As developers who put a tremendous amount of detail into their worlds go, it is hard to top Rockstar. With Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar showed that not only could they populate a rich and expansive landscape with interesting nooks and crannies, but that they could create some of the largest and most continuous worlds seen in a video game.

Hoping to continue that tradition with L.A. Noire, Rockstar has just had a partial piece of their game map revealed and though it doesn’t give much away it might tease a few unknown elements.

Resembling more so the map seen in GTA IV than the long winding roads of Red Dead Redemption, the map for L.A. Noire is meant to recreate, as accurately as possible, 1940s Hollywood. From the looks of the map — zoomed out to the maximum — players are going to have a ton of streets, freeways, etc… to explore, but thankfully L.A. Noire is a much more straightforward game, a trademark quality of co-developer Team Bondi.

What is unclear from the map is whether or not those collectible items in the game — the newspapers and the golden film reels — will be demarcated on it or only after they are found. Also worth noting is the hint that the map in L.A. Noire keeps track of items that not only you have found, but that your friends have found.

How this community element will come into play is still unknown, but given the amount of social interactivity Rockstar is going for with its Social Club, gamers might be able to expect something on par with Fable 3.

Unfortunately, the map, of course, is not complete, and being zoomed out so far leaves no hints as to locations or various points of interest. Being left in the dark on certain aspects of a game isn’t all bad, especially when gamers have developed a longstanding tradition of cracking open that giant Rockstar game map to explore all their entire virtual city has to offer.

What do you think of this first look at the map of L.A. Noire? Do you think that Rockstar will ever hit their tipping point as far as bigger and bigger maps go?

L.A. Noire releases May 15, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Source: Rockstar Network