There is a healthy bit of destruction in Nicholson Electroplating
LA Noire’s third piece of downloadable content, Nicholson Electroplating, is probably the weakest. I feel like it has the least follow through of any of the DLCs, even though there are some good parts. As part of the Rockstar Pass, it’s still worth playing, although I probably wouldn’t pay for it on its own.
Nicholson Electroplating starts with a literal big bang that does real justice to the graphics engine. An entire factory explodes which brings up some world war type fears, although it turns out to be something local. What follows is a tale of espionage, greed, and corruption that has a lot of promise.
Unfortunately, I felt that the case didn’t really make good on that promise. Things wrap up in a way that I found confusing, and I thought there were a lot of loose ends that could have been tied up in really cool ways. Instead, you get a decent ending, but nothing really ground breaking.
The gameplay is exactly what you are used to, and being a DLC case there are some pretty big shootouts and car chases. At this point I’m tired of going through the motions of the shootout – it really isn’t this game’s strength. I’d rather just investigate and interrogate. Rest assured, there is plenty of that here – but I never did get to meet the characters I was most interested in. That was a shame.
Overall, Nicholson Electroplating is a decent piece of content, but it definitely felt like the weakest of the LA Noire DLC. With only one left, I hope Team Bondi produces something good. The last DLC case is called Reefer Madness: hopefully it can live up to the awesomeness of its name!
Final Grade: B-
