Platform: Playstation 3

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Max Payne 3 is a gritty third person shooter that has been in the making for over 9 years. Max Payne is a New York City retired police detective who finally retired after years of being embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and brutality.  Looking to move on with his life Max Payne 3 decides to try out living a new life as a body guard in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the rich and powerful Branco family.

 Max Payne is beyond hard boiled, he’s burnt.  After the critical success of Max Payne 2 and it’s Bullet time technique will max payne 3 be able to still provide the edginess it’s known for in story and combat?

Well the good news is the max payne 3 story is gripping,riveting and entirely believable as the attention to detail completely engages you, game characters look like real 3d people. Not caricatures or 3D versions of 2D sprites. The story is told through the dejected and thoroughly depressed eyes of max payne, who’s plight in life makes it extremely hard to stay ambivalent about the story. I found myself taking sympathy and wanting to help Max Payne fulfil his revenge.  Max Payne’s dry humour and satire will keep you entertained throughout the 12 hour romp which is much more varied and interesting than the previous games. I especially like the fact that the game is a lot brighter and more colourful than previous games. Was getting a little weary of the New York setting.

Despite the many changes in the gaming industry over the years, max payne 3 core gameplay has not changed much, it still uses pain killers and slow motion capture and you still have to shoot hundreds and hundreds of psychos that get more and more violent. So let’s just say Max Payne 3 is Max Payne 2 polished to perfection.  This is not a bad thing by any means. I played Max Payne 3 in 1 sitting, which is something I rarely do. And in that time I was completely engrossed by the game. 

The game is a bit more casual gamer friendly by offering aim assists, such as hard lock and soft lock which helps gamer challenged people lock onto to enemies more easily, this is a very handy assist as the action is unrelenting at times and you need to excel to survive in this game. Lazily pumping shots into your enemies is going to get you flanked and dead in no time. You need head shots, you need to move, you need to bullet dodge and you need to conserve your freaking ammo. The shooting in this game is frenetic, bullets whizz by your head in slow motion tearing through glass, and office furniture and destroying everything in its path leaving a trail of beautiful airborne debris, you react by shooting back, tearing holes into your psycho victims, you’ll watch the bullets tear through their skin and bodies leaving huge gaping holes, and watch their bodies fall and go limp like a sack. Each encounter with a group of enemies ends with a bullet cam showing your bullets kill them in a epic and gruesome cinematic . The violence in this game is grizzly and it’s all the good for it.  The game is very unforgiving at times, compared to previous max payne games, where the AI was a bit predictable and only knew how to rush down. So making use of the new cover mechanic in this game is important. Personally for me though I only used cover when I was literally about to die.

Max Payne’s  weapons are few and don’t give you any significant advantage over using your standard police gun, even high powered weapons like rocket launchers and grenade launchers only debuted for 10 minutes or so on my first single player run. There’s no grenades yet the enemies have them which is a bit frustrating, so if you want to use a grenade you gonna have to shoot it out of an enemies hand and watch them explode.

The melee in this game is a bit of a hit or miss affair, I used it only as a super last resort as 70% of the time you will just get shot in the face. The melee animations are brutal and awesome, but are not easy to pull off.  There lot’s of set piece action events that help spice things up and help max payne not feel like a chore at times.  I however am not a fan of the set pieces that involve quick time events; thankfully they are few and far between.  Their only purpose is to infuriate the gamer; I could not see any other purpose at all. The quick time events are a completely random addition if truth be told.

The Sound and Music in this game is the standout for me. The music is very emotional and relevant to what’s happening in the story. It really knows how to hype you up for next gun battle. The sounds are all highly produced. Gunfire sounds authentic and all manner of sounds help immerse you in this world. The sound of max payne 3 lung’s wheezing after running for a long periods, the sound of a shotgun just missing your head as you bullet dodge, all of these sounds will help immerse you in the game.  

Have not yet played the multiplayer but this game is a must buy for those who still enjoy the single player experience.

Conclusion: Max Payne 3's single player campaign is an engrossing 12 hour romp and well worth the $60 or R700. You need to look past a games flaws and ask yourself, Are you still having really good fun? If the answer is yes then that's all you really need.

Tldr: Personally I don’t really care how long it takes to make a game. I just care if it’s good. And yes playing in the favela when playing max payne with your girlfriend is not such a good idea trust me. Unless you have a very strong relationship.