Max Payne 3: Thoughts?

[Lazy]

Now that the game's been out for a while, what do y'all think of it? I finished it last night and found the gunplay to be a lot of fun, if a bit exhausting towards the end. It's nice to finally play another shooter that doesn't constantly drag you around by the nose and lets the player have a bit of freedom. I've heard people complain about there being too much "cover humping" but that was never much of an issue for me; indeed, I found running-and-gunning was generally the better way to go as long as one is smart with their use of bullet time.

I'm not quite so hot on the story aspects, however. As with most of Rockstar's recent games the cutscenes are pretty lengthy, which I wouldn't mind if it weren't for the headache inducing visual style (my problem with it isn't the scan lines and blurring so much as it is with the constant fast cuts and shaky-cam effects.) Max bumbles his way through the story, criticising himself for the many stupid choices he winds up making but never putting in the effort to smarten up, and his cynical, world weary tone started to wear on my nerves after a while.

That said, Max's transformation over the course of the game is pretty impressive to behold and his narration is still entertaining, if somewhat lacking in the overworked simile department.

 

[Korten12]

I loved the story and games, I wish there was less cutscenes but it was a lot of fun.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

I loved it. It definitely did have it's flaws with the overly lengthy cutscenes and Max's constant downtrodden attitude, I see what they were attempting with the cutscenes, and it worked - But sometimes, the screen effects were too much... But in the end, it really was a damn good game. Really fun and challenging all the way through, and satisfying as hell to mow down legions of guntoting goons.

It's probably my favorite game released this year thus-far. Spec Ops: The Line trailing closely behind it.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

The cutscenes are pretty poorly written and gave me a bloody headache. It felt like I was watching far, far more than I was playing, too.

It also seems to be more "Hollywood blockbuster" than "film noir" and, as I've mentioned before, I don't like most movies like that, much less games that try to emulate them and do it much more poorly.

It's a shame, too, because the gunplay is some of the most fun I've experienced. I haven't played much yet (I haven't bought it, I was playing it at a friend's) so maybe the overall gameplay to cutscene ratio isn't too bad but my first impressions aren't good.

 

[ThriKreen]

This was the first game in my whole life that I honestly wanted to ask for a refund.

Not even Duke Nukem Forever wanted me to do that.

It's not a Max Payne game. In MP3, it felt like the bullet time meter depleted way too fast and regained from kills way too slowly. In previous Max Payne games, you could regain it during BT via kills to maintain the meter and keep gunning, while in MP3 it was poorly used to the point of why bother. And cover fire, WTF? This isn't Gears of War, this is MAX PAYNE, you don't need to hide in cover, you jump into the fray, enable bullet time, and kill 5 guys before you hit the ground.

Speaking of hitting the ground, gameplay took a backseat to the desire to play all the animations to "be realistic" to the point that it got into the way because they forced you to finish the animation before you could do anything else, even while being shot it. I love waiting for 2 seconds while they played the animation for Max to get off the ground, meanwhile guys are shooting at him. Or recovering when dodging to the side and hitting a wall. You'd think adrenaline from being shot at would make him react a bit faster.

Due to said high graphics bar and poor streaming system, it resulted in really small areas connected by unskippable cinematics to mask loading of the next area. While I can tolerate a linear storyline (re: Uncharted), and film noir atmosphere (staple of Max Payne), the need to have so many broken up small sections really gets frustrating when you hit a cinematic of Max opening a gate, walk down a hall, then hit another cinematic of Max opening another gate. Crysis 2 had larger areas.

Or beating a mid-boss, watch a cinematic of him moving to another location, while retaining the same bloody level you're in, then when you're back in control OOPS, you're in a different location from where you were and if you were in cover, NOPE, you're standing out in the open as 2 guys pop out of a doorway and get a free shot at you, and if you're low on health, you're dead with no way to react in time.

Yeah. Not happy with it.

 

[Lazy]

In MP3, it felt like the bullet time meter depleted way too fast and regained from kills way too slowly. In previous Max Payne games, you could regain it during BT via kills to maintain the meter and keep gunning, while in MP3 it was poorly used to the point of why bother.

Your bullet time meter recharges when you're being shot at, which is probably why it doesn't fill up as much for kills. Also, while it's true it can't be refilled while in use, it doesn't seem to drain any faster than in previous games.

And cover fire, WTF? This isn't Gears of War, this is MAX PAYNE, you don't need to hide in cover, you jump into the fray, enable bullet time, and kill 5 guys before you hit the ground.

Which is still entirely possible. You don't need to use the cover system, nor is it essential to survival. If you spent the whole game playing it like Gears of War then that's your mistake.

 

[Casual Shinji]

No sir... No sir, I didn't like it.

I already spilled my guts over my hatred for this game when it was first released, so I'll just point to ThriKreen and say, "What he said. [sub]And way more.[/sub]"

Not a fan of Max Payne, by the way, so it wasn't the nostalgia goggles.

 

[Swyftstar]

I hated it. Refer to ThriKreen's post for most of my gripes. I just didn't find it any fun. Glad I rented it.

 

[Zaik]

Loved the gameplay, hated the story.

"boo hoo I'm such a shitty bastard for not killing an army of people by myself in time to save x" got old really really fast.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Loved the gameplay, loved the story, i even loved the cutscenes. While it wasn't as great as previous entries, It is still exactly what i want out of a third person shooter.

The Multiplayer is horribly unbalanced though, but i guess all shooters are like that.

 

[daveman247]

I loved it. It was like playing a good michael mann/ john woo film and playing the action scenes.

I had no prblem with the animations and max being slow. It just made me stratergise WHEN to do a gun-dive and when not to. Unlike in the others where you could easily dive around with wild abandon

I still like the first game most for the story though. It felt like an adventure in new york as you follow max through his path of revenge, in this one it was more like bumbling in his drunken mess.

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

I love it! The environments are beautiful and well detailed, the animation is fluid and fantastic (especially the bloody slow-mo kills), the story and dialogue were great (and extremely dark and depressing, by the way), the enemy A.I is some of the best I've seen, and the gunplay is satisfying and challenging. It's my favorite game this year so far. It's one of the few games that I play where I'll sit through the cutscenes while I'm replaying a level, unlike Mass Effect 3, where I mash the square button 50% of the game.

 

[Neonbob]

I absolutely love it. The first two were hellishly hard to me, to the point of nearly giving up in sheer hatred and frustration. It was hard enough that I didn't even feel like I'd overcome any great obstacle in beating a section. Just that I'd slogged through a part enough times to manage to scrape by til the next wall of...payne.
[footnote]Oh god, I can't believe I just did that.[/footnote]

Max Payne 3, however, felt amazingly rewarding to me. It was still difficult, but not to the same degree as the first two. Each time I died, I felt like I was able to fix what I did wrong the next life. Max Payne 1 and 2 had me jumping all over the place like an insane jackrabbit trying to get to a safe spot or at least flying through the air in a random direction so the enemies couldn't fill me with bullets. It was not a very enjoyable experience.

The story was also much more involving to me. Yeah, the "I'm not an unstoppable badass" thing was a little odd to me, but I actually cared about following the plot this time.

 

[Randlesman]

I quite enjoyed it although the gunplay got tiring towards the end and Max isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer which grated slightly. That being said some of his similes were epic, "This town had more smoke and mirrors than a strip club locker room" being my personal favourite.

 

[Two-A]

I loved the gameplay, it was as fluid as ever, it was almost flawless. I also liked the setting. The game showed that you don't need a city in perpetual night and men in suits to create a good noir setting.

Where the game falls apart,though, its in the story. It was a confusing mess full of plot holes and characters with vague motivations.

Overall, I'd say it was a great game.

 

[TallanKhan]

The gameplay was excellent but the characterisation and overall story were pretty poor.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Hated every second of it. It was so disapointing and it only frustrated me.
This isn´t MP anymore. A fat bald dude? Sao Paulo and not New York? Cover system? Rockstar instead of Remedy? Sunny daylight shootouts? Linear levels? The shootdodge is useless now?

...seriously it`s still one of my favorite games this year. It`s still a possible personal GOTY, it`s up in the first three places and i wait until the year is over. I had so much fun that it`s not hard to ignore or take a few flaws compared to the best shooting i`ve seen in a long time and the really good AI.
I`m not sure about people complaining about the cover system and that it`s now like GoW, i mean, goddammit, don`t play it this way. The game gives you the right tools. There`s a neat little feature called shootdodge, USE it. There`s no reason to complain about the coversystem. It doesn`t work out in the harder difficulties anyway.
So far i use it only for reloading and short painkillersnacks. In rare cases i use the blindfire option but that`s it...shootdodge ftw

EDIT:
Forgot to add that the story is great (way better than MP2) and it`s full of good written characters (you don`t see a mess like Vinnie in this game), they even managed to get Max right.

 

[Goofguy]

I enjoyed the gameplay well enough, the carnage was quite fun. I wasn't a big fan of the story. I am one of them who missed the film noir from the previous games a lot. The flashback levels in MP3 at least allowed me to relive that even if it was brief.

I know Max had gotten his vengeance by the end of MP2 but I disliked how he had absolutely no stake in the events of MP3. He was just a guy dropped in the middle of a conflict in Brazil and his cop instincts kicked in to overdrive so he made it his mission to resolve it. The game didn't feel like it even tied in to the Max Payne universe. One passing reference to Mona Sax and the occasional comment about the previous games' events? I was disappointed.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well first thing would be that this is unrelated to Max Payne, this is some Miami cop drama.
And then you follow what is essentially an old drunken washed up cop... I really didn't find that entertaining.

Gameplay is your standard third person Chesty McWallhigh baloney with at least bullet time returning, but all that is littered with nonstop cutscene interruptions and on screen effects that make you wish the designer would spontaneously combust.