I could swear Max Payne is Neo from the Matrix at weekends....

Max Payne is the gaming version of a John Woo film. Or possibly The Matrix ie. An ultra cool, slick, and stylish game that oozes dark humour and class. Developed by Remedy, Max Payne hit the PC in 2001, boasting several groundbreaking features like Bullet time gameplay and ultra realistic body damage and graphics, not to mention self adjusting gameplay. The game arrived under a huge cloud of hype – being in development for 5 or 6 years, and was a greatly anticipated game. Does it live up to the hype though? Read on to find out…

What’s it all about then?

You assume the role of, surprisingly, Max Payne. A New York cop, who takes on the dangerous role of going undercover into the seedy NY underworld, in the pursuit of hunting down and bringing to justice the originators of the mysterious and dangerous drug Valkyr. But trouble soon looms, as Max returns home one day after a hard days work, and finds a group of drugged up, valkyr junkies in the process of murdering his wife and kid. Before he can save them, they are despatched of, and this is where we pick up the story, as Max goes on a one man rampage looking to kill the people responsible. He goes after underworld mafia bosses, pimps, drug pushers – hell anyone who is slightly dodgy (NB – Carletta, another ‘classic’ English word there). He then gets framed for the murder of his partner, and so the cops turn against him as well. While the plot is often cheesily told, and doesn’t exactly change the game in turns of originality, there are a lot of plot twists and you are constantly kept engaged by the developing plot – which is all I ask.

Oh so slow…

And this leads us nicely onto the game proper. The gameplay in Max Payne is easily the best thing about it. This is one of the most enjoyable third person shoot-em-ups I’ve ever played, it’s is that good. What elevates it above the rest is Bullet Time. This is an incredibly cool, unrealistic and damm fun feature. As you are running along, with a click of the right mouse button your character will suddenly enter a perpetual, matrix like ’slow-motion’. So perform a diving sidewards jump, and Payne slowly dives across the screen with everyone else in slow motion. The difference is that your characters aiming and firing mechanisms remain fully in real time – which gives you a crucial advantage. It’s a gaming first, performing a sidewards dive off of a ledge ’watching’ an enemies bullets (aimed at you) slowly drift past you as you sail past him pumping bullets towards his torso. Taken straight out of John Woo movies, not to mention The Matrix, this bullet time is nether the less very satisfying.

Apart from bullet time, gameplay is pretty standard third person shoot-em-up. And in Max Payne this is very, very satisfying standard third person shoot-em-up gaming. The AI of your enemies helps greatly with this. You’re always only a door or corner away from more aggressive enemies who certainly give you all they got. Although once you get them sussed, they all become pretty repetitive and easy to out manoeuvre. Bosses are simply the same old grunts with better damage limits. I’m one who really looks for excellent AI in a game; I like opponents who are like humans. While Max Payne’s AI is not quite as good as this, it does the job, and the sheer numbers and frequency of the bad guys make the enemies hard!

Your military arsenal certainly helps with the sheer enjoyment of the game. You get a mighty selection of weapons of destruction – ie. shotguns, double barettas, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, and every MP players favourite, the twin Ingrams (Uzi’s).

There must be something bad about it though?

One thing that really pi**es me off about Max Payne is the at-times sodding difficulty of the game. It reminds me of Syphon Filter. There are certain confrontations which you end up replaying and replaying, due to their sheer difficulty. It doesn’t help when enemies seem to know that you are coming. Often you approach a corner, and without stepping out you hear a gruff voice proclaim ”It’s Payne!”, amazingly knowing you are there without being able to see you. The element of surprise is wasted completely – and they tend to kill you pretty quickly. Consequently, stealth is not part of Max Payne’s vocabulary. You have to blast your way through the game – stealth is not an option.

The constant dying gets pretty annoying. You will die a lot on this game, and will consequently do a lot of reloading. However, the very handy quick save and quick load minimise loading times.

And the dream sequences are really, really annoying. You see, Payne occasionally falls into these flashback/dream sequences, where he replays the killing of his family. You take control of Payne during these and have to navigate your way through strange, weird mazes (like in dreams). The most annoying one is when you have to follow trails of blood in the darkness, suspended over nothing. You are often drowsy, and control of your character is difficult. Added to this, you have to navigate difficult platform sequences (In the dark by the way) and if you fall you die. Frustration is an understatement.

My last gripe is the constipated look Payne has on his face throughout the game. Every time he grins, he twists his face into a maniacal grin that makes him look like he is really trying hard to release one. A stupid gripe really, but quite a disturbing one.

Alright then, does it look any good?

Oh for sure. Max Payne is one hell of a looker. The fully realised and detailed, hi-res NYC environments hit home first. Then the wonderfully detailed and animated characters, with their realistic photo-mapped faces add some more realism. You get your first taste of a gunfight, and gawk in amazement as tables, walls etc crumble under the bright flashes of gunfire, and as enemies bodies light up when they connect with that Molotov cocktail you just chucked at him. This is a graphically stunning game – simple as that.

And it’s a dark game….

Yeah, it’s well worthy of its ’15’ certificate in the UK. See the action takes place in the underworld of NYC – ie. seedy motels, brothels, mafia hideouts, docks, back alleys and car parks. A nice trick by the programmers is to create a permanent snow storm for the duration of the game. One thing I just noticed about MP is that it is never in daytime – it is always dark. That says something about the game. Make no mistake – this is no game for the little kids. For a start, any ally/friend/innocent bystander you come across is either slaughtered one way or another, or turns against you and is then slaughtered by you. Aiding this is the ’noir’ feel and excessive (but realistic) gore levels.

Nice aural pleasure as well…

Max Payne utilises a very effective Environmental Sound effect that works brilliantly. So you’re walking down a hallway and you hear muffled whacking sounds, like someone getting the crap kicked out of them. As you draw closer you can hear the rough NY accented thugs getting clearer and clearer, screams from the victim getting louder and louder, all as the music gets tenser and more dramatic, and then you walk round the corner and a barrage of explosions and gunfire hit you. Brilliant. Individual sounds like birds tweeting, litter and paper rustling through the air, trains in the distance – all clear and chillingly realistic.

Short though…

Decent gamers will blast through this game in a maximum of 15 hours (and that’s pushing it). I did it in 11 hours first time through, which is too short really. It’s one of those games, you know, very short but intensely difficult. Although replay value is pretty good. You can replay it twice, and each time the difficulty level gets harder (in terms of damage taken). Complete these two, and you get the secret level mode that I’m not going to spoil the details of.

Overall

Max Payne, if you ask me, is a pretty unmissable game for any PC owner. The ultra violent, gritty, one man army gameplay comes loaded with cool features like the ultra fun bullet time, and the sharp, detailed and realistic graphics, along with the clear-as-a-bell sound, bring a very clear sense of realism. It’s not perfect – It has its flaws, but is too fun and violent to miss out on. A must buy, and a 9.5 out of 10, or 4.5 stars.

Gameplay – 9.5 out of 10
Graphics – 9.5 out of 10
Sound – 10 out of 10
Plot – 7 out of 10
Lifespan and Replay Value – 7 out of 10