Its been 9 years since the last Max Payne game, and Rockstar is here to show us that Max has still got it.
Rockstar games has evolved into an entirely different game company since 2003, so many advancements had been made with Rockstar's games since Max Payne 2, they have released a formidable amount of great titles since 2003, people might know them as Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, and the latest Midnight Club games...
When I got home I fired up Max Payne 3 and let the game take me where it wanted to, the journey was about twelve hours long and jam packed with a rich story line that is still sticking with me.
There was life, death, drama, tragedy, comedy, and suspense... As I sat back watching the credits roll, I was still taking it all in, I had just played a remarkable game, one that I was ready to sit back down and play again, but I still had a multi-player to experience, after a few sessions, I was completely sucked in, at that moment nothing was more grand than putting a bullet through my unfortunate competitor's heads.
This game is phenomenal in almost every way, its dark twisted story has you glued to the screen the whole time, whether you are terrified or just purely fascinated, one way or another it will have you in awe as you have difficulty remembering this is not a film.
I have honestly never seen the visual quality that Max Payne 3 has in any other game, one of the only games that came to mind was Heavy Rain, but even Heavy Rain's visuals were not quite this defined..
From the wrinkles on Max's worn face, to the wrinkles on Max's clothing, from the luscious urban alleys of Sao Paulo, Brazil to the dark moonlit streets of Hoboken, New Jersey, Max Payne 3 is one of the best looking games I've seen.
The audio is just as good as the video, every sound is distinct, whether its the sound of foots steps in a puddle of mud, or a gunshot fired from an AK-47, the noise surrounding you is both believable and remarkable.
Another fantastic addition to Max Payne 3 is its extremely talented voice actors and actresses... The voice of Max Payne is none other than James McCaffrey and always has been, Max's narration throughout the game is captivating, every word seems somewhat poetic, and the quality of the voice acting is amazing, even in heated situations the cast is completely believable throughout the game.
The game is absolutely brilliant to play, the heated gunfights are almost constant, and the extra interaction on the side keeps things interesting, such as investigating things or finding hidden golden gun parts or even watching some TV.
Max's movement is completely life like, the way he bends when he turns around, the way he falls when shot buy a powerful weapon, even the way he slams into the wall when you accidently jump the wrong way, the BulletTime is amazing as always, killing scores of armed goons in slow motion, and watching the camera follow a bullet fired by Max, watching its journey to your enemy's body, its impressive and sometimes hilarious to watch.
The realism blew me away, the way ever magazine dropped litters the floors and hallways, the way bullets lie all over the ground, and the destructible environments make things all that more interesting realistic.
Swinging on a chain and riddling your foes with holes in slow motion, its just a ton of fun, every bullet that is shot into an enemy or yourself, will leave a near permanent wound, watching small blood stains and wounds add up onto Max Payne's clothing overtime is very intriguing and gives you that extra sense of mortality.
But at times when you are surrounded and things seem hopeless, they pretty much are, sometimes even the greatest use of BulletTime is not enough, and people may become frustrated like I did when you view a black and white screen with the color changing words "DEAD" flashing on your screen every ten seconds, this kind of thing only happens a few times throughout the game, but at times (ESPECIALLY ON HARD DIFFICULTY OR HARDER) you may be viewing a lot of.... "Dead" screens.
The game is amazing to watch, it is honestly almost like watching a smash film, but some people may see that as a problem, because you are "Watching" quite a bit.
The cutscenes and frequent cinematics throughout the game help the player know what is going on at ALL TIMES, but some people may feel like this limits them from play and you may begin to feel like you do not have all that much control of Max all to often, to be honest at times complete control of Max is infrequent, and you are watching a lot more than you are controlling, other times the cinematics are cleverly and briefly placed in between times of control, giving you an illusion of complete control.
Some people may be perfectly fine with the very Cinematic story that Max Payne 3 has to offer, while others might see it as a game that too often takes control away from the player.
There are very few visual glitches I have encountered, though I have encountered a few, enemies floating in the air briefly, enemies appearing and disappearing out of thin air, dead enemies standing up for about ten seconds frozen before falling down with a ragdoll effect, some laggy cutscenes, possibly the occasional brief freeze in cinematics, and mouths being out of sync with the words being said at times.
But these bugs are very easily missed and/or overlooked, they do not stick out and I guess that is what is important.
I would consider Max Payne 3 to be a near perfect game that every gamer (especially those into the 3rd Person Genre) should have, besides the occasional frustrations, and the brief bugs encountered Max Payne 3 is a flawless experience.
PARENTAL ADVISORY
For some people a game is a game, and they couldn't care less what it has in it as long as it is fun, for others, well that is what this section of the review is for. :)
Max Payne 3 is rated Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs and Alcohol.
Max Payne 3 is a very violent game as you probably know already, its dark (even morbid) story line could have some people looking away, the intensity of the story is very suspenseful maybe even stressful for some players and you can go ahead and bet everything on the fact that "There will be blood".
When enemies are shot, blood sprays from the fresh wound you have given them, whether that be a bloody hole, or a meaty mess that can be mistaken for bloody angel hair pasta, blood will spurt, spray, and leak from the wound, and as enemies fall to the ground so does all of the leakage.
Environments will get bloodier and bloodier as battle rages on, blood on walls, the occasional dismemberment of enemies, bodies will begin to litter the floors, stairs etc. as you move on through your location to your point of interest.
The faces of your enemies can be mauled apart by gunfire, making their face a bloody "meaty" mess, and the same goes for other parts of there body, in fact the game encourages you to shoot specific body parts to progress in small "deed" like I guess you can say "Side Objectives" like for example getting 25 leg shots will give you a notification that you have completed the "Payne in the Leg" challenge, some goes for parts such as the groin, head, and arms.
In cutscenes and interactive cinematics, people are executed at close range, hacked in the throat with a machete, set on fire with gasoline leaving the player to hear them scream in searing pain as we watch them burn into a crispy pulp, and another person is seen dragging himself while missing in arm and part of his leg, half of him just a burnt butchered up again "meaty" mess, we also hear people scream, and get stabbed in the throat with sharp objects, gargling on their own blood while trying to cry out for help, we see civilians being tortured by officials, and innocent people being shot down in the streets, being thrown out of the homes begging for mercy and being given a cold merciless bullet to the head, we also see women get pushed around, beaten, and even shot at times.
The Sexual Content in Max Payne 3 is brief, Max visits a nightclub with men and women dancing provocatively in Chapter II, and a similar situation takes place on a yacht later in the game, but the most memorable sequence of sexual content takes place in a Strip Club in Chapter VI or VII where Max is headed to talk to a person who may know where the persons of interest are, a partially nude prostitute sits on top of a man, sexual activity seems to be littered through the backround, although it is very obscure and nudity is blocked by onlookers, and topless pole dancers dance in the backround briefly, there are also posters of bikini clad women scattered across the walls and buildings throughout the game, and magazines full of lingerie can be seen lying on floors, desks, beds etc..
With that being the most explicit sexual content, there is also sexual references and slurs, such as p*ssy the words c*nt and d*ck can be heard in certain scenes, and people such as Max sometimes make comments such as "I wouldn't know right from wrong if one of them was helping the poor and the other was banging my sister".
The Language is very Strong, throughout the game people well yell, scream, whisper, or even laugh while saying f**k, or sh*t, and pretty much every other profanity you can think of is heard at least 10 times in this game, if not MUCH more, people may find it offensive, or people may be offended by the racial slurs, mostly the word sp*c, and supposedly the "N" word is used a few times, although I never encountered one, but just because I didn't doesn't mean it isn't in there.
Drugs are seen lying around certain rooms in specific chapters, people are seen snorting cocaine briefly, and Max uses pills called "Painkillers" throughout the game, Max is an obvious Alcoholic and is frequently seen holding some kind of shot glass with a bottle of "Kong" whiskey or any other beverage he may be drowning himself in, other characters drink as well at parties, clubs, bars etc. Some characters are seen smoking in parts of the game, for the most part being Max, this game doesn't shy away from use of Drugs, Alcohol, or Tobacco.
So hopefully without spoiling anything I have helped you with this review, its a fantastic game, with hardly any flaws, the only real flaw is the content, and that is only a flaw to some audiences, to others it is just realism, I can understand both views.
In the end Max Payne 3 is a Mature game for the Mature players, or at least the people old enough to say they are Mature, its a game that a parent should really never hand to their child, anyone under 16 shouldn't even touch this game, I'd go as far to even say they shouldn't even watch someone play it, but it is a phenomenal experience, its an eye opening phenomenon that has been given to us by Rockstar, missing this game is really just a sad shame.
Well that is another review, hope you like it, hope it helps thanks for reading.
-ARBALON