Max Payne is a great masterpiece that should be played by many!

Max Payne is truly a unique game. Rockstar, maker of the famous Grand Theft Auto 3 and State of Emergency, has made a fine game. How this game unfolds, you’d think it was a movie. I think that NO game has been made like this. This game is special. John Woo can’t beat this game. This game MADE John Woo.

STORYLINE: 5/5

It all starts when Max Payne, a detective, comes home to find his wife and baby brutally murdered with the killers still in his house. From then on, Max is framed with murder and he’s trying to find vengeance for his family’s killer. He is also trying to find the answer to who set him up and why… I loved the story. From the first scene, to the last time you hear Max’s rough voice that could make Solid Snake, of the Metal Gear series, run for dear life, I was breathless.

Something that I don’t think has been done in video games is the famous Bullet Time command that Max does. If you’ve seen the movie “The Matrix”, than you are familiar with this sort of thing. Bullet Time is where Max can run in slow motion towards his enemy and shoot him. This is where the graphics really shine. You can see the bullets fly through the air and the blood splatter as it hits the punk who’s shooting you. This is the key to getting close to enemies in a big gun fight.

Instead of first aid kits that refill your health, there is a new item: Pain Killers. Isn’t that weird? Anyway, as you proceed in the game, you’ll find Pain Killers in medicine cabinets. When you get low on health, swallow some of those down. Well, actually, you EAT them. I thought people SWALLOW medicine instead of munch them down. Oh, well.

In MP, you find cool weapons. Like the infamous shotgun, to the berretta (Double berrettas, too), and Desert Eagles are a few. You can also find Molotov Cocktails which are very useful, but if you explode them by you, you get hurt.

Max Payne is a long game. My friend Duncan (Yes, the “FAMOUS DUNCAN” from almost all my reviews) beat it in about 5 days…on Hard. He’s a great gamer. Anyway, there are bad guys that you can kill in this game. The only thing that sucks is that there are only about 5 character animations of them. It’s cool to hear you enemies talk too.

Most of the things in Max Payne, you can interact with. As you proceed in the game, you will find and read things that drug lords have left on a desk. Those letters help you determine where to go next and they also help you get the storyline.

Like in Metal Gear Solid 2, you can go up against the wall and look around the corner to see if any people are there. This is a great part of the game because you can easily die. I mean, you don’t know if there are four or five people around the corner that can kill you.

Every level in Max Payne is long and hard. It could probably take a gamer twenty minutes AT MOST in the hard levels. For easy levels, it would probably take about ten minutes. At a point in the game, you will be in dreams. Max Payne will have dreams that you have to work your way through, and I tell you, THEY ARE VERY HARD! I can’t tell you about the dreams/nightmares, because if I did, it would ruin it.

ESRB RATING: M for Mature

It’s rated M because of the situations that Max gets in. Max finds his daughter dead and his wife raped and murdered. There is also a lot of bloodshed, mostly spilled by your enemies. Plus, there is often a lot of talk about pimps, hookers, drugs, and alcohol. Don’t let kids (like me) near this one. It is truly psychologically disturbing (Not like Silent Hill 2 or Twisted Metal: Black, but still disturbing).

THE GRADING: 1-5

THE SOUND: 4/5

Max Payne’s voice is grim and hoarse which adds to the atmosphere. His voice sounds cooler than Solid Snake’s. The sounds of the bullets flying sound realistic and vibrant. Every explosion (When you have huge speakers in your room) sound awesome! They sound as if the explosion happened right down your street!

THE GRAPHICS: 4/5

All the enemies look the same. They sort of get repetitive. Also, Max Payne’s face doesn’t change in emotion. It just stays a sneer. I noticed a little bit of slowdown in frame rate also. When a lot of action is happening, you can easily notice it and NO IT WASN’T THE BULLET TIME!

THE CONTROLS: 4/5

It takes a while to get used to the controls. Actually, it took about an hour for me to get used to them. I always pressed the diagonal buttons to move, but that brought up the weapon screen when I was supposed to use the analog stick. Also, sometimes the camera angles can suck.

REPLAY VALUE: 4/5

This could probably take an average gamer about 3 months to complete. After you beat it, you might play it again, but that’s all. If you don’t buy it, definitely rent it for your sake. You will love this game.


OVERALL:

This is a great game. It has one of the best stories that I’ve seen in a while. This storyline is probably better than most storylines in movies these days. If you buy or rent this game, get these other games, too:

Smuggler’s Run
State of Emergency (*CAUTION* MUST BE 18 OR OLDER!)
Grand Theft Auto 3 (*CAUTION* I SUGGEST BEING 18 OR OLDER!)
Devil May Cry

I hope you pick this game up; it’s truly a masterpiece that should be appreciated by everyone.

Until my next review, Twisted Metal: Black, I remain

JiggyJay