This game is killer.

As I stepped onto the train, I knew this wasn't going to be my day. I was Bogart in an old black and white film; but this one was going to be sprayed with red. As the train came to a stop, the trouble began.

The cop stepped out of the train as the bullets ricochet from the wall next to him, narrowly missing his black leather coat. Eyes fixed; a grim smirk glanced away from them; the criminals held uzi's, bullets pounding away - there was no chance he could escape. He turned back, pulled out his two revolvers, and, like a blur, jumped to the side, time slowing down as he flew through the air and offloaded round after round into the crim's bodies, flailing in blood, hitting the ground with a 'thock', and the cop landed, dropping the now empty magazines and reaching for some new ones. Reloading, he stood, turned to the station entrance, and waited for the next bunch of homocidal crims to run him down, thirsty for his blood.
But he was ready. He was no ordinary officer.
Welcome to the world of Max Payne.

Ladies and gentleman of the gaming world, I introduce you one of the most addictive games I've ever played, Max Payne. Straight off the presses of a hundred similar unoriginal action games, Mr Payne is here to breathe some fresh air into your day, not too long before he fills you full of bullets and dive into the next room full of bad guys. For the Playstation 2, this is the latest port of the popular and deciesively 'new' game, which mixes elements of action and platform games with Hong Kong / Matrix cinema. Max Payne is as much a cinematic experience as an action game, and as both, it's a startling landmark in gaming.

Max Payne was a cop with the American Dream - a good job, a nice house, a beautiful wife and a wonderful baby girl - when it all went to hell. His wife and daughter are killed in his home during a freak break-in, he's been framed for the murder of his partner, and there's no escape for him in a city full of criminals, mobsters and cops all out for his blood. He's a man with nothing to lose, and he's going to give all he's worth to get to the bottom of the crimes he's been framed for - and he's about to uncover a whole conspiracy which centres on the time and place his wife and daughter were brutally killed.

Told in both full motion video and graphic novel style images, Max Payne unravels in Three Parts, each containing numerous chapters and levels that keep Max in action. Beginning with an 'interactive' video of Max finding his murdered family, we cut three years into the present in an amazingly effective comic telling of the events occuring to Max now. The action takes place in 3rd Person, with an excellent camera system (easily the most sophisticated I've seen in a game) that follows the action. Exploring the areas, finding items and shooting bad guys takes up most of the game, but the real fun lies in the intracies of everything, which cuts Max Payne above the rest. In the first chapter alone, you'll investigate a train station where your partner has been assasinated for discovering an underground break-in into a bank vault. The story is awesome, and it progresses at a razor sharp pace to keep things interesting with lots and lots of twists. Just as cinematic as Metal Gear Solid, Max Payne brings the level of cinematic games up a notch with the amazingly kewl Bullet Time feature which echoes dozens of action films.

With the controls, Max can run, strafe, shoot and kill effectively using a variety of weapons. The enemies are intelligent and can do the same as you; in fact, unlike most games, where the enemies die with a bullet where you can take 100, you and the enemies are basically equal. With a shotgun shot, they'll die. With a shotgun shot, you'll die. So, what makes this game possible to play without yourselfexploding in lots and lots of gore? The answer is Bullet Time - with the push of a button, time will become slo-mo with the enemies unable to keep up with you as you aim, shoot, jump and blow their brains out while they struggle in real time to hit you. Not only does this give the game an edge and make it interesting to play, it allows you to do all sorts of JOYOUS actions straight from films. Running into a room, throwing yourself over a table and shotgunning a mobster through a window in the space of a second is all possible now thanks to Max Payne, and it's so extremely fun, it's addictive. You will live for the next thrill of discovering more enemies of which you can blast to pieces in slow-motion as they struggle to shoot back. And this is not all. Sometimes, after a specific shot is made, the game will jump to Death Cam a quick cinematic of the enemy dying in slow motion, blood flying in air. After firing a sniper rifle, Bullet Cam will follow the bullet into the enemy as they fall dead, allowing you to trace the path of the bullet and giving you a great perspective to the death of a bad guy. Finally, my favourite, Bullet Dodge allows you to jump into a room at any angle and fly through the air in slow motion picking off bad guys as they're completely unable to even aim at you, until you hit the floor and jump to your feet back in real time, ready for more. It's FRICKEN AWESOME.

With all of this destruction, I have to mention the volitility of the objects and places in Max Payne. Almost everything, from the walls to the objects to the people to the furniture, is destructible, which means you can do some major damage to the settings in this game. Not only that, but there is so much interaction with the setting, it rivals Half Life for the amusing and creative things you can do inbetween shooting bad guys. Turn on taps, use drink machines, flush toilets and open cupboards. Watch TV, listen to the radio, break into cars. The media in the game, including the radio, TV and various newpapers and letters all play a part in describing the story; in entering a room with a clue, Max will look towards the object and a ! mark will display above his head, to which you can check out the item and will be presented with a quick cinematic/comic that further's the story. Absolutely awesome. The levels themselves are also well designed (for the most) and all carry some kind of theme. From the basic "shoot-out on a railway platform" to the advanced "escape the burning resturant", the game does everything to make it like an interactive and fun action film. The resturant level, for example, is a feat of the imagination; beginning in a regular resturant, the whole thing explodes in fire, and you have to run, leap and dive to get into the next room without catching fire or dying. Running into the kitchen, you run to the firedoor and find it blocked - by a gas can. Boom! Try again. Go through the other door, dive into the bar and run for the exit. Boom! Try again. Sound repetitive and annoying? Not so. In fact, it's one of the most fun and replayable levels in the game, with each twist artful and imaginitive. Some of the levels take place in a drug-induced nightmare, involving the house where Max discovered his wife and daughter dead. It takes place in an obscure universe where the rooms and house changes, sickly, creepily, with blood moving, doors nailing themself shut (freaky as hell) and blood trails leading to the next horror. It's like straight out of Silent Hill, and adds a new edge to the game before leaping back into the action.

The PS2 version of Max Payne has been critised for not being as good as the X-Box and PC versions. The main differences are that the controls are slightly tricky to get used to, and the graphics are slightly toned down to adjust to the PS2. The level designer has also been removed; but apart from this, Max Payne is still the same hunk of man on the other platforms, and just as fun. Other critisms have been that it's too short; clocking in at ten hours, it's about as long as most video games nowadays, but with plenty of replay value - to go through places shooting even more baddies is great! I much recommend Max Payne for the PS2 and all platforms. My last note is that the violence and adult themes in this game are extreme, so it's not for kids. But everyone else give it a shot and you'll find that Max here is a real killer.