On the Subject of Max Payne

Rosie Jones

For some reason Max Payne passed me by when it first appeared. I don't know why, perhaps the slo-mo effects seemed a bit cheesy and Matrix-y back then and it put me off. In any case when both the original game and the sequel were put up together for an eye-opening $7.50 as one of Steam's excellent weekend deals, I didn't really know what to expect. But at that price I was happy to take a chance.

And I'm glad I did. It turned out they're both excellent shooters. Naturally I'm only interested in single-player, but I was very impressed. MP1 is a great example of how a good game can still be absorbing and compelling and fun even with graphics that seem very basic by modern standards. And despite being a few years old, the sequel manages to maintain the playability while offering much more advanced visuals that, in places, rival many recent games.

The story is pretty basic, but in fact it's the simpler first game that I consider the better of the two when it comes to narrative. No real cheap, gimmicky twists, just a simple, "man pushed too far goes on a criminal-slaying spree". The sequel attempted to introduce more political twists and turns, not to mention a love interest, but at least it didn't mess with the killing spree part of the formula.

The sequel does have some nice touches though. The part where you're fighting your way out of your apartment building and encounter a homeless ex-cop and a hooker who both starting fighting along side you, assuming you didn't shoot them on sight, for example. Or the section you play first from Max's point of view, and then again as Mona, before they eventually meet up. And both games feature crazed dream sequences, more so in the sequel where the time line jumps backwards and forwards. Another highlight for me was escorting the bad guy who happened to be wearing a booby-trapped comic character costume.

In terms of sheer game play they're both pretty straightforward. Increasingly powerful guns help dispatch increasingly strong and numerous opponents. There are bosses, which pose more difficulty in the first game than the sequel, especially if you haven't been stocking up on ammo and painkillers. There are frequent (possibly too frequent at times) comic book-styled cut scenes, as well as in-engine 3D cut scenes. It all keeps the story moving forward nicely. None of Half-Life's anonymous everyman crap, this is a proper character-driven story that isn't afraid to show it's face.

The slow motion stuff is pretty solid. After using it at pretty much every encounter, I eventually settled into a routine of not using it all that much. Mainly at doors where you know there's a whole room of bad guys waiting for you on the other side. It's well-implemented, though, and slightly more useful and flexible than it was in FEAR, as you dive through the air and spin around to take out multiple foes in a single leap.

According to Steam, I played through MP1 in just under 9 hours, and MP2 in about 7. That doesn't sound much but in both cases I feel satisfied with the length and not at all short-changed. Not that I could be for what they cost. I wasn't rushing, but I was playing on the default level which is never too painful, even if it turns into a quicksave-fest every so often.