I remember back in high school days, some of my pimple-popping friends would pretend they can slow down time, jump through the air, yelling out words in slow motion like a fat kid with a mouth full of.... well whatever fat kids like to eat, all the while sliding down the school hand rail shooting at each other with invisible bullets coming out of the very same fingers that they used to pick their noses just 5 minutes ago.
This was back when I had never played a Max Payne game before, I thought they just watched too many John Woo action flicks back in the day. Let's be honest, Max Payne draws great inspiration from the action film master Woo himself. And Max Payne 3 is no different, and they're not even subtle about it. They've basically placed the dual wielding high flying Chow-Yun Fat into a bald white man's body. Why can't they just make a whole new game with the Asian version? no I'm not talking about stranglehold and sleeping dogs, I mean let Chow-Yun Fat be the protagonist without giving him a facial reconstruction surgery and making him an alcoholic red neck and maybe let the game title be Max Pang, or Max Ping, whichever you prefer. Instead, the game industry seems to be so obsessed with three-quels these days that it's like they are left unsatisfied with their game production masturbation and haven't reached their climax until they make the third game in the franchise!
Even the triple-titty hooker in total recall is like "why is everyone trying to copy me".
Don't get me wrong, some sequels do turn out to be better than their original counterparts, like Resistance 3 for example, which I consider to be one of the best FPS on the market this generation.
Don't get me wrong, some sequels do turn out to be better than their original counterparts, like Resistance 3 for example, which I consider to be one of the best FPS on the market this generation.
In fact, I think Max Payne 3 is a pleasant surprise, and I have to say I'm glad rockstar games hasn't forgotten about the melancholy, pill-popping, whisky chuckking ex-cop who might just be too old by now to be flying around in the air in slow motion and diving head first into a hoard of enemies while shooting them in the balls.
In Max Payne 3, you play as Max Payne (like that wasn't obvious enough). The story takes place 9 years after the last game where Max killed a Russian mobster, and was then first from the NYPD for consorting with a known criminal. Without spoiling too much of the story in this game, Max is now a hired gun working in Sao Paolo Brazil, body-guarding and escorting members of the rich Branca family through a society where the higher class live so close to the lower class that make a cage full of puppies stack onto each other seem like a luxury hotel room. Still mourning the death of his loved ones from long ago, Max seeks to start fresh but is still haunted by his past memories.
The story in general is very well-written, koodos to the developers on that. For me, I don't generally like flashbacks in games, but the flashbacks in this game tell the story of what happened to Max after his departure from the NYPD, how he became addicted to alcohol and pills, and how he eventually ended up in Brazil. This fleshes out Max's character more and allows you to connect with Max at a deeper level as you play through the game.
There are people out there who didn't like the story of Max Payne 3, but personally, I liked it. Sure it doesn't have a memorable story like Bioshock and Final Fantasy 7 (don't hate) and it might be a simple story of revenge, but it does have a small twist that made me smile and the whole story is told through a great sense of style and really fun, albeit linear, gameplay. Overall, I think the story is not deeply philosophical by any means, but it's definitely very well-told. I like good stories in games, that's what makes me want to keep playing a game. Without that, this just becomes another mindless shooter, a genre that has gone way over its saturation point in the market today.
There are people out there who didn't like the story of Max Payne 3, but personally, I liked it. Sure it doesn't have a memorable story like Bioshock and Final Fantasy 7 (don't hate) and it might be a simple story of revenge, but it does have a small twist that made me smile and the whole story is told through a great sense of style and really fun, albeit linear, gameplay. Overall, I think the story is not deeply philosophical by any means, but it's definitely very well-told. I like good stories in games, that's what makes me want to keep playing a game. Without that, this just becomes another mindless shooter, a genre that has gone way over its saturation point in the market today.
Depending on how you judge a game's length, I'm not going to say this game is long or short because there are people out there who thinks 6 hours is long enough and there are those who have no life and complain about 30 hours of gameplay in a game! Well, I spent about 10 hours playing this game, which is significantly longer than than many other shooters out in the market today.
After a short narrative in the beginning of the game, you quickly dive into the gameplay. I use the word dive here quite literally as you play as Max and there is a button that you can press that allows you to dive away from the bullets and into cover all the while slowing down time and shooting terrorists in the head, or in my case diving straight into the raining bullets because I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning. I wish the developers don't just assume we're all expert gamers in their Max Payne universe and provide some kind of training in the beginning, maybe throw in an excuse for this like "oh Max is getting too old so I guess we have to train him to fly through the air in slow motion again so he'll be prepared to be our body guard". After a while though the controls do become more intuitive, and the game becomes fun.
I mean really fun.
After a short narrative in the beginning of the game, you quickly dive into the gameplay. I use the word dive here quite literally as you play as Max and there is a button that you can press that allows you to dive away from the bullets and into cover all the while slowing down time and shooting terrorists in the head, or in my case diving straight into the raining bullets because I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning. I wish the developers don't just assume we're all expert gamers in their Max Payne universe and provide some kind of training in the beginning, maybe throw in an excuse for this like "oh Max is getting too old so I guess we have to train him to fly through the air in slow motion again so he'll be prepared to be our body guard". After a while though the controls do become more intuitive, and the game becomes fun.
I mean really fun.
Gameplay doesn't vary too much since you are max payne and all you do is shoot bad guys.. but I mean... what do you expect, this is Max Payne game for Max's sake! The story is very linear, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Max also doesn't have regenerating health, so it's time to be a man and stop hiding behind covers as you watch your pathetic health meter be filled again!
As you progress through the game taking several small armies at a time, you will start wonder if the police in this game are all deaf.
As far as action is concerned, Max Payne 3 is your run-of-the-mill third-person shooter. The series' stocl in trade has always been the John Woo-like "bullet-time," which you can activate to slow down time. While in bullet time, you can line up shots and take multiple enemies. The only thing that's missing is the flock of pigeons behind him. I mean how hard is it to add some pigeons Rockstar... you can't see me but I'm wagging my finger at you.
The ability to take cover is also new to the series here. I like this addition as it allows you to be more strategic in taking out the army of bafoons, and trust me, you'll need to be strategic. I can't tell you how many times I got filled with lead because I can take on a room full of goons by going in guns blazing... I would never do that in real life... nor would I hang upside down like Max to take out my enemies... but that's besides the point.
I have to say I particularly enjoyed sequences where Max is picking off bad guys on top of a high-rise from the helicopter while they chase after a girl you are suppose to protect, and another where Max has sniper-rifle terrorists in a soccer stadium before they're able to catch Max's partner in crime. These are just two of the many different kinds of environments that you explore throughout this game. I mean the set pieces in this game is just so diverse and awesome. There's a palpable sense of movement. You're always racing from one environment to the next, and the scenery changes frequently. You'll blast your way through a nightclub, city rooftops, the Panama Canal, and, of course, Brazil's famous favelas. The pace is breakneck, and the jerky, faux-documentary camerawork in the cut-scenes - as well as an impressive lack of any loading breaks whatsoever - gives the game a great feeling of acceleration and urgency.
I really do appreciate developers putting in the time to make up different environment and put in pretty colors to keep things fresh, so that even after the gameplay gets somewhat repetitive for those who become bored easily (yes I'm talking about you), they will still get something new to look at and maintain their desire to keeping playing this game. Visually, the level of detail in every locale is insane, and the world looks authentic and lived-in.
Some people on the internet complain about the game having too many cutscenes, but I think the amount of cutscenes is just right and the game does a good job balancing the story and the gameplay. It also adds to the story, at least for me, that the cinematics are stylishly rendered, though the shaky cam may give some people headaches, so watch at your own risk. Oh, and making Max Payne look like Walter White is definitely a great choice. And you gotta admit, Hawaiian shirts just never grow old.
As much as I liked this game however, it's not without its flaws. The gunplay can get somewhat repetitive especially towards the end, even though the awesome set pieces do break up some of this repetitiveness, the gameplay may still be tedious for some.
And Bugs. This is not a surprise, I would say every game I have ever played have bugs, and Max Payne 3 is no exception. There are several frustrating instances where I get shot behind a cover and had the "last-man standing" option to shoot back, but somehow I could not aim the camera nor my gun at the guy who just shot me... so I died and had to restart from the last checkpoint. Thankfully, the checkpoint system is somewhat forgiving in this game so I don't have to go back too far, but when this happens too many times, and it happened around 10 times for me throughout the game, it becomes annoying and can take you out of the experience.
Verdict
I love how Max Payne 3 combines the gritty, stylish violence with a dark and engaging story. It's a very polished experience with high production values. Unlike open-world sandbox games, the gameplay is very linear here. It only does one thing, but it at least does it extremely well, and the action is backed by a spectacular, ethereal score from noise-rock band HEALTH.
Max Payne 3 is, in most respects, an excellent third-person shooter. It's as if Scarface and John Woo films had a baby, it'd be Max Payne 3. It's simply one of the COOLEST games I've ever played. This is what I hoped Stranglehold should have been. If you have not played this game yet, definitely pick it up, especially now that it's very cheap, and it's definitely one of the best third-shooter experiences on the PS3. Even if you have not played any of the Max Payne games before, you should give this one a shot. I mean, how often do you get to play as a gun-wielding Walter White kicking-ass and shooting thugs from a helicopter... you just can't beat that.
I give this game - a Heisenberg.
Whether you agree or disagree with my review, please comment below and let me know what you like or dislike about this game.
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