The game draws heavily from both the plot and aesthetic elements of film noir – stylistic films made popular in the 1940s and 1950s that share similar visual styles and themes including crime, sex, and moral ambiguity. The game uses a distinctive colouring-style but in homage to the visual style of film noir includes the option to play the game in black-and-white. The post-war setting is the backdrop for plot elements that reference the major themes of gumshoe detective and mobster books and films (such as Key Largo, Chinatown, The Untouchables, The Black Dahlia, and L.A. Confidential, such as corruption, gambling and drugs, with a jazz soundtrack.
L.A. Noire is notable for using Lightsprint's real-time global illumination technology, as well as Depth Analysis's newly developed technology for the film and video game industries called MotionScan, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. The technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions in questioning to judge whether they are lying or not.
L.A. Noire is notable for using Lightsprint's real-time global illumination technology, as well as Depth Analysis's newly developed technology for the film and video game industries called MotionScan, where actors are recorded by 32 surrounding cameras to capture facial expressions from every angle. The technology is central to the game's interrogation mechanic, as players must use the suspects' reactions in questioning to judge whether they are lying or not.