Multiplat Max Payne 3

[Cruyff14]

Yeah the AI is awesome, very smart.

Have not had any issues myself in regards to audio/video.

 

[exe ex machina]

Was up all night playing. Hadn't played ps3 for about 4-6 months if not longer, so went nuts.

I focused on multi-player most of the night, but eventually got to about chapter 5 or 6 of the single-player before I crashed.

My review (so far) of MP3 is that it's a little underwhelming, but at the same time enjoyable due to being a belated Max Payne on next-gen...

--The effect where the screen shakes causing blurred characters, and the effect where selected words or phrases from the dialogue flash across the screen....both are very annoying occurring every two seconds. Should've been done more sporadically for more film noir effect from a stylistic/flashback pov, as well as from an epileptic-inducing pov. Happening so constantly is stupid story-telling-wise because you no longer get jerked into a flashback moment, get jerked from reality to your haunted mindscape, like MP1/2 did. It's like they didn't think about those effects and how to best use them, just wanting to over-do it to show off those effects. Stylization without purpose.

--Multi-player functionality, the size of the characters, the too tiny cross hairs, the jerkiness of aiming, etc, so harsh on the eyes, brain, makes it a little too frustrating to be enjoyable. Uncharted's multi-player in these technical facets is far superior. But I do like the range of multi-player game-play modes, and the customization of weaponry is deep enough to satisfy without being over-complicated and over-customizable like FPS war-centric games have to be.

--The story lacks a lot of creativity/imagination plot-wise, just throwing you into run-and-gun moments at every moment to flog the bullet-time/dodge feature. The game doesn't give you that feeling of MP1/2 where you became Max Payne vicariously....so alone with your haunted thoughts as you walked around, the action balanced well between trying to find a way out of nightmare/flashback scenes (puzzles), and shooting your way out of sticky situations (gun-play). The dialogue is a bit bland, with everyone wise-cracking, guffawing, and whining, like a lot of shooting games where the characters are hardened jocular GI types. Max's dialogue should be a little more cerebral and fragile, unsure of himself and the world around him.

--The PS2's limited tech allowed MP1/2 to be creative, using the comic strip for story development. With the power of PS3 they couldn't justify using that anymore, and the natural evolution of that story-telling on next-gen, as we see on every game, is done thru cinematic cut-scenes. Uncharted's cut-scenes are superior to MP3's, but i do think Rockstar did a great job of converting the comic strip to the cinematic cut scene and retaining the film noir aspect. It's just as said above, the scripting doesn't make those cinematic cut-scenes pop out.

--The AI, as everyone has mentioned is brilliant. It's clear from a tactical standpoint that it's better to run-and-gun and bullet-time as much as possible. There are many sections of the game (so far thru 6 chapters) where if you try to think your way thru it, taking cover to take out a couple of enemies, then moving your cover to take out the next wave etc, that you get mobbed by dozens more enemies appearing. Whereas if you tackle those situations by just getting out in the open and blazing away with bullet-time/dodge engaged you clear thru that impasse much quicker. Then there are moments when you really do have to tactically take apart the waves of enemies using cover. Knowing which approach to take is fun as you "retry" a failed attempt. Again, the cross-hairs and jerkiness makes it more arduous/aggravating.

--The Final Kill Camera and the real-time physics involved are excellent. It's cool seeing the randomness of the fatal bullet in final kill camera, or the physics involved like the momentum of a dead body tumbling forever down the stadium steps, or how an enemy running from left to right their momentum still moving to the right but getting blasted backwards at the same time that sends them over a railing or whatever.

 

[Aus12]

Finished the story this afternoon, I would happily make a BigFooty Crew.

EDIT: I think each person is limited to creating one crew, so I might not be able to make it.

 

[HBK619]

Was up all night playing. Hadn't played ps3 for about 4-6 months if not longer, so went nuts.

I focused on multi-player most of the night, but eventually got to about chapter 5 or 6 of the single-player before I crashed.

My review (so far) of MP3 is that it's a little underwhelming, but at the same time enjoyable due to being a belated Max Payne on next-gen...

Agree with most of your post. I won't quote it all so it takes up more of the page.

But I agree with your comparisons to Uncharted and Uncharted doing those aspects just that bit better. It's not by much, but there's just slight elements where Uncharted keeps coming out on top. The animations are very similar too, there's slight awkwardness with Max at times with his movements and animations that just aren't there with Drake and Uncharted (probably the most noticeable one for me is the walking back to turning front on, where Drake in Uncharted does a little skip around Max just awkwardly flips to turning front on most of the time). Although I do love the gun animations and him holding the bigger gun in one hand, same with putting it under his arm when reloading a gun too. For the most part the animations are top notch.

The visual effects on the cutscenes were REALLY overdone in the first chapter. I think there's almost no doubt in that. But having played through 2 of the acts (and a bit into the 3rd and final Act), they've toned it down considerably to the point where it's only used as a visual aid to the situation now (when Max isn't feeling well, etc.). The only thing I'd like a little more is for them to take the loading in and out of the campaign comic strip looks and put them into the game where applicable.

In terms of the aiming. I found turning the sensitivity down a notch helped a fair bit. Much less jerky and loose. But your choice.

Have to disagree with the lack of imagination and creativity though. While there's some shoehorning of action. I think for the most part it's very well created and thought out with most situation's having a reason for a bunch of enemies to be there. Although, for the first few chapters, it can seem a bit that way. It's very action focussed, with very little slower moments.

So I can understand where that thought is coming from. I think Rockstar are really coming into their own in terms of the game as a whole in the latter parts of Act 1 and through Act 2. Dialogue improved, story as a whole improved, action improved too (apart from the one section that I mentioned in an earlier post).

 

[Lance Uppercut]

oh god I want this so bad

 

[Premiers04]

Enjoying multiplayer, so much so that im not going into too much depth on here as it'll take up my MP time

Just wish more people were on though, easy enough to find games but its all yank lobbies so far, some have had a bit of a host advantage against me but overall it runs smoother than other games in foreign lobbies *cough* MW3 *cough*

 

[Cruyff14]

Up to chapter 8.

Not sure how much I liked Brazil, it was okay, very colourful, but eh, I don't know.

 

[exe ex machina]

Im just in the thick of Brazil, post-strip club now.

 

[Cruyff14]

Did that just before, some bits of it are challenging.

There's a great hanging scene.

 

[exe ex machina]

The thing I like about Brazil is that for the most part it isn't like 1,000 enemies at once like the previous chapters. You get a number of enemies placed in challenging places and hard to spot people due to environment.

 

[Cruyff14]

Yeah, there were some shifty bastards hiding.

 

[HBK619]

Onto the last chapter now and that's where I've left it for the night.

The last few chapters have been outstanding. Real true Max Payne combat and scenario's, plus environments.

Also, earlier I stupidly said I had only played this one retail game for 2012. That was wrong, I have also played The Darkness 2. Which after finishing up that I quite easily put in my top 10 games played this gen.

So now it's going to be an even harder choice as Max has definitely done a lot of things that I like and it's been a very enjoyable 10 or so hours so far. But The Darkness 2 brought a Max Payne (1 & 2) like vibe while continuing on magnificently from The Darkness 1 in upping the stakes of gameplay and story telling.

Tough choices to be made. Might have 1 chapter + MP to decide what is in front at this stage.

 

[Cruyff14]

How many chapters are there?

 

[HBK619]

How many chapters are there?

There's 14 chapters.

 

[Ant_]

Never played the originals, is it worth d/l off live first? Or can third be played as a stand alone game?

 

[HBK619]

Never played the originals, is it worth d/l off live first? Or can third be played as a stand alone game?

It's been mentioned a little earlier. But this one can definitely be played more as a stand alone.

The first 2 are still brilliant games and stories in their own right, but obviously are a little old so won't feel that great. But those 2 games really only need to be played if you want true back story on Max to find out why he is like he is in this game.

Otherwise, there's no real continuing story threads.

If you can and have the time to play them, get the first 2, but they aren't necessary.

 

[Mancey]

Haven't played 3 yet, but like any game it could be played stand alone.

Like ME the original game was amazing at the time, but there is stuff now that would annoy the piss out of you.

MP2 is worth playing regardless, great story and gameplay

Have they laid off the dream sequence bits for MP3?

 

[Ant_]

Thanks...now just need time to turn my xbox on.

 

[HBK619]

Haven't played 3 yet, but like any game it could be played stand alone.

Like ME the original game was amazing at the time, but there is stuff now that would annoy the piss out of you.

MP2 is worth playing regardless, great story and gameplay

Have they laid off the dream sequence bits for MP3?

Your first statement is fairly relative tbh. If you went straight from MP2 and overlooked 1 then you'd really be missing out on a fair chunk of what made that game great.

Sure you'd get a good experience, but it wouldn't be the full experience and could easily turn the game from potentially great to only good because you've missed out on those touches in the story that really add on.

And really, 2 is very referential and reliant on knowing the stuff from 1. 3 isn't, apart from maybe 10% of the game (generous).

There's no dream sequences in MP3.

 

[exe ex machina]

The story/scripting in MP3 has gotten a lot better as the chapters have worn on, so I do temper or change my review on that. The dialogue and Max's narration has gotten better.

For those asking about MP1/2 and MP3 as a stand-alone...I think it's worth getting 1 and 2 because they are masterpieces in story-telling, plus those nightmare sequences are still some of the best all-time in gaming. Have to play it to understand why it's so great.

As for MP3, it can be played stand-alone as a game per se, but there's so much back-story from MP1/2 filtered thru into MP3 obviously to keep it consistent with Max Payne franchise, the character himself, that one should play the first two. There are no nightmare sequences in MP3 but the game constantly flashes back and forward in time between older Max in Brazil and younger Max in the aftermath of 1 and 2, where both past and present are playable. Just running around killing people, no nightmare-scapes to try to get thru.

I wonder what the body count is in MP3, has to be astronomical. So much killing. I even found an extra kill. In the game, behind a locked steel gate, in chapter 8/9 when you start fighting the '55' troopers, there was a Brazilian civilian molded into the brick (a bug), alive, but just molded there with a head and two arms showing, I put my cross-hair over him, it turned red meaning a live kill to be had to add onto the million previous kills.

 

[Cruyff14]

I really like the NYC scenes.

 

[Mancey]

Agree that there is a big connection between 1 and 2 story wise, but the original MP is super old school now. It would be pretty tough to play today, with max clipping through walls etc.

2 is at least slightly more modern. That said I had a crack at it a couple of months back when I fired up the black and green beauty out in the man cave. Look, it really hasn't aged too well either tho i did enjoy it. Story is still good

"She came for me through the fire...."

For those asking about MP1/2 and MP3 as a stand-alone...I think it's worth getting 1 and 2 because they are masterpieces in story-telling, plus those nightmare sequences are still some of the best all-time in gaming. Have to play it to understand why it's so great.

Given dream sequences are usually horrible that probably isn't too far from the truth, not saying much tho. Look I'm as big a fan as anyone of the MP series, and fair enough some of the dreams were pretty sweet for their creepiness....but that follow the red line bullshit was one of the worst ideas in gaming eva...of all time! Completely irrelevant to the game and story and just frustrating.

When the running in slow mo dream sequence popped up in Mass Effect 3 I was like "not this shit again!"

 

[exe ex machina]

Fair enough people and their preferences. I just really dig that kind of shit. The corridor all warping, etc. Liked that red line in the dark with the haunting baby crying in the background. All that stuff can be "relevant" as max in his mind, its a nightmare, they're not meant to make sense like when we have dreams and nightmares, all kinds of crazy shit goes on in them that somehow relates to us or what we're worrying about.

 

[Kcrack]

Really need to play this bad boy already. I have a bad habit of buying games and not playing them for weeks..Max Payne, Bayonetta, SFxT and 3D Dot Game Heroes sitll haven't been touched. >_>

 

[SuperCats9]

So close to getting this game, but just not sure if i should, never played MP 1&2 so i don't know if i'll enjoy MP3. From what i've seen though, graphics look superb and so does the storytelling, 50/50 on this one.