Review: Max Payne 3 (PC)

[News Portal]

[app=5257]Max Payne 3[/app] is Rockstar's debut with the popular franchise, and marks a huge change for the grizzled anti-hero. Jason Weston has been a fan since the start, and wrote this review.

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[MCFLY5]

Great game, I really enjoyed it. Only thing I hated the most was too many cut scenes!

[F6310]

I loved Max Payne 3. I really like the levels, the fact they weren't so long that you got bored of the location, but also not quick that you couldn't become immersed. Rockstar did well.

Bullet Time is not as pivotal to play as it once was, or as enjoyable to use

I disagree, I found myself using it more towards the end of the game against armoured enemies to get some headshots. And found it fun to grab a groin shot while I was at it!

If I had a real criticism, it is the fact there are not enough bloody bullets!

[StyleZ]

Just finished it!!
On PC of course and I thought it was freeeaaakkkiinnnn AWESOME!!!

My only wish would be them to let you skip cut scenes. They are great but you only need to see them once...

[Disco LT]

Great game, I really enjoyed it. Only thing I hated the most was too many cut scenes!

Loving it myself, not quite finished but I think I'm getting close. There are a few things that really bug me:

1. Max Cutscene 3 - half the time it felt like I was twiddling my thumbs with nothing really to do, only to get into game, kill a small handful of bad guys, then walk straight back into another cutscene.

2. See this lovely AK47 I've just killed a dozen guys with? It's great, but since I've just had yet another cutscene, and have been ambushed, I'm going to revert back to using my pistol instead of the AK47, and have to waste precious killing time swapping weapons.

3. The silent parts, the first time it happened I paused the game to check my speaker settings >.> they really didn't do anything for me and I'd have preferred the audio.

But as I said, it's still a great game and I'm really enjoying it apart from those minor gripes..

[BuZeR]

Great game, but as was pointed out the cut scenes do get old quickly on a second play through. Due to this, i think the game lost its replay value, even on the timed missions... The whole flow is broken when you are running then you sit through a 5min cutscene. Multiplayer is also very average at best.

So it is an expensive outting for 15 hours of gameplay.

[PalZer0]

A further negative point against the game which doesn't seem to have been listed is Rockstar's refusal to disclose full details of the DRM being used in Max Payne 3.

<rant>

This should really get more airplay than it currently does because it's blatant dishonesty from Rockstar who seem to be out of touch with how pirates distribute their games (hint: it's sans DRM). It's high time that journalists and reviewers started pushing this aspect really hard when it comes to PC gaming rather than just sweeping it under the carpet and pretending that these issues (DRM and otherwise) don't exist.

Sure, Max Payne 3 may be a great game. However, I can't overlook the fact that Rockstar are being total jerks when it comes to disclosure of important DRM information. As such, they're not getting any money from me until they change their attitude (I already cancelled my special edition preorder and won't be preordering GTA5 on any platform).

The fact that some forum users (not naming names) like to slap me down for bringing up these issues (and, in some cases, defend the publisher for this behaviour) says a lot about how the gaming media tends to brainwash their readers into thinking that DRM mismanagement is OK (such as the article on VG247 that essentially said "You can't log in to Diablo 3 and should stop complaining about it and not care").

Simply put, the gaming media needs to stop hanging off publishers' balls (not accusing GON of doing this) and start calling it as it is when it comes to issues such as DRM (mis)management and disclosure. The longer publishers get away with being dishonest, the worse things get for PC gamers.

</rant>

[Chucky]

It's high time that journalists and reviewers started pushing this aspect really hard when it comes to PC gaming rather than just sweeping it under the carpet and pretending that these issues (DRM and otherwise) don't exist.

But I feel that journalists/reviewers only cover aspects that are important to the majority, and honestly the majority (at least if I gauge reactions on this forum correctly) do not care.

I put it another way, if every news article here started raving on about DRM then put simply I would stop reading the news or change sites.

The fact that some forum users (not naming names) like to slap me down for bringing up these issues

If that was aimed at me after 'suggesting' a centralised thread rather than derailing every thread then by all means may everyone know it was me

[PalZer0]

The majority don't care because the gaming media don't give them a reason to care.

You weren't the only one constantly slapping me down. I seem to get all sorts of troll comments in IRC (even on a totally unrelated topic) about DRM. There are also other forum members that don't seem to like my posts on DRM that much either.

[v4moose]

ok I'll bite...

I agree with chucky, stick it in a thread there and have a proper discussion about it. Random posts in every thread to bring people to your cause just comes off as a rant and nothing more. Especially with things like 'They won't be gettin ma moneh' cause we all know how that worked out when people 'boycotted' MW2 for not having dedicated servers. My steam friends list was full of green.

I don't agree particularly with DRM, but in MP3's case - I haven't heard of this DRM preventing users from playing. So I must ask... what's the big deal? Maybe Rockstar have just been vague cause they don't see the point in bringing up the issue as it clearly won't be a win for them any way things pan out.

[mans]

The majority don't care because the gaming media don't give them a reason to care.

You weren't the only one constantly slapping me down. I seem to get all sorts of troll comments in IRC (even on a totally unrelated topic) about DRM. There are also other forum members that don't seem to like my posts on DRM that much either.

Most people don't care because they don't have a reason to care. Most people dont reinstall a game 5 times or lack access to a stable connection. The people that struggle with those issues are far in the minority.

While I don't agree with any form of DRM, I don't see the need for it to be the only thing you post about in every thread about a game that has DRM. How about adding something else to the conversation once in a while?

In regards to Max Payne 3, I will probably pick it up when it drops in price as I am getting a bit tired of shooters lately.

[Cas Bitton]

The majority don't care because the gaming media don't give them a reason to care.

I'd go so far to say neither do a majority of gamers. Most want what's in the box, not what is around it.

After around 9 hours, I made it through the main story on normal. I took my time and it's certainly a brilliant experience. I mentioned earlier in the MP3 discussion topic that I recently played the previous games, the final length was about the same.

Cut scene issues? Na, I loved the change . The comic book story telling is certainly in but the delivery has been altered. Instead of the previous hand drawn panel approach, now it's pretty Hollywood with story and action sequences to continue the story.

I can't pinpoint an exact list of films it takes influences from but pretty much everything Michael Mann and Tony Scott have directed

Just getting into multi player now, I've joined the GON crew and I'm keen to see a few familiar faces in the lobby

[InAUGral]

I always like to know what kind of DRM a game has before I buy but I admit it only matters if its a bad kind of DRM that interferes with playing the game and that sort of thing would be mentioned. The review was well balanced I thought and I like that in a PC game review that important things for me in a PC game were mentioned. I will pick up Max Payne 3 somewhere down the line when its a price im willing to pay.

[Nebby_99]

As a huge fan of the series, I thought Max Payne 3 was tripe. Some reasons:
- Generally inferior writing/characterisation

- Failure to preserve the noir feel of the series (imho)

- Failure to preserve the integrity of the character (imho)

- The enemy AI waits for your shootdodge to finish, before coming out and shooting you when you're standing up. That's the primary (but not only) way the game effectively taught you NOT to use the bullet time mechanics.

- The static encounters were a huge part of the appeal of the series for me. Sometimes metagaming is fun and leads to awesomeness. The enemies are less predictable in MP3, meaning you can't perfect your choreography for a fight. eg:

Hidden: show

The makers of the Matrix Mod realised something Rockstar didn't. The real fun of the game was more about finesse than difficulty and realism. Or they probably realised, but didn't know if there was a market for it.

It might be a decent shooter, but it's not Max Payne imho.

[v4moose]

3. The silent parts, the first time it happened I paused the game to check my speaker settings >.> they really didn't do anything for me and I'd have preferred the audio.

I don't remember any silet parts dude Where were they?