L.A. Noire: Difference between revisions

** Subverted even earlier in {{spoiler|the very first Traffic case, when it's discovered the "victim" used pig's blood to [[Faking the Dead|commit pseudocide]].}}

** Played straight on the arson desk when a normally very boring and generally dismissed assignment suddenly becomes very exciting when {{spoiler|Cole gets demoted to it.}}

** Another minor example: LA's famous palm trees would have only been at about head height in 1947. The developers intentionally made them taller because they thought it looked cooler.

** Many of the vehicles and songs in the game are from 1948 or 1949, the most notable being the 1949 Chevrolet Styleline.

* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Technically not a cop, but {{spoiler|Jack Kelso}} as a special investigator for the D.A. otherwise fits the role.

* [[Da Chief]]: Possibly several throughout the game as Phelps moves from desk to desk, optionally to the consternation of his superiors depending on the player's interest in collateral damage management in each case.

* [[Detective Patsy]]: {{spoiler|Kelso, in the ultra-rare positive variety.}}

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: When interrogating {{spoiler|Ackermann}} you don't get the musical cues for when ask a question. Because the man is legitimately insane and choice you pick will result in him responding the same.

* [[Downloadable Content]]: [http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/16561/announcing-la-noire-downloadable-content-details.html A lot of it.]

** Note: If you have the complete edition you already have it all.

* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: The Player, potentially, and while pursuing fleeing suspects in vehicles, very probably.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: In one of the street cases, the crazy man who believes the government is attempting to mind-control him and wears a tin-foil hat to 'counteract' the mind control. Also, in The Naked City, {{spoiler|Dr. Stoneman after he's found out to be Mr. Henderson under a different name, and right after he seems to be willingly turning himself in.}}

* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Every single partner you will have as a Detective, which also makes up a good chunk of the supporting cast, appear in the cutscene that preludes Cole's first case on the Traffic desk. His future Homicide partner, Rusty Galloway, is present in the first mission with his current partner at the time, Floyd Rose (who retires later, with Cole taking his place).

** Cole meets a lush outside a bar while investigating a traffic case who claims to recognize him. {{spoiler|He reappears during Cole's funeral.}}

{{quote|'''Rusty''': I don't care if you were clocked in the head, Cole. You don't call me Finbarr.}}

* [[Every Car Is a Pinto]]: Semi-averted. Engines may catch fire after taking so much damage, but the only thing worse that you can do to a car is pop the wheels off or, during a chase, you can flip them. The part where you'll have to shoot the gasoline barrels in {{spoiler|The Fallen Idol}} and a few other missions played it straight, though.

* Expy: Several from [[L.A. Confidential]]. Cole Phelps is Edmund Exley. Both are examples of the ambitious, [[Glory Hound]] and [[By-The-Book Cop]] who have frosty relationships with other detectives. Both rely on their war records (Phelps has a Silver Star and Exley a Distinguished Service Cross from World War II) but {{spoiler|both only got medals because they were the [[Sole Survivor]] of their respective units because of cowardice and played it up}}. Captain James Donnelly is Captain Dudley Smith: both of them are [[Officer O'Hara|Irish Homicide Dicks]] who belief in administering "rough justice" to perps, {{spoiler|although Donnelly doesn't turn out to be the [[Big Bad]], unlike his film companion}}. Jack Vincennes and Roy Earle are both examples of a [[Corrupt Cop]] whom deal with the Hollywood scene, although Earle is a plain [[Jerkass]] and Vincennes is a rare sympathetic dirty Cop.

* [[Fallen Hero]] / [[Turncoat]]: {{spoiler|Everyone sees Cole as one or the other after his affair is made public and he is demoted to the Arson squad.}}

* [[Film Noir]]: One of the main influences on the game. It's called ''L.A.'' '''''Noire''''' for a reason.

* [[Five-Bad Band]]: {{spoiler|Suburban Redevelopment Fund.}}

** [[Big Bad]] - {{spoiler|Leland Monroe}}

** [[The Dragon]] - {{spoiler|Willaim Morrell}}

** [[The Brute]] - {{spoiler|Ira Hogeboom unwittingly}}

** [[Dark Chick]] - {{spoiler|Curtis Benson}}

* [[Ivy League for Everyone]]: Phelps is a graduate of Stanford.

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: Surprisingly enough, there's only one usage of it during the game. {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|However, this one usage is Jack Kelso shooting Leland Monroe in the leg, and then stomping on the wound a minute later.]]}}

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Rusty Galloway comes across as brash and kind of a dick, constantly spouting misogynistic put-downs about many of the women he encounters. He also appears in some of the incidental dialogue to be a genuinely caring father, and he's remarkably tender with Michelle Moller when he and Cole have to tell her that her mother is dead.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|Roy Earle, Cole's crooked Vice partner who outs Cole's affair to their superiors and the press when his idealism threatens the Vice department's crooked dealings, ''and'' works as a bagman for the Suburban Redevelopment Fund cabal, not only gets off scot-free from the whole mess, but even passes himself off as Cole's friend at his funeral, much to Elsa's outrage.}}

** The game deals with a [[Real Life]] [[Karma Houdini]], the Black Dahlia murderer. {{spoiler|Didn't get away with it in the game. He was killed by Cole, but his identity wasn't released because his half-brother was an influential politician.}}

* [[Kill It with Fire]]: {{spoiler|Hogeboom's}} weapon of choice is a flamethrower.

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: Hostage situations generally end like this, provided you don't miss. If the timing's right, it may also result in a [[Curse Cut Short]].

* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: Biggs and Kelso.

** Also applies to the vehicles, which unlike [[Made of Explodium|their GTA counterparts]] can't actually be blown up (though they can still lose their engines and, in a change, entire tires), and are generally tougher to disable. Justified because to make a car safe at the time, you'd ''need'' to build it like a tank.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: {{spoiler|"You said the houses would be ''empty!''"}}

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Looks like Mr Leitvol in fact was {{spoiler|the ''Leitwolf'' of the whole racket}}.

* [[Mercy Kill]]: {{spoiler|Kelso kills an irretrievably insane Hogeboom.}}

* [[No Export for You]]: A free [[PlayStation 3]]-exclusive DLC Case isn't available outside North America, for the Xbox 360 or the [[PlayStation 3]].

* [[Notice This]]: The piano key that plays whenever you approach a piece of evidence.

* [[Officer O'Hara]]: There are plenty of police officers with Irish surnames, but [[Da Chief|Capt. Donnelly]] of the Homicide Desk is [[Officer O'Hara]] gone ''retro''. He has a thick ([[Most Wonderful Sound|and catchy]]) Irish accent, calls Phelps "''ludd''" or "''boyo''", refers to criminals and the Japanese that Phelps fought against as "heathens", and calls the work at the homicide desk something along the lines of "God's work". Furthermore, he is fond of shouting and drinking on duty. Well, not that no one else is...

* [[Off on a Technicality]]: Donnelly {{spoiler|assures Cole this will happen to then innocent men arrested for the Werewolf killings during the Homicide arc.}}

* [[Pun-Based Title]]: "La noire" is literally "The black" in French.

** Specifically, how "noire" is the feminine spelling of the word. I see what you did there. Bondi...

* [[Real Estate Scam]]: {{spoiler|The Suburban Redevelopment Fund}}.

* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]: After {{spoiler|being accused of adultery, Phelps}} is banished to the Arson desk. However...

* [[Semper Fi]]: Cole was a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps before joining LAPD. Flashbacks are periodically shown involving his service. Many other important characters in the story are also Marine veterans.

* [[Serial Killer]]: {{spoiler|Garrett Mason and Ira Hogeboom.}}

** A number of different suits for Cole are unlocked as the game progresses, with several of them providing additional abilities.

* [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]: Cole and Biggs, to a degree. {{spoiler|Ira Hogeboom more severely.}}

** In one Arson Case, you can hear a bystander state that [[The Red Green Show|"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."]]

** The man who {{spoiler|kills Dr. Fontaine}} is described as a "[[Boris Karloff]] type". When examining the {{spoiler|doctor's body}}, Cole muses that {{spoiler|he has heard the story about [[Frankenstein's Monster|a doctor been killed by his own creation]] before}}. The final mission is also a clear [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Third Man]]'', which also ends with {{spoiler|a chase through sewer tunnels, resulting in the death of one of the main characters}}.

** In the Vice case "The Set Up," you enter a hotel to find that your suspect, along with may other guests, have signed in under fake names. Among the people supposedly staying there are [[Shirley Temple]], [[Orson Welles]], and [[Winston Churchill]]

** The offices of California Fire and Life look almost exactly like the offices of Walter Neff's insurance company in [[Double Indemnity]].

* [[Story Breadcrumbs]]: The newspapers, and Cole's [[World War II]] [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]].

* [[Story Overwrite]]: No matter what car you're currently driving, it gets replaced by your current default police car during important scenes like chases.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: In addition to revealing the culprits of several cases, at least one trailer spoils {{spoiler|Cole and Elsa's affair.}}

* [[Trailers Always Lie]]: Some of the commercials and trailers make the game out to be more GTA in the 40s, rather than a slower narrative game in the vein of [[Heavy Rain]].

** Captain Donnelly will also voice his displeasure should you {{spoiler|charge Moller instead of Rooney}} at the end of The Golden Butterfly.

* [[What the Hell, Player?]]: Your partners will know when you're screwing around with them - like driving off without them or being a bad driver.

* [[World War I]]: Biggs fought in it, and had a particularly disturbing encounter with German flamethrowers during the Battle of Belleau Wood.

* [[World War II]]: Cole is a veteran of it (Okinawa), like most men his age.

* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[L.A. Confidential]]'' meets ''[[Chinatown]]'' meets ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]''.

* [[You Are Number Six|You are Number 1247:]] Cole Phelp's badge number, you'll hear it whenever he makes a phone call, which is a lot

* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: {{spoiler|Which gave Cole a nasty demotion from Vice to Arson, and put him on the waiting list for a board hearing, since adultery was a crime in 1947.}}