'Max Payne'

Rockstar Games create some great games and are not only famous for their Grand Theft Auto series. If fans want an all out action experience, they can pick up another great game called Max Payne. Originally produced for the PC, it was then ported to consoles. Max Payne could still stand up in quality against some shooters today. The game looks and plays best on the PC, providing your system is powerful enough, but I had just as much fun playing it on the Playstation 2. On the console version the frame rate can lag from time to time though. You play as Max Payne, a police detective who comes home one day to find his wife and new born baby brutally murdered by junkies.

Graphic Content

You actually play this scene in Max Payne's house which has been ransacked. Despite the sensitive nature of the scene, one can not help admire the graphics, which still look pretty good by today's standards. The character models are pretty detailed for the time as well but you will still get the feeling this is an old game. The character models have sharp edges and a polygon look at certain angles. Once you've disposed of the junkies, the game shoots forward 3 years where Max has join the DEA as an undercover officer. He's in pursuit of the people who made a designer drug called Valkyr, this is also the drug the murderers took who killed Max's family.

I fought the law....

The narrative is mainly progressed by a painted graphic novel which comes up on screen with some well acted dialogue. This is unique for the time but by no means detracts from the enjoyment of the game. It gives the game a "film noir" feel and is still an original concept today. I don't think I've seen any other game that has done this. Some sequences use in game models but these are short and sweet, it was a time where animating moving lips was difficult. The game is an "all out" shooter—you're encouraged to go charging in all guns blazing. You can duck behind cover but enemies will press forward, although the artificial intelligence is pretty basic.

Red light spells danger.

You will mainly be shooting gangsters and hoodlums, so don't expect their tactics to be too military efficient. Max, however, can duck behind cover, roll to evade fire, and utilise certain diving techniques. This compliments the easy aiming controls and generally makes the game an enjoyable experience. The game is played from a third person perspective, which allows players to utilise cover effectively and plan their attacks. Max Payne introduced the now popular "bullet time" concept, which many games use today. What this does is slow down time around Max, while the player's cross hair can still move in a relatively quick motion, allowing you to pick off the enemies around you. You are only given a small amount of this which is earned from defeating enemies. While in this mode, Max can also dive forward, backwards, and side to side, allowing for some very cinematic skirmishes.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest.

It is pretty satisfying diving head first into a room full of enemies picking them off one by one in slow motion. Despite the help of bullet time, the game is still challenging, throwing numerous enemies your way. So once you have picked off as many as you can in bullet time, you will still have to pick off the rest in standard motion gameplay. The environment is generally urban; you will find yourself in subways, streets, on rooftops, and in warehouses. My particular favourite level is the nightclub where a gang boss has supposedly lost his mind, dabbling in the occult. The game can be pretty dark at times, each chapter is split by a dream sequence which allows the player to experience the stress Max is under. These are actually levels in the game and typical to cliché dreams, with Max wandering round endless corridors while listening to traumatic screaming in the background. These levels are more puzzle based and it is a nice variation to the standard gameplay of shooting everybody in sight. Max the character is likable and well voiced by actor James McCaffrey. The story of the game also makes you feel a lot of empathy for him as you watch him literally go "through the mill."

Other characters are also well voiced and at times I felt sorry to see them go as Max literally shoots everybody in sight. Some of my favourites were gangsters like the Finito Brothers and Candy the prostitute. Their appearance and untimely death adds to the novelty of the game, as Max Payne is not a game about happy endings.

Now and again, you will encounter a puzzle within the game but these are pretty straight forward, from clicking a number of buttons in a certain sequence to using an unusual method to access the next area. The game is played at a fast pace and these puzzles will not slow you down for long placing you straight back in the action. The game was also produced with the help of 3D Realms, who were paramount to producing the Duke Nukem games. Their touch does not go unnoticed as similar to the Duke Nukem games, as Max can interact with his environment. This is as basic as pushing a vending machine button for a can of Cola to breaking a box to find ammunition inside. You will also hear comedic television segments as you move through the environment and see distinct advertising. This makes the game feel like a living breathing world adding to the experience. The game isn't a "sandbox" environment, but this is not a negative thing, as it has been made in a way which will make you want to go back and play it again. There are higher difficulty settings and a special "New York Minute Mode" which has you defeat enemies by the clock. If you are a fan of Rockstar games, I would pick this up. I bought a Playstation 2 copy for a £1 and I really enjoyed playing it. If you have a powerful enough PC, buy a computer version as it looks so much better but an excellent game and really cheap at the moment.

Overall I give this 3 out of 5.