I played this game when it came out on xbox, installed 3 discs for it, and I remember being bummed at the ending. But since I really like the adventure genre and the noire film genre, I wanted to give it another run through. Wow, worse than I remember. You play as a piece of dry white toast shoved into a detective uniform. The miniscule amount of plot was hamfisted, just crammed in there like a clue in a dead guys hand (that you can't help but find, because the gameplay is simpler than Put Put Goes To The Moon), and you're so disconnected from the character that you can't feel anything for him.

I've heard internet dweebs say the ending was "in noire fashion" or that the game is bad because "you don't understand noire" well, coming from a fan of the genre, this was as noire as Bob the ****ing Builder. Noire is supposed to be gritty, filled with introspection, shots of the character when they're not really supposed to be seen, point out the flaws of the characters and their traits. This checks none of the boxes. You learn next to nothing about the character or how he sees the world, he has no narrative about the justice system, you don't see the bright-eyed, by-the-book rookie slowly become a dissilusioned, grizzled cop. The ending is so horrible I want to buy a disc copy so I can demand my money back, the characters are so one-dimensional they can't even really be cliches, as cliches at least have traits.

The gameplay is garbage, reading the facial expressions is cool, but if you pick "lie" and you choose an almost identical piece of evidence to the correct one, it's somehow wrong. If you pick "doubt", which seems like the slightly less confrontational choice, you call an old lady a "nosy old hag" (which was the right choice apparently.) Oh, and any of those GTA things you do when you're tired of the game, y'know mayhem, murder, all the fun stuff, you literally can't do in this game. The world is as boring as you're truly GARBAGE character.

It really could've been good, too. A couple personal missions where you see your character give into his vices, some internal or external monologues (maybe during one of the bajillion silent car rides across LA) about the system or humanity or criminality, maybe an ending that isn't entirely forced and underwhelming, the ability to blow ♥♥♥♥ up, and it could've been stellar. They **** the bed with this one. Bummer.

If you're thinking of buying this game for nostalgia purposes, please for the love of all that is holy, don't. If you like gritty detective games, maybe check out my favorite adventure game of all time The Wolf Among Us or the infintely more noire-themed series than this, Sam and Max. Or play Candy Crush, somehow that has a more fleshed out plot than this.

1/10, and it only gets the 1 because the scenery is pretty good.

I played this game when it came out on xbox, installed 3 discs for it, and I remember being bummed at the ending. But since I really like the adventure genre and the noire film genre, I wanted to give it another run through. Wow, worse than I remember. You play as a piece of dry white toast shoved into a detective uniform. The miniscule amount of plot was hamfisted, just crammed in there like a clue in a dead guys hand (that you can't help but find, because the gameplay is simpler than Put Put Goes To The Moon), and you're so disconnected from the character that you can't feel anything for him. I've heard internet dweebs say the ending was "in noire fashion" or that the game is bad because "you don't understand noire" well, coming from a fan of the genre, this was as noire as Bob the ****ing Builder. Noire is supposed to be gritty, filled with introspection, shots of the character when they're not really supposed to be seen, point out the flaws of the characters and their traits. This checks none of the boxes. You learn next to nothing about the character or how he sees the world, he has no narrative about the justice system, you don't see the bright-eyed, by-the-book rookie slowly become a dissilusioned, grizzled cop. The ending is so horrible I want to buy a disc copy so I can demand my money back, the characters are so one-dimensional they can't even really be cliches, as cliches at least have traits. The gameplay is garbage, reading the facial expressions is cool, but if you pick "lie" and you choose an almost identical piece of evidence to the correct one, it's somehow wrong. If you pick "doubt", which seems like the slightly less confrontational choice, you call an old lady a "nosy old hag" (which was the right choice apparently.) Oh, and any of those GTA things you do when you're tired of the game, y'know mayhem, murder, all the fun stuff, you literally can't do in this game. The world is as boring as you're truly GARBAGE character. It really could've been good, too. A couple personal missions where you see your character give into his vices, some internal or external monologues (maybe during one of the bajillion silent car rides across LA) about the system or humanity or criminality, maybe an ending that isn't entirely forced and underwhelming, the ability to blow shit up, and it could've been stellar. They **** the bed with this one. Bummer. If you're thinking of buying this game for nostalgia purposes, please for the love of all that is holy, don't. If you like gritty detective games, maybe check out my favorite adventure game of all time The Wolf Among Us or the infintely more noire-themed series than this, Sam and Max. Or play Candy Crush, somehow that has a more fleshed out plot than this. 1/10, and it only gets the 1 because the scenery is pretty good.