Though I picked up Rockstar’s new game LA Noire yesterday, I didn’t have a chance to play it until tonight. As a fan of crime-solving police games like the old Police Quest series, I was excited to play this game. Combine that gaming genre with stunning new motion capture technology that doesn’t look creepy and Rockstar has developed an instant winner. So far I’ve only played through the tutorial and one case, but I’m eager to dive in deeper, as I’m sure the cases will get more elaborate as the game progresses.

There’s not much new about the crime solving aspect. You’re a detective. You find clues. You visit different locations and talk to different suspects/witnesses/informants. You nab a suspect. You interrogate him/her until the crime is solved. It’ll likely get slightly more complicated than that linear path but the gist is there. But what makes this game different is the Grand Theft Auto-style open world, set in a faithfully recreated 1940s Los Angeles. There’s plenty of opportunity to explore the richly detailed environment. On top of that, LA Noire features the best use of motion capture I’ve ever seen, where actors actually look like themselves and move realistically. The facial expressions, particularly mouth movements, are spot-on.

Unlike the flapping jaws of the past 10+ years of 3D-rendered games, LA Noire is the first to get it right. And Rockstar even takes that a step further by not only including this amazing technology as a visual treat, but also as part of the gameplay, forcing players to watch expressions carefully to determine if individuals are lying or telling the truth. It’s genius.

Now I just wonder why Hollywood can’t make motion capture look this good. As great as the young Jeff Bridges / Kevin Flynn / Clu looked on screen in Tron: Legacy, as soon as he opened his mouth, all believability disappeared. If a video game company can make a rendered mouth perfectly match its performer, why couldn’t the biggest Hollywood effects houses?