An alright third-person shooter enhanced due to its presentation, narrative, and bullet-time mechanic. Though nothing new is on offer in the narrative of Max Payne, it is stark and bleak in a shooter market that was a bit sillier than grimdark. Though the game controls well and functions like a dream on modern hardware (fan patches are highly encouraged, if not necessary), the difficulty is nuts considering the limited arsenal and bullet-time move set. Issues only compound when the only breaks from the flashy, frantic violence are frustrating mazes and platforming challenges. Though infrequent, the combat breaks are frustrating and fail to break the pacing of a mostly frantic experience.