Max Payne

"If you like action, you're sure to love this!"

I had read some very bad reviews, and at first I was kind of afraid to buy this. After playing through the entire game twice, I know I made a good choice.

GAMEPLAY: This is as good as it gets! While some levels, are a little uneven, the rest clearly makes up for it. At it's roots, you could just label this as just another third person shooter, but it has many new things, you've probably never seen before.

Take bullet time, for example. When under heavy fire, turning this on will slow the action to a crawl. You have the advantage in using this, as you can still aim at the same speed as normal, but the enemies, aren't so quick. Sometimes, using this is the only way you'll walk out of a room full of enemies, alive. While it's not going to win any awards, it's the coolest thing you'll see in a shooter this year.

Note, that this is not a game, for casual gamers. Even on the lowest difficulty setting, it's still quite hard in some places. Many people will see this game as being too hard, but I think it's just right.

GRAPHICS: While not the best the PS2 has to offer, their still very good. All of the levels look very good, as well as the characters, and enemies. Most of it is even interactive, in that you can shoot off wall tiles, or break glass, and such. The game does, however, have a tiny bit of slowdown at times. If you're like me, and get caught up in the game, you won't even notice. All in all, I think they did an excellent job with the graphics.

CONTROLS: Yet another thing that will turn some people away. While they are not bad by any means, they are really hard to get used to(though once you do, you'll wonder why other games don't use the same setup). The left stick moves you, and the right stick aims you. The rest is simple, but this took me a bit, to get used to. Once you do though, you'll be flying through levels with the best of em'. If you don't have a lot of patience for such things though, you might want to think twice before getting this.

SOUND: While it doesn't break any new ground, it's quite good. The guns, and enemies sound like they should, and the characters in the game, are voiced very well. There isn't much music, but in the later levels when things heat up, it'll start to put a sort of ''Rock'' beat into some levels. Not bad at all.

If you're a serious gamer, and want a real challenge, then you should definitely buy this. Though, if you get frustrated easily, or don't have a lot of patience, you might want to stray from this one.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/02, Updated 01/20/02