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

The best two words I can use to describe Max Payne is timeless classic. The game’s one of the true innovator in the single player shooter genre. Sam Lake’s crime-noir- mystery third person game has you taking the role of “nothing left to lose” cop Max Payne, as you uncover more of the undercover crime world’s mysteries and secrets. Max over the course of the game will notice that the connection to the murder of his family is connected with what’s going on in the criminal underworld. The story is gritty, dark, and Max as a character is complex for a shooter character. Typically shooter characters at the time were simple, one dimensional. Take OG Doom Guy, or Duke Nukem for example. Max was different, he was layered, complex, and emotional. While at times it seems that Max was morally compromised in the sense that he would partner up with whoever to reach his goals, it makes sense for the character. The actual dialogue and monologue’s of the game are also incredibly cheesy. That’s the thing with Max Payne: you have to be open to the cheese. So many quotable lines, scenes, and interactions comes from how cheesy and over the top Max and the characters can get. Ultimately, all of this serves to make the world of Max Payne feel alive. The gameplay of this game is where it truly shines. Max Payne’s main gimmick that make it stand out from other third person shooters is the bullet time mechanic. During any combat situation you can go into slow mo as Max, this leads to insane and unique gun fights where you can line up your shots as Max, while also avoiding gunfire. This mechanic was the main selling point behind Max Payne, as the game came out 2 years after the first Matrix movie, which popularized the whole slow down time and dodge bullets thing. So it was no surprise that people were going insane over this mechanic, and especially since Max Payne did it so well. Truly I have not seen a mechanic like this done to this good of an execution in any third or first person game. The actual encounter layout, and enemy patterns for the game is okay. This game is old, so it’s no surprise that there are encounters in this game that are fucked up; enemies hidden around corners, a platoon of goons that don’t push Max but hide together, or traps aimed to one shot you if you don’t know it or have lighting quick reflexes. A lot of this game is knowledge checks, but luckily (as long as you’re playing the pc version) there are quick-saves and quick loads. Max Payne 1 and 2 specifically will teach you to abuse this feature, as there is no dedicated check point system (on the pc version). With this quick save system honestly the game does not become too difficult, just a matter of trial and error till you pass the encounter. The game’s level layout honestly is good for the most part. Most of the levels take place hotel/apartment buildings. With enough linear parts for tight maneuvering and cheeky enemy placement, and big areas for epic shootouts. My only issue really is that there are specific parkour levels. These levels imo are horrible, I understand what they server narratively, and it’s a nice break from the shooting. But why is the platforming so bad in this game? In these sections it feels like Max is jumping on a fucking tight rope, while also being on 5 shots of vodka. Luckily these sections last maybe 10 minutes, and it’s not that long. Besides that my only other gripe with this game is the final section’s puzzle being not so clear on what to do, making you make an inference based on a sound que. Also and this is just a thing with the Steam release, it’s horribly horribly optimized. You NEED to download the fixit patch, which gives you better texture, better resolutions, fixed sounds and voice lines, and in some cases makes the game actually runable on your pc. If you contextualize Max Payne 1 in its period you can call it one if not the most influential shooter of the 2000s. It introduced a character full of substances, and one of the most sauciest mechanics in all of gaming, while also not looking half bad. For the budget Remedy got to work on this game it’s amazing that it’s as good as it is. I can see truly why this game gets so many 9s and 10s. However, just because of the time period and influence does not mean I also can give it a 9 or a 10. For me it’s an 8/10. It is fantastic at what it does, but is dated on some segments, and truly at times is carried by the novelty and charm of playing Max Payne. But that doesn’t mean that this is a bad game by all means. Max Payne stick to this day delivers one of the best shooter campaigns I have played.