Revisiting childhood memories with ‘L.A. Noire’

In an intimate and illuminating piece for Eurogamer, Christian Donlan describes the surprisingly nostalgic experience of playing L.A. Noire with his father, who grew up in Los Angeles during the 1940s. For Donlan’s dad, the game was less about crime and action than it was about revisiting the Los Angeles of his childhood. As it turns out, L.A. Noire is remarkably faithful to the era in which the elder Donlan grew up, standing as a testament to Rockstar’s diligence. “Even the little details often open up the past in interesting ways, keying you into the class issues and the general hierarchy of the period,” Donland writes. “History is the big things, like the Richfield Tower, but it’s the tiny things, as well, like the trimmings on your ride.”