Max Payne 3
I hadn’t see Fabiana in a worrying about of time, but at least I wasn’t following a trail of her fingers.
- Max
I am a big narrative person when it comes to games. I play to experience a story, and Max Payne was wonderfully written in the distinct style of a hard boiled crime show.
To help give breathing room to the intense rush of the primary storyline, every once in a while the environment fades from the sunny streets of San Paulo to the past. These memory segments, not only give context to Max as a character, but help explain how he got into the mess in the first place.
Throughout the game Max’s dark, almost disturbing, perception of the world is self narrated. He lets you know exactly what he is thinking about the people, the place, and the situation. The small one liners, like the one above, keep the player engaged and help draw out the color of the character.
But what makes up the bulk of gameplay in Max Payne, is its signature gunplay.
The original Max Payne, published in the early 2001, brought the popular bullet time sequence from the film The Matrix to life, and it is showcased incredibly well in this third installment.
All Max has to do is dive, in any direction, and the world slows to a crawl. There is some pretty amazing work going on behind the scenes, because Max twists in the air, depending on the direction the player wants him to face. The animation system is super dynamic and looks incredible. You can also enter bullet time at any time, as long as he has “energy”, which is fueled by number of kills Max has racked up.
The guns feel good, each shot has a visceral punch when it hits somebody, and the last kill slow motion always brings a grin. The weapon sound effects are nailed just right, and reload animations look pretty good. Each gun as a unique feel and use, which allows for limited player choice.
The game is fantastic, but I felt like there were a few things that bogged it down.
The Rock Star Social Club is one of those. We were always been told in school that you should make your game as accessible as possible. The faster you get the player to start the game the better the chance they will stick with it. Larger companies, like RockStar, don’t adhere to this. They can get away with the saying, “Build it and they will come” No matter what hoops, we as players, need to jump through, they know we will in order to play their game.
Which is too bad.
When I first launched Max Payne, the first thing that popped up was this Rock Star Social Club. I needed to create and account and sign in before ever even playing the actual game! There was no way around this, and thus my first five to ten minutes of Max Payne consisted of login screens…
And then there are the collectables…
Collectables is a classic game design tool. Strewn throughout the game of Max Payne are golden parts of the guns you wield. Collect all the parts of a particular weapon and you get a golden version of it.
And while yes, its there for replay value and to give the player just one more thing to do, but really it not necessary. Every other element in the game is so strong that the player doesn’t need collectables to keep them coming back. The collectables also break immersion for the player. All of a sudden I find myself running around the corners of the map, trying to find more of these pieces. And while it does force the player to explore all of the superb art that makes up the Max Payne world, it does so at a cost. I, as the player, have been pulled out of the unique cinematic experience that the game is made of.
But, thats it. Max Payne 3 is a great game, easily of the best of year and I cannot stop recommending it.
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