Two months after L.A. Noire’s release, the gumshoe actioner’s downloadable content has finally been rolled out — and there’s a lot to take in. Aside from a few new suits, a new gun, and a badge-collection challenge, the big takeaways are four new cases of varying length and quality. Sandwiched into the game’s normal case progression but playable at any time, these extra cases ($4 apiece) aren’t necessary to get a complete idea of what’s going on in Noire, but they do add some interesting details — as well as a few more hours of content to what’s already a great game.
If you preordered Noire from Walmart, you already have A Slip of the Tongue, where a few careless forgeries and one stupid thief put Det. Cole Phelps and traffic-desk partner Stefan Bekowsky on the trail of a car-theft ring. This one’s short but fun, with a few memorable interrogations, an unusually lighthearted tone (for Noire, anyway), and a notable appearance by character actor Kurt Fuller as a faintly sleazy used-car dealer.
The Naked City was also a preorder-bonus (in this case, from GameStop), and it’s one of the best standalone stories in the game. Longer and more involving than Slip, it starts with an apparent drug overdose, but quickly pits Phelps and vice-desk partner Roy Earle against a burglary ring with ties to L.A.’s fashion industry. Featuring multiple murders, a couple of romances gone horribly wrong, and one of the game’s most frustrating Achievements (for carefully tailing a suspect, no less), this one goes easy on the gunplay, instead relying mainly on investigation and interrogation to move the plot along. Throw in some fine acting performances, one very sinister harmonica, and a fun scene involving three of Phelps’ five partners, and Naked’s a pretty great value for four bucks.
Chronologically the game’s second-to-last case, Nicholson Electroplating takes a real-life disaster from L.A.’s history and turns it into one of Noire’s biggest spectacles, beginning with the explosive destruction of a chunk of L.A. and ending with a bizarre shootout in the hangar housing the Spruce Goose. Weaving a complicated tale of murder, industrial espionage, and corporate corruption, its story doesn’t always make sense, but it sure is exciting. The case also features an excellent balance of investigation, interrogation, shooting, and chases. If you were hoping to see a bigger finish for Phelps than the one the game gives him, be sure to give this arson case a look.
After all that, however, Reefer Madness — the last of the cases to be released — is a letdown. Short, easy, and simplistic compared to the rest of the DLC episodes, this vice case revolves around a group of mostly Mexican dope smugglers who hide marijuana in cans of soup. Aside from a few shootouts and some cursory insights into the issue of illegal immigration circa 1947, its most memorable moment is a dull guided tour of a soup factory. It’s still worth playing (especially if you’ve bought the Rockstar Pass, in which case you’ve already paid for all four cases), but it’s unremarkable and feels uninspired. If you absolutely must skip one DLC case, make it this one.
