8 Video Games You Didn't Realise Ripped Off Famous Movies

4. L.A. Noire - L.A. Confidential

La Noire La Confidential
Rockstar/Warner Bros.

L.A. Noire's love of classic hard-boiled movies is obvious from the title alone, but the detective game actually owes the most to the relatively recent L.A. Confidential.

Not only does it have the same obsession with breaking down the artifice of L.A.'s glitzy exterior, but every character is pretty much based on someone from that movie. James Cromwell's Captain Dudley Smith is a dead ringer for L.A. Noir's Captain James Donnelly, while Guy Pearce's Exley has the same career-focus, by-the-book approach to detective work that makes Cole Phelps such a wet blanket.

Kevin Spacey's under-the-counter dealings as narcotics cop Jack Vincennes is also the perfect stand-in for the sleazy Vice Squad's Roy Earle, but it's not just character archetypes the two projects have in common. The similarities are far too extensive to chart in 200 words here, so just know that L.A. Confidential is the perfect continuation if you're wanting to fill a void after finishing such a uniquely engaging game.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.