Dammit L.A. Noire, you could've had it all. You could've been the first game to pioneer realistic facial-muscle tech, partnering it with a game mechanic that actively asked you to play the role of detective, studying the tiniest ticks in your suspects' faces, just to see who genuinely looked guilty, and who could go free. Such a concept remains fantastic - and has been done far better by both Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, and to a lesser extent Her Story - but the main thing that dragged L.A. Noire very far down, was the lack of care developers Team Bondi put into your character's dialogue options. Playing as Cole Phelps, you'd go from gently prompting old ladies for information one minute, to then YELLING DOWN THEIR THROATS BECAUSE SATAN KNOWS YOUR DARKEST SECRETS AND... then calmly resuming the candour you displayed first time round. It ended up being all over the place, and sadly made Phelps into a completely unreliable interrogator - the one thing the game needed to bring together its already very experimental themes and mechanics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rNV61Rpo-0
