Max Payne is a dark and grueling neo-noir crime drama epic all about one man's quest for vengeance against those who murdered his family. The story is full of plenty of clever twists and turns and is a very compelling, high quality revenge story.
The graphic novel panel like cut-scenes give a lot of charm to the storytelling alongside the unique fact that many of the NPCs use the faces of members of Remedy's development team and Max himself has the face of Remedy's head Sam Lake to save on animation costs.
All the voice work is phenomenal. The brooding internal monologues by Max AKA James McCaffrey are so well done and really nail that noir vibe which is juxtaposed well by the often ridiculous comic-book like New York accent of all the NPCs, it can come across as cheesy at times, but it brings a much needed comedic element to a game that would be far too depressing without it and that's what makes it iconic. Few things in video games are as memorable as when Max turns a corner to hear a bad guy be like "It's Payne, WHACK 'EM!"
The gameplay was revolutionary for its time and is primarily influenced by John Woo and was also one of the first games to utilize the "bullet time" effect made popular by The Matrix. You have a good variety of guns and weapons to utilize against the waves of bad guys who you fight and slowing down time while doing stylish, acrobatic dives is both mandatory for survival and just never gets old. It's over-the-top and action packed in all the right ways, but never loses the seriousness and grit of the story at the same time.
My biggest complaints are the checkpoints sometimes feeling uneven and the platforming sections which just aren't fun and controlling Max during these parts feels janky, but thankfully these parts are few and far between.
All in all Max Payne is a gritty, dark and depressing adventure about revenge and the acceptance of loss, the player themselves feels as empty as Max does by the end of the journey. Yet as dark as the story is, the game is equally as fun due to the over-the-top action packed gameplay which is fast paced, fluid and responsive and the charming world with a lot of attention to detail in it. If you're a fan of a good hardboiled cop story and like some John Woo and Matrix like action you'd be a fool to miss this one because even 20 years later Max Payne is still one of the best games of its kind.
The graphic novel panel like cut-scenes give a lot of charm to the storytelling alongside the unique fact that many of the NPCs use the faces of members of Remedy's development team and Max himself has the face of Remedy's head Sam Lake to save on animation costs.
All the voice work is phenomenal. The brooding internal monologues by Max AKA James McCaffrey are so well done and really nail that noir vibe which is juxtaposed well by the often ridiculous comic-book like New York accent of all the NPCs, it can come across as cheesy at times, but it brings a much needed comedic element to a game that would be far too depressing without it and that's what makes it iconic. Few things in video games are as memorable as when Max turns a corner to hear a bad guy be like "It's Payne, WHACK 'EM!"
The gameplay was revolutionary for its time and is primarily influenced by John Woo and was also one of the first games to utilize the "bullet time" effect made popular by The Matrix. You have a good variety of guns and weapons to utilize against the waves of bad guys who you fight and slowing down time while doing stylish, acrobatic dives is both mandatory for survival and just never gets old. It's over-the-top and action packed in all the right ways, but never loses the seriousness and grit of the story at the same time.
My biggest complaints are the checkpoints sometimes feeling uneven and the platforming sections which just aren't fun and controlling Max during these parts feels janky, but thankfully these parts are few and far between.
All in all Max Payne is a gritty, dark and depressing adventure about revenge and the acceptance of loss, the player themselves feels as empty as Max does by the end of the journey. Yet as dark as the story is, the game is equally as fun due to the over-the-top action packed gameplay which is fast paced, fluid and responsive and the charming world with a lot of attention to detail in it. If you're a fan of a good hardboiled cop story and like some John Woo and Matrix like action you'd be a fool to miss this one because even 20 years later Max Payne is still one of the best games of its kind.