"... at least I'll die a pain in the ass."
This is my third time completing Max Payne 3, and it is the time I have finally found myself realising it's the best in the series and one of the best third person shooters of its era.
I liked it at launch, but found it flawed and I had some misgivings about the story, lumbering Old Max animations, and the obvious stylistic changes from the original Remedy games.
But in 2024, after playing the series in quick succession, it all clicked for me. It is unfortunate that we don't see Remedy round off their story, but Rockstar did an admirable job here. The chromatic aberration visuals are EXTREMELY 2012, but nonetheless I think they work with the story. I probably would have been in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' camp on the comic book panels if it was my decision, but as it stands I'm fairly neutral on the change up of styles. The first two are good, this is good in its own way.
While the story is very maudling, even for Max, this time around I found it much more compelling than the other games, and a suitable hitting of rock bottom for the character to dig himself out of. Not to mention it is probably the best performance the late great James McCaffrey gave us as Payne.
As for the gameplay; it is still phenomenal. The diving, the physics, the weapons, the heavy feel of everything, the destruction, the blood, the mayhem. There is nothing but straight forward shooting in this eight hour campaign, but it feels good enough that you won't care. You'll just crank up the excellent HEALTH soundtrack and keep wasting fools.
There's a bevy of options too. The levels are very repeatable with different difficulty modes, free aim on or off, score challenges etc.
Steam Deck notes: excellent way to play the game mostly, but the multiplayer doesn't work - so you won't be able to get demolished by the six MP3 maniacs still playing in the 2020s.
This is my third time completing Max Payne 3, and it is the time I have finally found myself realising it's the best in the series and one of the best third person shooters of its era.
I liked it at launch, but found it flawed and I had some misgivings about the story, lumbering Old Max animations, and the obvious stylistic changes from the original Remedy games.
But in 2024, after playing the series in quick succession, it all clicked for me. It is unfortunate that we don't see Remedy round off their story, but Rockstar did an admirable job here. The chromatic aberration visuals are EXTREMELY 2012, but nonetheless I think they work with the story. I probably would have been in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' camp on the comic book panels if it was my decision, but as it stands I'm fairly neutral on the change up of styles. The first two are good, this is good in its own way.
While the story is very maudling, even for Max, this time around I found it much more compelling than the other games, and a suitable hitting of rock bottom for the character to dig himself out of. Not to mention it is probably the best performance the late great James McCaffrey gave us as Payne.
As for the gameplay; it is still phenomenal. The diving, the physics, the weapons, the heavy feel of everything, the destruction, the blood, the mayhem. There is nothing but straight forward shooting in this eight hour campaign, but it feels good enough that you won't care. You'll just crank up the excellent HEALTH soundtrack and keep wasting fools.
There's a bevy of options too. The levels are very repeatable with different difficulty modes, free aim on or off, score challenges etc.
Steam Deck notes: excellent way to play the game mostly, but the multiplayer doesn't work - so you won't be able to get demolished by the six MP3 maniacs still playing in the 2020s.