What do you get when you combine N.Y.P.D Blue, The Matrix, A John Woo film and the stylings of Tim Burton's dark atmosphere? That's right you get this!
Um.... No that is not what I meant in the slightest bit...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HELL NO!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HELL NO!
I don't know why I even bother with you! Ugh anyways the game I am talking about is Max Payne. This game is a cult classic and one of the last games that 3D Realms worked on. Released July of 2001 it was a big hit for PlayStation 2 and the other consoles that were out at the time. Once originally to be release on the Sega Dreamcast but was cancelled when the system was discontinued. (WHICH IS STILL A SAD DAY! >.< I LOVESED YOU DREAMCAST! I LOVESED YOU!) After playing the game finally after 11 years of waiting and sitting, Not owning a PS2 and my parents thinking that rate M games were the devil I finally bought the game for 2 bucks at a local game store. At first I let it set on my shelf because I was scared of the game. No thanks to the movie....
After playing the game.... Fuck you movie.... Fuck you. And you sir are a peacock! You've got to let yourself fly!
So after about a week I finally sat down and played Max Payne on the PS2 and I was blown away in positive ways and in negative ways. But don't worry loyal fans of the game they were mostly positive(Kinda... Maybe). Besides the graphics looking aged (Because honestly this game did not age well at all! But I don't care about graphics when it comes down to this. What matters is the plot and gameplay.) but they were still passable. The story was absolutely amazing! You actually felt connected to the characters struggle and what he had to do. The in between comic stories were odd but interesting they told allot about the story but still left you wanting more. The dark atmosphere of New York was done so brilliantly and done so well that I all I could do was sit there and admire how awesome it looked. Now after me talking about the graphics and story it's time to get down the meat of the game. The juicy tasty part that makes you want to come back for more! (Now I want ribs.... That sounds fantastic right now. Not. Going. TO. LIE! Anyways back to the game.) It is the game play! At times awesome than other times unforgivable. This paragraph is dedicated to nothing but the positives of the game. Playing the game jumping around dodging bullets in slow motion freaking awesome! Getting arsenal of different weapons throughout the game makes this a fun filled shooter. So those are the positives for this classical classic! Man that was a long paragraph!
Max approves of this.... And says 665 the neighbor of the beast. Whatever that means! Plus look at his 'Ermygud' face!
Now here is the problems I had with this cult classic and I'm not going to lie to you there were quite a few. So put seatbelts on your ears because I am going to take them for the ride of there life!
Thank you Moss!
Okay now like I said before I have nothing but respect for the game but saying that it is one of the greatest games of all time I can't really accept that. This game has some major issues at time with gameplay that made me almost give up but I had to keep going. Because I am a persistent mother flipping hiphopopotamus! Anyways, one of my biggest beefs with this game was shooting. Yes it is a fun filled shooting game but oooooh my goodness the hit detection is so off! It's like you are forced to go into bullet time mode to hit the target and that is not even guaranteed So you when you go into battle with any enemy you better make sure that bullet time meter is filled all the way up or you will have problems. Another issue I had with the game is jumping.... Which is not jumping in this game; it's like a tiny hop. Which later does not bode well. There is a level solely devoted to jumping from roof top to roof top and if you can't get that down you are doomed to fail. Really to be honest this game is a trial and error game. Which I accept but at the same time hate. See you don't get a checkpoint or a little halfway save point so when you die. You can just go back to that point. Not a prob and continue to play. No in this you've got to go all the way back to the beginning of the "Chapter" as the game calls and do it all over again. Watching the same movies you watched not but five minutes go and what makes it worse... YOU CAN'T SKIP THE DAMN THINGS! Not is it only infuriating it is like the game is punishing you for dying! Another problem I have with this game is aiming.... OH MAN AIMING! I can't tell you how many times I died because my aim was being stupid. Say I was looking up at a enemy that was blowing the high holy crap out of me. I tried to shot him down but what happens 5 seconds of me looking up Max decides that he is getting tired of looking up and levels himself out looking straight ahead. Not only does this get you killed it can be the most annoying thing to deal with during gun battles. Which I've died at quite a few times because of this. Now this is a minimal thing compared to everything else but at times I had problem with the voice acting especially during the little comic excerpts When you can tell some of the lines being read need to show a little emotion they still talk in a drone monotone style.
It was like Ben was reading the lines of this game!
At times the characters did emote but not enough and the worse one with this was Max himself. He just didn't emote at all except for the beginning of the game. I get it. You've lost everything that is dear to you but when it sounds like you are angry or making a joke... PLEASE SOUND LIKE YOU ARE ANGRY OR MAKING A JOKE! Not to mention he seems to have trouble walking in a straight lines at times. Which gets worse as the game gets further into it. But my biggest, biggest, BIGGEST problem with the game. Is the random ramp in game difficulty at times. Now people are probably going well that is the point. You don't want it to easy throughout the game. Yes that is so true! Cause I hate games were it just a breeze to play the game. But this is a game that does my biggest pet peeve. Just get hard for no damn reason. Just going through a gun battle then all of sudden boom the difficulty got ramped up to mode 'Shoot me in the fucking head!' That is a problem and for someone that is running through the game their very first time that is not a good way to make them come back for more. Some will but others will sell the game as soon as they get done... If that! I know I was getting close to selling it myself at moments where I just had to sit there and yell at my television screen and do the traditional curse out the game even though that won't improve my chances anymore than it did a second ago. In a way I am kinda glad I didn't play this game years ago cause I honestly wouldn't have the patients for it like I have now. Which I am not going to lie you are going to have to have allot of patients to play this game because one mistake mean you get thrown back all the way to the beginning. Which is just pure anger!
PURE UNADULTERATED ANGGEEER~!
or this
So yeah Max Payne is a cult classic and so that leaves the question will I play the other two games in the series? Oh Hells yes but this one was just a pure pain in the ass. I couldn't believe I wasted so much time on it but I'm playing through it again on the hardest difficulty because I heard that you get a different ending but this time... I've got cheats! KONAMI IN DIS BITCH!! Anyways I just don't see what all the craze was about. I mean the story was kick ass, the graphics were awesome! (For it's time) The Bullet time was innovative idea and i was executed very well but besides that I just can't get past the gameplay and the struggles I had with it. The random ramps in difficulty at times and the aiming made me just want to give up. The game in a whole is a double edge sword that I am like yeaaaah no thanks at times. So with that being said I give Max Payne 1 a 3 out of 5. It doesn't live up to the hype that everyone kept cramming down my throat but maybe the other two fixed the problems I complained about. We shall see! Till then!
Final Verdict 3 out of 5
