Max Payne 3 (video game)

[Neil]

I still recon Max Payne 2 was the better game! And Max Payne 2 had that survival (name?) mode where you were on a level where just a never ending/increasing number of enemies attacked and you had to survive... Great fun!

[MinionZombie]

I've got three chapters left to do (I just completed the level on the yacht), and here's something that annoys me: 1) I've got my heavy weapon equipped (e.g. an assault rifle) - then it goes to a cutscene - and when I come back to gameplay (usually as a bunch of tooled-up mercs swarm into a room), it's gone back to just my ruddy pistol, so I have to manually select the heavy weapon even though I'd already had it selected before the cutscene. That happens all the time and it's an annoying, silly little thing. 2) There's a few times when, again usually with a cutscene, where Max will have to hurry somebody along and push them around and such - and in-so-doing, you lose your heavy weapon, so when you return to gameplay you've got to pick it up again. Now sometimes that makes sense with this whole 'realistic holding of weapons' thing they've got going on (a nice bit of detail, I think) - a time when it really makes sense is, say, when Max jumps onto a zipline and so cannot possibly hold a heavy weapon (his pistols/smgs are in holsters). However there are times when he could easily continue holding his heavy weapon, but he doesn't ... although I think I remember a time when he did actually pick it back up again during the cutscene. Point being - that's a tad inconsistent ... sometimes you wonder if it's a contrived way of upping the danger briefly (down to just a pistol against heavily armed bad guys) ... indeed there's one bit just before he goes for a fight through some favellas that he's only armed with one pistol and eight shots ... nevermind that the room he exited, in-shot, shows two AK-47s sat right there. ... Anyway - I'm really enjoying the game, and it's not as tricky as I was expecting, so that's nice (albeit, yes, as is my modus operandi, I'm playing on "Easy" ... but some reviewers were saying that even this mode was rather difficult ). There are certain spikes in the odds against you at times (e.g. a couple of 'arena battles' during the bus station level) ... I dig the story too ... just thinking about it, I'd like to see Max taken to L.A. to skulk about the seediest parts of that city. The move to Sao Poalo is quite stark, but it works and makes sense in the story (so far there's been a couple of levels explaining why he left New York, set in New York, in classic MP style). I'd definitely welcome a Max Payne 4, but - this far into MP3 at least - they'd have to freshen up the 'booze, pills, and self-loathing ex-cop in the wrong place at the wrong time' angle. But yeah - I'm enjoying it quite a lot despite a few niggles here and there.

[MinionZombie]

Alright - game complete - and I very much enjoyed it. The odd quibble here and there along the way, but over-the-piece I rather dug it. Some more observations: 1) The soundtrack is awesome. 2) I encountered more than one failure of the 'last stand' mechanic, usually when I was behind cover. I'd be downed and needed to pop off a kill to revive, but I wouldn't be able to actually hit them because cover was in the way of the bullets, or the angle wasn't at all right, or whatever. 3) I'm not sure whether there should be a timer or not ... sometimes you don't know how much time you've got to search the area for pill bottles and golden gun parts etc, and sometimes you might fail a stage by mere seconds (e.g. atop an exploding building, I needed just a few more seconds to nail the heavy gunner, but died as the invisible clock ran out on me and I had to do the section again). 4) Blimey it's violent! Seeing innumerable slow-mo kill cams as a downed enemy spurts blood from their throat, or has a gnarly big would in their face etc. 5) The plot was a little tricky to follow at times, but despite that I still enjoyed the overall story. 6) The level design was really cool - I really got pulled into the world they were putting in front of me. I was wondering if I'd trade it in immediately after completion, but I think I'll hold on to it and re-do the campaign in arcade mode at a future date.