If you are going to play this game, then please, learn the development history. This game is so completely expressive of the suffering of the people who worked on this game, sometimes without rest or pay. Every end felt like a dead end, and every reason to push on felt meaningless. Who was even asking for this game? The last game hadn't even sold anywhere near the copies of its predecessor, but a third Max Payne game was put into development anyway. Even when the budget had become bloated, they didn't cancel the game. It just wouldn't die. So fed up with their conditions, the development team of Max Payne 3 transformed Max himself from a self-obsessed antipathetic loser into an avenging archangel of the people.

In some ways, perhaps, Max Payne 3 surpasses the likes of John Woo, Michael Bay, and even Remedy Entertainment themselves with its narrative progression from the destruction of the criminal but destitute to the slow-mo obliteration of bourgeois institutions. I wish for the police station level to have been better designed, yes, but I can forgive it because the message came through loud and clear.

To all the people of Rockstar who wrung their blood, sweat, and tears into this game, thank you.