Max Payne 3 Review

Rockstar took 9 long years to deliver the final installment to their much known Max Payne series… And boy, have they delivered.

Gameplay:

            There are things that stop a good game from being a great game; luckily, Max Payne 3 has none of these little nuances. Although you feel restricted in some areas of the game (Tactic-wise) the game has endless ways to take. You can go akimbo and shoot through your problems, or use the nifty bullet time feature and slow things down. Either way, Max Payne is a game with endless opportunities for the gamer to explore.

            Max Payne also provides the gamer with an easy cover system, which is a common place for a lot of third person shooters to screw up; taking cover was never easier, and I doubt that very many shooters might be able to capture this smoothness in the future.

Campaign:

            We get to play a pissed off cop that loves painkillers, whisky and guns; seems like a winner… The game has a very engrossing story and never leaves you bored in any chapter and the endless waves of thugs should keep you satisfied. With that being said, sometimes I couldn’t help but feel that the enemies were spam spawning, wave by wave. That made the game feel monotonous at points, but luckily, still not boring.

            The main point of your campaign is to protect the ever-wealthy Branco family of Brazil. But as you get deeper into the game, you realize what is really at stake, as you see yourself dramatically change from shooting at nightclubs to bringing down old Brazilian hotels using C4.

            For some, the fact that this game’s story is linked to that of Max Payne 1 and 2, they might believe the game will be hard to grasp, but luckily because of the many flashback chapters and the easy explanations, this shouldn’t really be an issue.

Multiplayer:

            Like most shooting games with online multiplayer, this game will immediately draw comparisons with CoD for most people. But the truth is that they are completely different games.

            Max Payne does have the traditionally acclaimed common game modes, but things such as pain killers, weights and bursts make the game a truly different and unique experience unlike any other.

The Graphics:

            Roses are red,

            Violets are blue,

            I can’t run this on ultra,

            Neither can you.

            This game looks stunning, to every last detail. PC gamers would need some expensive hardware to run this game on higher settings with DX11. Luckily enough, this game looks great on low with DX9 too. You won’t be missing any beads of sweat, flying bullet shells or any bloodstains.

            If this game is capable of challenging new hardware, how will it look on the 360’s or Ps3’s old hardware?!

            It would still be a graphical beauty. Even though some of the textures might not be as refined as some may like it, they still look great. The frames per second also allow the game to play well, running consistently at 40 FPS+.

            Overall, this game is a graphical beast, and I’m glad that those 9 years gave us something amazing.

Additional Game Modes:

            Things like New York minute are really cool, where you replay missions and attempt to accumulate the highest score you possibly can, by attempting to get headshots, bullet time kills and shootdodge kills to get more points.            

            Sure this isn’t as immersive and fun as things such as Survival Mode, Zombies and a lot of other arcade modes,but, Mp3’s arcade modes should satisfy majority of their fans.

The Verdict:

          Max Payne 3 is a scintillating, immersive experience for any gamer; a hardcore gamer or an average Joe with a console. Although the 9 years it took to come out was a long time, the wait was well worth it.

 Gameplay – 9

Campaign – 8.5

Graphics – 9

AGMs – 7.5

            Total Score = 34/40 – 85% -  A+