Max Payne

The Good
The style is evident, from the over-the-top dialogue ("the sun went down with false bravado...") to over-the-top gunplay (everything from Striker auto-shotgun to grenade launchers). The graphics novel interludes gives that stylized art that calls attention to itself. The plot... completely over-the-top as well... From shooting crime bosses all the way up to government conspiracy, even has a few elements of X-files and Twin Peaks... And boy, is bullet-time fun...

The Bad
The style can be too over-the-top for people. There's plenty of blood (heck, EVERYBODY you shoot leaves a puddle of blood, some more than others). The plot is also full of cliches (government conspiracy, Mafia "wiseguys", etc.), even has an evil twin thrown in the mix! In the final levels, the game becomes quite difficult (and that was on the LOWEST level of difficulty!) when you're assaulted by guys in bullet-proof vests armed with the latest weapons. There's usually no room for you to hang-back and pick them off one at a time. It's usually full-speed ahead guns blazing. No saved-replays of your "best" shots.

The Bottom Line
Max Payne is about as close as you will come to "play" an action movie. It may be short (but then, so are most action movies), it may be a bit trite and cliche (but then, so are action movies), and it may be over-the-top (again, like action movies) but it sure is fun.

Bullet-time effect as implemented in the game is a brilliant innovation in action gaming. As you're still able to aim (in real-time), if you have a good mouse or controller you can pull off action-hero style diving shots with side-dives (shoot-dodges) or just "plain" bullet-time like the way Neo went through the lobby in the Matrix. Of course, BT is limited and you can't keep using it (you get more by killing more bad guys).

Being third-person, this game lets you admire your own moves while evaluating the enemy shots. As each bullet IS modelled individually, this can be very important to decide which way to dodge. However, the viewpoint sometimes makes it impossible to see what you actually want to shoot, esp. in constrained spaces like in a doorway or against the wall. Still, it is possible to see "around" corners and that's part of the gameplay.

The game has a way to "leading" you through this one-way maze without making it too evident. There LOOKS like plenty of doors, but only a few of them are functional, and even the doors that seems to lead to alternate paths actually just provide a few more goodies (pain killers, ammo, etc.) for you, and you'd have to backtrack to the main path.

Occasionally when you come to an important dramatic point (come across TV or radio or paper on desk) you get a graphic novel update of your situation, like the police has joined the chase after you, and so on. While it adds to the atmosphere, it also breaks up the rhythm of the action.

The game is quite user-friendly. There are unlimited save slots, as well as a quick-save and quick-load buttons. When you die, you get a choice to reload from the most recent save, and you only need to press one key to load it. This makes you want to retry that part of game again immediately... Wish all games can do that.

The game runs tolerably on older computers, but if you can crank it up to maximum eye-candy, you're in for a full cinematic experience... Shoot a group of bad guys and sometimes that last guy's death will be replayed in slo-mo... Too bad you can't save that to savor over-and-over again... Expect to see realistic shadows, rag-doll physics (not REALLY implemented, but pretty close), and more.

There are occasional situational puzzles that forces you to figure out what to do next, but usually they aren't very hard, as mostly they involve jumping from one to another, or in some cases, shooting things. The solution for the final takedown was pretty ingenious as well.

Overall the game is short, about 10 hours at most. Still, it's one INTENSE 10-hour ride, and one you'd likely to savor over-and-over by going back for the higher-difficulty levels, as well as discover the secrets that lies within... There are quite a few hidden rooms and such for you to find.

And it's NOT really possible to describe the elation you feel when you pull off that perfect diving shot... Just imagine that you noticed 3 bad guys talking around the corner. You arm the grenade launcher... And you did a diving jump... Lobbing a grenade into their midst... They go "what the..." then the grenade goes boom, tossing them in all directions... You take a breath, then shots bounce off the wall behind you... Another group of bad guys to shoot...

This is one heck of a ride, so enjoy it.

The Good
There was some novelty in playing a role in a HKBO (Hong Kong Blood Opera), diving out of door ways blasting bad guys in slow motion but it's not quite as cool as the movies. The voice acting is done well and is of a good quality, the story is told through comic strips which is different and Max Payne narrates. Payne spews metaphors and similes for most situations which make you think he should be a novelist instead of a cop. The levels have lots of minor details like smoldering cigarettes in ash trays, rats, cobwebs and working water coolers and bar taps, while levels in general are detailed in the volume of chairs, tables and cupboards put into rooms making the general room far more realistic than the cuboids that inhabit Half Life's 'high tech laboratories'.

The Bad
The game is so incredibly, mind numbingly repetitive, the game play consists of diving through a door and shooting a bunch of guys then diving through another guy and shooting a bunch of guys who look suspiciously like the last bunch of guys, which is possibly because there are only 5 different opponents in the entire game. The bad guys are either a selection of 3 New York mobsters (usually some variation on a bad suit), a balaclava clad mercenary or 'Killer Suits' - guys in matching black suits and black sun glasses, much like secret service agents, and are the only bad guys in the last 1/4 of the game. The enemies are about as bland vocally as they are visually, the only things they say are "Payne!", "It's Payne!", "Get him", "Contact with the enemy" or "Send reinforcements" which you can guess would be repeated very often. The AI is very ordinary, if they have a clear shot at you they will stay still and shoot at you until you move, apon which they will follow you unless you run too far away, the occasional enemy will dive to the side once or twice then start shooting but they will never, ever notice that you have thrown a grenade at them, or that firing their grenade launcher at this range will kill them as well. The story is rather cliched, a man has his family killed and seeks revenge, it sounds similar to the Charles Bronson 'Death Wish' series, so much so that it seems the Max Payne doesn't really care as he drones on in his monologues and soon after the third monologue I stopped caring as well. Because the game is in third person the camera will often be your worst enemy, crouching near a wall will completely obscure your view. Game play is almost completely made up of 'hit the hammer with the biggest, loudest hammer.' which leaves the game feeling hollow.

The Bottom Line
A good shooter for people with short attention spans or hype monkeys who are attracted by bright lights. Completely linear and fairly simple, Max Payne is good game but has lots of room for improvement, just throw it onto the pile of other recent shooter titles.

The Good
Outstanding. Game play, graphics, sound, music, story, this game has it all and some tricks throw in for good measure. The Bullet Time effect is amazing and I would not be surprised if a lot of games start mimicking this ability. For those of you who haven't read anything about Max Payne. It's a FPS from a 3rd person perspective. What is revolutionary is that Max has the ability to go into slo-mo mode briefly ala your favorite John Woo movie. A fraction of a second can seemingly go on and on, you see individual bullets racing towards you, the gunshots sound hollow like you are in a cave and the sound of your heart beating is ringing in your ears. Bullet Time in and of itself would have made this an interesting game, but there is more ... much more. Beside the fluid game play there is a completely immersive story. The voice acting is top notch. The graphics are superb, albeit you need a hefty video card to get the full effect. However my GeForce DDR 64 handled a high resolution at a good frame rate quite well. The 3D models are amazing and the textures are great. I also liked the realistic guns. I am rather sick of made up weapons like nail guns or rocket launchers. Another nice touch are the cinematic shots. When some difficult task is performed ( taking out a room full of bad guys or sniping someone from a distance ) the camera moves to where the action is. You see in slo-mo a bad guy getting cut down or you follow a bullet to it's intended victim.

The Bad
It's short. I was able to finish Max Payne in about 14 hours. I admit had I gone to work, ate or slept in those 14 hours it may have streched it on for days. When you finish Max it opens Hard Boiled and New York Minute modes. Though the plot doesn't change it adds more of a challenge to the game.

The plot could of been less linear. Unlike Deus Ex which was a very open ended game Max is spoon fed the plot and must move from point A to point B. There is no real choice. Because the plot is so linear there is not a lot of puzzle solving. Max doesn't use his brain so much as his lightening fast reflexes.

Neither of these two points really detracts from the game all that much.

The Bottom Line
It kicks major butt. Remedy also includes Max-FX tools with the game allowing people to add additional content. Hopefully we will see the same sort of development that Half-Life did.