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Max Payne Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Max Payne makes his eagerly awaited debut.
Max Payne has been in development for a long time and there has been significant hyperbole bestowed on the game over the last couple of years. Despite being hyped for some time the actual details of what would be in Max Payne remained somewhat inconspicuous. We knew the graphics were stunning and we knew that there would be some Matrix style bullet time action yet beyond this, not much. Given that highly anticipated games that have had rather protracted development times can be divided into two categories - amazingly disappointing or simply amazing â“ it was with some trepidation that we fired up Max Payne. After a few minutes it was clear that Remedy have used their development time brilliantly, Max Payne is a joy to play.
Essentially this is a third person action game, although the control system and camera make it feel very much like a first person shooter. You take control of Max Payne, an undercover New York cop who is having a bad day, a very bad day. The plot is in some respects very clichéd; the one man against a never-ending onslaught of would be killers. Yet where most games of this genre fall down, creating a plot that is just predictable and unfulfilling Max Payne manages a story that is mature, engaging and ripe for the pop-culture generation in which it is emerged. Remedy has written a story for a game that un-apologetically borrows from other sources, The Matrix, X-Files films by Jon Woo. Treading the line between satire and seriousness Max Payne maintains a constantly engaging narrative.
The story is presented in various ways; there is a constant narration that is present both in game and during cut scenes. This helps maintain the atmosphere that is created during the comic book style cut scenes. Featuring real actors these Graphic Novels, as Remedy calls them, work amazingly well and far better than poor acting in FMV sequences would have. Unlike many other games the progression of the story never interferes with the action, not dragging on for minutes, as in say Metal Gear Solid, yet not feeling like a token addition either. You never want to miss out on the story yet after each instalment you are itching to get back to the game, because of how it plays.
When you first saw bullet time in the Matrix, and after you picked up your jaw, you realised that you had seen something immensely cool and the prospect of actually being able to do that in real time would be an alluring attraction. One of the few things we knew for sure about Max Payne was that Remedy was implementing bullet time as a feature of the game. Since then we have had Conkerâs Bad Fur Day that featured a Matrix homage that re-created bullet time rather well, so technically it could be done. However quite how much it would add to the overall experience was not known. If it were limited to certain specific situations and rather much more on the rails that you would hope for, that would be disappointing. Yet if you could perform bullet time whenever you wanted it could loose its impact and not look as impressive as the movies.
Remedy has struck a perfect balance, essentially you can perform the bullet dodge and bullet time moves at any time. However you need to have you meter charged up to be able to perform the moves, to replenish your meter you simply kill bad guys and the level automatically increases. The difference between bullet dodge and bullet time is important yet rather small. Bullet Dodging is where you dive in a specific direction and time is slowed, allowing you to aim precisely as you fly though the air. Bullets glide past your head and sounds are slowed and you can twist and move to take out multiple targets. The slow motion effect automatically stops when you hit the floor whilst Bullet Dodging. Bullet time is activated whilst standing and is even slower than bullet dodging and it does not end until you take out the enemy you are shooting at, you stop it yourself or your meter runs out. This technique drains your meter at a constant rate whereas Bullet Dodging simply takes a small amount off when you start the move. Both of these techniques are vital to the game and are far more than a simple gimmick that gets stale, these make the game and are always so much fun to pull off. The camera system is wonderful and you can see Max dive, twist and turn as well as every little bit of destruction that you and your enemies inflict on the world. Remedy has implemented bullet time so that it works as well as in The Matrix and it feels so natural, essentially the game would not be the same if this technique were omitted.
It is hard to single out a single defining factor that makes Max Payne a joy to play, essentially it should not be that much different from say the Tomb Raider games, yet all of the problems that afflicted that series, camera angles, poor plots, hit and miss combat and aimless wandering have been completely remedied for Max Pain. Indeed the closest contemporary for the game would be Metal Gear Solid as it is one of the few games like Max Payne that offers a completely impressive experience from beginning to end, wrapped up in sumptuous presentation and production values. Every part of Max Payne feels right, part of this may be down to the unique difficulty system that changes the game on the fly, the graphics are gorgeous and the story compelling, bullet time contributing immeasurably as well. Every part of the game sees you doing something, there are massive amounts of enemies, you are never allowed to be bored. Most games, even those at the top of the tree such as Metal Gear Solid and Zelda: Ocarina of Time, feature segments where you spend a while wandering around, not knowing what to do or where to go. This does not happen in Max Payne, you are drawn into the game world and every part of the game is fun to play. Even the usual chore of replaying sections when you die is not a problem, the best description of why this is not a problem is that it is like takes in a movie. You practice a section of the game until perfectly you glide sideways through the door, coat billowing with your twin pistols taking out the three suits who want to fill your body with bullets, seeing the bullets gracefully miss your body and then your enemies fall to the floor, essentially it feels like you are in an action movie and it does not grate at all.
Graphically Max Payne is a tour de-force, the MaxFX engine developed by Remedy is powerful and gorgeous to look at. It does require a fairly meaty system to run at full detail in every respect, but even on the lower settings the amazingly detailed textures shine. It may not boast complete destructive ability as in Red Faction but Max Payne manages to offer a nice level of detail in the destruction you hand out. The particle engine is glorious and seeing parts of the scenery in slow motion is wonderful. Some levels seem like a showcase for the power of the engine. Simulated drug effects as well as bullet time really show off the versatility and power of the engine, as well as being striking in the sheer audacity of their use, pushing the envelope for videogame content. That may seem like pure hyperbole, but given the proliferation of identikit shooters and a distinct lack of innovation recently Max Payne is brilliantly refreshing. The engine is solid and is perfect for the game and free from the bugs, glitches and annoyances that cause so much annoyance in games such as Daikatana and Hitman. If you have a top end machine you will be beaming with the visual spectacle that Max Payne offers, if you have the minimum specification, you will still be impressed.
