Max Payne 3's Painful Cinematics

Let me be clear on something before I begin: I thoroughly enjoyed Max Payne 3. I found it to be smart, nuanced and very playable, though it’s actually that last point I’m about to take umbrage with. You see, when I say ‘highly playable’, what I’m talking about are those brief segments between cut-scenes when I was actually playing it.Obviously, Max Payne 3 makes no secret of the fact that it’s set up to be a cinematic experience, and the series has always drawn heavily on the noir feel of the old 40′s movies. That’s a big part of it’s charm, but take a moment to consider what ‘cinematic’ actually implies.

[morganfell]

The writer is not being, as he questioned, "a pedantic straw clutcher." Personally my issue wasn't with the number of cutscenes but rather the technical manner in which it handled weapons in your possession.

However, across the board the cutscene issue has another glaring factor. It was not so long ago we were treated to the following statements:

"Oh ho ho. Metal Gear Solid 4 is more of a movie! It's nothing but cutscenes. We have to deduct points for that!"

"Oh ho ho. Uncharted has too many cutscenes! Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah."

Max Payne walked away clean. It was given a free ride, a pass concerning a game development choice used to lambaste several titles. Never mind those other titles had a higher ratio of player controlled moments vs cutscenes and neither did those cutscenes see fit to readjust the weapons loadout.

I'll leave it to the individual to draw their own conclusion why reviewers choice to ignore something so prominent in Max Payne about which they had been so adamant before in other games.

I was, as was the writer of this article, puzzled by the cutscene use in some situations. Personally I don't have an issue per se with cutscenes but then again I have standards and I am capable of sticking to them.

[soundslike]

I'm pretty sure the "puzzling" cutscene use comes down to one of the major benefactors of the cutscenes themselves, the hiding of load times.

But other times when you just clear a room and then lose control for 20 seconds I agree with the writer its just like "...uhhh ok".

One thing that was good about the original Max Paynes is that some of the story was actually part of the gameplay itself, like hearing "THE FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELSSSS" and trying to watch them carry out their ritual before slaughtering every last one of the weirdos.

[D3mons0ul]

The weapon loadout thing is the worst. I understand that it's in Max's nature to only use handguns BUT LET ME BE THE ONE TO DECIDE THAT!

I love being shot up by a room of about 20 angry greaseballs all because a cutscene lead me into a firefight with a single pistol equipped. Let me tell you, just fucking makes my day...

[user5467007]

Are you surprized...it's Rockstar, they always get given a free pass then some time later after it's sold well and reviews have been giving out people finaly admit the real flaws of the game. GTAV4, L.A Noire, Red Dead Redemption, MP3...some had more flaws then others, some like Red Dead hardly had any but if one thing gets a game marked down in another review then why should the same thing be ignored for Rockstar.

As mucn as I enjoyed the game, this dosen't feel like a MP game to me. It feels more like another game Rockstar were making and early on in development they decided to make it into MP3. I hope Remedy get given the chance to make MP4

Oh and Rockstar had a chance to bring back Mona Sax because of the two endings in MP2...AND THEY DIDN'T TAKE IT. Come on....Mona Sax was a great character...a great FEMALE character

[pandaboy]

stop quoting fanboys instead of reviewers morganfail. mgs4 and uncharted won critical acclaim, even more so than max payne 3. nobody is intending to degrade those ps3 exclusives like you're trying to make out.

[kingdavid]

Id much rather listen to fan's opinions then so called "critics" honestly..

[xPhearR3dx]

MGS4 Cut scenes were WAY longer than the ones in Max Payne 3 by a long shot. I've never heard anyone complain about Uncharted having too many cutscenes. MGS4 though, yes, it was a tad bit overboard. I love that damn game, but it's like come on.

Oh and Rockstar didn't get a "free pass". If you look at both those games mentioned, they average over 90 on Metacritic. Meanwhile, Max Payne 3 is sitting at an 87. That's Metacritic alone. Look at most of the reviews here on N4G and there's a lot of scores in the 8 range.

Fact is: Max Payne 3 is a damn good game. It has flaws yes, but it's much better than 80% of the rehashed crap put out onto the market nowadays.

[Ravenor]

Those complaints against MGS4 are kinda reasonable. The between act cut scenes or even the ones that just popped up were way to long.

On the topic of Uncharted, its not that it has to many or that they are to long. Its that some of it feels really unnecessary.

I see what you're saying, I just don't see how the cutscenes are as large a problem as the short little movies that I was subjected to in MGS4. The weapon problem when you pop into and out of cutscenes is dumb, I don't understand how that didn't get tweaked.

[house]

i can understand mgs4... IF you didn't follow the franchise since mgs if you did then you would know that was the only way kojima could explain everything and give the game closure.

in uncharted i never had much issues

[omi25p]

Max Payne 3 is easily my favorite of the 3

[ieatbabies]

I thought the constant interruptions of narration when max would talk out loud was annoying and the constant appearance of words cluttering up the screen was also annoing

[DFogz]

The problems I have with Max Payne 3's cutscenes are that,
1. If you're using a two-handed weapon and a cutscene plays (even if it's just showing more enemies coming at you) it'll switch to a single pistol...even if you have no ammo for it.
2. They're there to mask lengthy loading times.
3. Arcade mode. When playing through the same chapter several times trying to achieve better times/scores the cutscenes become a nuisance. Especially since the majority of them can't be skipped for several minutes. I really don't need to watch the same 5 minute long cutscene 10 times.

[theeg]

I'm going to wait for a cheap steam version, most likely by the end of summer sale and grab max payne 3 for $10

it's just not as big of a deal as it thinks it is, it was never a huge, amazing franchise, it was a good, fun way to waste a few hours.

there's nothing wrong with that kind of game, it describes most games, the hype surrounding it, and the media frenzy, are, most likely, overblown.

[Ravenor]

in 2001, MP1 was a PRETTY big game.

[PersonMan]

I felt like the cutscenes were way too long. Spend 5 minutes watching a cutscene and by the time you're able to play you're half asleep.

[daggertoes83]

The cutscenes the first time through were fine because it was a nice story. The second time through to find the clues and guns and play on harder levels is anoying because then you want to skip the cutscenes. You just want to play.

[ufo8mycat]

I haven't got the game yet, but can't you skip the cutscenes?

If you are not in it for the story or second playthrough, then just skip them (if thats possible)

Just read few more posts - I guess they can't be skipped. LOL big fail. Such an easy thing to implement.

[xPhearR3dx]

No they can be skipped. The game loads during the cutscenes, so when the game is done loading you can skip the rest of the cutscene. Some take a minute before you can skip, others are instant.

[TrueGaming]

IMO I think MP3 was a great game... There are obvious flaws like any other game ( hopefully they release timely patches ) but tbh I think the reason why you get the cut scenes ( besides technical reasons ) is because the gameplay is shallow albeit good but you only clear rooms and waves of enemies... Since theres really no other game mechanics like platforming etc they had to fill it with something... Yes I think other games shouldnt be faulted for it as long as the gameplay, graphics, & story are well made... MP3 is a great game that shouldnt be missed even though its not the best gaming has to offer & to some it didnt give other gamers the feel of the originals its still good reguardless of frequent and a tad lengthy cut scenes, they do a great job of progressing the story excluding the fact max forces you to use the single gun as opposed to what you had equiped prior but dont take my word 4 it... Rent it atleast if youre a dedicated gamer...