Max Payne

The Good
The style is evident, from the over-the-top dialogue ("the sun went down with false bravado...") to over-the-top gunplay (everything from Striker auto-shotgun to grenade launchers). The graphics novel interludes gives that stylized art that calls attention to itself. The plot... completely over-the-top as well... From shooting crime bosses all the way up to government conspiracy, even has a few elements of X-files and Twin Peaks... And boy, is bullet-time fun...

The Bad
The style can be too over-the-top for people. There's plenty of blood (heck, EVERYBODY you shoot leaves a puddle of blood, some more than others). The plot is also full of cliches (government conspiracy, Mafia "wiseguys", etc.), even has an evil twin thrown in the mix! In the final levels, the game becomes quite difficult (and that was on the LOWEST level of difficulty!) when you're assaulted by guys in bullet-proof vests armed with the latest weapons. There's usually no room for you to hang-back and pick them off one at a time. It's usually full-speed ahead guns blazing. No saved-replays of your "best" shots.

The Bottom Line
Max Payne is about as close as you will come to "play" an action movie. It may be short (but then, so are most action movies), it may be a bit trite and cliche (but then, so are action movies), and it may be over-the-top (again, like action movies) but it sure is fun.

Bullet-time effect as implemented in the game is a brilliant innovation in action gaming. As you're still able to aim (in real-time), if you have a good mouse or controller you can pull off action-hero style diving shots with side-dives (shoot-dodges) or just "plain" bullet-time like the way Neo went through the lobby in the Matrix. Of course, BT is limited and you can't keep using it (you get more by killing more bad guys).

Being third-person, this game lets you admire your own moves while evaluating the enemy shots. As each bullet IS modelled individually, this can be very important to decide which way to dodge. However, the viewpoint sometimes makes it impossible to see what you actually want to shoot, esp. in constrained spaces like in a doorway or against the wall. Still, it is possible to see "around" corners and that's part of the gameplay.

The game has a way to "leading" you through this one-way maze without making it too evident. There LOOKS like plenty of doors, but only a few of them are functional, and even the doors that seems to lead to alternate paths actually just provide a few more goodies (pain killers, ammo, etc.) for you, and you'd have to backtrack to the main path.

Occasionally when you come to an important dramatic point (come across TV or radio or paper on desk) you get a graphic novel update of your situation, like the police has joined the chase after you, and so on. While it adds to the atmosphere, it also breaks up the rhythm of the action.

The game is quite user-friendly. There are unlimited save slots, as well as a quick-save and quick-load buttons. When you die, you get a choice to reload from the most recent save, and you only need to press one key to load it. This makes you want to retry that part of game again immediately... Wish all games can do that.

The game runs tolerably on older computers, but if you can crank it up to maximum eye-candy, you're in for a full cinematic experience... Shoot a group of bad guys and sometimes that last guy's death will be replayed in slo-mo... Too bad you can't save that to savor over-and-over again... Expect to see realistic shadows, rag-doll physics (not REALLY implemented, but pretty close), and more.

There are occasional situational puzzles that forces you to figure out what to do next, but usually they aren't very hard, as mostly they involve jumping from one to another, or in some cases, shooting things. The solution for the final takedown was pretty ingenious as well.

Overall the game is short, about 10 hours at most. Still, it's one INTENSE 10-hour ride, and one you'd likely to savor over-and-over by going back for the higher-difficulty levels, as well as discover the secrets that lies within... There are quite a few hidden rooms and such for you to find.

And it's NOT really possible to describe the elation you feel when you pull off that perfect diving shot... Just imagine that you noticed 3 bad guys talking around the corner. You arm the grenade launcher... And you did a diving jump... Lobbing a grenade into their midst... They go "what the..." then the grenade goes boom, tossing them in all directions... You take a breath, then shots bounce off the wall behind you... Another group of bad guys to shoot...

This is one heck of a ride, so enjoy it.

The Good
Wow, has it really been nearly 10 years since Max Payne was released? The game that blended the grittiness of pulp and graphic novels, with the John Woo inspired gunplay. And tied it all together within a shiny 3rd person action shooter?

I have only reviewed Max Payne 2, at this point and after viewing the horrendous film adaptation, and replaying the game to rid the bad taste of the film from my mouth. I decided to throw my two cents into an already over-reviewed game. So here goes.

“They were all dead… the final gunshot, was an exclamation…”

Max Payne is a New York City cop, whom upon arriving home one day, stumbles into a nightmare. There are armed men in his house, and they are crazed on some new designer drug. In the ensuing chaos, Max’s wife and daughter are murdered. Flash forward some years later, and Max is working deep undercover, in the seediest hellholes. When his partner, Alex is killed, a crime for which Max is blamed, he goes on a rampage against New York’s underworld.

Max Payne is supported by a lot of other interesting characters. Like the whiny Vinnie Gognitti, the psychotic Jack Lupino, and the femme fatale assassin, Mona Sax to name a few.

Also there is the Address Unknown, back-story which mirrors Max’s plight. As well as the silly Captain Baseball Batboy. All of these elements come together, to make a more interesting narrative, and make the game world seem more realistic.

And how can I forget, the great graphic novel panels, that move along the story?

The gunplay is a blast. Literally. It’s like being throw headfirst into a heroic bloodshed film.(Look it up.-MM-) Max runs and guns, and can go into bullet-time, in which everything slows down around him, allowing him to easily take out his foes.

There are lots of guns and explosives to collect. Pistols, machine guns, rifles, etc. And in one particularly cool effect, when fired, the sniper rifle zooms in of the bullet and tracks it as it connects with an enemies head.

Max Payne, is a very adult game. Not only with it’s graphic violence, but also it’s mature themes, that would be lost on younger players. Be warned, Max Payne is a very violent game. Especially when it slows down, as the bullets riddle the bodies of the gangsters, and blood pours from their wounds. (Take that PG-13, BS film!-MM-)

The graphics are still pretty good. Not as much as say Max Payne 2, but they still get the job done, and only look a little dated.

The music is great, as are the voice overs. Particularly, the voice of Max. And some of the dialog with the enemies when they are just hanging around is laugh out loud funny.

The Bad
This game can be very challenging. I finished it on all the modes, and would not care to do that again. Max dies very easily, especially on the higher difficulties.

If you do not want or like a challenge, then you need not apply.

Some of the boss fights are insanely hard. Like the one with Jack Lupino.

There are also some “filler” levels. The only purpose these levels serve is to make the game longer, they could have easily been cut.

The Bottom Line
So here we are 10 years later, and Max Payne is still a blast to play. What you haven’t played it? You have to play it.

The Good
The atmosphere is great - the storytelling takes place not in ingame-sequences or videos, but in comic strips with voiceover. Both the comics and the voice acting is very well done and has funny elements. The story itself is quite entertaining and realistic.

The revolutionary bullet-time makes you think you're in some kind of John Woo film and there is a scene which clearly lends from The Matrix.

You might also enjoy to play a different type of character for a change. Max Payne isn't a hero fighting for the good, he is just a man out for revenge, a one man army ripping through hordes of enemies. So even he is a policeman, he will not attempt to deal out arrest warrants - the enemies are going down.

Weapons are well balanced and each has its strength. Depending on how far away the enemy is, how well he is covered, how many enemies are there and especially whether you use bullet time, every weapon is useful right to the end of the game.

The Bad
With view being locked in third person, it happens sometimes, especially when you are ducked, that the player is obstructing the view, making it hard to aim at the enemy.

There's some kind of delay in the grenade throwing which makes it easy to blow yourself up. Also grenades are so powerful that if you aren't prepared for the enemy to throw one and get into cover quickly, you will usually get hurt pretty badly.

The biggest disadvantage for me was that the higher difficulty levels aren't open right away. You have to play through the game on the easiest level to unlock the harder ones.

The Bottom Line
A refreshingly different shooter with a sinister, all-consuming story. Like no other shooter, this game plays itself like an action-film and is definitely worth being played through once.