'L.A. Noire' too thoughtful for its own good?

Today is the debut of Take Two Interactive's edgy videogame that focuses less on shoot-'em-up story lines and more on solving mysteries in the tradition of Chandler and Hammett. In fact, action sequences can be skipped in order to appeal to newer customers more interested in the noirish aspects of the story. That's somewhat of a risk for Take Two and explains why analysts are underwhelmed about sales prospects. From The Street:

Inspired by noir classics like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, the game takes place in 1940s Hollywood and centers around the investigations of a young detective named Cole Phelps. The game's story lines -- or cases -- are based on real-life Los Angeles crime stories; one of them, "Red Lipstick Murder" is mirrored on a 1947 homicide investigation of the murder of Jeanne French, a veteran Army Nurse.

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"If the game has any fault, it's that it's too intellectual," said Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners. Analysts expect Take Two to sell 4 million to 5 million units of L.A. Noire -- those are solid numbers, but far less than the 8 million copies of the firm's western epic Red Dead Redemption that sold last year.

For what it's worth, Take Two shares are up 1.3 percent on a morning where the overall market is getting trounced.