Max Payne Video Game Review (About In Description)
0If this is what Payne feels like, then I'm a self-proclaimed masochist.
You know Max Payne...you've been hearing about it for years now. Originally slated for a Spring 2000 release, Max Payne has been in development for a while, and has gotten a lot of media attention -- but I can honestly say that, after playing it, Max Payne lives up to the hype.
The game itself is a third-person shooter that recounts a dark and dirty flashback of undercover DEA agent Max Payne. And when I say dark, I mean pitch black. It's so gritty it almost made me sick at times -- but I mean that in a good way. The story is so well told and so involved that it's like you're playing a John Woo action film on your computer -- something the folks at Remedy have no qualms about admitting since they scattered Woo references throughout the game. Within the first 20 minutes of the game, your wife, baby, and boss are dead. Seeing as how you don't have much left to live for, you go after the Mafia drug syndicate where you've been working as an undercover mole, exacting justice on the people you think are responsible for your family and friend's deaths.
To say the story in Max Payne is intense is an understatement. It would be like calling Dom Deluise husky. In following with the story, you have a rag-tag group of thugs, heavies, Mafia Dons, junkies, hookers, and other members of my family that you'll interact with. The story elements are handled through a variety of means, presented through in-game cutscenes, conversations during gameplay, and narrated graphic novel-inspired panels that fit the game perfectly, and really add a lot of style and character to the game in the process.
A lot of the action in the game revolves around "bullet time," a slow-motion state where Max gains super-human reflexes. To be completely honest, when I first saw bullet time back in the Max Payne preview days, I thought it was just going to be a stupid gimmick inspired by The Matrix that would be completely useless and overused in the game. But I have to admit...it works impeccably. Although it is used a lot in the game, it's a very innovative approach to a shooter, and it's a substantial part of what makes Max Payne so good. Being able to control your aim in real time while everything -- including yourself -- is slowed to a snail's pace not only adds to the over-the-top cinematic feel of Max Payne, but really makes the game what it is, and sets it apart from the slew of other action shooters that we're all too familiar with by now. In keeping with the John Woo style, Max can jump out of the way of oncoming bullets, that you can actually see moving past you in slow motion. Overall the effect is very well done, and super-cool to boot.
Although the game will take the average gamer about a dozen hours to complete, it's a non-stop thrill-ride the whole way through, and you never go for more than a few seconds without seeing a gangster who's ready to take you down with extreme prejudice. I'm personally getting tired of shooters running out of steam and just becoming tedious to complete, and I was satisfied with the game's length. The use of bullet time comes in very handy during the game as you'll rarely run across just one gun-toting thug at a time, and more often you're up against three or four foes at once, which would make the game extremely difficult if it wasn't for bullet time -- and at times the game is still damn hard, even on the easiest difficulty level. While bullet time helps, it's Payne's impressive arsenal -- which includes close-range weapons, pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns, an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and explosives -- that really gets the job done, especially when you're using the ever-satisfying double Uzis.
Third person shooters have traditionally been plagued by awkward camera work, but the view in Max Payne was handled really well, and I never encountered a time when the camera was stuck in a wall, or angled so I couldn't see the action. I did occasionally block the camera with my character's shoulder when I was crouched in a corner waiting for an unsuspecting goon to walk past, but all in all the camera work was some of the best I've ever experienced in a third person shooter.
Overall the AI is pretty good, as enemies will take cover, surround you, and attack in packs. Everything is dynamic, so your opponents will actively react to your actions. If you go in aggressively, they're going to come right at you, but if you're a little more careful, you can sometimes lure an unsuspecting victim around a corner and blast them before they know what hit 'em. There were a few instances where the dynamic pathing didn't seem to work quite right and a thug would be running into a wall, but they were rare and far between. I was a bit disappointed that the enemies seemed to know where I was before I did. Sometimes as soon as the door would swing open a grenade would fly right at me, blowing me to bits.