10 Reasons L.A. Noire Is Rockstar's Most Underrated Game

4. Every Detail Is Significant

I've already mentioned how the world of LA Noire cements its depiction of 1940's Los Angeles as something special, but it's the attention to period detail that truly captures the authenticity of this immersive open world.

During your detective work, you spend a good amount of time picking things up, inspecting items and looking for clues, and there's a lot of fluff to sift through. Thankfully though, a good chunk of this otherwise useless bumf serves to drive home the intricacies of the era, offering subtle insights into the culture and historical context.

From huge landmark locations like the abandoned movie sets of studio-era Hollywood right down to the packets of matches advertising local jazz clubs, there's always an interesting period-inspired twist to everything you interact with in the game.

Rockstar could have been content to let the revolutionary motion-capture technology do all of the heavy lifting, but instead they were dedicated to crafting interesting and unique levels, items and settings that lived up to the promise and potential of this deeply rich setting.