Max Payne

"For a soap opera shooter, it's really fun to play."

Have you ever felt like walking into a shopping mall, tavern, or a skyscraper
and filling some Mafia men with bullets? Sure, you have! We have all came home
some crappy day and felt like pumping bullets into something's brain. Well,
now you can... in slow motion. Max Payne, a matrix-style shoot em up action game
will let you fulfill your sick little needs... in style. Get revenge on your
enemies for... well, you should play the first two minutes of the game to find out.

GRAPHICS
Well, Maxie here looks like a constipated fool with a sawed off shotgun and a big
black trench coat. You don't want to mess with one of those. Just kidding, joking.
The graphics aren't the best, but aren't bad. Think about Grand Theft Auto 3 spiced
up a little bit. Max Payne has better detail. And detail is a good thing. The vehicles
(helicopter, cars, vans, etc.) are also detailed, but the shaped themselves are nothing
special. But the graphics get gold sticker in my opinion.
8/10

SOUND
No music except for in the elevators, credits, and main menu. Who needs music, though?
The guys you kill... I mean, fight, make lots of different noises when you shoot them in
the... I mean, attack them. Varied sound effects, and they all sound good. And last but
not least, the dialogue has audio! You know, like MGS2. Just not as much dialogue. See story
for more info on that...
8/10

GAMEPLAY
Here's the part of the game where you play... Oh yes. 10/10 easy. Super cool slow motion
or regular speed action, at a good steady fps, makes no interference with the extreme
bullet time / shootdodging action. Bullet time is slow mo, while shootdodge is jumping in
whatever way you are moving. While in either, you can use your weapon with better accuracy
and bullet dodging. Plus, it looks damn cool! The game itself will take you a good 5 hours to
beat, and it's an awesome ride while it happens. Plus, extra game modes when you beat the game
the first time. No 2 player action, because the slow mo would mess it all up. It couldn't make
sense. So, I of course, give it what I said I would.
10/10

CONTROL
While it can take a while to turn around, mostly because you use the right analog stick to
look, you can change the controls around to meet your fancy. Or use the default controls,
which work fine. I use the default, but my friend changed the controls to meet Halo's controls.
Which was weird, but we got used to it. Nothing great about the controls, but for the most part
it will work for you.
7/10

STORY
The story itself isn't bad, but you are going to have a feeling you are watching a soap
opera when the dialogue comes up. Well, how about a shoot em up soap opera? That sounds better.
This shoot em up soap opera lets you, Max Payne, a police officer in New York, get justice for your
wife and baby, who were violently killed by the Mafia. Why? You have to find out for yourself. How?
Play the game, fool! By the way, I ruined nothing for you. You can find out about the child / wife
incident by reading the back of the DVD case.
6/10

REPLAY
This game has a lot of different modes, and great gameplay, so I would bet you would want to play it
again. Maybe a third time, because it's a good game for the most part. Three parts and Eight chapters
long will keep you busy if you want to just have fun fighting bad guys and shootdodging.
Oh yeah, there are cheats, too. ;)
7/10

OVERALL
You can skip the dialogue, which is a good thing. The story is no FF7, but it's no Custer's Revenge
either. You will like the game, and you should have a good time playing it. But when a friend comes
over, better pop in Halo or some other 2 player game.
9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/02, Updated 04/15/02