Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 303 sampled Steam reviews (253 positive / 50 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing25% mention it
- Visuals & art9% mention it
- World & exploration9% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Bugs & crashes16% mention it
- Story & writing12% mention it
- Performance10% mention it
- Controls & UI10% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
56%
72 reviews
5-15h
90%
59 reviews
15-40h
92%
106 reviews
40-100h
93%
59 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | 89 | 6 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 86% | 79 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 84 | 31 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 87% | 81 | 54 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 154 reviews sampled · 147 total reviews in window · weighted 112.5 up / 16.6 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (83)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 100
“Whatever you call it, L.A. Noire is a monumental achievement that every console-owning adventure fan needs to experience.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Many people have been expecting L.A. Noire to be Rockstar's answer for Mafia II. They are bound do be disappointed - the games don't have much in common. Team Bondi's game is a detective story, a new generation of adventure games, an original, unusual and extremely absorbing product. I had the best time playing L.A. Noire. I grew to like Cole Phelps and was glad to help him fight evil lurking in dark corners of The City of Angels, especially that each case was interesting and intriguing on its own.”
read full review ↗ - 93
“Truly this is the most mature game that Rockstar has been a part of. In the end it is something that will go down in history as one of the most innovative games of our time, and for good reason. You are simply supposed to have this game in your collection, if you consider yourself a gamer by any definition of the word.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“If gaming's holy grail is a thousand stories, well told, L.A. Noire might be the first to come within spitting distance.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“L.A. Noire is a grand and technically superior game, and possibly a bit too big for its own good. whilst there's no denying that you'll be hooked into the story and intrigued by the presentation, the gameplay perhaps lets the overall experience down. ”
read full review ↗ - 90
“It's engaging, thoughtful, mature and currently one of a kind. Unless you're the type who only looks for quick, dumb action from their video games I'd recommend this to just about anyone.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“One thing I need to say before I forget her: this was an adventure title through and through. On the outside one might get a glimpse and think "She's just like the girl down the street, Grand Theft Auto", but make no mistake: this here dame shares more in common with a point-and-click title more than any other genre.”
read full review ↗ - 75
“L.A. Noire is a game you should play, if for no other reason than to experience how one game can be both brilliant and yet relentlessly tedious.”
read full review ↗ - 86
“L.A. Noire is something different, something new, sometimes frustrating, but an experience not yet seen in any other game.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“In spite of its flaws, L.A. Noire is still easy to recommend based on its incredible presentation and new take on the old adventure genre. The blemishes likely won't be enough to dissuade many from trying the experience. Rockstar also gets points for making a game where "mature" means more than a rating on the box, as it delivers a deeper experience than we may have come to expect from most games. L.A. Noire isn't the company's best offering, but it's still definitely worthy of your time.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Yes, it's flawed, but L.A. Noire is an honest-to-goodness detective crime thriller - a genuine breath of fresh air that values narrative and story above all else in an age where scripted action sequences and online deathmatch rule the day. It's the closest thing Xbox has to PlayStation's unique adventurer Heavy Rain.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“LA Noire is the type of game we jump up and down over - full of story and style and oozing playability and charm. Unfortunately the single, awkward mechanic of the interrogations mars what could have been a flawless recreation of a classic genre.”
read full review ↗
GRYOnline.pl
The A.V. Club
GameWatcher
Worth Playing
The Escapist…and 71 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
No patch announcements found on Steam yet.