Max Payne 3 Review
The original Max Payne by Remedy Entertainment came out back in 2001 and it was quite a hit. Combining new game mechanics like bullet time with a film noir style provided a fresh experience that was enjoyed by many. The sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne came out a couple years later and it proved to be a worthy sequel. Remedy Entertainment ended up selling all the rights to Max Payne to Take-Two Interactive and at some point Rockstar Vancouver began development on Max Payne 3. With years of delays and being developed by a new studio, how does the new Max Payne stack up?
Just as it’s been a number of years since the most recent Max Payne release, the setting of Max Payne 3 begins many years after the events of the previous game. At this point Max Payne isn’t much more than a washed up has-been. He has retired from the police force and spends his time drinking his life away. Nothing is happening in his life and he can’t imagine anything different in the future, but his past is full of sorrow and so alcohol has become his only friend.
Eventually he stumbles into an incident at a bar where he ends up killing the son of local crime boss. This makes staying in Jersey a very dangerous proposition. During this incident at the bar a former colleague from the police academy, Raul Passos, shows up, helps Payne during the ensuing fight and tries to enlist him to the field of private security work in South America. While Payne is initially uninterested, he soon realizes that sticking around after killing the crime boss’s son isn’t really an option and figures he might as well give it a go. Little does he know that things will only get more gruesome in South America.
Having played (and greatly enjoyed) the previous Max Payne games, one thing that was immediately evident was that the film noir theme had been abandoned. This provided some initial worry as this seemed to be such an integral part of the franchise. Those worries were quickly dispelled. Though the film noir theme is gone, in it’s place we get a stylized presentation very similar to the film Man on Fire (2004) starring Denzel Washington.
Regarding style, similarities can be found in everything from the way cut-scenes are presented to the way keywords pop up as text on screen for emphasis. Both works even share similar overall themes of having the main protagonist as a washed up drunk with no purpose in life who indifferently takes on work as a bodyguard and then gains purpose and direction by trying to free the person he was supposed to guard. The good thing is that it definitely works for Max Payne.
What I was most impressed with was the quality of the narrative. While Rockstar has made some great games, Max Payne 3 definitely sets a new standard for the developer when it comes to the art of telling a story. I had gotten so used to what seemed to be the typical way Rockstar moves plot-lines forward by having the protagonist continually stumble into new people who promise to help him after completing tasks x, y, and z only to be left empty handed after completing the tasks. This could not be further from what we get in Max Payne 3 where there is an exciting story with surprising twists and turns that keep you wanting to play more, hoping to put together the puzzle.
Dialogue is mixed with Payne’s narration in a perfect mix that does an excellent job at portraying what Payne is going through. This enables you to clearly witness the changes Payne goes through during the course of the game. It also allows a steady stream of information and thought which gives the sense that everything you do in the game is purposeful.
Gameplay is virtually flawless. The bullet time mechanic is obviously still present and it works as well as it ever did. It is just a fun game to play. There’s something intrinsically satisfying about being able to leap out from cover with bullet time activated right as you’re getting swarmed by a mass of enemies and lining up 6-7 perfect headshots to clear the room.
The game is also visually stunning. In a time where the current consoles are pretty old and most games coming out don’t look much better than games did 5 years ago, Max Payne 3 breaks the mold and delivers beautiful levels, characters, and environments. It serves as a great example that as games get visually more impressive, it becomes easier to get lost in the game. Level design deserves applause as well. The levels are visually impressive, radically diverse, and well designed. Levels take place everywhere from penthouses, to slums, to a yacht, to a cemetery and they are all designed in a way that makes you feel like you are in a large and open world while still retaining enough focus to keep you from wondering off to nothingness.
With all that being said, blemishes still exist. Some levels seemed to be a bit lengthy. A couple that stick out in this regard were some of the flashback levels. There’s nothing wrong with having flashback levels and they can serve to strengthen the overall story. The problem is that due to the nature of being a flashback, you already know the end result of the level. This creates a situation where things really should be kept more succinct. In regular, present day levels each new room or hallway holds a surprising and unknown future, but in flashback levels you often get to the point where you’re ready for the level to end so you can move on with what’s happening in the present.
The campaign is a bit on the short end. At around 10-12 hours it is definitely longer than the campaigns of some other games, but because Max Payne 3 is built primarily as a single player game it shouldn’t exist near the low end of this spectrum. In an ideal world we would have gotten slightly shorter levels, but enough of them to put the game at 15-18 hours. There wasn’t any missteps with the audio selection but there also didn’t seem to be any great or defining tracks.
Overall, Max Payne 3 is a fantastic game. Whether you are new to the franchise or a fan of the first two games, this is a game that is worth playing. Max Payne 3 presents the rare dilemma of hoping for another sequel but also not wanting what’s been done to be spoiled.