Max Payne

"Deeply involving and overall entertaining game."

Max Payne just as well might be the best game I have played in a LONG time. All aspects of the game are simply breathtaking, and it's tough to find a game that puts you in the driver seat and makes you feel like it's actually you in the game. That's how involving this game gets. I can tell you that personally at how much sleep I have left because of this game. Anyway, let's get straight to the chase:

GAMEPLAY - You take control of Max Payne, and the game is in the 3rd Person view. As you progress through the game, you receive different and nifty weapons (Molotov cocktail, anybody?). Your energy is drained as you're hit (as in any other game in this genre), and you can regain health by taking Painkillers which you'll find throughout the game. Also, something you may or may not be familiar with is the ''Bullet time'', which allows for slow motion movements. This helps when you are outnumbered and helps you get better aim and a better crack at killing all in your way. Bullet time works like your health and is used up. You refill it slowly by killing enemies. Overall, very fun and the learning curve isn't that hard to get into. 10/10

GRAPHICS - The graphics of Max Payne are truly breathtaking. Looking at Max's face is just like looking at someone's face in reality, a lot of attention to detail. This is also true throughout the game, as you can see the damage to little things like pictures and paintings. The game ran really smooth with me on 1.5 GHz processor and TNT2 Pro graphics card. 10/10

SOUND - Although not perfect, the sounds in this game are something to be reckoned with. The Voice acting is pretty decent as are a lot of the sound effects throughout the game. Although nothing revolutionary, the sound gives more then enough to an already amazing game. 8/10

STORY - Well, I wont give out any of the story, but I will tell you that I have yet to see a more involving storyline in a video game. The story is told in comic book fashion as well as real-time cinema. You'll find yourself chasing several ''bad guys'' until the end of the game. 10/10

REPLAYABILITY - Once you finish the game, you might want to try your hand at the harder difficulty settings. If that's not enough for you, there's always New York Minute, which gives you a time limit to complete each level, a pretty entertaining option once you finish the game. Most probably, though, you would want to come back for more. 8/10

OVERALL - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/02, Updated 07/15/02