“Max Payne 3” is an intense, brutal and incredibly satisfying and rewarding shooter. It just isn't a very good Max Payne game.
The main problem with the game is the story. The plot is hard to follow and far too unfocused. The game is set in Brazil and we´re introduced to various lawless factions, paramilitaries, rogue police groups, plain old criminal gangs but very soon the whole thing is a chaos with motivations being unclear and after a while I just lost track of who I was shooting at or even why. Yes, why! Max Payne games have always had high stakes. Max is seeking revenge for his wife and daughter or trying to put his life back together after his tragedy. Here Max Payne is just a sad old drunk that goes on a killing spree because he takes his bodyguard job really serious. The people Max fights for and tries to save are not the least likable and the story never really explains why Max is going through all this for someone he barely knows or even seems to like. Max Payne is a classic noir character and I suppose that in a way the story follows the noir rule of being over complicated and even having some plot points never fully explained but as a player I never felt invested in the story or its characters. I never sympathized with anyone except Max and I felt I was going along to indulge him, my old “pal” rather than for my own personal satisfaction.
The Brazil setting also doesn't work for a character like Max Payne. Brazil is sunny, cheerful and belongs in a completely different urban culture from Max Payne. Max feels out of place here and I suppose that again this was intentional but it just felt wrong. Brazil simply doesn't belong in what was supposed to be a gritty noir tale. The graphics are absolutely stunning and the seedy side of Brazil´s underworld is depicted with fantastic detail but I felt the setting belonged to a different story. When in flashback sequences you´re back in New Jersey, in Max´s apartment and you fight at night and that whole “Max Payne” vibe is back and he has the leather jacket... you get glimpses of what the game could and should have been. Unfortunately these missions are short and you are soon back in Brazil and Max is bald and wearing a ridiculous shirt. Damn...
The game´s structure is also a huge problem. You have long and unskippable cut-scenes played frequently and intrusively between gameplay and with an irritating and obnoxious “sense of style” which grows tiresome very quickly. James McCaffrey is once again perfect as Max Payne but the writing is far from convincing and you can soon tell that the “character´s inner voice” changed hands. Max´s observations and monologues were some of the first two game´s highlights but not here. On subsequent playthroughs the invasive and meddling cut-scenes become almost unbearable which is a shame because when “Max Payne 3” allows you to actually play it, its a blast.
The controls feel a bit clunky at first. Max is no Nathan Drake. He´s slow and somewhat cumbersome to control. The shoot-dodge, Max Payne´s big draw since the first game also sees its importance scaled back. If you shoot-dodge and hit something, like a desk or a wall, Max falls down completely vulnerable and the aggressive enemies will destroy you with no mercy. Since many fights occur in cluttered environments sometimes its almost worthless. Its sort of a gamble and I found it more useful as a tool to leap from cover to cover than as an offensive tool. There is also bullet time, where you slow time down and line up your shots, something that today seems far too common in games but in which Max was a pioneer back in the day. Still the gameplay is far too reliant on the usual chest high wall cover seen in every 3rd person shooter today than in “run and gun” which is what Max Payne was all about.
Where the game truly shines is in its absolutely brutal violence. The guns all feel powerful and the damage on the enemies is magnificent. When you kill the last enemy in an area you see a closeup of the bullets entering his body or head, blood gushing and his lifeless body falling to the floor. This is especially gratifying when using a sniper riffle as you see the bullet slowly flying through the air and obliterate some poor bastard in glorious and macabre detail. The environments are also destructible and some fights can turn into absolute mayhem with explosions, glass breaking everywhere, Max shoot-dodging through the air in slow motion with bullets flying past him and you inflicting absolute carnage in the enemies ranks. Its pure fun!
The game is challenging, even on “medium” and the AI is aggressive and ruthless. This is an intense and extreme experience with no compassion for the player. Its also addictive and highly enjoyable. I must also note the absolutely sublime soundtrack. One of the best I have heard in a game, the music enhances the action and is perfectly placed.
There is multiplayer too. As with most multiplayer games if you are a new player you will get slaughtered again and again. However in “Max Payne 3” I found the learning curve to be even higher than in most other games. The characters movement is stiff, the maps offer plenty of chances for “kill zones” and with some weapon and “equipment” DLC additions I wouldn't exactly call the multiplayer balanced. I also found it rather dull with only occasional bouts of all out action usually in the “Gang Wars” mode where there are objectives other than to kill the other team.
There are other modes to play in single player though. “Score Attack” where you gain points for kills and “New York Minute” where you are racing against time with precious seconds added for each kill. These are fun diversions but you´re still playing the campaign levels over and over again and it soon turns far too familiar to bother. No matter how fun the shootouts are there are only so many times you can go through the same level and suffer the same cut-scenes.
“Max Payne 3” is a high quality shooter. It will get your heart pumping and it will amaze you with its hardcore action. It just doesn't have the soul or heart of previous games in the series. If you can get past how bad of a sequel this is you will find and enjoy an amazingly entertaining game. But even then there´s always the feeling that the game never quite reaches its full potential. Still after all these years its good to see Max again and I hope this isn't the last time he shoot-dodges through the air killing bad guys and looking cool! Until we meet again Max!
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