I have some reservations about Rockstar's shift away from sandbox and emergence to more scripted narratives, but L.A. Noire looks to be their best effort yet.
Set in a photorealistic Los Angeles of 1947, the player takes control of a detective played by Aaron Staton from Mad Men - yes, you heard me right. The game is "acted," using an incredibly sophisticated system of motion-capture and physics simulation. The facial animation is by far the best I've ever seen, and the developers promise that a major part of the gameplay will be reading expressions and ferreting out lies.
It still remains to be seen if the writing and gameplay will match up to the graphics, but I have high hopes.
