Right off the bat, I have to give Rockstar credit: the Rockstar pass was an excellent way to sell dlc. Upon purchase of the 10 dollar (now 12 dollar) offer, consumers were immediately granted all preorder bonuses that were offered (two cases, two suits, and a bonus collect-a-thon) and two additional cases to be offered at a later date (Nicholson Electroplating and Reefer Madness). Well, the Rockstar Pass has released its entire repertoire, so how well did it hold up? Pretty well as it turns out, and this review will detail each of the cases.
A Slip of the Tongue is set in the traffic desk, and as such is a pretty simple case to accomplish. Players are tasked with tracking down how a stolen car was sold, which is actually more interesting then it sounds. It’s pretty standard fare, but ultimately it performs pretty well.
The Naked City takes place in Vice, and as such is also much more interesting. Players must investigate a death of a young woman, whose death by overdose was made to appear as a drowning. It’s an enjoyably complicated case, and it pays off in a really enjoyable finale. In addition, the major arc is hinted at with some revealing conversations with Roy, and all of your old detective partners appear as well. This is definitely one of the strongest cases in the package.
The first case released after the release of the Rockstar Pass was Nicholson Electroplating, and boy does it start off with a bang! In all seriousness, this case (taking place immediately preceding the final case) has the players tasked with investigating an explosion at, you guessed it, Nicholson Electroplating. I must take a moment to applaud the really gorgeously made aftermath of the explosion, as it simply looks grand. This case is easily the most large-scale of the dlc cases, and is as good as any of the cases from the main game. The case culminates in a really nice way, and has a cool twist to boot. Probably my favorite case in the whole pass, so I would pick this one up at the very least.
Alas, the Rockstar Pass ends not in a bang, but with a whimper with Reefer Madness. Set during the Vice desk, Reefer Madness has players tasked with taken down a Reefer ring of course. Reefer Madness just doesn’t have that interesting hook that other cases have, as I easily predicted all but the very end of the case. It works in the end because it’s LA Noire, but overall this case is definitely the weakest of the bunch. (Check out the original review of this case here: http://errornotfound.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/l-a-noire-reefer-madness-review/)
The Good: The cases are all very solid aside from Reefer Madness, the extra suits and side activity don’t hurt, a lot of easy achievements are available
The Bad: Reefer Madness is pretty weak, the lack of an inclusion of a new desk seems like a missed opportunity
The Ugly: Nothing
Score: 8.25/10
