Max Payne

The Good
Max Payne is a very simple, but fun cinematic shooter that takes genuinely old-fashioned gameplay and updates it with some tricks of its own.

The choice of third-person view, relatively rare for 3D shooters, adds the advantage of allowing the protagonist to perform moves that would be pointless in an FPS, such as rolling. We've seen many times how your FPS opponents were rolling to avoid your shots; but now you can finally do it yourself! Quickly navigating Max to save him from the constant barrage of bullets, madly rolling and jumping out of the way in time is often a life-or-death situation. The action becomes more intense and also more cinematic when you actually see your hero performing all those moves.

The famous "bullet time" effect makes the action even more stylish. Max Payne feels like one of those over-the-top kung-fu movies. Getting rid of your enemies becomes even more impressive when they die in "dramatic" ways, even the simplest kill turning into yet another scene.

The graphics of Max Payne are a sheer beauty; the engine is powerful and smooth, and the levels are quite detailed, filled with Duke Nukem 3D-style interactive environments: you can turn on and off TV sets, flush toilets, and so on.

Max Payne kicks in on a very personal note. The uncomplicated narrative is basically a vigilante quest for revenge. The player is easily able to identify himself with Max, and the following elimination of bad guys becomes more satisfying than ever.

The story is told in still screens with comic-book pages on them, which is an original and stylish idea. The dialogues and, most of all, Max's own comments, are well-written and convincingly spoken. An interesting thing is the usage of humor. At first sight, it seems there's nothing to laugh about here, but the more you advance the story, the more you realize it has a double edge. Its stylistic references to action movies are so obvious that it nearly becomes a self-aware parody.

The Bad
Max Payne is a very simple, linear game, almost to the point of turning into an "on-rails" shooter. You are typically taken to locations that look "explorable", but upon closer inspection it is revealed that there is only one path to proceed. Miraculously locked doors, blocked passages, and other assorted linearity enforcers are everywhere.

The gameplay is very basic, going back to the old days of shooters when problems were solved with blasting everything you see to pieces. Since the game is rather short and there isn't much variety in the enemy design, stylish bullet time kills can get quite monotonous with the time.

The game's heavily scripted AI and its reliance on simplistic setpieces make it feel even more restrictive, filled with situations where you are forced to do things a certain way. The difficulty is very much arcade-like, reflexes and quicksave abuse playing a dominant role; essentially, it's all about resorting to bullet time and frantic rolling over and over again. Max Payne is, in fact, short and repetitive at once.

Max's colorful comments may not fit everyone's taste; some of them try to be too sophisticated, making a strange expression. Also, Max has a permanent silly grin glued to his face, which makes him look like a maniacally-minded dork.

The Bottom Line
If your dream video game is an incarnation of those very uncomplicated action movies with ridiculously tough vigilante heroes who shoot bad guys in spectacular ways, Max Payne is just what you need. However, those looking for deeper, richer, and more varied 3D action might want to pass on this one.

The Good
+ Great soundtrack
+ Great storyline
+ Excellent storytelling
+ Bullet Time works with ease
+ Easy-to-learn level design


The Bad
- Stripped down levels
- No quick-saving abilities
- Rough, unstable framerate


The Bottom Line
Presentation: 95/100
The storyline is told through narration and graphic novel panels, but the panels do not appear one at a time like on the Xbox version; instead, all the panels appear all at once. There's also no DVD player-styled controls for novel cutscenes that appeared on the Xbox and PC versions. The only thing better about the graphic novel panels is the font for the dialogue text, as they appear with more bold letters with upper and lower cases.

Graphics: 74/100
The texture quality is noticeably reduced, and the framerate is unstable. There are times where the framerate is either sharp or nearly unplayable. The framerate on the PS2 version is somewhat jittery in general, and there are only very few times where this can affect the gameplay. If you've played the Xbox/PC version before this, you'll notice that there's a reduced amount of character models, therefore you'll end up killing the same looking guy over and over.

Audio: 90/100
The soundtrack is excellent and most if not all of the dialogue is there. Practically nothing has been stripped down or removed from the PS2 version. The sound quality on the PS2 version seems to be somewhat higher than the Xbox version, or a least that's how I heard.

Controls: 88/100
The controls on the PS2 version are translated well. The L1 button does Bullet Time with Shootdodging, L2 does Bullet Time without Shootdodging, R2 jumps and R1 fires your weapon. X performs actions and zooms on a sniper rifle, Square reloads, and Circle makes you use a painkiller. Painkillers will heal Max, but the healing will take seconds for it to be in full effect. The weapons are divided by classes and can be cycled through using the directional buttons, pressing R1 will equip the weapon that's highlighted. The PS2 version has an extra ability where pressing Triangle will make you switch to your best weapon, which can turn out useful at times. The walking issue is still on the PS2 version, also the PS2's analog sticks are stiff and shifty to work with, meaning that used controllers can end up with Max moving by himself until you wiggle the analog sticks.

Difficulty: Dynamic
The easiest difficulty can feel challenging at first, but after you beat the game, the Fugitive difficulty won't be as difficult. The Hard-Boiled difficulty is described as hard, but it's practically the same, hard at first, but feels easier after. Dead on Arrival is legitimately difficult, even you beat the game. New York Minute is where you have to beat each level in a minute. Ingame cutscenes and graphic novel panels pause the timer and killing bad guys will buy you some more time.

Gameplay: 90/100
The gameplay is different from typical shooters, as it is the first game to use Bullet Time, inspired by the films directed by John Woo and The Matrix. Bullet Time works like this: when triggered, everything slows down, but you can aim in real time, giving you the advantage over your enemies, using the Shootdodge maneuver will help you dodge bullets with ease. The AI's capabilities are prescripted and could put up a fight, but they don't react to hand grenades. Unfortunately, the level designs are shortened down, some even to the point where a size of a level is unreasonably short. The PS2 version does not have quick-saving abilities, the game automatically saves at the beginning of each level.

Overall: 82/100
Max Payne isn't a lengthy game, as there are 24 levels that are divided each. There is no multiplayer, which is forgivable, and also considering about how would Bullet Time work in multiplayer. If you aren't able to get this game on the Xbox or PC, get the PS2 version without too much reluctance.

Score: 82/100

The Good
+ Great soundtrack
+ Great storyline
+ Excellent storytelling
+ Bullet Time works with ease
+ Easy-to-learn level design
+ Autosave and quick-saving abilities


The Bad
- Stripped down levels from the PC
- Some visual glitches
- No level selecting


The Bottom Line
Presentation: 95/100 Max Payne is about the title character where he is looking for revenge after the death of his wife and newborn baby daughter. The great film noir storyline is told through graphic novel stylised cutscenes and narration.

Graphics: 90/100 The texture quality looks great with smooth framerate. The character models can look a little blocky. Bullets can also be seen flying through the air in Bullet Time with very high amount of details.

Audio: 90/100 The soundtrack is excellent. Max narrates his story well. Audio transitions while moving from one area to another can be sloppy at times.

Controls: 90/100 The controls work well with the Xbox controller. The left trigger enables Bullet Time and Shootdodging while the right trigger fires your weapon. The directional pad allows you the cycle around your inventory with ease; the left and right buttons switch groups, while up and down switches weapons within a group, and press the right trigger to equip your weapon. The only flaw with the controls is Max's lack of ability to walk, as Max constantly moves at a running pace; and there are also parts in the game where you have to get from one place to another by getting across narrow beams or grounds.

Difficulty: Challenging but just right The easiest difficulty can feel challenging at first, but after you beat the game, the Fugitive difficulty won't be as difficult. The Hard-Boiled difficulty is described as hard, but it's practically the same, hard at first, but feels easier after. Dead on Arrival is legitimately difficult, even you beat the game. New York Minute is where you have to beat each level in a minute. Ingame cutscenes and graphic novel panels pause the timer and killing bad guys will buy you some more time.

Gameplay: 95/100 The gameplay is different from typical shooters, as it is the first game to use Bullet Time, inspired by the films directed by John Woo and The Matrix. Bullet Time works like this: when triggered, everything slows down, but you can aim in real time, giving you the advantage over your enemies, using the Shootdodge maneuver will help you dodge bullets with ease. The AI's capabilities are scripted and could put up a fight, but they don't react to hand grenades. The level designs are shortened down, and some levels are shorter just to make the levels after them longer. This game also has auto-saving and quick-saving abilities, where the game automatically saves at the beginning of each level. You can also use quick-save or normal saving while in a level.

Overall: 91/100 Max Payne isn't a lengthy game, as there are 24 levels that are divided each. There is no multiplayer, which is forgivable, and also considering about how would Bullet Time work in multiplayer. This game is recommended to buy.

Score: 91/100

The Good
The atmosphere is great - the storytelling takes place not in ingame-sequences or videos, but in comic strips with voiceover. Both the comics and the voice acting is very well done and has funny elements. The story itself is quite entertaining and realistic.

The revolutionary bullet-time makes you think you're in some kind of John Woo film and there is a scene which clearly lends from The Matrix.

You might also enjoy to play a different type of character for a change. Max Payne isn't a hero fighting for the good, he is just a man out for revenge, a one man army ripping through hordes of enemies. So even he is a policeman, he will not attempt to deal out arrest warrants - the enemies are going down.

Weapons are well balanced and each has its strength. Depending on how far away the enemy is, how well he is covered, how many enemies are there and especially whether you use bullet time, every weapon is useful right to the end of the game.

The Bad
With view being locked in third person, it happens sometimes, especially when you are ducked, that the player is obstructing the view, making it hard to aim at the enemy.

There's some kind of delay in the grenade throwing which makes it easy to blow yourself up. Also grenades are so powerful that if you aren't prepared for the enemy to throw one and get into cover quickly, you will usually get hurt pretty badly.

The biggest disadvantage for me was that the higher difficulty levels aren't open right away. You have to play through the game on the easiest level to unlock the harder ones.

The Bottom Line
A refreshingly different shooter with a sinister, all-consuming story. Like no other shooter, this game plays itself like an action-film and is definitely worth being played through once.

The Good
Review Version: v1.2 - Minor paragraphs added. My grammar sucks.
Game Version: v1.0
Tech Specs Used: Intel Dual Core 2 1.86 Ghz Processor, 1GB Memory, 256MB NVIDIA 7300 LE Video Card.
Difficulty Setting Used: Renegade (finished).
Finished: Yes. Friday, June 6, 2008. 3.52 AM.

Technical Note: Game must be installed in default path to function properly, installing in a different location may cause the game to crash at the start of gameplay.

I first played this game decades ago, when I was still a freshman in university, barely a few hours…and it seems I missed out on something really dang good. Better late than never, I suppose. Ironically, I just figured out Max Payne ie. Max Pain. Doh. Sometimes your brain is slow, sometimes it’s non-existent. Really.

Anyway, about the game.

Now and again, you really need one of those games where you can just…shoot stuff and blow things up. Great stress reliever…a simple outlet for violent instinctual drives, to some of us. Moving on, the only difference between Max Payne as an action-shooter with every other action-shooter on the planet is two things: Style and story.

Style
Style is called Bullet-time™, and you’d think that Matrix really wasn’t that long ago. With Bullet-time, everything comes into slow motion. There are 2 options of “slow-motion” available. The “jump-role”, which is something every action-hero should do at least 1,000 times per second of their lifetime (hehe), or simply stand still and aim and shoot at your hearts leisure. The later isn’t really fun, but the Bullet-time sequence lasts much longer than the jump roll, which only lasts as long as the “jump.”

For people like me who sometimes have really bad reflex instincts: the brain does identify that there’s a really ugly big-ass motherf**ker with an equally ugly big-ass shot gun aiming at your possibly equally ugly face, despite mental commands zoning-in to your fingers, they don’t seem to respond (if they do respond at all) and prefer to shoot the wall, the floors, that flowerpot on the right hand corner of the screen, but not that bloke carrying the shotgun.

With a simple right-click of the mouse to a certain direction (jump-shoot), you have an extra few seconds, to actually aim and start shooting at the dude, or shoot at an uglier big-ass mother**fucker, with an even bigger gun, behind the previous bloke.

Blood splattered on the wall, bullet holes creating new windows in the ceiling…you even hit that flowerpot on the right hand corner of the screen. At this point, the life of an action-shooter is pretty much utopia.

Story
What makes Max Payne – Max Payne, however is not the Bullet-time action (though it's pretty much a trademark). It’s the story: How it is portrayed and how it unravels. The story teller is May Payne himself, using a comic-book portrayal of the unfolding events. Personally for me, on an artistic level as well as on a personal level, this is sooo much-much better than those crappy animations. Even more so, as many of the dialogs within the comic book are well written, as cliché’s in comics are almost always appropriate.

The story itself, well…it’s a simple matter of vengeance, up-close and personal. Max’s wife and newborn child are gunned down. The plot thickens, and Max ends up practically killing everyone. Yay! Despite that shallow synopsis of the story I just wrote, the writers do seem to try to bring the player to a same personal emotional level with Max…to emphasize the “pain” that Max is feeling. The loss, the unbalancing of reality…or in Max’s words: ”The end of the world is only a cliché unless your actually experiencing it…,” which are words II can unfortunately, very much relate with.

This pain, this sorrow, may only be done so with equally supportive dialogs and emotion from Max. Though Max, most of the time while storytelling, does not portray any emotion at all….which only occurs when the pain is “max-ed out” (something no one should experience). Only bits and pieces of rage and despair are frequently reminded to the player when Max remembers his memories of that fateful day. More or less, almost all of the voice-overs, especially the cool-rough voice of Max Payne (voiced by one Mr. James McCaffrey are state-of-the art acting...well maybe just Max. However, one exception: Mrs. Max Payne sounds like some drunk in a sleazy hill-billy town in middle-America. Her voice acting was a constant irritation (even more so than the sound of the baby crying).

The writer also had a lovely sense of humor, despite all those cheesy (but totally appropriate) clichés. One of the best lines for a gamer to read in the game, has something to do about Payne (under the influence of a drug) discovers that:
[1] He is part of a graphical comic; [2] He is part of an computer game.
I intentionally left out the punch-line...something you really have to experience yourself. But as far as the writing goes...it's basically a masterpiece...as far as computer games go, at least.

One minor addition...loved the music during combat.

The Bad
Most of the game mechanics were standard enough. There is however, one very annoying feature that I’m flabbergasted someone didn’t notice when developing this game.

My style of play isn’t like the average teenager who usually shoots first and aims later like Rambo. I conserve my bullets and that means using the U.S. Marine Corp. (I think) slogan: One shot, one kill. Well, since that doesn’t really happen very often, at least every damn bullet should actually hit the target. Thus, I usually take things slow, baiting the enemy and finding myself a nice place to crouch and shoot.

Now this is where you find that annoying little feature. You find out that, Max’s head, his hands, or his gun is blocking the sight between you (the player, not Max Payne) and the enemy target. So you really can’t see very well. Now this is really stupid, especially when you start thinking that you’d rather blow Max Payne’s head off so you can actually see the enemy.

I recently remembered something equally annoying...which is something that all action-shooter developers should notice. Though this feature may not be a big deal for everyone, mind you. Do you know is the most irritating thing about opening a door and piling the place into a new ammo dump? Having that stupid door slam right in front of your face - WHAM! Next thing you know, your spelling your name on the door in some unknown Klingon tribal dialect.

This has happened one too many times...the only way to avoid this, is to stand right beside the opened door, so it doesn't close on you (but it tries really really hard mind you). Now when your a action-shooting hero that is more concerned about keeping that door open than actually dodging bullets and shooting the living daylights out of everything in the room...you know you have priority issues.

Last time I checked in the real world, doors don't usually shut by themselves. My mental commands to my room door don't seem to be responding well, so why does every god-damn door in this game (and a lot of action-shooter games) have an automatic closing system? If I was the enemy AI, I would probably be equally pissed. :p

Many people claim that the game is too short. Thankfully, I didn’t notice it that much. What I did notice is that the level design isn’t really top notch. A lot of it is going around in circles, and pretty much shallow if not for the story. There aren’t many instances where you can't actually use the sniper rifle with leisure, as using those dual Beretta’s mostly finishes the job, as most of the levels are corridors with enemies just behind the corner.

To my disappointment as a “bullet-conserving” psychopath, the number of bullets in this game is a bit over-stocked. There are simply too much bullets to pick up and not enough enemies to kill. Unless you’d prefer the Rambo style of shooting first and aiming later, the overwhelming supply of ammunition in the game, killed most forms of tactical approaches to kill an enemy. No need to use my sub-machine gun when I already have 10 grenades in my arsenal waiting to be used up...and after getting those heavy guns...who uses the simple shot gun again?

I thought this may had to do with the game difficulty, which unfortunately for me was a bit too easy. I really don't understand why I can't play the hardest level...but apparently, after finishing the game and curiously playing the next level difficulty, again I was bullet overstocked... sigh

Lastly, there was one part of the game I really loathed. It's the part where Payne is either doped up, or having nightmares. In this setting, Payne enters a dream-world, trying to find a way out. This is obviously story-based...in a bad way. The voice of the baby crying and Mrs. Payne is equally annoying as is moving around and getting lost half of the time. If they made it shorter, I probably wouldn't whine too much about it. It really does get annoying when you play the game a second time around.

This combination of story vs. game play strikes me as quite odd. The story is very much mature for a standard action-shooter, however, the game mechanics i.e. ammunition, level design... was seemingly designed for the average doorknob who doesn’t plan out his/her combat tactics (shoot first, aim later). But then again, I probably shouldn’t expect more from a game where the purpose is to shoot things. :p

The Bottom Line
Is it playable? Yes.
Is it playable 10 years from now? Yes.
Do you have to play it? Hell, yeah! Bring on the Pain!

The Good
Well, to put it bluntly, it was FUN! There isn't much NOT to like about Max Payne. GOD proved that less can be more. Don't be mistaken, this isn't a long game, but what they did, they did to a "t", as this was a well refined, complete package. Great gameplay, with a very good diverse range of locations, a tremendous, gripping story, and all the eye candy you could ever need.

The Bad
Well, I'm not sure if this was something I don't like, but the game was kind of short. However, as I said, you'll probably be satisfied by the overall product.

The Bottom Line
One of many shooters on shelves, but one of the better ones. GOD clearly put a lot of thought and effort into this. The replay value is there, because it's one of those games that are pure entertainment.

The Good
Bullet time, baby.

The presentation and atmosphere of Max Payne is outstanding. A snowy New York night is presented in awesome detail, and the graphic novel interludes do much to add to the atmosphere. The action is fun and easy to get into, and the gun battles can be a blast. Oh, and bullet time, baby. There's nothing like diving into a room in slo-mo, Matrix-style, watching as your bullets slam into your despicable enemies.

The Bad
The game's too damn short. The entire game can be completed in 5-10 hours of effort; many of the levels seem very short. There just isn't enough game here.

The story itself is inconsistent and ultimately very little actually happens.

The Bottom Line
Hey, it's pretty good. But wait until it's cheaper, because there's not enough gameplay here to be worth fifty bucks.

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.

The Good
"Are you saying this game is like Doom?"

No, no, that's not what I meant. Doom and Max Payne have only one direct link to each other, and that's guns and violence. Of course, many games have that link, so why did I mention doom in the one-liner? Because very few FPS games, or games in general since Doom have had that thrill of going into battle, killing everything and walking away triumphant. Games nowadays emphasize realism and bring the action to you in a very scripted and "realistic" way. Like having to take out that guard to progress, or being forced to defend yourself against assailants, or of course the end-game boss. Now, I'm not saying that's not good either. In fact, I love the type of game that emphasize strategy and realism. I just missed the action of a Doom-style shooter, and Max Payne has brought it back to me.

"So, Max Payne is basically a senseless kill-everything-for-no-reason shooter? Bah! Boring!"

That's not what I meant either. Max Payne has a dark and noir-like story and setting that make going from one level to another something more than "flipping the switch and counting up your score". I compare Max Payne to Doom because of the battles, because Max Payne is not realistic at all, but at the same time it is an edge-on-your-seat thrill ride. I remember playing Doom and firing off that shotgun at the horde of demon-spawns, running away from the cloud of bullets, rockets and fireballs, dodging behind walls and charging into battle with no hope of surviving, only to come out alive, standing in a field of corpses.

That is how the battles in Max Payne are essentially fought. You charge into battle with the odds against you and somehow, miraculously, come out on top. How does this happen? Well, you have one distinct advantage, and it's the real selling point of Max Payne - bullet time. Obviously influenced by The Matrix, Max has the ability to slow time down, allowing him to dodge bullets and fire off his ammo twice as fast as his opponents. Once the battle begins, it might only last one, two seconds before everyone in the room - except for Max - falls to the ground dead.

"Doom didn't have that feature!"

Okay, enough about Doom. Don't talk anymore.

The story is cliche'd, but it's certainly new to the FPS genre - or in this case, TPS (third-person shooter...blargh) and as you play it, it won't feel at all like an "I've seen this before" game. You come home one day to find a bunch of druggies murdered your family, and then you're framed for murder! As if things weren't bad enough, druggies and thugs and psychos and every criminal and politician in the city is after you! It's up to you to cut through the red tape - in slow motion, baby - and find the men responsible for your family's death and clear your name at the same time. Such a feat could only be accomplished by Max Payne (or maybe Duke Nukem).

"Hey, Duke Nukem! That came after Doom, why didn't you mention Duke?"

Wha - I said quit talking! Doom had a story to go along with it, and it was pretty cool. Duke's story was dumb. Now shaddap!

The battles in Max Payne are truly memorable. Sometimes, during the death of an enemy, there'll be a sort of camera-sweep cutscene that adds so much to the experience. During the battles, you'll actually see the bullets fly past you, smashing bottles and breaking small pieces of wood off the walls. And there's just something great about throwing a molotov cocktail accross the cafe in slow motion and watching it burst into flames on the fatass bartender as he charges at you with his shotgun. Max Payne brings a truly cinematic feel to the genre that isn't brought on by scripted cutscenes or FMVs.

It comes with an editor. Heh...if you can figure it out, you can make a Max Payne for yourself.

The Bad
While I didn't mind the linearity of the game - it is just an action FPS afterall - it should still be noted. You don't have any real area to explore in the game, save for a few secret areas that you're not supposed to visit. There are no sights to see or anything like that. It's all standard "go here, kill everyone, go there, kill everyone, go through the door, kill that guy".

Everyone wants to kill you. Most of the areas you visit are areas where you'd expect to see a lot of enemies, but it's just a little rediculous that a hotel has thirty criminals armed with shotguns and uzis, but no civilians staying there.

I really wish they'd done more with the camera-sweeps and stuff in the game. They were awesome, but there just weren't enough of them. Only a few guys had them when they died, and I only remember one area that had a different camera angle before the enemy was dead. They added a LOT to the game and made it so insanely fun to play, I really wish there had been more.

Strategy would have made the game cooler. While Max Payne diving in slow motion was a cool feature...it just gets dumb when Max dives around the room shooting ten times in one battle. I wish the bullet-time would have been a more optional feature rather than a must-have, because unless you get the first shot - and make it a fatal blow - in a battle, you'll die without bullet time. Also, there's really not anything else to do but bullet time. You can't really duck behind many things because your head will pop above it and the bad guys can just shoot it. You can't lean around corners, there is no stealth involved in the game at all. I love the senseless-violence action...but there could have been more to it.

Some people complain that the game is too short. I didn't think so, but...well, maybe it is.

The dream sequences were cool, but the level design was unecessary. It's filled with mazes and guessing games.

Bullet time drains waaay too quickly unless you're just diving. But it's pretty useless unless you're diving, which is a pity.

The Bottom Line
Doom-style action with some shnazzy cinematic effects. Max Payne rocks!

The Good
Max Payne, the long-awaited shooter. Everyone has heard about it, but how many have really played it? I did, and... lets see... the good side: graphics are good. Very good. Also, the 'bullet time' and 'cinematic shot' features are awesome. Imagine this: you leap in a room with two Ingram-smgs blazing bullets, everything is in slow motion and you can see every single bullet, the enemies move like underwater but you are faster than ever. As the final opponent falls, you see his death in a cinematic sequence, blood comes from his knees, he falls down and screams. Feels just like a movie. Another good side is the gameplay, after you have learned the controls, controlling Max is very solid and feels good. The third thing that is good is the story. Although simple, it's much better than in Soldier of Fortune or any Quake. Usage of comic strips instead of video is also a good idea.

The Bad
Now the bad. First of all, although the graphics are good, they aren't as good as you could expect from the system requirements. The characters and weapons look good, but the environment doesn't. This spoils the atmosphere. Another thing I am missing are the bullet wounds. Although enemies have hit zones, a hit to head looks the same as hit to leg. The worst thing, however, is that the game crashes pretty often. I had also problems to get the game run. Maybe it's just my computer. Or then not.

The Bottom Line
Personally I like Undying and Soldier of Fortune better, but if you like shooters, this is a must!

The Good
Max Payne was an innovative and unique action title for its time. Sadly, its gameplay draws such as bullet time have been worn and torn so bad that if you describe Max Payne to a modern gamer who missed it first time around they'll simply go 'meh, its been done.' Even I for awhile was so worn out from games with bullet time and "John Woo style" gameplay mechanics that I dismissed Max Payne as dated. But a recent playthrough proved to me that this game is just as good as it ever has been.

For the year 2001, Max Payne was an absolutely eye popping game. These were the early days of full 3D acceleration, yet MP actually looked better than almost every other game on the market, better than Unreal, better than Quake 3, and so on. The detail and animations were exquisite, and high poly character models and environments were used to great effect. Its still satisfying to tear a room apart with bullets and as the dust settles make out piles of bodies lying in blood and brass bullet casings.

Developers love to use the term "Cinematic gameplay." This term has been around ever since the early days of CD when a fad of "interactive movies" came about. These interactive movies had little gameplay value and were often very poor. One of the only truly good interactive movies was the revolutionary laserdisc title, Dragon's Lair and it still had little 'play' value but it was saved by an entertaining story and visuals. But when the developers at Remedy called Max Payne a cinematic experience, they weren't bullshitting around this time. This is as close as you will get to being in an action movie you can actually interact with. Somewhere between "Sin City" and... well, John Woo movies the game is a third person shooter that allows you to use various weapons as well as the now cliche Bullet Time. But even after the glut of bullet time games, Max Payne is still one of the few games that does it right. It can really save your hide, and it looks cool seeing all the bullets, droplets of blood, pieces of plaster, all in slow motion and the "Shoot dodge" moves, which allows you to do slides, jumps, etc. to dodge while shooting in bullet time is still cool and the tight controls make it intuitive and fun. A sort of trademark of 3D realms, you can interact with most objects in the game whether they are important are not, and it is encouraged as you never know when you will find that extra bullet or the much needed health pack (Or in this game, pain pills. Why do so many games interpret pain medication as health? I suffer from arthritis and have pain pills, and sure it helps the pain but it doesn't heal me) and of course there are various jokes or evidence pieces that will help the story come together.

Speaking of the story, Max Payne tells a good one. It's done in a kitschy Noir style, and while this method of story telling as well as the voice acting can be somewhat silly at times, once you get used to it there's a great story that unfolds gracefully and has many satisfying twists and turns.

Guns sound realistic and are fun to shoot.

The AI isn't a push over. Although they are scripted, they can fight back well and are pretty harsh and brutal at times. Bullet time can sometimes be the only way that you can trump a gaggle of baddies, Remedy definitely realized that even a cop isn't going to be superman even if Bullet Time is a somewhat strange power when taken in or out of context.

The MaxEd tool available for the game is surprisingly easy to use and both my wife and I have made some homebrewed levels and campaigns, and it doesn't require a ton of hard coding knowledge to make a well detailed level.

After beating the game, various new modes are unlocked and they are more than just tougher difficulty levels. They change the game in various ways, and there's even a mode built for speed runners called New York Minute. If you're into speed running, try New York Minute, just prepare for the game to hold your balls in a vice grip because its pretty damn tough. You have to beat every level in only a minute per each one. Its hard as hell, but very rewarding when you can successfully beat a level. These modes give the game plenty of replay value.

The Bad
The game is relatively short. While it may seem lengthy by today's ridiculously short standards, the game will only take you about 11 hours to beat.

The game can be frustratingly hard at times. The box claims to have adaptive difficulty adjustments to make the game easier or harder based on how you are doing, but I have noticed no such thing. Quick save is your best friend here.

As good as the graphics are for the time, they are lacking in one area: Facial animation. It's strange that they wouldn't have it, the game uses skeletal animation, you can tell by various animations and the way fingers realistically move and animate. Yet the characters faces are painted on, and its kinda creepy when they talk and their faces don't move. Remedy could've easily just made .gif files and changed the faces in cinematics if they didn't want to go through the trouble of using their skeletal animation system for full facial animation, and they DO use this effect as Max's face contorts in pain upon death as do the bad guys. Its disappointing, and as I said, kinda creepy how the faces never move and it reminds me of the way people talked on the Nintendo 64.

The voice acting and dialogue can seem hammy and somewhat stupid. "Pain killers: Take away the pain, leave the hurt." What the hell does that mean? Sometimes it uses its "Noir" style a little too much and the descriptions are often silly and sometimes when you'd expect a character to emote realistically, just another cheesy Darth Vader "NOOOO" voice happens. You get used to it eventually, but its still somewhat annoying.

The Bottom Line
Max Payne is still an awesome shoot 'em up and a thrilling third person shooter. It may seem short, but it will keep you in the game at all times and is fun throughout. Its also one of the few games with bullet time that actually still makes it feel fun and unique, but that's most likely because it was the first game to use it. It looks cool and plays cool, and its got a good story despite some silly acting. If you haven't checked this one out yet, definitely give it a look.

The Good
No aliens, robots or demons here. Just the gritty, snowed in streets of New York. The story and the game owe a lot of inspiration to the "Die Hard" movies, complete with the renegade cop that can survive the impossible.

Here we start with bullet time that was possibly borrowed from "The Matrix" and implemented in almost every FPS immediately following it. A great feature that lets you aim in slow motion whilst killing the bad guys.

All the action is set against very realistic architecture, with missing tiles, dirty floors, boarded windows. The introductory subway level was especially enjoyable.

The sound was top notch too. The guns had distinctive sounds that let you know what the bad guy was firing at you. Voicework was great too. It was so well done that you never got the sense of bored actors reading a script in to a mic. The music was minimal and well done, providing that additional sense of the solitary figure against the world.

Storywise, It was a little contrived, but with memorable characters. Instead of your usual stereotypical wiseguys, you have different people representing different factions that are making a play for power in the Big Apple. Max finds himself having to take most of them all on at one point or another as allegiances fail.

Gameplay is awesome. I have never had so much fun with a 3rd person shooter before. The random bits of loopiness provided a much needed reprieve from the endless shooting, like the Pink Bird TV show. Using painkillers instead of health packs adds that additional sense of absurdity as Max is being continually shot up.

The graphic novel was an innovative touch, even if it was used to save the developer time and money instead of using ingame scenes. It let the player skip or review completely at their own leisure.

The end game? Fantastic and challenging with a grand payoff. I like that you really don't know who the really bad guy is until the very end.

The Bad
Got to be honest, Wasn't so crazy about the maze parts of the game. I didn't like the blood trail mazes, which were mercifully left out of the sequel.

Otherwise, It was just simply great.

The Bottom Line
Great gaming for low end machines at a budget price. I liked it so much that I bought it again in 2009 after buying it in 2001.

Very much a gaming experience.

The Good
I have recently played through Max Payne, (which I’m sure most of us gamers have been doing to help us forget that dreadful Max Payne movie) one of my favorite action PC Shooters, which borrows heavily from films particularly Hong Kong action films like John Woo movies.

John Woo pretty much invented stylized action, along with other Hong Kong film directors most notable in the film Hard Boiled (one of my favorite movies of all time), Which has Chow Yun Fat playing Inspector Tequila doing what he does best, blasting criminals involved in a gun smuggling operation (the sequel is the 2007 game “Stranglehold”) this game is not only inspired by this movie but there are many references to it and its director.

Max Payne Opens with Max at the top of a high rise building after some chaos has just brewed in sighting the police to come Max explaining how he came to be in this situation, the story, told in graphic novel form starts with Max a New York City cop talking to his friend Alex Balder about his family and the possibility of joining the D.E.A., he declines because he needs to keep his wife and daughter safe, then Max returns to his suburban New Jersey home to find something is amiss, people have broken into his house and he soon finds his baby daughter and wife dead and junkies in his house.

Three Years later and Max is now a narc in the D.E.A. tracking down the mob and the new distribution of a new synthetic drug Valkyr, while meeting his friend Alex in the subway station he discovers mobsters have taken over planning a heist when he meets up with Alex he is shot dead by a unseen man and Max is framed, this is the last straw Alex is the only thing that kept Max from losing it all those years ago now he has nothing to lose and the story follows many twists and turns from there and circles back to the beginning.

Max Payne plays like your average 3rd person shooter but Max like those stylized action films can slow down time and dive into the fray getting an advantage on his foes by being faster you would think that this would eventually get dull but it hardly ever gets old and adds more dimensions to action gaming they you may think.

Most of the voice acting is solid there are a few cheesy sounding voices but Max’s voice is well done and most of the main cast is as well. I also like the difficulty level of the games it has a system which gets harder if you are playing too well and easier if you are having a hard time.

The Bad
As for the bad the game has its share of levels that seem like filler and could have simply been done in cut scene in stead of making a whole level or two out of it and a some of the gun fights can be exercises in trial and error making you try and try again until you finally succeed.

The Bottom Line
This is an extremely fun action game I've played through this game an uncountable amount of times and it never seems to get old and have finished it on every difficulty level and I still come back for more.

The Good
Wow, has it really been nearly 10 years since Max Payne was released? The game that blended the grittiness of pulp and graphic novels, with the John Woo inspired gunplay. And tied it all together within a shiny 3rd person action shooter?

I have only reviewed Max Payne 2, at this point and after viewing the horrendous film adaptation, and replaying the game to rid the bad taste of the film from my mouth. I decided to throw my two cents into an already over-reviewed game. So here goes.

“They were all dead… the final gunshot, was an exclamation…”

Max Payne is a New York City cop, whom upon arriving home one day, stumbles into a nightmare. There are armed men in his house, and they are crazed on some new designer drug. In the ensuing chaos, Max’s wife and daughter are murdered. Flash forward some years later, and Max is working deep undercover, in the seediest hellholes. When his partner, Alex is killed, a crime for which Max is blamed, he goes on a rampage against New York’s underworld.

Max Payne is supported by a lot of other interesting characters. Like the whiny Vinnie Gognitti, the psychotic Jack Lupino, and the femme fatale assassin, Mona Sax to name a few.

Also there is the Address Unknown, back-story which mirrors Max’s plight. As well as the silly Captain Baseball Batboy. All of these elements come together, to make a more interesting narrative, and make the game world seem more realistic.

And how can I forget, the great graphic novel panels, that move along the story?

The gunplay is a blast. Literally. It’s like being throw headfirst into a heroic bloodshed film.(Look it up.-MM-) Max runs and guns, and can go into bullet-time, in which everything slows down around him, allowing him to easily take out his foes.

There are lots of guns and explosives to collect. Pistols, machine guns, rifles, etc. And in one particularly cool effect, when fired, the sniper rifle zooms in of the bullet and tracks it as it connects with an enemies head.

Max Payne, is a very adult game. Not only with it’s graphic violence, but also it’s mature themes, that would be lost on younger players. Be warned, Max Payne is a very violent game. Especially when it slows down, as the bullets riddle the bodies of the gangsters, and blood pours from their wounds. (Take that PG-13, BS film!-MM-)

The graphics are still pretty good. Not as much as say Max Payne 2, but they still get the job done, and only look a little dated.

The music is great, as are the voice overs. Particularly, the voice of Max. And some of the dialog with the enemies when they are just hanging around is laugh out loud funny.

The Bad
This game can be very challenging. I finished it on all the modes, and would not care to do that again. Max dies very easily, especially on the higher difficulties.

If you do not want or like a challenge, then you need not apply.

Some of the boss fights are insanely hard. Like the one with Jack Lupino.

There are also some “filler” levels. The only purpose these levels serve is to make the game longer, they could have easily been cut.

The Bottom Line
So here we are 10 years later, and Max Payne is still a blast to play. What you haven’t played it? You have to play it.

The Good
Well the first thing anyone will love about this game is BULLET TIME!!! If you ever wanted to recreate The Matrix then this is definitely for you. Also the little details the game has, like when you shoot someone in the head blood will actually hit against the wall where it should. Also the weapon selection is pretty large and the guns look extremely realistic.

The Bad
The "dream" levels, extreme pain in the ass. Fortunately there's only 2 but it's impossible to get through them with out a strategy guide. Also the loading times are a little long but nothing unbearable. The enemies don't have many models so you'll probably kill the same guy about 50 times throughout the game. Also the controls are a little hard to get used to.

The Bottom Line
Great game thats a lot of fun but it does have it's flaws.

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
Much of the game is a great success. I'll discuss each aspect in detail.

"MAXFX" - The "MAXFX" is the engine the game uses, and it was built specifically for this game from the ground up. The detail put into this engine really showcases it's graphical prowess. It's visuals are absolutely jaw-dropping, and the "Bullet Time" effect really lives up to the hype.

Story - Very good, and quite original. It is one of the best plots conceived so far, and the only game that has a better story, in my opinion, is Deus Ex.

Controls - Controlling Max is a lesson in excellence, and designers of third-person games should take a cue from Remedy. It's excellent control all throughout, and performing special maneuvers is a cinch.

AI - The enemies are smart for the most part. They'll toss grenades at you and then back up to avoid the blast, they'll duck behind cover to evade your fire, they'll basically do anything a real person would.

The Bad
Gameplay - The game is very linear. For the uninitiated, linear means the game MUST be played out the way the developers intended, with no hope of any side quests or alternate routes. Compared to games like Deus Ex and it's open-ended gameplay, Max Payne really let down in this area. The bit that is really annoying is every door you come across is locked, unless it leads to a room with ammo or is required to advance the storyline.

In-engine cutscenes - These vary from okay to awful. After jumping off a train, Max lands square on his feet, then somehow does this 180 degree spin, without moving his body, and starts walking off. Shown in FMV or a slide screen, this could've been greatly improved.

Dream sequences - Later on in the game, Max has a dream, and you "play" this dream. You are required to maneuever on lines of blood in a pitch black room. What is the point to this? This has no belonging in a straightforward, brainless action game!

AI - Why's it bad? Sometimes, to get to you, the baddies will shoot their own guys. I witnessed, more than once, a shotgun toting thug but a load of buckshot into his friend because I was standing in front of said friend. The logical thing to do would be to stand beside the friend and fire at me together. I guess not a lot of "logical" equations got programmed into the game.

Bullet Time - Although a great feature that will be mimicked for a while to come, it has it's flaws, and the major one is the game relies too heavily on it. It is nigh impossible to fight without it, as you are almost never matched up one on one, making the slow motion very attractive at all times.

Max himself - Come on! He looks like he's taking a crap and trying to squeeze the rest out! Some facial animations would've been much appreciated.

System requirements - Too steep! Ouch! Pentium II minimum? Sure. Use 640x480 with antialiasing off and all details set to low, and perhaps you could squeeze out a decent performance. If you have anything less than a P3 800 with 256MB RAM, don't expect to get decent framerates or a smooth experience without sacrificing large amounts of eye candy.

Length - I beat this game in twelve hours, seventeen minutes, and thirty three seconds (timed it with a stopwatch). That is NOT long enough for a game lacking multiplayer.

Multiplayer - Fact: Multiplayer extends the life of a game. Max Payne has no multiplayer. You figure the rest out.

The Bottom Line
It's a good game that's worth your money, but after you beat it, it'll collect dust on your shelf. My advice to you is buy this game from Electronics Boutique on a Friday, play it over the weekend, and return it on Monday for a refund.

The Good
Death Wish, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, Above The Law, etc, etc.. ever wished you could be in one of those dorky 70's-80's action flicks where everything boils down to "Bad guys killed your loved ones: Go get Some!!!", well add to that a lot of more contemporary pop-culture references, a Hong Kong Gun-Fu movie feel, some matrix "bullet-time" and you've got yourself Max Payne in a nutshell.

Not exactly the makings of the world's most artistic videogame huh? But fortunately Max Payne aims to be a braindead all-style-no-content shootfest, so the game nails the subject dead on. Want to shut down your brain for a while? Max Payne is the game for you: millions of bad guys to mow down in the most stylish ways possible thanks to the addition of a matrix-like bullet time function that exploits the dramatic effects of slow-mo to the max (John Woo would be proud), and gimmicks like super-dramatic deaths: even if they just received a beretta shot on a toe, the enemies jump and fly around whenever they die, etc. etc. etc.... It couldn't be cheesier! It couldn't be more perfect for the game either!

There isn't much revolutionary about the gameplay save for that little matrix gimmick, but by keeping it all simple Max Payne maximizes the level of entertainment found on the game. Who cares about strategy or stuff like that? It's all about picking up two berettas and going Chow-yun-fat on some moron's ass and Payne keeps it that way, that's fun isn't it? Well, for a while it sure is!!

Also something to take notice is the MaxFX engine, truly a piece of work, not only does it deliver an amazing level of detail, but it also has lots of customization options allowing you to get the most off your system. And while the levels themselves are not the most imaginative ever, they are filled with Duke Nukem-like "interaction points" that make them feel even more real, pick up a phone and you'll hear a tone, use a toilet and you'll flush it, etc, etc. add to that great sfx and music and you've got yourself a nice level of immersion for a nice ol' shooter.

The Bad
Well there are a lot of minor little problems with the game, starting with Max himself. He's got to be the dorkiest-looking character I've ever played in a game of this type, I feel even Guybrush Threepwood could kick his stupid-grinning butt. And his high-on-sugar gestures in the otherwise excellent comic-book cutscenes make it only worse. Other problems are the braindead AI (enemies will actually shoot themselves!), the completely linear nature of gameplay, the rather short lenght of the game (which IS a matter to consider when you think that these guys are asking you to pay 50 bucks for a game that delivers only 15 or so in value [not all off us can waste hard earned money into short unrewarding games just for the fun of it]), the "been there, done that" level design, etc, etc.

But the biggest problem in the game is the game itself. Because the gameplay may be fun, but it can become tremendously repetitive and even dull, and the whole Bronson-HK-Matrix thing by itself just can't hold up the game and in the end just drags the whole thing down. Not to mention that if you aren't on that sort of thing altoghether then this game has nothing for you save some nice eye-candy.

The Bottom Line
In the end it all comes down to how much "Payne" you can endure. Sure the game is fun, but after a while it loses it's splendor. And just like those Bronson-Seagal-Lamas dumb action flicks, you get the feel that they are fun to rent or watch on cable, but you wouldn't want to OWN them.... Max is solid fun, but it's short, repetitive, and mind-numblingly simple, I can't see why anyone would bother with Max, when there are just so many other good things out there. Unless that is, you want to show off your brand new GeForce455000 GTSExtraTurbo, add it the Matrix patch, and find it in a bargain bin.

The Good
Like I said, the 'cartoon' strips rule. I say 'cartoon' they're more like those photo cartoon strips where the action is depicted by really people rather than drawing, you'll see what I mean. But yeah, these photo strips fill in the gaps between the levels and really help move the scene along, rather like in Monty Python movies. The story line is a good one, and it does get a bit trippy (but he is stoned of his face at the time) I'm definitely a fan of "Bullet Time" this is a feature of Max Payne whereby you can slow-mo the action, but aim your weapon in 'real time' plus you can dive out of the way of incoming bullets, very Matrix.

The Bad
The graphics aren't great, more PS2 than X-Box, but that’s probably just a result of the game being rushed through production. It was after all released into a fledgling X-Box community when there where very few games on offer. But I don't hold that against it, adds character.

The Bottom Line
I may be saying this too much in my reviews, but, it is another good game, I would recommend that you buy it if you haven't already.

The Good
Max Payne is one of the most innovative games since Deus Ex, bringing a new level of gaming with the MAX-FX engine and bullet-time animation. The game had a well drawn-out story that could have easily been adapted from a movie. The care used to bring everything together helped make the story more believable. The saving/loading system was very well done; instead of reloading the map, all the entities, the enemies, it kept everything in resident memory which took the load time almost down to zero.

The Bad
Despite the rave reviews and general coolness of Max Payne, it still has its shortcomings--and they're not small. Firstly, the game was disappointingly short. The ending was horribly unspectacular and, while providing for sequels (which Remedy has already said they are making), left way too much unsolved. It [the ending] also caused my GeForce256 card to strain, even at low-medium detail (we're talking 1FPS). Secondly, and most importantly, there is a HOLE on level 2.7(?) that allows enemies to be spawned outside of the map, shoot through the wall at the bottom of the stairwell, and kill Max during a short cinematic that involves walking through the conference room door. After 20-or-so deaths, I found the only way to overcome this (without loading a game saved on a different level) was to, as the door was opening (before the controls locked), shoot wildly and hope that I killed enough of the off-map enemies before I died. Finally, the movie when you started the game was TOTALLY un-necessary. I'd rather have some bonus stuff on the disc instead of a useless movie when you opened the game (the game didn't even preload in the background while it was being played!).

The Bottom Line
Max Payne is a solid shooter, and is a good buy. When Remedy releases further "episodes" of the game, it will (hopefully) become an excellent buy. All said and done, I was kind of disappointed when it turned out that the lobby demo in 3DMark2001 wasn't in the game. ;)

The Good
All features from the PC game are present and correct including the weapons, bullet-time, puzzles, chapters and difficulty levels. The controls are well calibrated, and like most 3rd-person shooters operates well on PlayStation consoles. There is additional artwork between the different parts of each chapters, but these would have been better off in a single loading screen.

The Bad
The graphics are not nearly as sharp as the PC version. No idea what's with the weird choice of text font that doesn't reflect the comic style it had in PC. For some reason there's less variety in the PS2 version including many reused enemy models and the identical dying voices that are reused even late in the game. To add irritation, there are a number of rooms cut out from this version such as some of the bathrooms in Lupino's Hotel.

Now performance problems. It's very hard to quickly move the camera and aim correctly before you find an enemy's bullet lodged into you. Then there's the stuttering framerate, sometimes getting you injured in gun fight or killed from a misjump. The two or three times each chapter splits ruins the game flow and denies you the opportunity to collect extra ammo and painkillers when you might need them. Also you're not able to save whenever and wherever you want, which ramps up the already difficulty gameplay. As if they couldn't fit a whole chapter into the game with save spots, since it had been done in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.

The Bottom Line
While the story and setting are faithful to the original Windows game, the rest of the features falter. This haphazardly put together port really lacks the carefully tailored work that the PC version has to offer. There are so much better 3rd-person shooters out there for the PS2 because this game will quickly lose appeal and enjoyability altogether. Perhaps it is worth playing one just for the experience, but replay value is absent afterwards.

The Good
-BULLET TIME!!! -Story -Smooth frame rates -Excellent graphics -Great editor -VERY easy to modify -Gameplay -Weapons -Levels -Theme song -Textures -Details (cloak sways, particle effects, beer leaks) -Auto adjusting difficulty

The Bad
-Some graphic novel sequences could be acted out in the game engine -No gibbing from grenades -Linear -Level editor takes time to learn -Nightmare sequences -How is it possible to Shootdodge in real life without breaking a rib? -Short

The Bottom Line
A great blend of non-stop action, excellent story, and extraordinary music, Max Payne is one of the best games I have played. Ever.

The Good
It's hard to know where to start, the whole package is so beautifully realized and meticulously presented that faults are hard to pick. Playing as Max Payne, you basically have to go from level to level blasting bad guys and finding the exit. However, what separates this title from others in the genre is you become wrapped up in the well written and interesting story which is spoon fed to you as you progress through the game, relishing every bite. Almost everything can be interacted with and the style of the game is very similar to a certain popular sci-fi flick from 1999 that has spawned countless imitators (you know the one I mean so don't make me say it.) This time though, we can actually PLAY OUT the scenes ourselves rather than just observe thanks largely to the use of the bullet time gameplay mode. When you enter this mode, the whole game slows down, you can see the bullets whiz past your head and fly from your weapon, the sound begins to convey a feeling of being under water and when the effect wears of it's as if we have surfaced again. Usually with a few more dead bodies than before. Max Payne is played out from the third person which some may complain about but I for one like this viewpoint. It's worked so well before in games like the criminally underrated Heretic II. If anything, it works better here and if the game were in first person, the bullet time features would just not work as well as they do. The story is conveyed through some beautifully done graphic novel cutscenes (that's comics to most people) and the voice acting suits the game perfectly with rough gritty representations of characters. The level design is very polished and looks lovely. Visually the game is unmatched on PC with some of the crispest graphics ever to grace a monitor. Some have complained that Max Payne is too short, while it isn't the longest of games, it is certainly of a decent length and when the quality of what's on offer here is considered, it is pure ignorance to expect anything more.

The Bad
The biggest complaint I have about Max Payne is that for some reason, the game would crash my whole system every time I exited from it, even after applying a patch. During the game it was fine but it's clear there are some nasty bugs that must still be ironed out. Also during the excellent dream sequence stage, I was irked to discover that it was possible to die. Being able to die in a dream is just plain silly and something that could have easily been avoided with minimum fuss.

The Bottom Line
Every now and then, a game comes out that innovates it's chosen genre and goes down in the hall of gaming fame as a true masterpiece that will be revered in years to come when it becomes a classic. Max Payne is one such game.

The Good
Max Payne's major strength lies in its compelling, surprising plot. It's true that it was flawed in some parts (particularly the stuff that dealt with Mona), but very good, nonetheless. The plot lost some of its speed about 1/4 of the way through, but it never got boring or particularly slow. The plot is filled with surprises, as well as a few juicy plot twists to keep things interesting. Overall, the game has one of the best story lines I've seen in an action game, even better than Half-Life in my opinion.

The story line of the game is delivered through slick comic book style cutscenes. The "panes" of each scene appear sequentially as events transpire, complemented by some good voice acting. While it detracts from the immersion factor a bit, it's a very unique approach to the traditional way of presenting cutscenes.

Second only to the plot are the game's graphics. Perhaps it's because I'm running the game on a fairly high-end machine, but I found the game's graphics to be astounding. Not many other games I've played feature such a gritty, convincing atmosphere or minute attention to detail. Some minor tweaks would have been nice, such as the characters moving their lips when they talk during the in-game cutscenes. Overall, though, the graphics are fantastic.

The Bad
Despite being one of the best games I've had the pleasure of playing, it isn't without its flaws. I'm going to echo what the other reviewers on this site have been saying, and point out that there is indeed a great need for bullet time to get through tougher parts of the game. While it's a really cool and unique feature, the game only allows one to have a limited amount of it. With the way I played, I ran into some spots where I didn't have enough bullet time to approach a situation that seriously called for it. I like the idea of limiting bullet time, so it's not heavily over-used by players, but it would have been nice to have more bullet time "ammo."

Other than that, I have no real major complaints. The game got frustratingly tricky in some parts, particularly the garage sequence, but nothing I tore my hair out over.

The Bottom Line
When I first started the game, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much. I guess I just got tired of all the hype surrounding the MAX-FX engine and Bullet Time. The first third of the game wasn't particularly spectacular (but still really good, nonetheless), which left me doubting whether or not the game was really worth it. Needless to say, when I got further into the game, I saw what makes it so special.

Probably the most notable thing about Max Payne is the slickness and style of the whole package. The way the graphics, storyline, and overall presentation come together makes the game superb. The game has a great plot, great graphics and most importantly, the game is fun. A lot of developers these days forget this critical point. It's nice to see some that haven't.

The bottom line is that Max Payne is without a doubt one of the best shooters to be released, ever. If you're a serious gamer, or a fan of action games, you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot.

The Good
The worst snow storm of the century punishes the city of New York.
Suddenly, sirens start to howl in the night. Police cars, vans, choppers; every last law enforcement resource seems to have been summoned to attend an emergency at the Aesir Corp. magnificent headquarters building.
At the top of the building, a man stands with a heavy piece of weapon in his hands. His eyes stare into the sky. He looks like the man who finally reached his long-searched goal.
It's over. They are all dead. <center></center> Three years ago, Max Payne was an example of a detective in the NYPD. His life was good. He had a job he was proud of, a good group of tuesday poker friends, a beautiful recently-born baby girl, a lovingly caring wife... He even decided to quit smoking. "It's bad for the baby" he said to his best friend, Alex.
Max Payne was a happy man. His life was the American Dream come true.
But dreams tend to get ruined when you less expect it.
<center></center> One day, Max came back home, as usual, only to be greeted by a haunting silence. On the wall at the receiver, a foul graffitti, the icon of the junkies to the latest designer drug, Valkyr.
The house looked like a tornado just went over it.
The phone rang. Max picked up. A woman asked "Max Payne?". Max desperately asked for help, but the woman hung up.
Max rifled upstairs, hearing his wife screaming. He entered the baby bedroom —she was laying on the ground, covered with a bloodstained sheet... dead.
Two junkies attacked him, he got rid of them, and bursted into his bedroom. One more junkie he quickly disposed of... and then he saw her. His wife. On the bed. Dead.
Everything shattered in a New York minute.
<center>***</center> Max left the NYPD and joined the DEA. He went undercover inside one of the biggest mafia families of New York.
His goal: to uncover the ones behind the Valkyr drug manufacturing and dealing.
His only motivation: revenge.

So, what's the good about Max Payne, you ask? Well, let me think... —EVERYTHING!!

Hum. OK, let's bring it down a notch.

In the first place, I will have to say: the GAMEPLAY.
Max Payne is a 3rd-person perspective shooter. This is just like a FPS (namely, DOOM, QUAKE, HALF-LIFE, et cetera), but you get to see your own character on-screen too, which allows you to have a much more complete control over your character's actions.
I've been involved in endless arguements with friends after playing Max Payne, and I just keep stating that FPS's are dead: Max Payne is the first of a kind, as WOLFENSTEIN 3D was in its time. To me, Max Payne represents the logical evolution of the FPS. Period.

If not for the bullet-time feature (which I'll get to in a second, stay on me), the game develops a whole new level in character control interface. Getting into a crossfire won't be the same after having the Max Payne shootdodge feature. Regular FPS's will just give you the sad and obsolete strafe move, which seems to be stone-age old , now I've seen —and played— Max throwing himself to the ground in slow-motion, dodging enemy fire while still able to shoot, and even turn in any direction.
I remember I played NO ONE LIVES FOREVER after playing Max Payne, and every time I saw an enemy rolling on the floor dodging my bullets, and I was bound to the stupid strafe and nothing more, I couldn´t help but thinking 'Hey! I want to do that thing too! I was able to do it in Max Payne!!'

Now, bullet-time.
This is one of those cool features one could call gameplay-candy
While it's not strictly necessary to master it in order to beat the game, bullet-time adds a lot to the gameplay, making an otherwise quite linear experience into something full of possibilities.
But what IS bullet-time?
OK. Did you ever see the movie The Matrix? Or any recent John Woo movie? Or any action movies released after 1999?
If so, you might be familiar with that thing where the pace in action sequences is slowed down, and the camera makes a lot of fancy pans all over the place... Well, that's it. When you activate bullet-time, the world is slowed down, and you get to play the whole scene in slow motion, becoming able to perform all kinds of fancy acrobacies, including dodging bullets.
No matter how many fights I got into, I just wouldn't get tired of getting surrounded by these thugs and experimenting new ways of performing groovy action scenes with the help of the shootdodging and bullet-time.

The STORY of the game is very good. It doesn't exactly innovate, or surprise (come on, we all saw those plot twists coming), or anything for the like, but it makes its job fine. It could become an action-driven-police-thriller movie any day of the week.
The main events of the story are told through comic strips which fill the space between stages, and by short interventions of Max himself as a V.O. during gameplay, a la film noir. The drawings in the comic strips are great, and dialogues are cleverly written, with lots of beautiful film noir cliches including dark metaphors and some black humor.
One thing to note —in case you didn't notice it with that intro above— is how CRUDE the story is. From the intro sequence where you know this can't end up in anything good, to the shocking murder of Max's family and his best friend, the developers won't save resources to make sure you'll fell so desperate and impotent, that you will want revenge as much as Max does.
Some of the stages are actually nightmare sequences, full of dark surrealism, adding even more interest to the storytelling, and making sure not even asleep will Max have a moment of rest.

The GRAPHICS have a fairly surprising quality, considering the age of the game. This makes sense once you learn this game was based in the MAX-FX engine, which is the same in which most of the DirectX 8-class 3DMark 2001 benchmarking utility is based. A game based on a benchmarking engine by definition has the potential to stress the current generation video cards to the max.
You can raise the details level in order to bring on bump-mapped background textures, complex particles, lighting effects, and what all not. If you have a powerful video card, Max Payne's visual are nothing short of stunning.

The SOUND of the game doesn't exactly shine, but it tags along fine. You will need a surround system to fully enjoy some of the amusing dialogues that your enemies are constantly having before they notice your presence, because those kind of distant sounds just don't show up in normal speakers.

Regarding REPLAYABILITY VALUE, Max Payne uses a pretty old yet totally valid trick: once you beat the game, several new difficulty modes are unlocked. Instead of just making the exact same ride a little harder, gameplay itself is slightly modified. There is one mode called "Dead On Arrival", in which shots are as lethal as in real life, meaning that one single gunshot takes down a person, even the player. Another mode is called "New York Minute", and it requires every stage to be completed in one minute top, otherwise it's instant Game Over. One more mode, sets Max in a fancy looking lobby, under a constant un-limited bullet-time mode, and with a shitload of weapons and ammunition to pick up. Then a lot —and I mean A LOT— of badguys enter the scene. Guess what comes next.

Finally, even though the game is a linear ride, there are a number of easter eggs scattered throughout the game which add just a little more to a really well rounded up package, and might make worth paying attention to the details. I loved the TV announcement of this 'Adress Unknown' show with a weird dream-like monologue involving a flamingo, a doppelganger, and clear references to the TV series Twin Peaks.

The Bad
I find it hard to say something bad about this one, I just LOVE the game. But let's see.

We could point to the linearity thing.
The game is kind of linear...
OK, it's INSANELY linear. It's as linear as a game can be. It's as linear as a ruler. All you're going to do throughout the whole game is enter a room, kill every last thug you find there, go through the only door that opens, which will get you into another room, where —you guessed it already— you'll need to kill every last thug, so one and only one door opens...

As hungry for revenge as Max (and us) are, one could for sure thank a little more of options. Maybe some adventure, maybe some choose the way, some kind of non-violent interaction with NPCs, maybe at least some secret areas...

The Bottom Line
As simple as the formula is, Max Payne is just two steps from PERFECT. Even its linearity isn't much of an issue with the whole new world that the shootdodging and the bullet-time mean. I just kept asking for more rounds of thugs to come in, just for the sake of reaching new levels in action-packed crossfire scenes.

Max Payne is not only a great game, but a step to note in the developing of action games. I just can't stand another shooting scene without being able to shootdodge a la Max Payne. To my eye, FPS's are dead: Max Payne paved the way to a new era.

In a special note: if you liked the game, be sure to get the Kung Fu mod by Kenneth Yeung ( http://kungfu.maxpayneheadquarters.com/ - [email protected] ); a small 5 MB baby which turns the game into a WHOLE new experience. Like its name implies, Max gets close-hand combat kung-fu abilities —including wall-walking.
Another must.

The Good
Max Payne was an innovative game in its own right, bringing the much hailed Bullet Time effect from The Matrix movies into games. I guess this was a gift as well as a curse, since then it has been in some way or another in a lot of games, so props to 3D Realms for being the first to implement it, and implement it well, as the Enter The Matrix game released some years later didn't do it so well. Having said that the Bullet Time effect has become somewhat of a gimmick, but in this game it had legitimate use.

The Bad
The only thing that irked me about the game was that at some parts of the game you had to virtually fluke your way past, as it was that hard. I found myself using the Bullet Time effect quite a lot in the hard parts, which it was designed for, although more often than not I found myself with the "focus meter" empty quite a few times. If your'e looking for a challenging game, here it is!

The Bottom Line
If you want a challenging game to keep you occupied for the weekend (in my case, a full week!), Max Payne will give you hours of fun, as well as hours of pulling your hair out at the sheer difficulty of some parts. Having said that, the game story is more than enough to keep the people with the shortest attention spans coming back for more.

The Good
I admit, I had spectacularly high hopes for this game. There were several reasons: the first is Remedy's first product, the absolutely superb Death Rally; the second is the use of the seemingly revolutionary MAXFX engine in demonstrations such as 3DMark 2000, 3DMark 2001 and XL-R8R from MadOnion. My expectations got only higher when I saw the absolutely fascinating Max Payne E3 demo from 1999; back then I couldn't have imagined anything more spectacular. A game from a company founded on demoscene roots, with music by one of my favorite musicians, Teque? What could be better?

Shift forward a bit: early 2001. Discussing matters with Teque over e-mail revealed that he's been removed from the Max Payne development team. Unfortunately he wouldn't divulge any further information, but something inside me cracked when I realized I wouldn't hear his spectacular music in a game I've been waiting for for so long. Then 3DMark 2001 came out, music also not written by Teque. Still the MaxFX engine, astounding visuals, but the design of the entire demo was lacking. I had a bad feeling about this: these events didn't bode well.

Shift to mid-2001, Max Payne finally comes out. The game I've been waiting for for about three years, something new and innovative. When I finally got around to playing the game, I had mixed feelings about what's coming. I finished it an hour ago, and once again my instincts haven't failed me: I was terribly disappointed. Why? Well lets discuss the good things first.

• Solid game engine. Not as revolutionary as I expected, not the absolutely astounding visuals I've been promised, but absolutely solid never-the-less. It is also reasonably fast. Ah, and the bullets and fire look absolutely gorgeous.
• Max Payne features a decent plot. Nothing as complex or involving as Deus Ex or even Half Life for that matter, but enough to keep me interested as I played along. However, the plot has absolutely no bearing on the advancement of the game, which is indeed unfortunate.
• The absolutely spectacular "bullet-time" effect, as far as I know the first ever to be implemented in a computer game. It really is quite astounding at first, seeing everything in slow motion but retaining decent control over your character. It also makes for some beautiful fight scenes, where for example you jump through a door, ducking a shot fired by a guard behind it, only to spray him with the Colt Commando on your way to the ground. However, the novelty wears thin after a while.
• Plenty of cute in-jokes (upcoming spoiler), for example the Ingram-near-bathroom-with-bad-guy-coming-out-Pulp-Fiction-style scene, or the Buffy bit.

The Bad
On the contrary, Max Payne has many shortcomings.

• While the engine is solid, it just doesn't bring anything new to the table. Frankly, I think Serious Sam was more revolutionary, bringing Quake 3-level graphics to the table with detail textures, excellent framerates and no hype.
• Absolutely linear gameplay. I don't think I've ever played a game this linear before. Unlike most shooters, even the earliest ones where you at least got the chance to explore areas, enter rooms etc., in Max Payne you will frequently find yourself in a tight corridor with five doors, only one of which opens and is the way to the next section of the game. Not only is there only one way past any given obstacle, but there is only one way to proceed in the game! The whole game is built like one giant action sequence. I don't know about you, but for me it means only one thing: fast boredom and claustrophobia.
• Level design is nothing to be proud of. The scenes are generally grey, dimly lit and spectacularly nondynamic, unlike older games like Alice, Serious Sam or Deus Ex. Nothing changes in the scenery; there are very few things to interact with; environment mapping (used to a great extent in Quake 3 to improve visual dynamic) is scarce at best. Most importantly, the levels are dull, uninspired and very "square" in design (reminiscent of much, much older games like Doom or Blood), despite the ability to use much higher polygon count to improve visual smoothness.
• The cutscenes that use the game engine are of poor quality, and would befit a game from the era of Half Life (and even that manages better). The worst thing is, you can't skip them (much like Half Life)!
• Poor, uninspired at best background music. I can't shake the feeling that the music is more an afterthought than intended and fully integrated into the game development (as in Deus Ex, and I believe it shows). I just don't understand what happened to what was supposed to be one of the best game soundtracks ever written.
• There are several key sections of the game that even a beginner designer, or at least someone properly versed in computer games, would know not to include in the game. Specifically: the first dream sequence (where you have to go through two different sequences of a maze, one of which also incorporates a minor jumping puzzle). Completely pointless, unbelievably frustrating and doesn't improve the game in any way what-so-ever. The other one is the restaurant where you're supposed to meat the Italian guy, and which bursts into flames. Set aside the frustration and the nusance of having to practice your F5/F9 keys (quicksave/load) for a minute; any person in his right mind would immediately exit the restaurant through the main door (locked? no problem; what are you carrying a shotgun for?). Moreover, a touch of fire may give you a nasty burn, but certainly not kill you; a small fact that the designers seemed to have neglected. In short, there are several frustrating scenes in the game, and the worst thing is, you don't have any choice but to go through them! So much for Deus Ex ushering a new era in computer gaming...
• The problem with the aforementioned beautiful Bullet Time effect is that the game relies on it way too heavily. The novelty will wear off after half an hour, along with the excitement you get from the game. The combats are monotonous, with dumb enemies that never actually change (just pack more and more powerful weapons), and the monotony of the gameplay really gets to you after a while.
• I couldn't help but be offended by the way Max looks. Quite frankly, he looked far better in the E3 demo (and in the "lobby shooting spree" scene of 3DMark 2001). He has a kind of permanent "sneer" on his face that annoys me every time I see it. I can't help but think of Max as a kind of modern age Leisure Suit Larry. 'nuff said.

The Bottom Line
Overall, a great disappointment and not worth your money.

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
The atmosphere of the game is really good. Like in American McGee's Alice it is a depressive and dark atmosphere in the game. A guy who wants revenge for his wife and kid and then the snow falls in the dark night.

The bullet-time mode is a nice idea and makes the game interesting.

The Bad
The gameplay is always the same. There is no variety in it. You always run through some houses and jump in bullet-time around corners to kill the enemies behind them. And there's always an enemy behind it!

The levels are so lame, that an experienced action gamer always know from where in the next moment an enemy will appear. The bullet-time is a nice modi, but when you must use it every 15 sec´s it gets really boring.

Also is there no real physics. When you stand before a wall and shoot from a far distance you will see that the shot need several seconds to arrive at the wall (you can see that because of the little dust cloud). So it is almost impossible to shoot an enemy from far away.

There's no ego perspective! It is a little bit hard to aim from the third person perspective.

The Bottom Line
A game with a nice atmosphere but a lame gameplay. The developers thought that the revolutionary Bullet-time is enough for a good game, but it isn´t.

This game is a good example for a lame and dump shooter, lame like the people which don´t have the flair for a good game.

The Good
Sound were awesome with the gun shooting and explosions throughout the game. Also, the ability to pick your wasted victim's ammo is sweet to.

The Bad
Where do I begin? First, the voices are really blurred so you can never hear what the person is saying and when you can there is like only 5-6 different voices which is pretty lame. Plus, the background graphics are really shoty and just plain suck. Finally, the load times are horrible compared to the PC version.

The Bottom Line
Please, if you want this game, go buy either the Windows or Xbox version. If you don't have either, PS2 is only hope, and my friend you will be disappointed.