"A Classic, Action Masterpiece set in Noir York City."

Max Payne came and took the world by storm. The tough talking wisecracking cop with pain in the name became one of the most beloved characters for any action games for the PC the world had seen for years. By looking at the score alone, and the general scores of this game, there's very little doubt that this game is nothing short of a Masterpiece in modern PC gaming.

Story
Max's a good cop. He's got a nice job, friends, wife, a beautiful baby, a house and a life where the sun shines. All that changes one night he comes home, and finds some drug addicts who have broken into his home. Without remorse, they kill his baby and his wife, and drives him on a hunt for vengeance, which leads him into the deepest and darkest places of the city. It's time for Payne. Max Payne.

The story is presented with fantastic pictures in comic-book layout. The characters are shot with real actors, and the star of the show is Max Payne, with his infamous grin and sleazy look. He has the best face of any cop in any game ever, and it's hard not to crack up when he delivers his wicked grin. The story is, although a tale about death and revenge, very funny, with some hilarious characters and dialogues. It's incredibly well written and the story is driven forward in a great way.

Gameplay
Max Payne plays almost like a normal third person shooter. It controls easily, Max responds well and the mechanics works like it should. However, the difference between Max Payne and the rest is the incredible Bullet Time mode. By a press on a button you can make time instantly crawl down to a minimum, slowing everything down but your aim. This is the key for survival. You can aim as freely as you did in normal time, while everything has the reaction of a blind turtle. Then it's just the matter of taking out the enemies any way you can before the Bullet Time ends. The game can of course be played mostly without using Bullet Time, but that is simply not as fun, since not only can you slow down time, but you can perform a lounging jump that slows down time, and makes you fly forward head on to the group of enemies, guns blazing. To top it all, by pausing the game, you'll get a slow-spinning camera around Max, perfect for taking some awesome screenshots of him in action.

The game has lots of different weapons from dual-wielded pistols to Machine guns, Shotguns, Grenades and other weapons, even including a Baseball bat. It's fun to try out every one of them, especially in Bullet Time, where you'll often notice a great difference in the handling of the weapons. The biggest fun though is just watching Max with the different weapons as he grins while taking out hordes of punks, mobsters and gangsters, and the gameplay is really fun.

The game becomes harder and harder along as the climax of the game comes closer, and at the end you'll have sweaty palms and big eyes from all the actions and insane bullet stunts. But it will be worth it, because this game is simply so fun to play, that not much comes close, not even today. Even the sequel is less fun than the original even though it has better physics and graphics. Most of this can be traced to a few things that makes Max Payne stand out.

The level design is brilliant. Each level is quite different and takes places in varied locations, like a Cafe, a Tanker Ship, a Strange Bar, Mansions and other curious places, and each one is cleverly designed with details everywhere. Enemies often hold hilarious conversations which you can listen to, and there's a lot to see and do.

There's also the humor. Unlike Max Payne 2, this game takes itself far less serious. It makes more jokes, it is more cheezy, it has more overdriven drawn out descriptions of the situations, but it's just so much more fun! The second game really lacked humor in attempt to become much more than it should have been, but the first does everything right. Max literally spews out hilarious one liners that are memorable and effective, and he never stops talking about the situation he is in. He even goes so far as suspecting himself to be in a video game, in a clever strip. And despite all this, it's still belivable in his world, since it never goes out of character, it never tries to be anything than it is.

Graphics
Even today, the graphics of Max Payne is quite good. It's true that the models do look a little blocky, but the textures are still really sharp, and the environments still look excellent. Floor tiles, walls, objects, everything has a really sharp and nice look that is still impressive. The game just looks stunning, even so many years after the release. A Disco floor especially looks fantastic with painting on the walls and disco lights bathing the place, and a building that's blowing up has some of the most realistic flames ever. It has to be seen to be believed, but Max Payne holds up incredibly well to new games, and the graphics makes it easily enjoyable.

The characters are skinned with a high quality texture based on photos of real people, making the graphics look much better than it really is. It does help making the game look beautiful though, since the resolution of the texture is very high.

Another honorable mention is the quality of the Graphic Novels. Beautifully shot with Live Actors, these noir-like pictures are then put together like a graphic novel, making them highly entertaining. They are also in full voice overs(More on that), and considered by many to be the highlight. The game also runs really smooth on lower end computers and by now it should be enjoyable for everyone on the highest resolutions, making it look stunning.

Sound
Another excellent part of the game is the sound department. Max Payne has one of the most memorable theme songs of any PC game ever. The dark pianodriven tune is haunting and stunning, and it sets the tone perfectly for the game. The song is used several times throughout the game to great effect, with often a pulsing heart beat in the background to create an effect of tension. The rest of the music is also quite good, some of the music that appears when in gunfights are really fitting, they enhance the action more than detract from it and some are so memorable that you'll find yourself singing them when playing the sequel!

But perhaps, in deep competition with the Theme song, the best sound part is the voice acting. Just like Solid Snake and Darth Vader got their popular voices, so does Max Payne. He has one of the best voices of any game characters ever, and that is not an understatement. The rest of the voice acting is also top notch, including a bad guy that is so hilarious that you'll end up rewatching his scene several times.

Summary
Not enough could be said about Max Payne. It has a story and characters straight from an A Action Movie, Voice Acting talent you can expect from only the best, incredibly sharp and detailed graphics, wonderful graphic novels, it's full of action and bullet time action far more entertaining than Neo in the Matrix.

And at the end of a long gameplay session, that's the best gift an action lover can get.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/05