It was a hot day in July, and the smell of freshly cut grass filled the air. The sun was shining down, and the outside world beckoned me to join it. Too bad I was playing Max Payne. Earlier that day i had purchased a copy of Max Payne from my local Electronics Boutique, while it was over-priced, I could not resist. 4 years of hype and 13 hours of gameplay, and what can I say? Read on, and the truth shall reveal itself.
Introduction
Your a cop, and not just any cop. A cop who is on the run, and everything, I mean everything has gone totally awry in a New York Minute. The Police and the Mob are after you, and your out to seek revenge. Max Payne is a game that requires you too be the cop "Max Payne" and deal out damage to anyone who gets in your way. The game starts off with a very excellent cutscene, and makes you wonder, exactly how did Max get there?
Gameplay : 4
The gameplay in Max Payne is something that will be rivaled for quite some time, mostly due to the innovative and creative birth of a feature dubbed "Bullet-time", BT as it will be called from now on allows you to slow down time whilst performing dives in any direction. You can also slow down time in the game for about 30 seconds and play normally. BT time is rationed out on every kill you make. Thus, it should be used only when necessary, and at the ideal moments. I found myself in sheer amazement at the cool tricks, and maneuvers I could accomplish by activating BT. The gameplay is also excellent due to the fact that it is extremely innovative. The story is presented in the form of a Comic strip, and very dramatically voiced. There is also a very deep story which enhances the gameplay. I won't reveal any of the details as it is what makes this game awesome.
Graphics: 5
You can see the bullets, and no I am not lying. The graphics in Max Payne are so incredible that you can see the individual bullets from your gun, and even see the pellets from the shotgun. The characters bodies, and faces are also extremely detailed, though Max's face looks very strange, it is extremely detailed. The textures of everything in the game are extremely detailed also, it almost looks real. When you shoot objects realistic effects are also produced. Shooting concrete pillars in a parking garage causes dust to fall out like a water fountain. If you shoot wine barrels or water coolers, their respective contents spill out. Even on Medium detail the game still looks like this, it's what I played at. Unfortunately the graphics will require you to have a fairly recent video card and quick PC. Surprisingly enough, my TNT2 was able to run the game with little slowdown at 800x600 at 32-bit color. Very nice.
Sound: 4
Most people don't pay attention to the sound, but in Max Payne the sound is incredible. While you are in BT everything slows down and enhances the realism. When you fire your shotgun or pistol the sound from these are actually elongated and their pitch is dropped. When you come back from BT the sound rapidly accelerates until it is normal. The weapon sound effects, and character voices are also very well done. Unfortunately I thought the voice acting was a little over done on some of the characters, but then again who knows how they would act in real life? While in BT you can hear the individual bullet casings hit the ground, and when the empty magazines hit the ground they all make noise.
Overall: 4.5
The game is incredible and a definite buy for anyone who likes action games, while this is NOT an FPS it plays much like one. Their is almost non-stop action and the story isn very well written. Unfortunately due to the extreme hype of the game, I was a little let down by the shortness(13 hours approx.) and the ending, which I thought was bad to say the least. I hope this review has helped you in deciding whether or not to buy this game, I recommend it to anyone. Sadly since there is little replay value, anyone looking for a long game will be letdown.
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