Retro Roadtest: Max Payne

[News Portal]

Rockstar's shiny new Max Payne 3 is launching on consoles this week, but PC players have to wait until June to sink their teeth into it. To tide you over, we sent Jason Weston back in time to 2001, when the original Max Payne was released. He brings us this report.

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[PinothyJ]

I still need to finish this…

[InAUGral]

This is probably one of my favorite games ever made. I can remember fondly how the story had me intrigued from start to finish. The sequel is as awesome so check that out next.

[Lumen Melano]

I honestly had very little need for the stock standard bullet time, I exclusively used bullet time shoot dodge thingy. Poor Max would have sore chest and back by the time I got through with him.

[v4moose]

Poor Max would have sore chest and back by the time I got through with him.

if you know what i mean

[antzpantz]

So... how did you get it to work on your PC? I recently tried to install Max Payne 2 from CDs (yes! I have them!) onto my Win7x64 system that I built end of last year and it just does not work! This was after finding out that both MP and MP2 downloaded from Steam come bundled with the warez .exe because it gets around some sort of Win7 Data Protection thing that makes the game crash on execution.

And also finding out that Max Payne was around BEFORE the era of widescreen gaming... yeowch! FOV changes and screen stretching!

I'll probably have to dig up an older computer to play them. I need my Payne fix.

[realOne]

Max Payne on Android mobile got delayed for an unknown new release date, hopefully it comes out soon.

[Hotblack]

One of the best games ever

Remember the subway and the blood trails where the body was moved to....

[DarkMellie]

Screw playing this on PC, grab it on iPad if you have one. Perfect translation, control scheme very doable.


Loved Max's voiceovers, so gritty.


I remember a mate and I couldn't finish the last level on the PS2... because the internet really wasn't a big thing back then we had to call the gamehelp line, a 1902 number charging $5 a minute... turns out we had to shoot the wire-lines to get the tower to crash onto the chopper.

[diamondd]

I hadn't yet "arrived" on the PC gaming scene when this came out but LOVED number 2.

Not sure I like where the new one seems to be heading but I can always go back and give this a look..

[vcatkiller]

I must be alone, but I could never stand the game. It was linear, repetitive, and those much-lauded comic book sequences just seemed jarring and game flow interrupting. I'm sure the story was cool but I just got so bored with it.

Plus watching Max running around with a constant facial expression like he's got problems having a movement? I found it funny on release date and still find it funny.

[Joshsux]

I must be alone, but I could never stand the game. It was linear, repetitive, and those much-lauded comic book sequences just seemed jarring and game flow interrupting. I'm sure the story was cool but I just got so bored with it.

Plus watching Max running around with a constant facial expression like he's got problems having a movement? I found it funny on release date and still find it funny.

Say's the one who loves Diablo 3

[tacitus42]

I think this was the first video game that really had an emotional impact on me.
The first 10 minutes of the game are f***ed up awesome, so intense. It just stood right out at the time.
The second one only improves on the f***ed uppedness with the guilt-ridden hallucinatory sexual thing going on. The game even breaks the fourth wall at one point, and I love it when stuff like that happens in a serious 'not sure if that was supposed to be real or funny or just f***ed up but wow that was weird' kind of way.

Mirrors are more fun than television.

[vcatkiller]

I must be alone, but I could never stand the game. It was linear, repetitive, and those much-lauded comic book sequences just seemed jarring and game flow interrupting. I'm sure the story was cool but I just got so bored with it.

Plus watching Max running around with a constant facial expression like he's got problems having a movement? I found it funny on release date and still find it funny.

Say's the one who loves Diablo 3

Yeah strange right?

[Marius]

D3 isn't really linear in the same way an FPS is. D3 has emergent gameplay, where each character is quite different due to different builds, items, and random environments and quests.