Max Payne 1 – When You Have Nothing Left to Lose
Max Payne, the title that Remedy and 3D Realms have delivered after four years of development, is a fresh product packed with new ideas and achieves incredibly high levels of quality in every aspect. These qualities make it, without a doubt, one of the top 10 must-have games on any shelf.
Max Payne is one of those games that doesn’t go unnoticed by the public, much like The Matrix—and for the same reasons. There might be people who don’t like it, but no one can deny that it delivers an unprecedented spectacle. The foundation of this incredible game is none other than that effect we all love so much: Bullet-Time (where time slows down, letting you appreciate every detail of the scene, from shattered tiles as bullets hit them to the trajectory of projectiles that narrowly miss your head).
If you took this effect away, Max Payne would just be another shooter with great graphics—one that wouldn’t stand out much due to its high difficulty. But the important thing is that Bullet-Time is front and center, and you’ll never get tired of flying through the air in slow motion while unleashing a storm of bullets around you.
On the other hand, the game’s story, while not groundbreaking (there’s always got to be revenge involved), is handled in an original and engaging way. Throughout the game, you play as a New York cop whose sole mission is to take down a secret organization distributing a powerful new drug. Members of this mafia killed his wife and daughter three years before the story begins, and since then, Max has transferred to the NYPD’s narcotics division, working undercover within the mob with only two allies—Alex and B.B., his former colleagues.
Things get really complicated when Alex is mysteriously murdered, and you’re framed for the crime. Now, not only do you have to fight off an army of mobsters, but the police are also hot on your heels the entire game. Max Payne has begun his nocturnal crusade, and nothing—no one—will stop him from getting his revenge… unless you abandon him to his fate, of course.
Max Payne’s Gameplay
Max Payne boasts one of the most polished and well-executed control systems I’ve ever seen in a third-person shooter. With just a few keys, you can pull off amazing moves effortlessly, like the following scene: You open a door and find an enemy crouched behind a bar counter, with two more positioned on either side of the room.
You quickly roll out of one enemy’s line of fire, shoot a fire extinguisher next to the guy behind the bar (temporarily blinding him), then dive forward while unloading a hail of bullets from your Dual Ingrams (basically UZIs), taking out one of the bad guys.
As soon as you get up, you dive again and finish off the second enemy. Now, only the guy behind the bar remains—the extinguisher foam has worn off, making you an easy target. One last John Woo-style jump, and it’s all over… assuming your aim is good, of course. All this happens in about 5 or 6 seconds, but thanks to Bullet-Time, you’ve actually been shooting for around 30. The real thrill comes when, after everyone in the room stops breathing, you replay your moves in your head at normal speed and think: I am a god.
As I said, Max Payne’s controls are simple and intuitive—you just need to master the combo key for Bullet-Time to pull off crazy stunts. From there, it all depends on how many action movies you’ve seen and your imagination. That said, the game isn’t easy, and you’ll die often—so get used to hitting F5 (Quick Save) as soon as possible.
If I had to nitpick, I’d say some scenes would benefit from making the forward dive jump a little higher, letting you vault onto surfaces and keep shooting instead of getting stuck. Maybe they’ll improve these small details in Max Payne 2.
Max Payne’s Graphics
If there’s one thing I love about Max Payne, it’s that no single aspect overshadows the others. You could argue that the graphics are the game’s backbone, but that would downplay the incredible gameplay and amazing sound effects. The overall quality is so high that even the stunning visuals don’t steal the spotlight from the rest of the game’s strengths.
The textures in Max Payne are, in my humble opinion, the best I’ve seen in a long time, delivering a level of realism that’s rare for what we’re used to. Of course, nothing’s perfect—the water effects, while present, are pretty basic compared to the rest of the game, and there are no reflection effects anywhere (apparently, the mafia’s top priority was destroying every mirror in New York).
But these are minor flaws you’ll only notice if you’re really looking for something to complain about. What’s certain is that you’ll be blown away by every single detail in this masterpiece, and I guarantee you won’t get tired of seeing them because of how spectacular they are.
For example, what I mentioned earlier about tiles breaking realistically applies to everything—paintings, shelves, water barrels, glass—everything reacts the same way. Slow-motion shootouts where you see hundreds of particles flying across the screen are something nobody should miss.
On top of that, the game’s powerful engine adds details like 3D rotations around your last enemy as they fall to the ground, watching blood particles float around them while the last bullets fired smash into the wall. Honestly, the word spectacular fits Max Payne like a glove.
Music & Sound Effects
As I said before, this is another one of Max Payne’s marvels—especially if you have a good sound card and decent speakers. The music is pretty sparse, but what’s there fits perfectly and adds a lot of life to the adventure. The real star, though, is the sound effects, which play a crucial role in action scenes.
With the shameless skill only hardcore fans can pull off, the developers have recreated (almost too faithfully) the Bullet-Time sound effects from The Matrix. So, unconsciously, every fan of the movie (myself included) will be blown away by these slow-motion shootouts.
If you have surround sound, the immersion multiplies—you’ll hear shots coming from behind, left, or right, along with other details that help you survive, like doors creaking open or enemies’ footsteps approaching from different directions. Oh, and I almost forgot (and this is a big deal): the game is fully translated and dubbed into Spanish.
Gameplay
Conclusion
Personally, the dark circles under my eyes today are proof of how addictive Remedy’s new title is. The only way someone could get bored is if shootouts don’t excite them—because that’s pretty much all you do in the game (aside from a couple of "puzzles" that barely challenge your brain).
For me, Max Payne is a must-have for PC. Even though I’ve already beaten it, I know I’ll keep coming back thanks to the different difficulty modes. One last interesting note: the developers included a mod editor, so we had a lot of clones of this gunslinger popping up.
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