A ‘Payneless’ Experience. Max Payne 3 Review

What is an understatement?

The presentation of something as being smaller or less good or important than it actually is: E.G: Rockstar is one of the best video game developers out there.
Rockstar has a string of critically acclaimed and widely praised (yet, widely criticized for turning children into mass murdering, Hitler lovers, by the Daily Mail) Grand Theft Auto games ranging from early top down Grand Theft Auto games like GTA 1 and GTA 2 (Rockstar developed these under the former name DMA Design) to my personal favourite (Drum Roll Please…) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Rockstar has also developed or put their name to instant classics such as; Red Dead Redemption, Manhunt and arguably L.A Noire. Rockstar also put their name to the Midnight Club Los Angles game but let’s pretend that game did not happen.

What’s your story Max?

Max Payne 3 opens several years after the events of the first two Max Payne games. If you have never played Max Payne 1 or Max Payne 2, all you really need to know is that Max Payne used to be a cop in New York City. He arrived home one day to a house that was not filled with the smell of his wife baking cookies in the kitchen or the sound of his giggling daughter playing with her dolls in her bedroom. His wife and child have been brutally murdered, his house has been trashed and these injustices have been committed by a gang of drugged up bad guys high on a super strength street drug. The Sin City vibes of the previous games mix with this noire-esque style that transforms the game into a mature storyline of Max Payne now being a shell of a man, a shadow of his former self and a broken-down alcoholic with nothing to live for other than his next drink. Max gets the opportunity to work as a bodygaurd for a super rich, celebrity family in Sao Paulo and things go from bad to worse for Max as all hell breaks lose and chaos descends upon everything Max touches. (Like a rubbish King Midas.)
The games story is beautifully crafted and follows Max’s journey of him still attempting to move on and shake off the demons that have haunted him since the opening of the original Max Payne game.

It’s Play Time Mr Payne

This game plays out with all of the explosions, action and gun fights of a Die Hard movie that had a love child with Pulp Fiction. The gameplay follows a similar style too with an array of different, yet always stunningly crafted slow motion pieces, pre-set dives that are triggered automatically at specific sections of the game, that allow you to kill off the bad guys with an ease of precision and a feeling of pure satisfaction as you clear an entire rooftop or room full of enemies in one foul swoop.

You can trigger slow-motion moves that still look awesome and make you feel like your in an action movie. Cover has been introduced for the first time in Max Payne and taking cover to fire off a few rounds works as well as you would expect it to work. Very occasionally Max will be in cover and not be able to lift his weapon over an object and you end up firing bullets upwards, which can be weird but does not occur enough to be an annoyance.

Shooting feels satisfying and the mixture of free aim, soft lock and hard lock aiming means that everyone can enjoy Max Payne regardless of ability. The story took me around 12-15 hours to complete but the mixture of multiplayer modes, weapons that are available to be upgraded and a wide array of unlockables ranging from avatar clothes to some badass weapons always keep you wanting more from the multiplayer.

As well as the standard team deathmatches, Gang Wars is a game mode of five rounds, with each round having a different goal. One round may be a straight up team deathmatch,l another round of the match may be a simple team deathmatch with the twist that you only have one life. Other modes see you capturing points across the map or delivering a bag to a set area and finally there is a mode that asks you to plant a bomb, while the enemy team must defuse it. The Payne Killer mode sees players playing as either Max or Passos while the rest of the players must hunt them down, kill them and in turn become either Max or Passos.

Max Payne 3 had me hooked and even with the ability I have at present, to look back and reflect upon the game now the hype around it has died down, I still feel that this is a great game. I return to this game regularly and I think Rockstar must be praised for AGAIN making such an enjoyable experience of a game. Thank You Rockstar.

If you enjoyed this article you should listen to our Play Vault Max Payne 3 Spoiler Podcast Here: Clicky To Listen.