I'm genuinely baffled by how much fun I had with this game. The storytelling is ridiculous. Its commitment to playing it serious is what saves it though. Sam Lakes managed to write a pretty perfect pastiche of a noir tone within the bounds of this game's limitations. Max Payne is a real doofus, with his elaborate narration and continuos pop culture references making him somewhat likeable even when he's a murderous psychopath out for revenge. Stop being so serious Max, you're not as cool as you think. Though you behaving like that does make you kinda cool. I know it's paradoxical, I don't care.
I was about to write "the gameplay is the real star of the show here" while that isn't entirely true. The overall mood conveyed by the narrative lifts up the entire experience by at least a couple of notches. I doubt the gameplay would've been as engaging without it. Anways, the gameplay:
Fun. As. Fuck. The controls are simple and direct, there aren't any huge hick ups with how Max feels as soon as you've come to grips with the button mappings. Dodging around your enemies just to shoot them in the head while they're still shooting at where you stood seconds prior and shootdoging (aka leaping) through the air while picking off your enemies one by one feels fantastic. I played Max Payne 3 many years prior and hated the gamefeel in that, it's so much better here that I'm actively embarassed for Rockstar's attempt at a Max Payne game.
Though I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the game as much without the quick save function. Being able to reload the encounters in any way you wanted to (as long as you've saved beforehand) was a godsend in experimenting and getting the most out of the combat. You can die pretty easily as well as with a single hit by enemies you haven't even seen, which is why the quick saves are even more essential. I'm not sure what the experience would be like without quicksaving all of the time.
The one thing I've got to complain about with the combat would be that some of the weapons are too weak. I really couldn't be bothered to use any weapons besides the machine guns towards the end of the game. That one colt machine gun thing was pretty much the only weapon that allowed headshotting your enemies during bullet time, which made every other weapon redundant. I still switched up my weapons relatively often, just because of ammo constraints or because I felt like it. Even though most weapons aren't as useful as the colt, it's still fun to try out every weapon you've got.
The level design is generally good too. Feels like it mixes up the encounters often enough, having enemies placed at interesting spots or entering mid-combat through newly unlocked doors. The levels are as visually distinct as they could be within this New York settings and traversal is mixed up occasionally which leads to the game never feeling dull at all.
I had an incredibly fun time with Max Payne, can't wait to see more of Sam Lake's face next week when Alan Wake II finally releases.
I was about to write "the gameplay is the real star of the show here" while that isn't entirely true. The overall mood conveyed by the narrative lifts up the entire experience by at least a couple of notches. I doubt the gameplay would've been as engaging without it. Anways, the gameplay:
Fun. As. Fuck. The controls are simple and direct, there aren't any huge hick ups with how Max feels as soon as you've come to grips with the button mappings. Dodging around your enemies just to shoot them in the head while they're still shooting at where you stood seconds prior and shootdoging (aka leaping) through the air while picking off your enemies one by one feels fantastic. I played Max Payne 3 many years prior and hated the gamefeel in that, it's so much better here that I'm actively embarassed for Rockstar's attempt at a Max Payne game.
Though I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the game as much without the quick save function. Being able to reload the encounters in any way you wanted to (as long as you've saved beforehand) was a godsend in experimenting and getting the most out of the combat. You can die pretty easily as well as with a single hit by enemies you haven't even seen, which is why the quick saves are even more essential. I'm not sure what the experience would be like without quicksaving all of the time.
The one thing I've got to complain about with the combat would be that some of the weapons are too weak. I really couldn't be bothered to use any weapons besides the machine guns towards the end of the game. That one colt machine gun thing was pretty much the only weapon that allowed headshotting your enemies during bullet time, which made every other weapon redundant. I still switched up my weapons relatively often, just because of ammo constraints or because I felt like it. Even though most weapons aren't as useful as the colt, it's still fun to try out every weapon you've got.
The level design is generally good too. Feels like it mixes up the encounters often enough, having enemies placed at interesting spots or entering mid-combat through newly unlocked doors. The levels are as visually distinct as they could be within this New York settings and traversal is mixed up occasionally which leads to the game never feeling dull at all.
I had an incredibly fun time with Max Payne, can't wait to see more of Sam Lake's face next week when Alan Wake II finally releases.