Game:

Max Payne 3 (2012)

Category:

Vlog

Duration: 27:25

455 views

9

All three of the Max Payne games have finally been added to Xbox Series back compat!

The original two Max Payne games by Remedy on the og Xbox were fantastic and helped cement the Xbox into it's position as my favorite console after SEGA made the heartbreaking decision to pull the Dreamcast from the market. The stories were overly dramatic and the acting was a bit cheesy, but the film noir styled aesthetic and the action packed and intense gameplay, with full bullet physics were incredible to me. One was great and two raised the bar very much higher. Sam Lake, a tremendous talent, helped craft the stories for the first two games, as well as providing the face model for Max in MP1 with the now infamous Max squint.

Three was developed by Rockstar themselves after purchasing the franchise rights from Remedy. The script, headlined by Dan Houser (my pick for the best writer in all of gaming, hands down) was somber, full of self reflection, regret and character deconstruction. With a much larger focus on the story, told through Max's drunken and pill riddled depressive perspective, the action is still somehow even better. The gunplay, physics, destructive elements in the environments, the animation, all of it is astonishing considering it was running on a 360/PS3 originally. This is a must play and has been at the very top of my back compat wishlist since literally back compat was announced!

I have collected the openings from each game here with no commentary (except Max's excellent and melodramatic delivery) so you can see what the atmosphere for each title is like. If this video helps even one person try the franchise, I'll be content.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do and if you'd like to see reviews or detailed breakdowns of these, or any other games, let me know in the comments.

Thanks!

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