Max Payne

It took four long years in production, but Max Payne has lived up to and beyond all expectations and earned the rave reviews it deserves. First of all, the whole game is visually stunning. When you first load up the tutorial, trust me, you'll just be sitting there staring. When you first pause the game and watch the camera circle Max's virtually photo-realistic body, you'll keep on staring. When you first launch into slow motion and watch the bullets actually flying past, you'll stare some more. Basically, the graphics are fantastic; I've never seen better in a PC game.

But that's not all that makes Max Payne so remarkable. The story is really intriguing, and I think calling it cliched is missing the point; it's supposed to have that film noir, crime novel feeling, and it pulls it off creatively through the graphic novel scenes that pop up throughout the game. When you're not tearing through gangsters and junkies and suits, you may find yourself listening in from around corners, hopping from rooftop to rooftop, even wandering through Max's actual nightmares. The use of the graphic novel is great; it's wickedly written and a nice break from the action sometimes.

Which brings me to the action itself. Wow. Playing against such amazing graphics and animation, gunfights in Max Payne are *intense*. The slow-motion feature is a wonderful addition; you start to feel so cool sliding past bullets in midair that you're able to suspend disbelief. As with any other game, you learn to ration your resources and deal with confrontations more efficiently, but the awesome thing is that this game learns along with you. Max Payne actually adjusts to your skill level, making the game challenging without being impossible. And it's about time someone made a shooter like that!

So combine all that with really good voice acting and blessedly infrequent load times, and you really do have one of the best PC games ever made. Inevitably, there are a few problems; the weapons interface can be a little difficult at first, and enemy AI can be kind of questionable, but those are common glitches. The only significant drawback is only that the game doesn't last long enough! For most, it won't take longer than ten or fifteen hours to complete. However, what it lacks in quantity, Max more than makes up for in quality, and it's very replayable anyway.

All in all, this one is a landmark game and a masterpiece -- super-innovative, compelling and beautifully made. Deservedly, it's sure to land more than one Game Of The Year.

Max Payne is more of an experience than a game. You can see a level of realism that most games-and some movies-cant touch. You can hear every bullet just barely miss you as you dodgeshoot (a form of slow motion action similar to what is seen in The Matrix). You can feel max's world around him as he physically and psychologically deteriorates in front of you. Above all, you will admire the action-packed thrill and the overwhelming terror of the game. When you dodge a thousand bullets and look behind you, you will see a wall with a thousand holes in it. Your dual ingrams will tear down rows of those who wish to stop you, as every death leads to more questions. You will know what it is like to escape from flaming buildings and be ripped into chaos as the dreaded "V" melts away your mind. Throw in a story to rival any movie, and you have, like half-life before it, a true experience. From the murder of his family at the hands of a designer drug to his framing of murder, to the very end, this game will leave you screaming that you are never "too tired to go on".

Now here's what an action game should be. Max Payne is like a tribute to such Hollywood action icons, such as The Matrix (1999) and director John Woo. This is one of the best video games I have played in a long time. Never in a video game have I seen such good graphics, great dialogue, and intense action.

At best, a game like Max Payne runs like a television marathon series. The game is separated into three chapters with at least seven parts each, including the amazing graphic novels.

The game has a promising premise: DEA agent Max Payne is framed for the murder of his partner, Alex Balder, during a robbery in a New York subway station. With his partner dead, Payne is framed for the crime and the robbery. The case takes a bigger turn with the flow of a new drug in the city, and the possibility of a corrupt organization's involvement in supporting the drug (known as Valkyr). For Payne, it's going to be a long night in New York, during the city's snowstorm blizzard of the century.

Max Payne is a dark video game, and the title hero is also the narrator of the story, and while Payne doesn't seem confident in his storytelling, at times, he provides humor during the narration. The game shifts us to the events leading up to Payne being set up.

There is a sad and somewhat unpleasant sequence where Payne's wife and baby daughter are murdered by Valkyr junkies. And there is the possibility that the corrupt Aesir Corp. may be responsible for his family's death.

Payne must also battle a trail of mobsters, security agents, and black ops operatives, who all want him dead.

What makes Max Payne a great video game is the graphics, which uses New York locations we've probably never seen before, such as a run-down night club called Ragna Rock, and an old seaport.

There is even a great chase sequence where Payne chases a mobster from buildings to a construction site, and to the rooftops of New York apartment buildings (Not in that order).

Payne is also given a cache of weapons, such as handguns, grenade launchers, and machine guns. All enough to start a war. There is even a feature known as bullet time (reminiscent of the action styles seen in the John Woo movies), in which Max is able to slow down time and get a better advantage over his enemies. And if you're a hardcore John Woo fan, you'll notice that Payne is also able to do that familiar double handgun leap in the air.

And while Max Payne is such a good game, it does have its minimal flaws, which is its lack of character variety; the mobsters (who resemble Joe Pesci wise-guys), and agents all look essentially the same. The body count, and the amount of bullets used are ridiculously too high. And sometimes shooting someone point blank in the head doesn't work all the time. I guess it's trying to follow that great tradition of the John Woo Hong Kong movies in which there is always a high body count and a person is hit more than once.

Not all levels rely on handguns and automatic weapons. There is a moment that I like where Payne is unarmed and he must fight through a hallway full of thugs with a baseball bat.

There has been rumors that Max Payne is being made into a motion picture by Twentieth Century Fox that will fill in the gaps missing in both games. The video games, alone, are perfect. Max Payne creates a hero, who, if not plausible (he does endure mega doses of violence, and manages to live through the cold, stormy night), is at least persuading as a man determined to find the truth and clear his name.

The year is 2001 the world trade centers are attacked and diney releases some crappy movies but what caught the eye of every video gamer was a small company called Remedy interactive that had just released Max Payne. Go ahead 2 years and my oddesy begins. After getting my Xbox and 2 two games to go with {among other things} for Christmas one of these games was Max Payne. When i first looked at the cover i thought hmmm... looks like your basic shoot em up tps. I was dead wrong. From the first moment of comic noir to every last bloody body MAx Payne is a modern masterpiece. With its sharp graphics Noir storyline and Graphic novel comic to advance the story, and it is the very first game to implement bullet time. And before you say "heh they stole that from the matrix" The Matrix was released in 1999 Max payne was in development since 1996.{for a side note John Woo is the man who invented bullet time} Now for the story: Max Payne the average Nypd cop is having the time of his life hes young Married has a beautiful baby girl and has a well paying and fairly easy job. But dreams have a nasty habit of turning into nightmares when you're not looking. Max comes home one night to find his family murdered by Valkyre addicts the new street drug. Thrown into deep depression he vows to never let this happen again. He joins the DEA as an undercover agent joining the Punchenello mob. Then just as Max gets closer to shutting down the V trade he is framed for the murder of his fellow agent Alex. And to make things worse the mob now knows hes an undercover cop. So fighting both the Cops the Mafia and an evil corparation to boot he has his worked cut out for him..... There is also many great one liners in hear examples: "Vinnie Gotti the man I've bin killing to see" "I put a few more bullets in his head to make sure he stayed that way" The body count in the game though is ridiculously high not that it makes it worse {it makes it better} but i estimate that you kill over 500 people in this. So in closing if you like Third Person Shooters,Noir Films,Violence,Bullet time and one hell of a story check out Max Payne you wont regret it. {ps: cant get enough Payne? There a sequel out now called Max Payne 2: The fall of Max Payne check it out}

Max Payne is the titular cop hell-bent on revenge after his wife and child have been murdered by a group of strangers in his own house. While the plot of the game feels good enough for any film-noir it is the unique atmosphere that separates it from the rest.

While most people will probably remember the game for the revolutionary bullet-time that allows the protagonist to move in glorious slow motion, there is I must say a whole lot more to the game.

Take for instance the movie references; The code for a passageway is "John Woo" while at a certain point Max dryly comments before attempting to take out some terrorists: "I played Chow Yun Fat..." Max Payne also has an awareness of itself in the game, whereby he accounts that "I feel like being in a computer game..."

All in all I must say that Max Payne is the greatest film-noir game and you surely must try it to experience it!