So full disclosure, I played only the first level of this, and that's because in the first place I was only playing it because I was really, REALLY curious to see what this game would be. Max Payne on the GBA? What does that look like? I thought I was in for a quick laugh.
But truthfully? This is like, an actually competent game. It's a demake of Max Payne, turning it into an isometric shooter on the GBA. Other than that, it has the same story, and even has the same areas, enemy placement, hell the gameplay is pretty spot on. I couldn't imagine "Max Payne on the GBA" being translated more literally. It even has the same PROBLEMS I had with the actual first Max Payne! Not enough painkillers, way too much damage! This is somewhat exacerbated by a problem unique to this version: enemies can see you from offscreen, and that can lead to frustration as you get shot before you could know an enemy was even there, but it didn't bother me to the point of rage.
I will say, I may actually play the entirety of this game one day when I have time for it. Diving in slow motion in an isometric space was really fun. My biggest piece of advice and my biggest criticism of the game: the audio is HORRIBLE. Cutscene voice files are so crunch its kinda funny (and kinda painful), but even the music that plays in the levels crackles and pops. I would unironically advise playing this game on mute.
But truthfully? This is like, an actually competent game. It's a demake of Max Payne, turning it into an isometric shooter on the GBA. Other than that, it has the same story, and even has the same areas, enemy placement, hell the gameplay is pretty spot on. I couldn't imagine "Max Payne on the GBA" being translated more literally. It even has the same PROBLEMS I had with the actual first Max Payne! Not enough painkillers, way too much damage! This is somewhat exacerbated by a problem unique to this version: enemies can see you from offscreen, and that can lead to frustration as you get shot before you could know an enemy was even there, but it didn't bother me to the point of rage.
I will say, I may actually play the entirety of this game one day when I have time for it. Diving in slow motion in an isometric space was really fun. My biggest piece of advice and my biggest criticism of the game: the audio is HORRIBLE. Cutscene voice files are so crunch its kinda funny (and kinda painful), but even the music that plays in the levels crackles and pops. I would unironically advise playing this game on mute.
3 Comments
@NovaNiles Yeah, the GBA has some pretty wonky sounds, but this is like, one of the worst I've ever heard genuinely. Never played a game on GBA where even the soundtrack was constantly peaking and crackling. I think they just tried to compress music from the PC version instead of recreating the music FOR GBA. I'd listen to like, the first cutscene and then around 10 seconds of the music in the first area, laugh about how bad it is, and play the rest on mute.
@Contaliarg Probably will just put on mute and play the real ost on yt for background music
NovaNiles
21 days ago