Max Payne 3 : Job well done.

[SpeedZealot369]

I just finished playing through the game. The first game is one of my all time favorites, as well as the second game being really good too in my opinion.

I just wanna say, Rockstar did a really good job with MP3. It totally rocked from start to finish. Played it on my rig that is listed in my sig. I'll go through a quick rundown of my opinion on the games aspects.

1. Gameplay:

Hands down the most cinematic gameplay I have ever played. I've seen some people complain about how the cut scenes can be a little too much at times (and at times they were), and for some people that really might be. But through the game, I felt like I was playing through a movie. A good movie. And imo the cut scenes were a very stylistic addition to the game, and added a lot of atmosphere. The core gameplay is very much unchanged from the first two games, although the movements felt a little but clunkier, but this can maybe be explained by the fact that Max is much older and has been through a lot more this time around (not to mention his self abusing behaviors). The firefights are Awesome, and they do a great job of keeping the environments extremely diverse. For me there were a lot of "holy **** that was sick" moments. Enemy AI is good, they will flank you and take cover. I played it on normal and some parts still proved very tricky for me.

2. Story:

GREAT job with the story. Could have been written for a movie. Voice acting is top notch, and the dialogue is really really good throughout. I really enjoyed max's narration, he really sucks you into his world, and is even funny at times (not surprised, this is a rockstar game). I won't go too much into this category because of spoilers, but the story is good, and they manage to seamlessly tie it together with where the last game ended. I was skeptical about the new setting, but they really did it well, and I think with the end result it was actually a brilliant decision to change the setting. (there are some flashback scenes that will put you back in the new york setting, if you missed it like I have

3. Graphics:

I want to start off by saying the game is hands down one of the most Gorgeous games I have ever played. At times the style reminded me of GTA, but that's not a bad thing. The textures are High res, the tesselation is high quality, effects, physics, everything is top notch. It did feel a bit "chuggy" at times, I'm not sure if it's because my pc isn't strong enough, or because like some people mentioned it might be a port from the consoles. Bullet time is **** your pants cinematicaly gorgeous. At some points you'll pull off some moves (especially the scripted ones) And you'll be like turning around like holy **** did anyone else see that?

4. Music:

I already mentioned the voice overs, but the music is also, yes you guessed it, awesome. Whatever situation your in, there is music that complements it. During some firefights I found myself thinking damn this music ****in rocks.

The multi looks really good as well, I'm right now knees deep in SC2 and BF3, I might try getting into the multi later.

All in all if you were on the fence with this game, my suggestion, BUY IT. you won't regret it.

I will be happy to answer any questions or even upload pics/vids if requested.


Pics

http://s1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb428/SpeedZealot/ Uploading more as I post this

Try this one, it's dropbox (thanks Atomic playboy)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n8hfx4nkohounfg/SvpweDhZHE/MP3

BTW these are not not highest settings, however most settings are on high or very high with one or two on medium.

 

[Barfo]

Thanks for the review, a few screenshots would be nice.

 

[sigurros81]

How long did it take you to beat the single player campaign? I am interested in buying this game but I may end up waiting for a Steam sale.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Thanks for the review, a few screenshots would be nice.

Uploading right now. What's the best way to upload pics? I'm using photobucket but the pictures aren't coming out in native 1680x1050 res.

How long did it take you to beat the single player campaign? I am interested in buying this game but I may end up waiting for a Steam sale.

It's really hard for me to say how long because I played through it in one day (yes I do have an addictive personality lol) But just rough estimation I would say around 12-13 hours, with a fast pace.

 

[Barfo]

I use imgur.

 

[SketchMaster]

I’m going to place my review here, if I may be so bold.

I just beat the game last night, and I wish I had skipped Diablo 3 on launch day and got this instead; yes, I think MP3 is a better game than D3.

The graphics are stunning, not Crysis good but you can tell they put a lot of work into the engine. I played on a somewhat dated machine (HD 4850 CF with Core 2) but even on high I have very few FPS issues, very playable. They put a great amount of detail into the world that really shows you that the franchise, not just Max Payne, has grown up. Walking around offices no longer feels like a bunch of blocks stuck together with holes in them to walk through, they put thought into the design of buildings and make it so (if you have a moment) looking around is actually pleasant. The outside world of the poverty stricken urban sprawl is jaw dropping... The little items kicking around had to be a total payne in the ass (hehe) to place around the maps, and you can tell that a lot of hours were spent building them. An EA game this is not.

The new cover system is a great addition, you can't "run and gun" as much because the AI is just too good now so you have to use your surroundings. The controls where a bit annoying at times, getting stuck in corners was frustrating; however, this happened so rarely that I only noticed it while exploring around for hidden items. Any other point in the game I hardly had to argue with the controls and wouldn't have guesses it was a console port unless you told me. Speaking of hidden items, it's nice to see there are collectables in the game to add in reply value… But I would have liked the golden guns to be an option to turn off; it kind of broke the immersion for me to see Max being all cynical and cold with a blinged out AK in his hands. Yes, they add ammo and damage; but I personally think they are cheesy to see during cut-scenes and reminded me that this game was made by the guys responsible for GTA (Not that it's a bad thing they are the same guys, just felt silly in such a stone cold game).

Oh yes, the cut-scenes… Let me tell you about the cut-scenes. Rockstar won me over with the new loading mechanics alone, because I’ve never played a game that sucked me in as deeply as MP3 has. The fact the only “loading screens” I see are when I first load the game or when I die is what really helps you feel like you are, ”playing a movie”. They even use the game menu to begin pulling you in as soon as you load up the game by cinematically rendering Max standing in the location of where you are in the story’s progression, it’s a small item but one that I greatly appreciated. I personally think this has set the bar on how games should tell a story to their players; you don’t feel like you’re playing a game, you are experiencing the world of Max Payne. The filters they use are a bit annoying at first, but then you remember that Max is a walking pharmacy/Liquor store at this point and realize you would be a bit fuzzy yourself.

The story itself is a great piece of work, the writers did a good job of showing Max’s demons and daily struggle. Is this an original idea? No, the “Boozing, Pill popping good guy that pulls himself from rock-bottom to right the wrongs and earns redemption” has been done many, many times before; however, this is the best I’ve seen it done in a game. There were very few points in the story where I thought, “Wait… No, that doesn’t make any sense…” but those where quickly forgotten when something exploded and I had to dispatch baddies in John Woo fashion set to the deeply atmospheric music that Health produced for the game.

I don’t know about you, but I judge how much love went into a game by its soundtrack. I downloaded the Max Payne 3 CD last week, and after one listen I thought to myself, “Joe, You need to go buy this game…”. Making music for a game isn’t easy, you don’t know how long it will take a player to get though a level, and if you mess it up you ruin the experience for the players. If you listen to the music of MP3 on its own you will notice that it’s pretty repetitive and doesn’t have much build, but this is perfect for a game because you can loop certain parts of the song and build up as the player works through the level. A perfect example of this is how they used the “tears” song late in the game, it made getting to the boss more fun than the actual boss because of how well the music set the scene.

Overall, Max Payne 3 doesn’t do anything “New” because everything they’ve put into it was taken from another game somewhere. What Rockstar did was cherry pick those features and polishes the hell out of them before putting them all into the game, and gods bless them for it. I may be biased, since I am a huge fan of MP 1-2, but this is will be a strong contender for GOTY in 2012. I would say to those that don’t like shooters because of the control style, do yourself a favor and go watch your buddies play through the game; the story is so tightly weaved into the game that even watching it would be a blast.

 

[Rakewell]

Does it still have a film noir feel to it? That was one of the things I loved about the first two...

 

[Imp]

Uploading right now. What's the best way to upload pics? I'm using photobucket but the pictures aren't coming out in native 1680x1050 res.



It's really hard for me to say how long because I played through it in one day (yes I do have an addictive personality lol) But just rough estimation I would say around 12-13 hours, with a fast pace.

12-13 hours?

That's surprising. I'm still jaded by the 6-8 hours era that hasn't quite left completely.

 

[Rakewell]

12-13 hours?

That's surprising. I'm still jaded by the 6-8 hours era that hasn't quite left completely.

That's exactly how I feel

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I use imgur.

Imgur compresses pictures, and pretty poorly. Unfortunately, so do most image hosts these days. The folks over at NeoGaf recommend abload.de and they have some fairly phenomenal shots as a general rule. Haven't tried it myself, so YMMV.

 

[SketchMaster]

Does it still have a film noir feel to it? That was one of the things I loved about the first two...

Not quite, Max is trying to "fix" his past and ends up confronting his demons while trying to save the kidnapped woman.

"The way I see it there’s two types of people, those who spend their lives trying to build a future and those who spend their lives trying to rebuild the past. For too long I’d be stuck in between, hidden in the dark."

Quote from the game. It's gritty, yes, but that's what you expect. They are really trying to evolve Max's character, and in this story he's trying to cope with losing everyone he's ever cared about; family or not.

12-13 hours?

That's surprising. I'm still jaded by the 6-8 hours era that hasn't quite left completely.

I was able to get through it in about 11 hours, and I was shocked as well. But, to be fair, I'm willing to pay for a "short" game if I know it's going to be one that was well worth it. I would love to see a max Payne that is 15Hr+, but it may not happen.

 

[Grooveriding]

Like the game as well. Definitely has a film-noir feel and good story. Well optimized game from Rockstar for once.

One glaring flaw is that it takes control away from you far too much to go to a cut-scene. Gets super annoying after a while.

 

[gorcorps]

Imgur compresses pictures, and pretty poorly. Unfortunately, so do most image hosts these days. The folks over at NeoGaf recommend abload.de and they have some fairly phenomenal shots as a general rule. Haven't tried it myself, so YMMV.

Best thing these days IMO is to put them in your public Dropbox folder. Untouched, raw files exactly as you put them there.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Updated with pics, I wish I knew how to get them to show up as the full 1680x1050 res thou

 

[exar333]

12-13 hours?

That's surprising. I'm still jaded by the 6-8 hours era that hasn't quite left completely.

The length of the game really shouldn't matter if it's GOOD. I love the original NES Contra. You can beat that game in 45min and it still rocks; that game cost $40 new in the mid-late 80's, thats a about $75 in today's dollars.

Max Payne games (at least 1 and 2) were both for replay value too. I played both of them maybe 1-2x through each, and easily got my value for the money.

Not every game needs to be Skyrim-length. I love long games too, but the game would never get made with the same production value if it was required to be 40 hours+.

 

[exar333]

I’m going to place my review here, if I may be so bold.

I just beat the game last night, and I wish I had skipped Diablo 3 on launch day and got this instead; yes, I think MP3 is a better game than D3.

The graphics are stunning, not Crysis good but you can tell they put a lot of work into the engine. I played on a somewhat dated machine (HD 4850 CF with Core 2) but even on high I have very few FPS issues, very playable. They put a great amount of detail into the world that really shows you that the franchise, not just Max Payne, has grown up. Walking around offices no longer feels like a bunch of blocks stuck together with holes in them to walk through, they put thought into the design of buildings and make it so (if you have a moment) looking around is actually pleasant. The outside world of the poverty stricken urban sprawl is jaw dropping... The little items kicking around had to be a total payne in the ass (hehe) to place around the maps, and you can tell that a lot of hours were spent building them. An EA game this is not.

The new cover system is a great addition, you can't "run and gun" as much because the AI is just too good now so you have to use your surroundings. The controls where a bit annoying at times, getting stuck in corners was frustrating; however, this happened so rarely that I only noticed it while exploring around for hidden items. Any other point in the game I hardly had to argue with the controls and wouldn't have guesses it was a console port unless you told me. Speaking of hidden items, it's nice to see there are collectables in the game to add in reply value… But I would have liked the golden guns to be an option to turn off; it kind of broke the immersion for me to see Max being all cynical and cold with a blinged out AK in his hands. Yes, they add ammo and damage; but I personally think they are cheesy to see during cut-scenes and reminded me that this game was made by the guys responsible for GTA (Not that it's a bad thing they are the same guys, just felt silly in such a stone cold game).

Oh yes, the cut-scenes… Let me tell you about the cut-scenes. Rockstar won me over with the new loading mechanics alone, because I’ve never played a game that sucked me in as deeply as MP3 has. The fact the only “loading screens” I see are when I first load the game or when I die is what really helps you feel like you are, ”playing a movie”. They even use the game menu to begin pulling you in as soon as you load up the game by cinematically rendering Max standing in the location of where you are in the story’s progression, it’s a small item but one that I greatly appreciated. I personally think this has set the bar on how games should tell a story to their players; you don’t feel like you’re playing a game, you are experiencing the world of Max Payne. The filters they use are a bit annoying at first, but then you remember that Max is a walking pharmacy/Liquor store at this point and realize you would be a bit fuzzy yourself.

The story itself is a great piece of work, the writers did a good job of showing Max’s demons and daily struggle. Is this an original idea? No, the “Boozing, Pill popping good guy that pulls himself from rock-bottom to right the wrongs and earns redemption” has been done many, many times before; however, this is the best I’ve seen it done in a game. There were very few points in the story where I thought, “Wait… No, that doesn’t make any sense…” but those where quickly forgotten when something exploded and I had to dispatch baddies in John Woo fashion set to the deeply atmospheric music that Health produced for the game.

I don’t know about you, but I judge how much love went into a game by its soundtrack. I downloaded the Max Payne 3 CD last week, and after one listen I thought to myself, “Joe, You need to go buy this game…”. Making music for a game isn’t easy, you don’t know how long it will take a player to get though a level, and if you mess it up you ruin the experience for the players. If you listen to the music of MP3 on its own you will notice that it’s pretty repetitive and doesn’t have much build, but this is perfect for a game because you can loop certain parts of the song and build up as the player works through the level. A perfect example of this is how they used the “tears” song late in the game, it made getting to the boss more fun than the actual boss because of how well the music set the scene.

Overall, Max Payne 3 doesn’t do anything “New” because everything they’ve put into it was taken from another game somewhere. What Rockstar did was cherry pick those features and polishes the hell out of them before putting them all into the game, and gods bless them for it. I may be biased, since I am a huge fan of MP 1-2, but this is will be a strong contender for GOTY in 2012. I would say to those that don’t like shooters because of the control style, do yourself a favor and go watch your buddies play through the game; the story is so tightly weaved into the game that even watching it would be a blast.

The two are not even remotely similar other than both are run on your computer. LOL

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Updated with pics, I wish I knew how to get them to show up as the full 1680x1050 res thou

Use a different picture host. Abload or dropbox.

 

[gorcorps]

You guys make me want this game more than I thought I would.

Stop it

 

[vshah]

what's the DRM situation?

 

[Aikouka]

With all this good press about the game, I'm rather tempted to pick it up.

I just beat the game last night, and I wish I had skipped Diablo 3 on launch day and got this instead; yes, I think MP3 is a better game than D3.

I'm just being a bit nitpicky, but are you referring to the same day? 'Cause Max Payne 3's initial release, which was on the same day as Diablo III, was for the console only. The PC version came out last Tuesday (i.e. two weeks after Diablo III and Max Payne 3's initial release).

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

This game has a mp mode? How does that work?

 

[Dankk]

I posted a little bit in the other thread. Now that I have ~7 hours clocked in the game, I'll restate my thoughts and be a little more extensive this time.

Gameplay
At its very core, Max Payne 3 is a shooting gallery. A very fancy, glorious, beautiful shooting gallery. You travel through very detailed, living locations, take cover, shoot stuff in slow motion, and watch the kill cams of your bullets penetrating your enemies. It's fun.

Some of the scripted events where it automatically puts you into bullet-time are awesome. At the beginning of Chapter 2, you're working in a club that gets raided by armed men. During a cutscene, Max is standing on a balcony, sees the gunmen, and dives through a glass window in slow-motion, and the game hands over the controls while you're in mid-air. Time slows to a crawl and you shoot enemies beneath you while you're suspended above the ground. Stuff like that is awesome.

I still think the PC version has some issues with mouse control; I hated it at first, but I think I'm getting a little used to it now. The mouse sensitivity will change drastically depending on whether you're in bullet-time, in prone, or in a vehicle, and it's really annoying. But I've managed to get past it. Maybe they'll fix the mouse issues in a patch.

It's a tough game, IMO. I'm playing on Medium and I'm getting my ass kicked. Maybe I should stop using my "run in the middle of everyone and spam shootdodge" tactic. :hmm: In all seriousness though, the game isn't very forgiving.

Graphics
First of all, I do love the grim, nitty-gritty, cinematic presentation used here. It's a little over-the-top with the filters and effects, but it's dramatic and I like it.

The game looks fantastic, and after being worried that it would be an unoptimized piece of crap (a la GTA4), it actually runs as smooth as butter. It's not groundbreaking, nor is it the new system-killer; but they did a great job with the graphics on the PC version.

And you know why this game uses 30GB of HD space? I don't think it's because of textures, dialog, or pre-rendered custcenes (although those have a lot to do with it). Rather, I think it's just the mere variety of levels and environments the game has. Seriously, in every chapter you're plopped down somewhere different, somewhere new (I mean, just about). I love games with varied and interesting levels. I have to applaud them for this. I guess if you're gonna make a game with repetitive gameplay, then you might as well make the levels varied and fresh.

Audio
Something sounds "off" about most of the dialog in this game. It sounds a little compressed, like they had to lower the quality to fit it all in. Overall I think the game sounds fine, the weapons sound fine, and the effects are nice, but some of the voice quality leaves a little to be desired. You get used to it after a while though.

The soundtrack is great.

Story
I suppose this is the only reason why the frequent cutscenes are acceptable to me. The game actually has a pretty interesting narrative, and a great sense of pacing. Without spoiling anything, it's just interesting to see Max keep getting himself into shittier and shittier situations everywhere he goes, and then see the way he handles himself. Some of it is pretty cheesy, and the way some of Max's lines are delivered sounds a bit forced; but then again the older Max Payne games were like that as well.

Which reminds me: Anyone who's put off by MP3 because "Oh, it's not true Max Payne, it's too sunny now, he shaved his head, blah, blah, blah" should actually play the damn game. A dark noir-style game doesn't have to be set in snowy New York to be good. IMO, Max Payne 3 feels like Max down to the core. It's brilliant, and the change of locations turned out to be a great decision.

Multiplayer
I've barely touched it, and from what I've seen, it's not the meat-and-potatoes of the game anyway. It basically feels like 3rd-person CoD with a cover system and no killstreaks. Might be good for wasting a little time with, but overall "meh".

Over the course of playing, I've had a lot of mixed feelings about Max Payne 3; there are moments when I love it, and moments when I hate it (those are mainly when I'm getting my ass kicked). But I think I can confidently say that, overall, the game is awesome and deserves a look by anyone who is the slightest bit interested. It's some good action-packed fun.

You guys make me want this game more than I thought I would.

Stop it

You're telling me. I couldn't hold my patience any longer which is why I broke down and bought it.

 

[tornadog]

I hate it that the bullet time jump forward always ends up in a couple of seconds of totally uncontrollable fall, and if u r jumping into a group of guys firing at you and for some reason, you didnt get them during the bullettime seqence, its game over and repeat!!

Also agree on the mouse clunkiness, its all over the place as you go from running to walking to crouching to bullettime!

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I hate it that the bullet time jump forward always ends up in a couple of seconds of totally uncontrollable fall, and if u r jumping into a group of guys firing at you and for some reason, you didnt get them during the bullettime seqence, its game over and repeat!!

The game is simply trying to teach you the important lesson that if you ever find yourself in a gun battle with multiple enemies, diving directly at them is probably not your best strategy unless you can manage to kill them all in the process. Good lesson for everyday life, I think.

 

[SketchMaster]

I'm just being a bit nitpicky, but are you referring to the same day? 'Cause Max Payne 3's initial release, which was on the same day as Diablo III, was for the console only. The PC version came out last Tuesday (i.e. two weeks after Diablo III and Max Payne 3's initial release).

My bad, didn't realize that was for console only as I flipped a coin to decide on D3 or MP3 (fan of both series) when I noticed the adds on TV, I haven't been keeping up with games very much these days.

And I know it's an apple to... Watermelon comparison. I mainly threw that in there to get people riled up.