96

More than worth the wait

theevilmuppet | Feb. 16, 2013 | See all theevilmuppet's reviews »

After many years since the excellent Max Payne 2, Max Payne 3 does not disappoint.

An excellent storyline stays true to the grity nature of the series and develops the character of Max more than any previous game. Rockstar have treated this game with a great deal of care in every aspect and are to be applauded.

The typical console port syndrome for triple-A titles is not at all present here, with excellent PC-specific enhancements throughout. It is possible to configure this game to push whatever gaming rig you have built for yourself - an event all too rare.

The soundtrack is also excellent, matching the setting of each stage extremely well whilst also being well worth listening to away from the game.

The only gripe I can point out is the fact that the cutscenes on the PC version are not in-engine, instead being played back from prerendered video whilst game assets are loading. These cutscenes are critical to the progression of the story and are enjoyable but do add significantly to the download size (35 GB).

Highly recommended.

76

Sometimes incredible, othertimes long and tedious.

actionjohnson | Feb. 14, 2013 | See all actionjohnson's reviews »

Max Payne 3 is a good game, which is weird to say because half the game includes some of the best action you can find. It's the other half that weighs the game down, it's never bad per se, but when you got from diving through a dub step laden night club as shooting from helicopters to walking through streets shooting for an hour it can be a very uneven experience. The shooting mechanics are a bit odd too, the game makes any gun feel powerful, even popping a guy in the head with one bullet from an automatic will kill him, as it should. However everywhere else on the body gets really confusing as to what will kill someone or what will let them just keep getting back up. As far as I can tell body shots do medium amounts of damage, they'll survive more than they realistically should often times but it still works, but anything below the torso is totally ineffectual. I encountered a guy who I had knocked to the ground, only the lower half of his body was out of cover so I kept shooting him there, I used almost my entire clip of ammo before I just ran up and shot him in the head to kill him. The bullet time segments in the game are completely awesome though, this is the first game I've encountered that puts an actual bullet wound wherever on the head you shoot. It's visceral and it's awesome. Like I said, Max Payne 3 is a good game, it's just weirdly uneven at times with both it's shooting and it's experience.

91

Highly Enjoyable Game

jaded86 | Feb. 14, 2013 | See all jaded86's reviews »

If you enjoyed Max Payne 1 & 2, this is a must buy for you. It has all the elements that made those games awesome and adds little changes to make this very fun. The new setting is perfect, it has diversity and high sense of realism, and the flashback sequences that take you back to New York, where you can discover Max's history, add a cool nostalgia effect to the game. Finally this game incorporates a thing you wanted for the other two games, a multiplayer where you can finally shoot your friends in slowmotion, needless to say it's a superfun experience. Great history, pretty graphics, perfect setting, polish and awesome gameplay make this highly enjoyable.