Max Payne 3

“So I guess I’d become what they wanted me to be, a killer. Some rent-a-clown with a gun who puts holes in other bad guys. Well that’s what they had paid for, so in the end that’s what they got. Say what you want about Americans but we understand capitalism. You buy yourself a product and you get what you pay for…and these chumps had paid for some angry gringo without the sensibilities to know right from wrong. Here I was, about to execute this poor bastard like some dime store angel of death and I realized they were correct. I wouldn’t know right from wrong if one of them was helping the poor and the other was banging my sister.” -Max Payne

So begins Max Payne 3 in media res, with a bloodied Max about to put a bullet in the head of a man whose arm is a bloody stump. Without further explanation, we jump back and find Max in rare form, getting drunk out of his mind, popping painkillers.

Same old miserable Max. He sure hasn’t lost his unique brand of cynicism, though he’s definitely put on a few years and a few pounds.

Max Payne 3‘s Brazilian landscapes are beautiful to behold, but a far cry from the imagery of the first two.

I am a huge fan of the first two Max Payne games. My first encounters with Max Payne 3 involved overexposure to the game’s pre-release ad campaign on Hulu. This was a very different game than I remembered- the images of an older man with a shaved head and Hawaiian-style button down did not match up with what I expected. Gone were the dark and gloomy streets of New York, replaced with the colorful slums of Brazil.

“Here they go, reviving another one of my favorite games just to shoot it in the head.” I thought as I was forced to watch the same advertisement for the hundredth time. Shouts of “FABIANA BRANCO, WHERE IS SHE?!” echoed through my dreams at night (thanks Hulu!) and the whole thing became kind of an in-joke between me and my friends. I waited for a few months after its release to pick it up.

To my surprise, I found an amazing game.

Max Payne 3 is not simply about shooting everything that moves. It also continues the emotional story about its protagonist. Payne is the epitome of the classic anti-hero; a good man who does bad things while believing the end justifies the means, no matter what the cost. He is a hardened ex-cop who, fourteen years prior, lost his wife and child at the hands of junkies hopped up on a designer drug known as “Valkyr.” Five years later, Max lost his new love, Mona Sax, in the line of duty. After twice experiencing the corruption inherent in the police system and the power of the criminal underground, Max retired from the police force. Riddled with guilt, Max took up a habit of heavy drinking and painkillers, hoping to find solace in oblivion.

Max, seen here seeking the sweet release of downers and booze.

If drinking and painkillers had succeeded in contenting Max, there would be no story to tell. Max Payne 3 picks up when Max is recruited for private security by an old friend and winds up working for the Branco family in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Brancos are a stereotypical wealthy family that covers all the bases. Rodrigo is the real estate mogul. Fabiana is the trophy wife half his age. Victor is the eldest son, an aspiring politician. Marcello is the cokehead younger brother, the underachiever riding on the success of his father. Things go sour fast when the Brancos are kidnapped at a cocktail party, and Max is led into a labyrinthine conspiracy that he must unravel in order to save them…and perhaps even redeem himself.

As the story progresses, nothing goes the way Max had planned. I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises in store for you. Suffice it to say, there are some cliche plot twists involved in what is a somewhat cliche plot, but it’s ultimately satisfying. Max Payne has never been about being truly original beyond its film noir origins. I consider this game to be a triumph of fantastic writing and pacing, not a triumph of creativity.

Character development in Max Payne 3 is handled primarily through the inner monologues of the title character, which weave in and out of both the cutscenes and gameplay. Max’s sharp, biting wit permeates the entire game; dialogue is exceptionally well written and the voice acting is amazing. I found myself frequently laughing out loud at Max’s self-deprecating quips. One of my favorites:

“Smart move would have been sticking with Da Silva and going straight to the hangar, but when was I ever about smart moves? I’m a dumb move guy, ‘Hey Max, we’ll drive onto the runway!’ No thanks, I’ll walk into the main entrance. I’d put a big shit shit-eating grin on my face and let these assholes take turns trying to kill me, that’s my style and it’s too late in the day to hope for change.”

It’s good to see you again, Max.

Bullet time is extremely useful and wonderfully eye-catching.

Make no mistakes though, this is an action game through and through- when you have control of Max, you’re seconds away from having to use deadly force on an army of foes at any time. The main draw of the series is its use of “bullet time,” the ability to slow down time for a few seconds to carefully and efficiently dispatch groups. It’s very Matrix-esque in its presentation and, having played the first two games, I felt right at home. A small bar indicates how much bullet time you have left- accruing more as simple as killing more bad guys. I rarely found my bullet-time gauge empty, as this element of the game is crucial to surviving large firefights. Proper use of bullet-time is critical to your success and, functionally speaking, it is integrated seamlessly into the game.

Control is excellent for the most part. Very little has changed since the inception of the series and that’s a good thing- no need to fix what isn’t broken. Max is a bit sluggish in his old age, but the cover system makes up for it by providing places to crouch and lean just about everywhere. When in a tight spot, Max is able to take a flying leap in any direction, slowing down time while in midair in order to get off a few key shots. At certain points, bullet time will activate automatically so you can put a round or three into an oncoming grenade, RPG, or even the driver of a vehicle.

Movement is smooth, but sometimes I struggled getting Max to take cover where I wanted him to be. There’s also a nasty tendency for moveable objects such as barrels to get lodged in a tight space and impede movement. One such instance was so terrible I had to reload my checkpoint in order to get past. The terrain is occasionally inconsistent and without any on-screen prompts it could be difficult to tell where I needed to climb or drop down to continue. Sometimes it would seem like I could climb up a certain ledge but I couldn’t. Other times I found myself stuck on a gentle slope and had to go back to find the stairs.

While these pathing and movement issues are a bit of a nuisance, they are not fundamental flaws that do detriment to the game.

The cover system works wonders in keeping you in the fight and out of the line of fire.

Like I said before, combat is the meat of the game and it is awesome. Bullets shatter glass, take chunks out of walls and pillars, and destroy flimsy cover. Very little remains unaffected by a hail of gunfire, resulting in a remarkably intense experience. There are thirty-one unique weapons, many of which can be dual wielded. I found myself gravitating towards assault rifles and submachine guns. Shotguns are powerful but I didn’t use them often since most of the gunplay takes place in open areas.. Unlike the first two games, you can now mix and match one-handed weapons of any type for dual-wielding as well.

Strangely, while the enemies can throw grenades, you cannot. I was disappointed in the change from the first two games- clearing a stubborn group from behind a wall used to be a simpler affair.

Enemy AI is on par with that of Uncharted 3, another stellar action game. They are smart and fast. They work in teams, take cover, toss grenades- in short, they’re a real pain sometimes. When your bullets hit, enemies jerk, stumble, grab themselves, and fall to the floor. It’s not difficult to “make them dance” as you riddle your foes with a barrage of rapid fire. The visceral response is pleasing and makes it easy to tell when your shots are going where they are supposed to. “Kill cam” close-ups are used frequently, shown in bullet time slow motion with a twist: you can continue firing rounds into the bad guy as they fall, resulting in what I would call “a bloody good time.”

Behold, the dual-wielding system. Pistol and a micro-SMG? Check. Mix and match one-handed guns as you please.

It’s a good thing the enemies are worthy opponents too, because you’ll be facing a lot of them. The body count by the end of the game is astronomical. What starts as a small altercation will always escalate as the level progresses. By the end of certain areas, I was wondering how some drug lord in Brazil could manage a full-blown army of well-armed men with such precision. Completely over-the-top it is, but like any good action movie, it doesn’t deter from the experience. Your suspension of disbelief may suffer a bit, however.

Now, take my word for it- Max Payne 3 has moments of incredible difficulty. Don’t expect any coddling here- even veterans to the genre may have a tough time. At times, the sheer amount of foes in front of you can be downright maddening. These moments are few and far between. Thankfully, the checkpoint system saves frequently so I wasn’t stuck replaying large chunks over and over again.

There are two additional difficulty levels beyond the standard easy-normal-hard offerings. So if you fancy yourself a god among men or are simply masochistic, feel free to give them a shot. Please let me know how it goes. I dare not for fear of smashing my controller in a rage.

Max Payne 3 has production values that few other games can match. Graphically speaking, this is one of the most beautiful games to grace to PS3. Everything is rendered with immaculate attention to detail. Locales are alive and vibrant, characters move with fluidity and grace. Ambient lighting effects sometimes compliment and sometimes contrast the dark and gritty nature of the story. Urban landscapes are flush with vegetation, buildings, vehicles, and people that all fit the setting- be it Brazil, New Jersey, or somewhere in between.

Running from laser-sighted rifle fire has never been so pretty.

To say Max Payne 3 is anything less than cinematic in presentation would be selling it short. Stylish camera effects are the norm, used extensively throughout the game and its cutscenes. Gone are the comic-book style stills of the first two games, but they are far from forgotten. Split screens, still frames, and floating text accent the story and dialogue in cutscenes. On the flip side, the blurring effect that is used in various forms can be a bit unnerving and distracting at times. Maybe a little more restraint could’ve been exercised there, but again, this is a minor complaint.

Max Payne 3 is an action tour-de-force. In a genre dominated by franchises like Gears of War and Uncharted, it swoops in and provides the third-person shooter genre a well-needed kick in the groin. It pulls no punches and makes no apologies. It is to action games in 2012 what The Rock was to action movies in 1996- an example of what can be made out of an overplayed concept, given the right writing and direction. It is stylish, violent, and beautiful. Despite a few issues, it’s at the top of its class.

Platform reviewed: PS3
Overall: It’s not without its flaws, but Max Payne 3 is one helluva ride. It won me over and scores a 9 out of 10.