When I finished Max Payne 1&2 back in 2021, I enjoyed them a lot and consider them among the best third-person shooters I've ever played. I was planning to play Max Payne 3 shortly thereafter, but upon seeing a gameplay video, I was kind of hesitant, but kept it in the back of my mind. Now, I've finished it and despite the game's positives slightly outweighing the negatives, a part of me wishes I had put it off indefinitely.
Max Payne 3 takes a sharp detour and completely replaces the noir style from the previous two games with far more vibrant visuals. There is great attention to detail and good set pieces, but the presentation is very GTA-esque and there was always that underlying feeling I was playing a GTA spin-off, rather than a Max Payne game.
Comic panels with some minor exceptions are done away with, which would typically be alright. You know, they were an essential part of what made the first two games special, but with all of the fancy hardware advancement that happened between the second game and this, Max could get some cool cutscenes to shine in.
They didn't handle it well in my opinion.
The cutscenes happen so often and for some of the smallest things (thought I realize a big chunck of those are masquerading as loading screens) that they become incredibly grating and ruin the pace.
The story is what it is. It largely ignores what happened in Max Payne 2 to work, because otherwise there would be no reason for the story to happen in the first place.
Max's one-liners sometimes hit the spot, but Sam Lake's absence is pretty apparent as a lot of lines end up sounding like cheap vulgar phrases or wannabe witty similes. The sophistication that made them so good is the first place is just not there.
Finally, the gameplay. It has it's moments, but it self-sabotages itself so often that it's just hard to enjoy for extended periods of time.
As already mentioned, the cutscenes ruin the pace and makes it far more difficult to just let the action flow. Not to mention the game likes taking away your weapons and replacing them with a pistol at least once every chapter.
At least the mechanics feels like the previous games. Bullet time is a joy to use.
You can run and gun, at least sometimes. Max isn't as sharp as he used to be in the previous games and moves kind of sluggishly now, so that kind of discourages you from going all guns blazing on your enemies as often as you'd like to.
For those who aren't used to the run and gun style there is also the cover system. Though I found that enemies can surround you and naturally have a far greater chance to hit you, so it's not a definitive way to play.
Overall, it's a decent shooter that still has that Max Payne essence in it (gameplay-wise) but it's also deeply flawed.
Max Payne 3 takes a sharp detour and completely replaces the noir style from the previous two games with far more vibrant visuals. There is great attention to detail and good set pieces, but the presentation is very GTA-esque and there was always that underlying feeling I was playing a GTA spin-off, rather than a Max Payne game.
Comic panels with some minor exceptions are done away with, which would typically be alright. You know, they were an essential part of what made the first two games special, but with all of the fancy hardware advancement that happened between the second game and this, Max could get some cool cutscenes to shine in.
They didn't handle it well in my opinion.
The cutscenes happen so often and for some of the smallest things (thought I realize a big chunck of those are masquerading as loading screens) that they become incredibly grating and ruin the pace.
The story is what it is. It largely ignores what happened in Max Payne 2 to work, because otherwise there would be no reason for the story to happen in the first place.
Max's one-liners sometimes hit the spot, but Sam Lake's absence is pretty apparent as a lot of lines end up sounding like cheap vulgar phrases or wannabe witty similes. The sophistication that made them so good is the first place is just not there.
Finally, the gameplay. It has it's moments, but it self-sabotages itself so often that it's just hard to enjoy for extended periods of time.
As already mentioned, the cutscenes ruin the pace and makes it far more difficult to just let the action flow. Not to mention the game likes taking away your weapons and replacing them with a pistol at least once every chapter.
At least the mechanics feels like the previous games. Bullet time is a joy to use.
You can run and gun, at least sometimes. Max isn't as sharp as he used to be in the previous games and moves kind of sluggishly now, so that kind of discourages you from going all guns blazing on your enemies as often as you'd like to.
For those who aren't used to the run and gun style there is also the cover system. Though I found that enemies can surround you and naturally have a far greater chance to hit you, so it's not a definitive way to play.
Overall, it's a decent shooter that still has that Max Payne essence in it (gameplay-wise) but it's also deeply flawed.