Game Review: Max Payne 3 (the campaign)

So Max Payne is back and after waiting nine years for this all I can really say is, it’s about bloody time (although it has taken me an extra  five months to get around to actually playing it).

So for those that don’t know, the Max Payne games are all about a bitter alcoholic cop who has lost pretty much everyone he has ever cared about due to crime and corruption. Usually the Max Payne games are based in the dark underground streets of New York and are very personal to the Max Payne character because they’re all about him seeking the truth and vengeance of his dead wife and child. 

Max Payne 3 takes you in a new direction however. Max has left the NYPD and gone to sunny Brazil to work as a bodyguard for the rich and live out his years drinking whisky at boat parties. Max’s current contract is to protect some wealthy brothers and one of their wives, whilst escorting them to night clubs and parties. Obviously this wouldn’t make a great Max Payne game so in true Max Payne style things soon take a turn for the worst and you find yourself shooting up half the country.

Now if you’ve never played a Max Payne game, don’t worry, you don’t need to know anything about the other two to play this one. Plus Rockstar have been good enough to devote a whole half a page of the manual to explain Max’s background. This doesn’t mean that fans of the first two games are going to be disappointed or feel that Max is a new man though. There are constant references that Max makes throughout the game that will remind you of the things he’s been through in previous games.

It’s not just the Character that has retained that Max Payne aura about it either. Max still has this internal monologue thing going on throughout the game, meaning that as stuff happens Max is letting you know what he’s thinking, without actually speaking out loud and to himself like an idiot.

People who have played the first two games will remember that cut scenes were actually just comic book strips with speech bubbles. Well obviously a game in 2012 would not get away with doing that, especially one developed by Rockstar. However, they have managed to combine that classic comic book style with actual video cut scenes by occasionally pausing the video, shrinking the screen, and continuing the video in another box. It sounds a little strange but it actually works really well, whereby it has real cut scenes but stays true to the classic Max Payne approach. The cut scenes also have a way of reminding you that Max is always either drunk, hungover, high on prescription drugs, or a combination of all of these things and it gives the game a great cinematic feel to it. If you don’t like the idea of constant or lengthy cut scenes then you may get a little irritated by them in Max Payne 3, but I personally found that they always fitted in quite well and were only really there to explain the next part of the story, which is what cut scenes are meant for in my opinion.

The only downside to the cut scenes are that every other word that is spoken by a character is flashed up on the screen. I can only imagine that they did this to further add to keeping in line with the original Max Payne games as they had the whole texts written in each comic frame. But it really doesn’t work that well in Max Payne 3 and you often find yourself being drawn to a random word that has popped up instead of watching that guy crawl away with a missing arm.

Now they’ve kept something that to new users will look stupid and unprofessional, and that is that when Max is riddled with bullet holes and a cut scene happens, Max is still riddled with bullet holes. He just walks around with blood coming out of his lungs and stomach, and has no limp what so ever even though you could probably pass a pencil through his knee. But I think the developers did this on purpose, partly because this is how it was in the other two games and partly because Max Payne is a Bad Ass! 

There is obviously still quick time in Max Payne 3 which any fan of these games will remember and know that it is really quite easy to master. For those that don’t know what quick time is, it’s just slow motion. Just think Matrix and you’ll have a pretty good understanding of what it is. Oh and Max Payne did it first by the way. The other thing that is still in the game is the health bar. In recent years we’ve seen the rise of the regenerating health system, meaning as long as you can hide for long enough you’ll be fine. But Max Payne isn’t a pussy and he doesn’t hide... ever! Instead you’ll have to find pain killers and Max will use them like med kits. That’s right, Max doesn’t need to stop the bleeding, he just needs to numb the pain a little.

So what’s actually new? Well the environment is different, and I don’t just mean because he’s in Brazil. The environment is now destructible. I know this isn’t new to the world of gaming but it is new to the world of Max Payne and it does lead to the player having to been a little bit more tactical. Thinking about it, this is probably another reason why Max doesn’t hide.

The developers have also added in golden guns. You can to collect all the parts during a campaign level and then whenever you pick a gun up that you have all the golden parts for it turns gold in your hand. I don’t like this for two reasons. Firstly it’s a golden gun! This is Max Payne, not Amy of Two. Secondly, I just don’t like the idea of searching levels high and low for an in game collectable because by the time you’ve finished looking you’ve forgotten what the hell is going on the game. But to be fair to the developers every game does it and it’s a real minor thing to complain about.

The game can be quite graphic at times, which is good because it’s a Max Payne game. It does this by showing you people who have had limbs blown off, people who have been burnt alive and by allowing you to slow down time for your final kill so that you can empty an entire clip into some guy’s head. And I did waste a lot of ammo by using the final kill slow motion camera. It’s just very addictive. 

The story is also very clever in its approach. As mentioned earlier Max is now a bodyguard for the rich in Brazil. Whilst you play the game you get a real good insight into the social tension that is going on between the rich and the poor. Max sees that there are some wealthy people that are trying to help the poor, whilst others are abusing and exploiting them. But Max also gets to see the other side of the coin and often comments on the different ways in which the poor try to escape the extreme poverty that comes with living in the Brazilian slums. This is not only shown in the main story but also in the clues that you can find, resulting in little bits of Max’s internal monologue being played and giving the player an insight into what Max thinks of all this. Of course, like always, Max never really sees the whole picture until later and neither do you.

Now any fan of the Max Payne games will know that the stories in the first two games are very personal to the Max Payne character, and that this is one of the main things that made those games so great. But you don’t really get that feeling in Max Payne 3. Instead you’re left wondering if Max actually feels he owes these people something or if he’s just trying to get himself killed in a heroic last stand. Or maybe he’s finally completely lost it and thinks he’s some sort of Batman Robin-Hood hybrid with guns. The story is still pretty good though and it does have a few dark twists in it, some more predictable than others. And at least there are no bad dreams in this one where you’re tight roping on blood to the sound of a crying baby.   

Unfortunately there is a huge lack of freedom in both the path you take to reach your destination and the tactics you use to get there. You have no choice but to go in guns blazing with a very structured path to follow at all times, even when it looks like you might actually be given a choice or two. 

 

So overall I’d say Max Payne 3 is a pretty good game. It stays true to the first two and does very well in the new environment. The story isn’t perfect or personal enough for a Max Payne game but it is good and does give a great social insight into the how people from different economical backgrounds live. The graphics are pretty good and the cut scenes give the game a cinematic style whilst also maintaining that classic comic book approach. It does have a couple of down sides, like flashing words during the videos and collectable golden guns to remind you that this is just a game. But these are tiny issues and can be overlooked. The main downside is the lack of freedom that you are given in strategy and rout. But when judging the game as a whole it has to be said that this is still one worth playing, if you are new to Max Payne or not. The Bottom line is that Max Payne is back and he’s still a bad ass.... Just now he’s a bad ass with a beard.

-Ayden