The Assigned Cases
The “Perfect” Path
L.A. Noire’s main story takes place over the course of 26 police cases, each one a separate “mission” but all linked by a multi-layered central plot. The first four cases are tutorial missions that introduce your main character, Cole Phelps, and the basics of gameplay. You must then complete 22 deep, complex, richly detailed cases as Phelps works his way through four divisions or “desks” of the Los Angeles Police Department: Traffic, Homicide, Administrative Vice, and Arson.
Our walkthrough details the ideal path through each case. We’ll guide you through every crime scene investigation and all witness/suspect interviews with a perfect score: find all key clues and assess every interview response correctly. It’s important to note, however, that each case offers multiple ways to a successful conclusion. You can “solve” a case without getting a perfect score in the Case Report at mission’s end.
So we highly recommend forging ahead through your current case, even if in-game music cues indicate that you’re missing a clue at a location or one of your interview assessments was incorrect. You can often complete a case even after missing a few clues or misjudging an interviewee’s responses to your interrogation. Sometimes a “mistake” leads to an alternate way of solving the case.
The Story
Our story opens with a voiceover narrator giving an overview of Los Angeles in 1947. It sets a classic noire tone:
“A city on the verge of greatness. A new type of city, based not on the man but on the automobile. The car—the symbol of freedom and vitality”.
“Where every man can own his own home, and have room to breathe, and not be overlooked by his neighbors. A city where a man’s home is his castle. A quarter acre of the dream made possible by victory”.
“The city of opportunists. The city of dreams where Hollywood will shape the thoughts and desires of the entire planet”.
“A city of pioneers. A city of dreamers”.
“A city of undercurrents, where not everything is as it seems. A twentieth century city that will become a model for the world. A city that has no boundaries. That will stretch as far as the eye can see”.
