L.A. Noire 2 Should Deliver Max Payne 3's Lost Co-Op Story

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Although a co-op experience was scrapped from Max Payne 3, Rockstar Games should consider revisiting the idea for L.A. Noire 2. The sequel to the open-world detective thriller hasn't been officially announced, but a recent earnings report from Take-Two Interactive — Rockstar's parent company — suggests that there are plans for it. Gaming hardware has come a long way since the release of the first L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3, and Rockstar's game design could use a break from its tried-and-true formula, so developing a co-op title would make sense.

Originally planned for 2009, Max Payne 3 released in 2012. A source familiar with its development recently confirmed that Rockstar spent a year working on a co-op multiplayer prologue for Max Payne 3. In this prologue, players would have taken control of Max and an old cop partner as they went through various modified single-player maps. It would have begun in New York before taking the duo to Brazil, where the main game is based. Ultimately, however, the prologue was canceled after the studio struggled to incorporate co-op mechanics into a game designed primarily around the single-player experience.

Related: Why Cole Phelps Is Always Shouting In L.A. Noire

Talks within the Rockstar fandom about an L.A. Noire sequel haven't really stopped since the game's 2011 release, but they've picked up serious momentum in recent months thanks to the earnings call. In fact, although not a full sequel, a spiritual successor to L.A. Noire was in the works not long after that release. Developed by Australia-based Team Bondi, the original game found praise for its hyper-realistic facial animations using the proprietary motion capture technology MotionScan. Playing as beat-cop-turned-detective