PC Game Review: Max Payne

Just like the film industry, there are always games that are "in development" which look to be the next Myst (the best selling game in PC history and one of the main reasons why many purchased a CD-ROM drive). Other games in this situation include Warcraft III, Duke Nukem Forever, and Team Fortress 2. Each of these have a predecessor that was immensely popular, so their release carries a virtual guarantee that they will each sell a million copies. Another game that was on the "Extreme Hype" list (and was finally released) was Max Payne. This one had a bit different reason; the developers were sending out some incredible looking screenshots that were almost photo-realistic. The actual game was being marketed as a 3rd-person perspective crime thriller. This made it sound like "Tomb Raider in a City". I was a bit worried because I found Tomb Raider to be an exceptionally boring game. However, it sold enough copies to spawn a movie, which was almost as bad as the game. Yet, despite this hostility, I took the plunge and picked up a copy. Needless to say, I was impressed. The plot is easy to follow. You're a cop whose wife and child are killed by thugs who have a "mystery leader". Three years later, when you're off the force, you setup a meeting with an ex-partner to get some answers. He also gets iced. So, you...well, Max Payne...is framed for the murder. Thus, Max is off to clear his name and find the killer of his loved ones.

Instead of using animations to tell the story in-between levels, Remedy Entertainment (the game?s creators) decided on a different format. The story is told like a comic book with each screen having a number of static pictures with each text box being read by the character's voice. It's a nice change from the typical animation that most games utilize.

In-game graphics are very good but aren't exactly up to the PR screen shots that were released some months prior. Still, the animation is very smooth and the 3rd person perspective of Max running, diving, and jumping is convincing. Bullets and guns look sharp, especially in the "Bullet-Time" mode, which resembles the slowing of time in the Matrix where Neo moved so fast that he could dodge bullets.

"Bullet-Time" is ideally used when you have a group of enemies to deal with. You simply engage the mode as you dive in any direction. Everything slows down except for Max's ability to aim; thus, it is much easier to hit the bad guy in the head, which is their most vulnerable spot. Here, you can actually see the individual bullets, especially when you hit someone with the sniper rifle and the camera follows the bullet into its target.

You don't have infinite use of "Bullet-Time" but it recharges when not engaged. Even after finishing the game, there was never a time when it wasn't available. In addition to "Bullet-Time" diving, you can also jump and perform commando rolls.

The sound effects are also excellent. Gun shots, reloading, and enemies screaming are all rendered nicely. Actually, since it is somewhat difficult to see enemies due to the 3rd-person view, the best way to tell if one's dead is by their death cry! The music is very somber but fits perfectly with the visual atmosphere of the game. Also, surround sound-equipped gamers are in for a treat since the game does a great job of employing EAX effects.

The game entirely revolves around a New York City winter evening that is in the trenches of a snowstorm. You'll visit a subway, office building, bar, mansion, restaurant, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. There are a few levels which stray away from the normal "run and gun". One requires you to escape a burning restaurant (which has some killer looking flames!) and two others are maze-like and have jumping sequences, which I despise. The latter two are saved for when Max is either unconscious or heavily drugged. I could have done without these stages, although they are visually and audibly very cool.

Max's weapons range from a lead pipe to dual Berettas to a Jackhammer (rapid-fire shotgun) to a Cult Commando (machine gun) to a M79 (rocket launcher). The most enjoyable pieces of machinery are the dual Ingram's (a.k.a Uzi), but have poor aim so they aren't ideal for long-range shootouts. I never had any ammo issues since there were a number of weapon options (a total of 15 by the end).

Once you complete the first difficulty level, a second one opens up ("Hard-Boiled") and then a third, once "Hard-Boiled" concludes. There is an additional mode called "New York Minute" which also opens after initially finishing the game. The goal is to complete each level inside of a minute. Every time you kill an enemy, a few seconds are added to the clock. I gave up after running out of time after finishing only half of the first level.

The overall AI isn't spectacular and the enemies only become harder to kill and sport more powerful weapons as the game progresses. Their attire also transforms from street thug and drug dealer to SWAT member and Wall Street banker. They never become abnormally large or mutate into aliens, although some may feel a banker denotes these characterizations. The end-level bosses take a few extra bullets to kill but look similar to everyone else.

The game requires a fairly powerful machine to run fluidly but it doesn't need a 2 Ghz P4. A Pentium 3-800 with 128 RAM and a fairly new video card should handle the game nicely. One comment about the game's performance: the loading times are very fast which is a nice addition. Of course, my 1.33Ghz AMD loads most programs with ease but Max Payne is especially efficient.

If you are into action games that are devoid of puzzles but have a great deal of adrenaline-pumping gunplay, then you should definitely give Max Payne a try. It won't improve your mood but it definitely fits the bill for a dark and violent evening of PC gaming.

Screenshots