Ok, so, lets get the technology and visuals side of things out of the way first. While L.A. Noire is not the most realistic game you will ever see, from a technical standpoint this is a very impressive game to look at. Team Bondi has created a way to film actors giving their lines of dialog from multiple angles and there by creating a full life like model for their in game replica. Basically what this rocket science means is that when you watch people speaking in game, you wont just be seeing someone talking you will be seeing all the emotions and nuances that make up a real humans face. No painstakingly crafted faces trying to mimic how humans move, this is the real McCoy. That all being said, if you are a fan of the 1940s ~ 1950s era style of things this game does a really good job painting that unique picture. From the nearly 100 true to form cars to the real life streets and land marks that exist, you will feel like you're right there in 1947 L.A.
Even though the game starts out by spacing itself into small chapter chunks, by the time you see the credits you will feel like you got the full story you would expect from around 20 hours of gameplay. Also with RockStar having DLC set to come out for the next few months you can always come back for more.