The open world feel of Grand Theft Auto along with the crime solving motif of CSI and add in the most realistic facial and character animations ever in a video game along with cameos of dozens of well known actors? Yes please. Sign us up.

Saying that L.A. Noire has a lot of hype to live up to would be an understatement. Luckily Team Bondi lived up to the Rockstar seal of quality to deliver a unique experience unlike anything seen in this or any previous generation of gaming.

Gameplay:

Being a detective in 1940s LA isn’t an easy task. Players need to search for clues, interrogate suspects and witnesses, chase down criminals both on foot and by car, mix it up with some good old fashioned fisticuffs and engage in the run of the mill shoot out on the streets. There is definitely some variety to keep your 40 forty hour experience in L.A. Noire from getting stale.

Investigations are the easiest aspect of the game as players comb the scene picking up on audio clues and vibrations from their controller to find evidence that could pertain to a case. To prevent players from missing out on evidence on a crime scene, the game will continue to play a specific piece of background music until all items have been found. While there isn’t much challenge to this aspect, it does give some credibility to the time that must be spent by detectives walking over every inch of a crime scene.

Rockstar is a name within the video game industry that, to say the least, carries a lot of weight. First and foremost is the credit that must be given to Rockstar for the Grand Theft Auto series, one of the most popular franchises in the past two console generations.

Alongside that comes Red Dead Redemption, the blockbuster old west open world game of this past year. But Rockstar isn’t limited to only open world action as they have shown us with their work on the “film noir love story” Max Payne 2. These hits alongside other critical and commercial darlings like Oni, Bully and Midnight Club have all put Rockstar in the forefront of the gaming market.

Now, Rockstar has revealed the newest installment to their family of blockbusters with L.A. Noire. In the trailer below, this game looks to keep a serious and gritty tone without the somewhat stereotypical Rockstar satire. Knowing how Rockstar handles character building and story, this seems like a great opportunity for them to tackle the much underused Noire genre.

From what we can see, the animation and voice acting are already top notch, especially from Aaron Staton of Mad Men fame who is lending his voice to lead character Cole Phelps.

Take a peek below at the first trailer for L.A. Noire which is coming to both the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the first half of 2011.