Max Payne 3 Review | Game Insider

Game Insider: "When it comes to video games, summer is like having a full bottle of “fine” whiskey and nothing to celebrate but self-pity and the realization that the bottom of the bottle brings no absolution, only a temporary euphoria that quickly dissolves into the decadence that has come to define my life. Ok, it’s possible I’ve played way too much Max Payne that his internal monologue is rubbing off on me..."

[NastyLeftHook0]

Played it, thought it was mildly overrated, I would give it a 8/10.

[jetlian]

im playing it now and put it at a 7 maybe lower. Its pretty hard i went from hard all the way to easy in the first level.

They made way to many things against you. you dont have regen health you have small pills to pick up then you have limited ammo and the smallest aim range. You knock an enemy down thinking he's dead nope he gets back up they love to flank even on easy they also have way to much life 3 shots to the head.

Also you dont have any real awareness of how close you are to death. you have to be looking at your body to see he's hurt. im shooting make the screen red so I know. the whole im drunk high filter is annoying

[BelieveinGhosts]

you are part of the reason the gaming industry is diluted with a lot of casual rubbish. Go play CoD if you want developers to guide you through the whole game. Leave max payne alone and stop complaining

[Kevinote]

Headshots were pretty consistent...but nailing them wasn't always easy. Some guys have body armor and after getting shot in the chest, would get up after a few seconds. The guys with no armor went down permanently.

Having to choose between popping out of cover longer (thus exposing yourself to more danger) to line up a headshot for an instant kill, versus a quicker (thus safer) spray of bullets to center mass for a "maybe" kill made for more exciting and dynamic gunfights.

The lack of regenerating health helped up the tension and forced you to consider other strategic options instead of just always finding cover and waiting.

Then there were those moments when you were out of painkillers, had a full bar of bullet time, leaving you no options but to try a shootdodge suicidal run. Although it didn't always work, the times it did were exhilarating.

So, I'd have to disagree.

[jetlian]

lol your trolling with a new account!! I do play cod as well as BF/MOH and whatever other shooters I like.

Dont get mad cuz R* once again made a average game with flaws in game design. The game is short any they tried to lengthen it with difficult game play. And if you disagreed with me with any sense you would have pointed it out.
but you didnt because its true.

im nearly done on chapter 9-10 and theres only 14 or 15. Ive been playing maybe 4 hours. I can beat the game on hard its just not gonna be fun. its designed with room by room gameplay. You get through a room with low life then die in the next battle then start room off with full health.

Who the hell wants to do that. whats you GT since you like hardcore games. I play ninja gaiden with no issues because they give you tools to work with unlike this game!

edit wow another new account!! I never said regen was needed. I said they have to many things going against you.

I could half see painkiller unless it was the ones on the wall.Some were on tables,desk, places I had no intention of going to and its not like there big and red its white with green outlines.

Also about health when im in a shotout im not looking at my body it would be nice if he takes a pain killer once he reaches the top(MGS style) so I can concentrate on the fight or turn the screen red so I know.

movement is clunky and diving shot time needs to be controlled. Sometimes slo mo last to long even if I cant shoot anyone. In the dock level(c5) if you fall in and enemies around you die instantly what the hell is this gta3/vc its 2012 he should be able to shoot from the water

[jetlian]

well adamant you have a 3+ year old account with 350 comments trolling confirmed and your speach is similar to the two I commented on haha.

What are these above par fps please tell me lol? 10-12 hours when im already 4 hours in and 2/3 the way and im stupid?! its a 6 hour game. Like I said they used difficulty to lengthen the game. LA noire,RDR,GTA4 were all 20+ hour games easy.

lol you cant comprehend son! Slomo keeps going EVEN when enemies are outside your path. Has nothing to do with my aiming! if the desk is in the way theres no need for slomo anymore.

like I said post GT baby boy I know your using mp accounts to troll. What a loser still didnt address the issues I brought up. When you grow a pair then talk

[Christopher]

If you play on PC, do yourself a favor and play it with a controller.

Sans soft target assist (not hard assist), you're just dealing with enemy AI that will rapidly lock on and shoot you too fast without any aim assist at all. Not a lot of fun.

If you are playing with K&M, the game's difficulty gets ramped up a lot more than with a controller. Especially at later levels. You essentially play through and learn to memorize opponent locations/actions. There is zero aim assist but no adjustment on enemy AI targeting or firing rate to balance it out.

[Gran Touring]

It's really almost a crime to play shooting games on PC with a controller. If you need a controller to make it through this game on PC, you shouldn't be playing ANY shooting games on PC, period.

[Christopher]

Sorry, Gran Touring, but you can make it through but the game is designed with soft assist on. Without it, there is absolutely no way to determine where you are aiming when coming out of cover, and by the time you adjust to aim, they are already hitting you a few times with bullets. Result: lots of unnecessary deaths as you retry parts of the game over and over.

This isn't about being an awesome PC gamer, it's about a game designed with soft assist enabled and not accounting for it when you use a KB&M, which has no such assist implemented.

Max Payne 3 was designed to be played on a console with a controller using soft assist. The PC version has nothing to aid in the gunplay.

I spent most of my time in slo-mo mode on the PC and chucking down painkillers like nobody's business because as soon as I came out of hiding to aim at someone, I was already tagged by a bullet from the AI at least once.

Example: The graveyard scene where you are surrounded on all sides with gunmen? There is no way you would play that 'strategically' and make it out. You end up running through you slo-mo as you charge at the enemies around the circled area rather than relying on cover and taking aimed shots from it as the game was designed.

So, no, it doesn't work that way Gran Touring. The game was poorly designed for play with a KB&M. Your assertion that people shouldn't be playing shooting games on the PC because of poor design choices is idiotic.

Edit: What I find hilarious is that the original Max Payne games are a ton easier than MP3. MP3 on the PC reminds me of the very old school shooting game days where you pretty much memorized that 2x2 pixel point on your monitor (which was a ton easier at 640x480 resolutions) and aimed that at your opponents in a test of 'who's faster, me or the AI' which had, back then, absolutely no true logic to it. If this is what MP3 looked to do, it's a massive step back in gameplay overall. Which is sad because you could just put up a 2x2 pixel marker (I know a lot of FPS guys still do this) where the central targeting is and go to town in the game, aiming from cover without any issues.

[Gran Touring]

MP3 was not designed to be played on a console with soft assist. Even the first 2 max payne games were designed with free aiming as standard. GTAIV, which was a port of its console counterparts, (and shares many gameplay similarities to MP3, being a R* game) was a breeze on PC. If you're having trouble on normal in this game, then you don't fully understand how the game should be played.

Your example of the graveyard scene only strengthens the argument against you. "You end up running through you slo-mo as you charge at the enemies around the circled area rather than relying on cover and taking aimed shots from it as the game was designed." Max Payne games, including MP3 were NEVER designed as stop and pop cover games, and its inclusion in MP3 doesn't make this any different. The cover system is used mostly to allow a break in the action.

In fact, there's an entire mode (NY minute) in which you HAVE to use bullet time to not only diminish your time but to complete efficiently. The game even benefits you a free BT moment during shootdodging, and you don't even take damage during the jump, minus explosions. Again, because the game doesn't cater toward YOUR style of play doesn't give you privilege to criticize it's core gameplay elements.

And if you truly believe the game to be harder on PC with KB&M shows you know nothing about shooting games. NYM and arcade scores for Max Payne throughout the series have always been the highest ranked on PC. Its not the game's fault if you're not good at and don't know how to play it. You'll have a tougher time until you properly learn the mechanics, or, lower the difficulty and increase aim assist until it benefits your style of play.

[Christopher]

***MP3 was not designed to be played on a console with soft assist.***

Wrong. It was.

***Even the first 2 max payne games were designed with free aiming as standard.***

Yes, and with AI to match the need to take time for free aim. This was not done in MP3.

***Max Payne games, including MP3 were NEVER designed as stop and pop cover games, and its inclusion in MP3 doesn't make this any different.***

I never said it was designed to be a cover shooter. But, it was integral to the overall gameplay as a mode of giving you time to strategize attacks.

Kevin Hoare: "Max Payne 3 has a really intuitive cover system, something that was not around at the time of the original games, but it’s really more of a place to take a break, reload and strategize rather than the core gameplay mechanic."

In that specific scene, if you take time to strategize, you die. There is no viable cover from which to make such a strategy and not be shot at at the same time. This is also the case at the stadium when you are fighting guys on multiple levels in the stands with very little cover (and you still get hit since it's not full cover) and they are approaching using a pincer maneuver.

The cover was supposed to give you time to strategize, but it doesn't. It only gives your opponents more time to move and close in on you, which is what you don't want to happen in the game. The longer you take to kill an opponent in the game, the more opponents that will be shooting at you as you leave cover in the first place, meaning a much higher chance in getting shot and thereby death or death cam scene.

Most of the game after Chapter 1 forces you to move forward and memorize enemy pop out locations than being able to strategize on targets through the use of cover, as it was intended by the developer's own words.

***And if you truly believe the game to be harder on PC with KB&M shows you know nothing about shooting games.***

Obviously. Because you know everything. Or, you know, you disagree with me and I don't go around making outlandish comments like "You shouldn't be gaming on the PC in the first place."

***or, lower the difficulty and increase aim assist until it benefits your style of play.***

Bzzzt. There is no aim assist for KB&M. And I'm very much used to that in my PC shooters. I started the game on hard, and I put up with the ridiculous AI for a while as well as the crap-tastic slo-mo dives that ended prematurely if Max touched a piece of paper or death slo-mo moments where you had to kill the last guy who shot you but you couldn't due to poor camera angles or obstructions. But, I said screw it and went to normal mode and started running my way through things rather than using any strategy at all other than memorizing where enemies were popping out to be shot before they got too close.

[Kevinote]

My expectations were low and that's how I felt about it initially. But after finishing it I was impressed with the whole production. And although I don't see myself playing the multiplayer mode as often as other shooters, my brief time with it was rather enjoyable.

[BelieveinGhosts]

Great game 9.5/10, a true third person shooter for Hard Core gamers

[Gran Touring]

Absolutely. My first playthrough I finished on Hard in about 8 or 9 hours. I for one enjoy a steeper learning curve in games; I really don't like it when a game tells me exactly what to do to make my experience as easy and streamlined as possible. Thankfully, as you progress through MP3 and become better with the mechanics, the game accordingly adjusts to become more challenging. The pacing of the game is pretty good.

However, the multiplayer is probably even more difficult than the SP. I play on PC solely in free-aim matches and it's pretty entertaining, but it's definitely not for FPS/TPS rookies. It heavily caters to the crowd of Counterstrike/Metal Gear Online vets.

Bottom line, there's a ton of fun to be had in this game, but it's not one for the masses. MP3 is a very traditional-style shooting game with a modern facepaint, which many probably won't find favorable.

[BelieveinGhosts]

I absolutely agree, it shocked me that Max Payne 3 struggled to sell a decent number of copies and then it hit me. Since Call of Duty, most gamers want to be spoon fed and led through the entire game by the developer.
You see, i am a Socom player so i enjoy 3rd person shooters that require skill and very little to no aim assist. Which is why the learning curve in Max payne 3's single player and multiplayer is thrilling for me. This is why i hope that GTA 5's online will be as simlar to Max payne 3 as possible and improve on this experience, minus bullet time ;). If it is i will invest hundreds of hours into it.

However, i am afraid that the days of Hardcore gaming are coming to an end due to the trend we witness with CoD type shooters that continue to sell copies beyond our imagination.

At this stage, i wont be surprised if MGS 5 forgets about stealth and becomes a knife, twitch and frag fest in third person. With Airstrikes and UAV.

Afterall Hitman Absolution seems to be less stealthy already.
Gaming is becoming diluted with mainstream tactics just like Autotune in the Music Industry

[johnbanji]

FANTASTIC game!!!
One of my favorites! Already playing for 3 week and don’t wanna stop) By the way I Downloaded it free full version here http://bit.ly/maxpayne3new