Remedy for PS2

3^rd Person Action

1 Players

If one of John Woo’s Hong Kong action films ever featured an American protagonist and was interactive, it would be Max Payne.

Yes, the much talked about "bullet time" is a major staple of Max Payne’s gameplay, but the overall ambience of the game, its ‘framed cop against an army of thugs’ plotline and abundance of heavily cinematic firefights just scream "Woo."

Max Payne was a good cop with a loving wife and baby daughter, until the day that drugged-out maniacs murdered his family and Max walked into the middle of it. After disposing of the murderers in a short interactive prologue, the game snaps forward a few years and finds Payne working undercover to infiltrate a giant narcotics chain. The game takes place over a span of a few days after that, as Max’s undercover identity is jeopardized and he finds himself in the middle of a firestorm of violence, double-crosses and gun battles.

Although it’s not great, the control layout is probably about as good as it could possibly be on the PS2. Considering that Max has many options available for movement, including aiming, sidestepping, spinning, jumping and the two innovative "bullet time" actions. It’s this feature above all others that make Max Payne a standout among action games. Bullet time slows time, but allows you to aim and fire at normal speed, giving you a big advantage over the bad guys. Finding the proper balance between using bullet time is important to survival. You have a limited bullet time meter, and the only way to fill it is to take out enemies in normal time, so you’ll have to be careful and save your bullet time for those situations when Max is badly outnumbered (in this game, that usually means that there are four or more enemies in the room). The storyline presentation also deserves mention. Max Payne uses a heavily noir-inspired plot, replete with adjective-filled narration and a very cool graphic novel styled cutscene system. Although it gets goofy in places, it’s done well and serves its purpose.

After playing through the PC version of this game, I have to once again say that any shooter, be it first person or third like Max Payne, is much easier to play using a PCs mouse and keyboard setup. Initially, control is sluggish and maneuvering and aiming during bullet time is a chore. After a little while you can get used to it, but it never comes close to feeling as precise as on a PC. Graphically, the game is decent, but it is outclassed by the PC and Xbox versions of Max Payne. Whenever a lot of action is taking place simultaneously, and that happens often, the game tends to slowdown and start chopping things up onscreen.

Having to stare and Max’s pinched, "where’s the nearest toilet?" expression throughout the game will have you wishing that the developers had invested some time in facial animation… unfortunately, Max’s face is one static scan throughout the entire game… and the expression he wears can only be described as laughable.

Graphics – 7 (It looks good, but it could have looked better… and facial animation would’ve been a blessing)

Sound – 8 (The sounds of battle – especially during bullet time – are fabulous. You’ll feel every gunshot)

Replay – 6 (The only replay value in Max Payne comes when you get the urge to go back and check out some of the fabulous gunfights again. The game is exactly the same each time you play it)

Overall: 7