fucking stunner from start to finish. today exists John Wick but 12 years ago Max Payne perfectly blends John Woo gun-fu with Tom Clancy esque military tactility to create the perfect third-person shooter. a noir game with the pompous thematic seriousness and grounded mechanics of a The Last of Us with a DOOM-like sensibility for cartoonish over-the-top mayhem; often an abandonment of reality in favour of action set-piece that live to be referred to as "badass". it is a game about a desperate, broken man, trying to find himself amidst the chaos his poor choices have led him to; it's also a game about human trafficking where you dive in slow motion to take on a shooting gallery Brazilian thugs and goons while HEALTH's "Tears" blares more than triumphantly through the speakers. it's a fucking art piece of action gamemaking; a drunken heavy spectacle of masculine pride and self-loathing. a game that makes me happy to be a worse person so that I can die alone and feel cool about it.

somehow I doubt i'll ever play a game I like more.

pure pulpy tony scott inspired acid wash neon noir nonsense.

there's some stuff in here about addiction, alcoholism, american imperialism, toxic masculinity. mostly it's just surface level padding that makes the game seem more mature between the parts where you go pew pew.

and boy, do you go pew pew in this game. pew pew to the max.

flying majestically john woolike through the air dual wielding a mix-matched load out of an uzi and a revolver while controlling a sorry old american drunk really made me say out loud "this is some dope ass shit."

i also don't think i've played a game with an old white man action hero who went through so many different outfit changes and haircuts over the course of one linear game. it really added to my enjoyment. watching max wallow in self pity between action set pieces i couldn't help but feel "yeah this dude is flawed but look at that head of hair, what a cool dude". and then he shaved it and i thought "oh no" but also "this level of self-loathing is relatable."

anyway. cool game. flawed. but the flaws add a level of personality that a lot of AAA games are simply missing in their attempts to be immaculate works of art (which to me hete is a symptom of being inspired by tony scott and not alejandro gonzalez inarritu)