There are few things in this world as tragic and heartbreaking then watching a man, crumbled-up and anxiously plotting his escape, while he is using his wife’s tombstone as cover from gunfire. This is but one of the hollowed moments that will take place before you, as you play Max Payne 3 from Rockstar.
Max Payne 3 has taken the third-person shooter to a completely different level, adding seamless gameplay with slow-motion ‘bullet-time’ effects that made me feel like I was still having imaginary, childhood shoot-outs with my friends in the backyard. Max is a broken down and destroyed anti-hero by this period in the series, a memory of the man he once was before the events of his tragic past. I watched him in his shambled home (assumably haunted by the hundreds of people he has killed at this point) spending his time in a drunken haze of anger, resentment and loss.
The story of Max Payne 3 takes place mostly in Brazil, where a failing Max has been hired as protection for a rich family. Max is doomed from the start at this task but it will provide the necessary plot-devices that will drive the rest of the story. By the end of Max Payne 2 you were probably the most lethal assassin/vigilantly that was walking the streets. In order to give Max a new story arch, Rockstar has stripped Max of all his valor, purpose and drive. This created a great base-line for starting a new Max Payne 3 storyline. A story of redemption, one where Max himself needed to be saved, not by others but by the player.
Although gameplay hasn’t been “overhauled” it has been refined to almost perfection. There are few games that can portray the simple process of shooting someone and still have it be just as terrific by the 100th enemy. Rockstar did exactly what it should have with the title, in regards to the gameplay. It’s a third-person shooter, it means you are going to have cover, you are going to shoot at people from behind that cover and you are going to have panic attacks when cover is not available. That is a third-person shooter, don’t reinvent the wheel just make it better. Rockstar did just that with better enemy AI that searches for you when you’re missing, patrols and tries to outflank you. They made the physics better by creating a more lifelike reaction from bullets and gunfire. The guns feel like they have weight, Max doesn’t move about like a fluttery 15 year-old, he feels like a grown man with mass and structure. The environment disintegrates once the bullets start flying, fragments of the walls or windows start to intrude upon your line of sight or block your path causing you to find a better place to collect yourself and reload.
The action sequences in the game are nail-bitting and gritty. It’s a tornado of destruction and chaos most of the time, as you are either trying to escape from enemies or track them down. The game always keeps you moving, not trudging up through the enemy, slowly getting to the next line of cover but running to it. Constantly running, moving, changing directions, this is how the gameplay has improved from previous titles. It’s not made to be a ‘tactical shooter’ it’s ment to be balls-out craziness that will kill you any moment now if you don’t get away. It’s a firefight and your outnumbered, the game keeps you from ‘sitting back’ and picking off enemies by keeping them moving to get around you. When you’re stalking enemies you have to be quick, move when there’s an opening and take them out.
This violent chaos does cause a bit of disconnect with the cut-scenes, as they don’t keep up with the violent hell that you just went through before you started watching them. It wasn’t a terrible flaw but it’s something that I noticed while playing. The cut-scenes sometimes felt like the ‘cool-down’ stages between shootouts. The storyline was immersive and I was hoping to be just as excited for the cut-scenes as I was the for the gameplay, often times they delivered, though sometimes they weren’t as fun. Rockstar did keep the plot simple, this allowed for more time to develop a select cast of characters and the locals are fresh and fun to play in.
You can feel the work that went into Max Payne 3, from the AI to the weapons to the details of Max’s animation, it was all fluid. The game was exciting to play and a must for anyone that has played a Max Payne title in the past.
Graphic Design – 9.5: The game plays out like an interactive action-movie. The animations are completely fluid and the effects that went into the kill-cams and physics are terrific.
Gameplay – 9: Everything about Max Payne 3 was fun to play and intuitive, the button-mapping was spot on and controlling Max in near death situations was tight and responsive. The game plays for about 11 hours in one play-through though.
Presentation – 8.5: The title offered a new setting for the Max Payne franchise, with new locals that didn’t mirror the dark gritty streets of New York. This gave the game a fresh feel while playing Max Payne 3 and not just a continuation of Max Payne 2. How the cut-scenes were implemented though could have used some work and shortened in some areas of the game.
Replay – 9.0: The multiplayer portion of the game (separate review coming soon) will keep this title on your shelf for a long period of time. The trophy/achievement system isn’t impossible and provides some fun challenges to enhance a second go-around.
OVERALL RATING: 9/10
this review score is based on similar games that launched with comparable price-points.
=( I was totally going to write one for this.. I was all ready to do it =P You shtink ;P <3
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