The name Max Payne brings back fond memories. Max Payne (MP) was one of the first third person shooters I played on PC & MP2 was the reason I bought my first graphics card. The MP series was one of the very few ones that struck a great balance between intricate narrative with fully fleshed characters & satisfying gameplay with it's bullet time mechanics. And who can forget those amazing graphic novel style presentation? But as far as I can remember, after finishing MP2 I thought there wasn't much room for a follow up game, with all story threads neatly tied up & many important characters being dead. So when I first heard of MP3 after all these years & that it takes place in Brazil, I was less than enthusiastic. Though a part of me really wanted to find out what Max was up to in all these years, another part thought it wouldn't be the same Max payne I played many years ago----with a contrast in tone as stark as the streets of New York at night is to the sunny streets of Sao Paolo. So I started MP3 with doubts in my mind, wondering if it turns out to be just another piece of inessential threquel. But after 5 minutes into the game, all of my doubts were wiped away. I remembered Max Payne like it was yesterday.
The opening cinematic feels like a grand homecoming for fans of the earlier games like me. It shows the present circumstance of Max----this isn't the same rage filled character from Max Payne 1 & 2, it's a world-weary & depressed middle aged man having trouble living beyond memories of his scarred past. A man who heavily relies on alcohol & painkillers to drown out the haunting memories of his lost family---he can't find a reason to stop drinking or figuring out a purpose in life. If you've played MP1 & 2, you will be able to see the connection, after what went through in those games, in some point in future Max will eventually turn into the character you see in MP3. Never for a moment did it seem to me that the Max Payne in MP3 is not the same Max Payne from the earlier games, which shows how well Rockstar nailed the character.
The game starts 9 years after the events of MP2. Max has left the NYPD and works as private security for a wealthy businessman & his family in Sao Paolo with an old friend from the academy. However, things quickly goes downhill for the family. After a failed kidnapping attempt by a local gang during a party, things turn gradually worse when the trophy wife of the businessman gets kidnapped. Blaming himself for letting these happen on his watch, Max sets out to find the people responsible & save the few remaining members of the family. As Max's journey takes him to the dark underbelly of Sao Paolo, he starts to uncover a far more sinister scheme than he ever imagined.
The great thing about the narrative in MP3 is it's as much about Max trying to get to the bottom of what was happening around him as his own emotional journey towards a kind of self discovery. It feels as much personal and intimate to Max himself as it is far reaching in both scale and consequences to everyone around him and the city itself. As he begins to connect the many dots of the plot, he's also desperately trying to find out his role in all of it. Also, the non-linear structure of the narrative does a great job of taking the gamer seamlessly to various times in Max's life, shedding light to some of the events that shaped Max's journey. There's a staggering amount of sharp-tongued social commentary in the game which I loved through & through. The narrative of MP3 is easily one of the best I've experienced. Both elements of it----the gritty character study & the main plot, fits hand-in-hand completely.
The gameplay makes great use of Max Payne's superhuman reflex---the signature bullet time & slow motion shootdodge from the previous games are back. There's a bullet time meter alongside Max's health bar which when filled, grants the ability to slow down everyone except Max while you take them out one at a time. Though there is an excellent cover mechanism, the game forces you to use it wisely & only while you think about your next move. Instead, Max's ability to shootdodge is the key to the gunfights. Max can dive in any directions----during the dive everything slows down. This grants you precious time to take down at least 2 enemies in a row. Max can continue to shoot while staying grounded in 360 degree after a shootdodge----which is pretty helpful to take down any remaining enemy in close proximity. This element in the gameplay makes you feel powerful & vulnerable at the same time----which is great. The game wants you to act as Max would----reckless but careful. This aggressive approach to the gunplay sets MP3 apart from the majority of third person shooters & in a good way.
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| When Max takes a dive, no one gets up |
There are also some set-pieces that take the uncanny reflexes of Max to extreme heights like shooting enemy grenades in mid-air, rockets from a bazooka or taking out multiple (sometimes more than 5) enemies in a row----which looks spectacular & plays like a charm.
Regenerative health has been replaced by painkillers which means you have to keep an eye out for those & there's plenty of them. Furthermore, the game increases the number of your equipped painkillers if you die several times in a row. Also, MP3 uses checkpoint saving but aside from a few areas, it's impact on difficulty is minimal. All of these works in favor of the game as these makes the player feel more like Max----a desperate man on edge.
Visually, Max Payne 3 is one of the best looking games in recent years. I couldn't get it to run at DX11 but even in DX10.1, the game looks stunning. It's also one of the best PC ports I've played. Even on my humble configuration in mid-high settings, MP3 runs like a breeze. The sound & voice acting is equally brilliant. James Mccaffrey does an amazing job portraying an older & disconnected Max.
The physics & animations of MP3 is one of the most detailed I've seen in a video game. The Euphoria animation engine is used to great effect which synthesizes real time animation and physics to ensure every move of Max feels realistic in respect to the surroundings. It also creates a visceral effect during gunfights----glass shatters, papers fly, objects break realistically with dust & detailed particle effects----beauty in destruction.
There's a neat feature named last man standing (remember this difficulty from MP1 & 2?) which provides a small window of time for Max to take down an attacker & use any remaining painkiller, when his health drops below a threshold. This makes great use of the animation system as Max's shoulder slowly turns to the attacker in slow-motion. The success of this feature depends on positioning, though.
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| Bringing the pain...in style |
The cutscenes of MP3 feel like a futuristic graphic novel with distortion effects, 3d comic book panels & highlighted dialogues & scenes. It can get a bit distracting at times but it clearly demonstrates Max's disoriented state of mind.
The campaign clocks around 10 hours in normal difficulty, a couple more in higher difficulties----which I find a bit low for a highly linear game. There's an arcade mode with score attack which unlocks several game breaking cheats such as unlimited bullet time & one-hit kill, upon completing each level with gold or platinum medals. Then there is the New York minute mode which requires you to throw caution out of the window & dive right into the middle of the action----it's actually more fun than it sounds like. These modes are ought to keep the player engaged for a while. There are also collectibles in the form of golden version of each available gun which requires the player to search for the scattered pieces in each level.
I found the difficulty on normal mode just right. There are 3 more difficulties beyond normal. My favorite of them is the Old School mode where it feels closest to the earlier games. The difference between MP3's difficulties largely consists of Max's endurance to pain or the margin of error. In Hardcore difficulty, a single well placed bullet can make the player retry a checkpoint several times.
MP3's linearity does get in the way of the overall experience a little too often. The levels have a cramped feel to them, so much so that you can't even go back to an earlier area in a level. The game often feels like a linear series of gunfights well connected by scripted events & cutscenes. Though the fatality-meets-finesse gunplay keeps things satisfying, but every now & then I couldn't shake off the feeling of being heavily controlled and restricted by the game. Also, at many instances the game simply disregards your weapon of choice, forcing you to start a huge gunfight with a pistol, wasting valuable time in switching guns in the middle of the action. Though, all these do not take away much from an otherwise polished experience.
Overall, MP3 is one of the best third person shooters I've played in recent years. It's a true sequel, with substantial updates on a technical level while retaining the essence of the previous games. With satisfying gameplay, engrossing narrative & solid replayability (yes, despite having a rigid structure to it), Max Payne's 3rd outing couldn't have been better.
But for me, the biggest triumph of MP3 is in drawing a satisfying conclusion to Max's story. See, for the majority of the story, Max was wondering in his head about his role in the long series of bloodbath that he has become a part of, which is typical for a drifted character like him. Then at a certain point in the game when Max uncovers a horrifying scheme involving the people of Sao Paolo & as he puts his life on the line to put an end to it----an antagonistic character mockingly applauds Max as the savior of the poor. Max, in a moment of spontaneity & perhaps subconsciously, replies with an emphatic "that's right"! That was my favorite moment in the narrative. Max finally came to see himself in a different light. He realized that he is more than an angel of death or a failed, washed up cop.
Playing Max Payne 3 taught me a very important lesson about characters----the further the setting & the familiarities are removed, the higher the possibilities are for re-imagining & re-inventing the character. And then, the traits that made those characters memorable in the first place can shine even brighter than before. Kudos to Rockstar for their amazing take on one of gaming's most troubled protagonists. So long, Max.
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