Remedy’s second game after Death Rally, Max Payne is their first game to feature a real story and set the stage for the rest of Remedy’s specific brand of storytelling and writing (especially by Sam Lake).
The plot oozes noir tropes and rockets between a crime drama, political thriller, science fiction, and psychological horror in some parts, with each part feeling perfectly in sync with one another despite their desperate genres.
The gameplay, however, is significantly more hit or miss due to the bugged adaptive difficulty system, which causes the game to start causing you to instantly die while pills only heal you for 1/16th of your health. However, when it actually does work it feels like a frantic take on the third person shooter, especially with the bullet time and shootdodging mechanics.
I want to highlight the level design by the way, namely on how much it owes to Duke Nukem 3D’s design ethos (realistic-ish spaces, high levels of interactivity in the environment, various puzzles in the environment requiring you to find the correct button to press, etc).
They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the trigger.
And then it was all over. The storm seemed to lose its frenzy. The ragged clouds gave way to the stars above.
A bit closer to heaven.
The plot oozes noir tropes and rockets between a crime drama, political thriller, science fiction, and psychological horror in some parts, with each part feeling perfectly in sync with one another despite their desperate genres.
The gameplay, however, is significantly more hit or miss due to the bugged adaptive difficulty system, which causes the game to start causing you to instantly die while pills only heal you for 1/16th of your health. However, when it actually does work it feels like a frantic take on the third person shooter, especially with the bullet time and shootdodging mechanics.
I want to highlight the level design by the way, namely on how much it owes to Duke Nukem 3D’s design ethos (realistic-ish spaces, high levels of interactivity in the environment, various puzzles in the environment requiring you to find the correct button to press, etc).
They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the trigger.
And then it was all over. The storm seemed to lose its frenzy. The ragged clouds gave way to the stars above.
A bit closer to heaven.