool-Aid this time, you need to come correct, R*.
Make sure you check in Thursday morning for the full L.A. Noire trailer in glorious high definition. In the meantime, here is the very first look at Noire, released way back in 2007. Old trailer is old.