Just minutes ago, I finished the computer game Max Payne. It took me about 3 days of on and off playing, between work, sleep and television. I feel as if I just played the role of Dirty Harry, out to clean up the town all by himself. Unlike Callahan, however, I had some nifty slo-mo moves that got me out of some pretty tight spots; sort of like "The Matrix".
I'd love to say that the game was groundbreaking in it's achievements...that it was the best thing since sliced bread or Half-Life. I cannot. Max Payne, while addictive and fun to play, wasn't the game I thought it would be. Maybe it was all of the hype that preceded it.
Aside from using the 3rd person viewpoint, Max Payne differs only slightly from your standard first person shooter. You run around and unlock doors..flip switches, find a key or two...solve a puzzle..and face overwhelming odds all on your own. I suppose all of that is to be expected, but it gets old after a while. The breath of fresh air would be the "bullet time" effect in Max Payne. Hitting your default "shift" key to go into BT, all action slows down. Max can dive Matrix style, fire off rounds more precisely into the bad guys, while at the same time avoiding their shots. The slow motion sequences are borderline artistic; almost like it glamorizes the killings. A successful shot with your sniper rifle will give you a bullet's view as it travels from muzzle to dead-man-walking. Unfortunately, the end result is a little red splash, just like in all of the other killings. No gore like Quake 3 or Soldier of Fortune.
That isn't such a bad thing. The gameplay is very smooth and I found the controls easily customizable. I used the mouse for forward/backward movement, with the middle scroll button for changing weapons. In combination with the keyboard for strafing and firing, I found this setup to be very effective. I will note that I never found much use for the Bullet time strategy. As another reviewer noted, I found myself saving the game almost after every kill I made.
While in computer games, gameplay is key, the story must also hold up it's end of the bargain for me to enjoy it. Max Payne doesn't let down here. After coming home only to find his wife and baby murdered, Max finds himself knee-deep in a mafia-government-military conspiracy involving a designer drug..it's purpose, I won't divulge in case you want to buy the game. At two different points in the game, you feel as if you're on the drug yourself. These sequences involve some trippy visuals; hallways stretch out, lights flicker, and you hear voices.
I must now throw in my opinion of Payne's "end-boss" scenarios. Unlike most other FPS (first person shooter) games, where at the end of a set of levels you face some huge mega-monster, Max Payne offers a twist. Either you face some sort of SWAT team group of bad guys, all of which have decent A.I., or you have to escape some harrowing situation (e.g. a building about to explode). In this respect Payne is quite similar to Medal of Honor. Instead of just firing a 1,000 rounds into some overwhelmingly huge monster to win a level, you actually have to use your brain. Can I remember how to back-track out of this building before it explodes? What can I use for defense when there are 20 guys shooting at me? Strategy is key.
I would have to disagree with another reviewer who said the graphics were barely a step up from his Commodore 64. That's a highly laughable statement, as this game, despite it's lack of gore, has more than it's share of eye-candy. While it's true that the sky is rather dull, it's supposed to be. The game is set in a blizzard in NYC. It may not have the fine detail of a game like Return to Wolfenstein or Undying, Payne has very crisp graphics. As well, you can almost shoot any object in view.
I'm looking forward to a sequel of some sort for Payne. Hopefully next time the game will be longer, and will include some sort of multiplayer option and maybe an option for a first person perspective. Better voice acting would be nice, too.
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