There is a load of DLC available for L.A. Noire, and if you want it all, irrespective of what’s said in this review, make sure you take advantage of the Rockstar Pass. For a reasonable one-off payment (£9.99/$11.99), you get most of the content, including two detective suits (Broderick and Sharpshooter), four cases (Naked City, A Slip of the Tongue, Nicholson Electroplating and Reefer Madness) and The Badge Pursuit challenge. That leaves only the The Consul’s Car to pick up.

Suited and booted

Whether you actually need every piece of DLC or not is another matter though; the suits are especially unremarkable. The Sharpshooter detective suit will improve your aim with pistols and rifles, but shooting isn’t that hard and Phelps’ aim is already decent – and the suit isn’t the best shade of beige either. The blue Broderick outfit is much more stylish. Wearing it allows Phelps to take more damage and deal more with his fists, but, once again, it’s unlikely to be something most players are going to need.

Treasure hunt

Another suit is unlocked by completing The Badge Pursuit challenge. Scattered across LA, in the most unlikely places, are 20 badges. You’ll clues of their whereabouts on the Rockstar Social Club. If you finding them all, you will unlock the Button Man detective suit. It looks like a lighter version of the Sunset Strip outfit and it enables Phelps to carry more ammo. Completing The Badge Pursuit challenge also gives players five extra XP points. L.A. Noire already has a number of fetch quests so this challenge is unlikely to appeal to most players, except the most hardened completionists. A silver or gold trophy might have attracted trophy hunters, but alas there’s no trophy at all. Madness.

A curious case, or four

That leaves us with the cases, which is the content you really want to know about, right? These slot straight into the main campaign if you download them before you play. Otherwise, you can find them by looking in the appropriate folder after selecting “cases” from the main menu.

The Consul’s Car (Traffic case)

The Consul’s Car has a fairly light-hearted mood that fits in nicely with the rest of the Traffic cases. A car belonging the Consul General of Argentina is found in a suburban back alley with missing tyres and license plates, and if you handle the interrogations just right, you’ll learn the strange reasons why it’s been dumped there.

READ THE REST OF THIS REVIEW AT PS3 ATTITUDE