I was very excited to play Max Payne, and it definitely did not disappoint. I've been a big fan of Remedy games since I first played Control, so getting to see where it all began, as well as one of the most iconic games ever, was an enticing proposition.
I know that Remedy are currently working on a remake for these games, but I think it will always be worth playing the originals. This is an opinion I hold about most works of art, even if the remakes/remasters do, in fact, result in the creators original vision being fully realised as they had once dreamed. There will always be value in seeing how that same creator realised their vision within the limitations they were bound by at the time. This game exudes a B-movie vibe which will be hard to recapture in the same way, and the gameplay is pretty much timeless.
I did find the controls could be a little bit awkward, where I would accidently trigger bullet time when I didn't mean to, or dive when I meant to stand upright. The gameplay does not evolve that much over the course of the game, but it does not really need to, either. The tight and interesting level design, well paced access to new weapons and strong core mechanics keep the game fun and engaging for the entire runtime. There is no need for superfluous ability percentage increases here, and Remedy knew it. The game is confident in itself and it shows.
The difficulty is well tuned, but I would have still preferred if the game gave you the option to play on any difficulty right from the start. Having to play once just to unlock a difficulty level which you might find to be more challenging makes it feel like a cheap way to inject replayability. That is not to say that I found the game too easy; there are definitely some challenging sections here, but I would have liked to kick it up a notch at times.
There are also some set pieces to give the player a breather from the action, which I always found to be perfectly timed and well executed. They are always in service of the story, never wasted, and often work to give the player some agency in the narrative, which is much appreciated. I did not expect to see much of this when I discovered the story was delivered through a narrated graphic novel.
The writing in this graphic novel is very entertaining, but more so because of how B-movie it is than because of its outstanding quality. It is definitely the worst of the writing I have seen from Sam Lake so far, and if you are not a fan already, then that could make this either insufferable or so hilarious that it wraps back around to being great. If you have read some of my other reviews, then you will know that I am most definitely a Sam Lake fan, so it was pretty cool to see his first work in all its tarnished glory. There are some banger lines in here, but they lean far further into the nonsense territory than in Remedy's later games where the corny vibe is communicated without the audience scratching their heads. Often the point in Sam Lake's writing is to give off that B-movie vibe, where everything is a little silly, but everyone is in on the joke. Here, I think he had not yet quite perfected the method of walking the line between parody and poor quality.
Even so, I liked it. A good example of what I am talking about is the line "He was trying to buy more sand for his hour glass. I wasn't selling any." That is roughly what you should expect to be hearing for the duration of the game, but trust me when I say that it works. The things that come out of Max Payne's mouth are often so silly that you cannot help but find it kind of endearing.
James McCaffrey also provides probably his worst performance that I have heard from him so far. He sounds incredibly bored the entire time, but given that most of what he was reading was utter nonsense, I cannot really blame him.
Ultimately what we see here is the inception of the character which is finally perfected in Alex Casey in Alan Wake II, and although it would be cool to see a version of Max Payne where the coolness of the gameplay is equalled by the writing, I think part of what has made this character and these games so iconic is the corniness that you expect to find in them. Part of what makes Alex Casey perfect in Alan Wake II is what makes Max Payne imperfect in this game.
But the discussions on the merits of remaking this game are for another day. For now, I can safely say that I would strongly recommend this game, and I very much look forward to playing the sequel sometime soon.
I know that Remedy are currently working on a remake for these games, but I think it will always be worth playing the originals. This is an opinion I hold about most works of art, even if the remakes/remasters do, in fact, result in the creators original vision being fully realised as they had once dreamed. There will always be value in seeing how that same creator realised their vision within the limitations they were bound by at the time. This game exudes a B-movie vibe which will be hard to recapture in the same way, and the gameplay is pretty much timeless.
I did find the controls could be a little bit awkward, where I would accidently trigger bullet time when I didn't mean to, or dive when I meant to stand upright. The gameplay does not evolve that much over the course of the game, but it does not really need to, either. The tight and interesting level design, well paced access to new weapons and strong core mechanics keep the game fun and engaging for the entire runtime. There is no need for superfluous ability percentage increases here, and Remedy knew it. The game is confident in itself and it shows.
The difficulty is well tuned, but I would have still preferred if the game gave you the option to play on any difficulty right from the start. Having to play once just to unlock a difficulty level which you might find to be more challenging makes it feel like a cheap way to inject replayability. That is not to say that I found the game too easy; there are definitely some challenging sections here, but I would have liked to kick it up a notch at times.
There are also some set pieces to give the player a breather from the action, which I always found to be perfectly timed and well executed. They are always in service of the story, never wasted, and often work to give the player some agency in the narrative, which is much appreciated. I did not expect to see much of this when I discovered the story was delivered through a narrated graphic novel.
The writing in this graphic novel is very entertaining, but more so because of how B-movie it is than because of its outstanding quality. It is definitely the worst of the writing I have seen from Sam Lake so far, and if you are not a fan already, then that could make this either insufferable or so hilarious that it wraps back around to being great. If you have read some of my other reviews, then you will know that I am most definitely a Sam Lake fan, so it was pretty cool to see his first work in all its tarnished glory. There are some banger lines in here, but they lean far further into the nonsense territory than in Remedy's later games where the corny vibe is communicated without the audience scratching their heads. Often the point in Sam Lake's writing is to give off that B-movie vibe, where everything is a little silly, but everyone is in on the joke. Here, I think he had not yet quite perfected the method of walking the line between parody and poor quality.
Even so, I liked it. A good example of what I am talking about is the line "He was trying to buy more sand for his hour glass. I wasn't selling any." That is roughly what you should expect to be hearing for the duration of the game, but trust me when I say that it works. The things that come out of Max Payne's mouth are often so silly that you cannot help but find it kind of endearing.
James McCaffrey also provides probably his worst performance that I have heard from him so far. He sounds incredibly bored the entire time, but given that most of what he was reading was utter nonsense, I cannot really blame him.
Ultimately what we see here is the inception of the character which is finally perfected in Alex Casey in Alan Wake II, and although it would be cool to see a version of Max Payne where the coolness of the gameplay is equalled by the writing, I think part of what has made this character and these games so iconic is the corniness that you expect to find in them. Part of what makes Alex Casey perfect in Alan Wake II is what makes Max Payne imperfect in this game.
But the discussions on the merits of remaking this game are for another day. For now, I can safely say that I would strongly recommend this game, and I very much look forward to playing the sequel sometime soon.