General Tips - LA Noire Guide - IGN (2024)

The problem with attempting to pass on tips is that a lot of detective work relies on intuition, but there are least some universal principles to be passed along to any aspiring detective. Here are some tips that will hopefully make your sleuthing go more smoothly.

Save your game often

While it's nearly impossible to "fail" at solving a case, you might be keen on gathering every bit of evidence available and extracting all the pertinent information from interrogations. If you stumble on a line of questioning, you may quit the game and start over from the last save point. The game constantly saves whenever you arrive at a new location. Sometimes you can force an auto-save by leaving the building and attempting to hop in the vehicle. This doesn't always work and, in some instances, can even prematurely end the case. It's certainly a precarious line to walk on, but then again, if you're using this guide you won't really require any reloads.

Find clues first

The golden rule of sleuthing in L.A. Noire is to ignore everything, including talking to witnesses in the room, and gather evidence first and foremost. This payoff for this odd habit shines when you start accusing the witness or suspect of lies with the collected evidence. If the investigation clue music option is enabled in options (Which by default it is), there is a 3 note audio clue when you've found all evidence at a crime scene and the music will fade away. If the music's still playing, there is still evidence to locate and collect.

However, if the scene has a newspaper that can be collected, the music will still play until it and all other evidence has been located.

Not everything is relevant

It's probably a detective's first instinct at a crime scene to leave no stone unturned, no leaf unfurled, and try to connect every minute detail to the case. It's not like that here. Not every clue you can interact with is relevant to your case. Often times Cole zeroes in on inconsequential items like empty beer bottles that have no direct bearing on any case. The most helpful thing is that Cole at least vocalizes its irrelevance, allowing you to dismiss the item with confidence. This tip is especially important if you've opted to turn off the investigation music cue, since you're likely to painstakingly pick through every object in proximity, until you are confident nothing has been missed.

Check your notebook often

When you're uncertain whether you've cleaned out the area of relevant clues, refer to your notebook to see whether the location has been scratched out. If not, then there's probably someone else that needs to be questioned or something else that needs to be found.

However, if there are future objectives in the location that cannot be done at the first visit, the location will still be in the notebook not scratched out, ready to be selected when the time arises.

On reading faces

You can tell a lot about a person just from reading his or her body language and facial expressions rather than only listening to what is actually said. In this sense, some people are better at hiding things than others, leading to sometimes fairly nebulous deductions. Every person acts differently under scrutiny and has their own idiosyncrasies. For the most part, however, the most telling signs of a person withholding information are the very obvious "shifty eyes" and reluctant eye contact. Carefully study the person's behavior and facial features before you proceed with your response. A twitch at the mouth, furrowing of the brows, clenched fists, a nervous scratch -- these are some of the most common signs of people broadcasting lies.

Consider the context

Not everyone is hiding something malicious, although everyone does have reason for harboring secrets. Try to consider where the person is coming from. For example, if it's the child of the victim, the child has no reason to lie about the case details, but might try to hide details about her home life. Another example is an innocent bystander who approaches you with information. This person likely is eager to tell the truth. It's all about context of the situation and the severity.

How to choose the correct evidence

The correct evidence isn't always the most obvious, although it is more often than not the one most relevant to the statement that was just made by the person under fire. But sometimes Cole can steer the conversation in a new direction, which simultaneously sheds light on new opportunities in which you can pin evidence on the suspect. If you are certain the person is lying but don't have the evidence to show for it, then you may have missed a clue. Thus, it is doubly important to amassing every vital piece of information before jumping into an interrogation.

When in doubt, Lie

When you find the line between all the choices blurred in an uncertain haze, go ahead and point a finger at the suspect for lying. Often times Cole's approach to undermining the suspect's statement can reveal loopholes and can more easily connect the person's statement with a piece of evidence already in your possession. If the evidence still doesn't support this new avenue of dialogue, then it might be safe to assume the person is not lying. You can always retract the accusation with no penalty.

When to Doubt

You'll often find yourself walking a very thin line between Doubt and Lie. The difference between them at first is hazy and unclear. If you ever find your choices narrowed between the two and are still ambivalent, go ahead and accuse the person of lying. You will lose the 5 experience points for the question if you back out of the 'Lie' accusation, unless you follow up with presenting evidence that may or may not corroborate the accusation. However, Doubt should be your safety net and be arrived at last through eliminating two criteria: If there is clearly no evidence that would repudiate the person's statement, and second if you are positive the person is not telling the truth. The conjuncture of these criteria would allow you to Doubt the person with conviction.

Tailing suspects

In any instance involving tailing a proposed target on foot or by car, the best way to swerve around failing the mission is to always maintain a good distance from the target. The game is very forgiving with how far you can lag behind before you outright lose the target.

Let Your Partner Drive

If you're covering long distances, for example, when searching for Hidden Cars, Landmarks or the Golden Film Reels, why not let your partner drive? Pick your target location on the map, then simply press and keeping holding the button to enter the car. Your partner will take over and drive to the marker you placed on your map. Any important, case-related dialog will still play, so you're not missing anything.