4/5 ★ – AdamFiddle's review of Max Payne.

Played through this game many times on many platforms, but most recently on its (surprisingly good!) iOS port. Max Payne is a perfect oddity of a game. Gameplay-wise, it’s a bit dated in some aspects, but ultimately still controls very well. The bullet time mechanic makes for a rewarding gameplay loop, and the levels (apart from the dream sequences) are varied, with a nice gradual build in challenge. What really sets it apart in this day and age though is its story. It’s such an audacious mish-mash of genres that it’s a miracle it works as well as it does. It is the following: 1) A revenge action thriller akin to Death Wish or The Punisher 2) A film noir, with a gumshoe inner monologue 3) A comic book with heavily stylised panels and cartoon villains 4) A Hong Kong bullet ballet, heavily indebted to the works of John Woo and the Wachowski Sisters 5) A conspiracy thriller involving military contractors and an illuminati-style organisation All of the above is stuck in a blender and seasoned with numerous references to Norse mythology. Does it all work? In my opinion, not entirely, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I wouldn’t take away any of the ridiculous mobsters we gun down. Or Max’s ridiculous metaphors (“snow fell like ash from post apocalyptic skies” was always a favourite). Or the hokey miming we see traced over in the comic book panels. Or the bizarre incongruence of Max delivering an entirely hopeless diatribe on the futility of revenge before somersaulting through the air while firing a double barrelled shotgun. Or the unhinged pivot in the third act from taking out mobsters to taking on the men in black. In its own fucked up way, it works, and I’m so glad it exists in the way it does. Very interested in how the remake pans out. Hopefully James McCaffrey’s (RIP) original lines can be salvaged for it.