After four years of development, the long-awaited third-person shooter "Max Payne" has arrived. After the release of "The Matrix" in 1999, "Max Payne" became one of the most popular games to wait for, and it did not disappoint. Its gameplay, graphics, and story line are strong enough to keep gamers talking for a while. Its biggest flaw is a lack of a multiplayer mode, but once you see how this game works you will understand why.
The game world is a great reproduction of New York City. You actually feel as if you are running through the underworld culture of Manhattan. The drug lord you are fighting is the creator of an ultra-addictive drug called "valkyr," and this city is full of addicts and fiends. The ambient sound and random screams and sirens really add to the feel of a live city, not to mention the highly detailed level design, making each building feel like a real building as opposed to a random maze of doors. The mapping and level design is near perfect for the theme of the game.
Max Payne is an undercover cop trying to avenge his family's death when he gets framed for murder and goes all out to exact revenge. Of course, no man could challenge the Mafia, the police, and a drug lord by himself, but Max Payne has an advantage: Bullet-Time. Anyone who has seen "The Matrix" could tell you what Bullet-Time is. However, in "Max Payne," you the gamer get to take control and truly be "the one." There is nothing better than blowing into a room full of bad guys, clicking a button, and flying through the air shooting the bad guys in slow motion. It looks and sounds beautiful.
As a third-person shooter before the Bullet-Time action, "Max Payne" is a very simple game. You run forward and backward, strafing left to right while holding down the fire button. The strategy comes in when you enter a room full of many baddies totting Uzis, Berettas, Desert Eagles, and Colt Carbines, all of which are perfectly modeled and textured. This is where it gets fun. All you have to do is right-click in any direction and Max will proceed to dive in that direction in slow motion. As in "The Matrix," Max can turn and aim at full speed. The slow motion works great, making it easy to aim at and unload ammo into the proper receptacles: evil gun-toting mobsters and valkyr fiends.
"Max Payne" is also a very accurately damage-modeled game. A shot in the head will nearly kill Max or any of the nonboss enemies, and a shot to the leg will do far less damage. There are a few bosses who are always surrounded by baddies carrying only the most powerful weapons, and for some reason they are able to take about 50 rounds to the head. Disregarding the fact that they seem to eat bullets, these bosses are a lot of fun to kill and sometimes Max has to figure out a trick to cause their death, such as shooting a gas tank so that it will blow up and engulf the bad guys in flames.
Throughout the game Max is faced with impossible odds. Any player will be doing a lot of saving and loading, if only to see all the possible outcomes. Almost every group of bad guys has some scripted speech or movement that plays out as soon as Max moves within earshot, making the game more like an interactive movie than an all-out shooter. Also, the story line of the game plays out like a comic book. Every cut scene is displayed like a page from a comic book, dialog bubbles and all, giving the game an even darker feel. There are also in-engine small movies that play at key points in the game and use the slow motion to perfection. They're certainly better than some of the lame "Matrix" wanna-bes that have come out this summer.
This game is definitely not for children. Although there is a parental lock built into the game, the story line alone would be deemed inappropriate by most parents. For gamers, this is the story line of dreams: Your family has been slaughtered by a bunch of junkies, and the drug lord has framed you for even more murders, all because your wife got a memo with some info about the creation of the drug. You even get to play as Max before his family gets killed and see the transition of his facial expressions from happy family man to heartless, strapped-to-the-teeth bad-ass.
Graphically, "Max Payne" also delivers. Nothing looks better in slow motion than seeing the unhappy look on your adversary's face as you empty a clip into his torso. Faces are clear, clothing is crisp, and the texturing makes "Max Payne" look and feel like it's in the real New York City. The game also looks good and performs well on a slower machine (tested on athlon 750 with GeForce MX), but at a loss in resolution.
Overall, "Max Payne" does not disappoint -- unless you are looking for multiplayer. This game has only one mode. Anyone who likes fast-paced shooter action will have to check this out, and anyone who loved "The Matrix" has to at least see this game played. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's one of a kind, and it's just as fun to die as it is to live. Max Payne can move in Bullet-Time because he's inside a computer game. Will he wake up from this illusion? I hope not. I'm having too much fun playing it!
The game world is a great reproduction of New York City. You actually feel as if you are running through the underworld culture of Manhattan. The drug lord you are fighting is the creator of an ultra-addictive drug called "valkyr," and this city is full of addicts and fiends. The ambient sound and random screams and sirens really add to the feel of a live city, not to mention the highly detailed level design, making each building feel like a real building as opposed to a random maze of doors. The mapping and level design is near perfect for the theme of the game.
Max Payne is an undercover cop trying to avenge his family's death when he gets framed for murder and goes all out to exact revenge. Of course, no man could challenge the Mafia, the police, and a drug lord by himself, but Max Payne has an advantage: Bullet-Time. Anyone who has seen "The Matrix" could tell you what Bullet-Time is. However, in "Max Payne," you the gamer get to take control and truly be "the one." There is nothing better than blowing into a room full of bad guys, clicking a button, and flying through the air shooting the bad guys in slow motion. It looks and sounds beautiful.
As a third-person shooter before the Bullet-Time action, "Max Payne" is a very simple game. You run forward and backward, strafing left to right while holding down the fire button. The strategy comes in when you enter a room full of many baddies totting Uzis, Berettas, Desert Eagles, and Colt Carbines, all of which are perfectly modeled and textured. This is where it gets fun. All you have to do is right-click in any direction and Max will proceed to dive in that direction in slow motion. As in "The Matrix," Max can turn and aim at full speed. The slow motion works great, making it easy to aim at and unload ammo into the proper receptacles: evil gun-toting mobsters and valkyr fiends.
"Max Payne" is also a very accurately damage-modeled game. A shot in the head will nearly kill Max or any of the nonboss enemies, and a shot to the leg will do far less damage. There are a few bosses who are always surrounded by baddies carrying only the most powerful weapons, and for some reason they are able to take about 50 rounds to the head. Disregarding the fact that they seem to eat bullets, these bosses are a lot of fun to kill and sometimes Max has to figure out a trick to cause their death, such as shooting a gas tank so that it will blow up and engulf the bad guys in flames.
Throughout the game Max is faced with impossible odds. Any player will be doing a lot of saving and loading, if only to see all the possible outcomes. Almost every group of bad guys has some scripted speech or movement that plays out as soon as Max moves within earshot, making the game more like an interactive movie than an all-out shooter. Also, the story line of the game plays out like a comic book. Every cut scene is displayed like a page from a comic book, dialog bubbles and all, giving the game an even darker feel. There are also in-engine small movies that play at key points in the game and use the slow motion to perfection. They're certainly better than some of the lame "Matrix" wanna-bes that have come out this summer.
This game is definitely not for children. Although there is a parental lock built into the game, the story line alone would be deemed inappropriate by most parents. For gamers, this is the story line of dreams: Your family has been slaughtered by a bunch of junkies, and the drug lord has framed you for even more murders, all because your wife got a memo with some info about the creation of the drug. You even get to play as Max before his family gets killed and see the transition of his facial expressions from happy family man to heartless, strapped-to-the-teeth bad-ass.
Graphically, "Max Payne" also delivers. Nothing looks better in slow motion than seeing the unhappy look on your adversary's face as you empty a clip into his torso. Faces are clear, clothing is crisp, and the texturing makes "Max Payne" look and feel like it's in the real New York City. The game also looks good and performs well on a slower machine (tested on athlon 750 with GeForce MX), but at a loss in resolution.
Overall, "Max Payne" does not disappoint -- unless you are looking for multiplayer. This game has only one mode. Anyone who likes fast-paced shooter action will have to check this out, and anyone who loved "The Matrix" has to at least see this game played. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's one of a kind, and it's just as fun to die as it is to live. Max Payne can move in Bullet-Time because he's inside a computer game. Will he wake up from this illusion? I hope not. I'm having too much fun playing it!