Right around the time I caught my first murder on the Homicide desk, I started to realize the ways in which L.A. Noire isn't fun.

As I drove to the crime scene, a call came over the radio about a possible jumper, and hey, I can always use the extra XP. So I pointed my Nash Super 600 at the map marker and gunned it until a cutscene played. Sure enough, I had a meathead sitting up on a railing, dangling his leg over a three-story drop. All I had to do was climb up there before his big swan dive. And I literally mean that's all I had to do. It required zero skill, no sense of timing, and neither forethought nor tactics entered the equation. I'd spent more effort chewing my breakfast cereal that morning.

Captain's an Irish lunatic, my partner's fat and ugly. My name's Friday. I carry a badge.

Not all street crimes tip to that bland extreme. But the truth is most of L.A. Noire's pick-up missions feel simplistic, and the action sequences in my regular casework don't cut much higher. Every time Noire dips into "normal" gameplay -- gunplay, punch ups, chases -- it calls attention to how other games shoot, fight, and race so much better.

And that's OK, because L.A. Noire isn't about those things. It mines different territory, and the approach it takes makes it one of the best games of the year so far.

Start by forgetting that Rockstar Games (of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption fame) published Noire, or how you can drive anywhere in 1940s Los Angeles at will. Despite the similarities and the pedigree, this isn't a sandbox game in terms of geography. Hell, outside of the 40-odd side missions and collectables (if you're into that sort of thing), Noire gives you slim reason to explore L.A. at all. You can't even haul off and start some GTA-like hijinks if boredom sets in. No, the open-world freedoms here center on psychology.

In fact, I'd classify L.A. Noire as a role-playing game in the purest meaning of the term. Instead of picking out a fairy-tale creature and customizing its armor, you take on the role of a police detective doing what police detectives do: find evidence, interview witnesses, interrogate suspects. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney gets his clients acquitted in a similar fashion, but how you get those clues and use them puts Noire in a new category.

Be sure to get the corpse's good side.

The gameplay builds around two core mechanics: instinct and uncertainty...two things you -- and I mean you, personally -- bring to the party. When you talk to people, you've got to decide not only if they're telling the truth but how honest they are. You never know when someone might throw in a lie of omission or try to hide something totally separate from your investigation, but it's still your job to catch them when they do. And often, you must completely rely on your intuition to separate fiction from non-fiction.
 
Where a shooter requires you to instantly zero the reticule on anything that moves and zap it, Noire gives you time to make a gut-check. Do you believe this person? How much do you believe them?

Those interviews almost feel like turn-based combat, only instead of resource management and magical attacks, a player brings their own instincts to bear. That makes it so much more satisfying when you nail an interrogation. You didn't just press buttons; you drew conclusions. Lucky die rolls didn't hand you a win; you connected the dots. The game tried to trick you, and it failed. You were right. Nothing beats that feeling.

Especially not the pedestrian combat, which doesn't even care if I break its rules. Mobsters decide to rub me and my partner out via car chase? Hell with that...I just pulled over and shot 'em all. I'm supposed to climb up a building and chase a shooter? No need. I can plug that chump from the street.

Officer? Could we have the two in the middle palette swap again?

Anyway, that's all comfort food meant to ease you into the real game. I wouldn't chop those elements -- good noir carries a dangerous vibe, punctuated by moments of brutal violence -- but taken alone, they couldn't carry L.A. Noire or anything else. Approach this like it's GTA or Red Dead, and you'll walk away hating it. You'll also miss what might become a seminal gaming experience...one that makes you actually think about what the people you meet are thinking. Noire made me size up everyone I met, and then it tested my ability to judge human nature, gauge body language, and fit together a puzzle with pieces missing...all by using my wits and little else.

More games should demand so much of their players.