Max Payne 3 Review

Overview:
Its been a good while since we've seen Max Payne hit consoles, now he's back in the 3rd installment of the series. Rockstar has been hyping this game since day one, does this game live up to the hype? In a word: Yes.

Story:
Max Payne 3 starts off with Max finally starting to let go of the past that has haunted him for so long, granted replaced with a lot of booze and painkillers. He takes on an seemingly easy job of playing bodyguard for some of Rich and Famous types, letting them party and keeping the low lifes away, that sort of thing. It seems like an easy gig, until the party is crashed by a group of thugs who kidnap one of the girls he's protecting and try to take off with her. He soon finds himself in more than he signed up for, a LOT more.

Gameplay:
The folks at Rockstar really put a lot of time and effort into the gameplay for Max Payne 3, and it shows. The HUD should be a familiar sight for fans of the series and the iconic Bullet Time makes its awaited return, Max can slow down time to line up a shot or dive in any direction and still be able to fire off shots at his foes. Another feature added is the Kill Cam, this allows an almost movie like slow down of the last kill of the group, slowing down the bullet fired from Max's gun into his target. This can be turned off at any time if it gets to be a bother. Another new feature is the Last Man Standing feature, during combat if Max should take a lethal shot while he has at least one dose of Painkillers left, he is given time to attack the person that dealt the blow, if the player kills that foe then the game goes on and the dose is automatically used, keeping Max in the fight, though sometimes Max's movements will work against this. [ie: if the person who dealt the lethal blow is behind Max he might not be able to turn around in time even if the cross hairs are on target.] The game isn't going to go easy on the players but at the same time it will ease up if the player dies at the same spot over and over by giving them more painkillers after death.

Graphics:
This is another point Rockstar hyped up was the high end graphics and animations. This really shines as the game goes on, from the blurred screen if the player takes too many painkillers in a given time to the way Max moves and fires his gun. Even damage Max has taken during the game, story wise, will still show up on his character. Perfect example is during one mission Max is shot in the arm by a sniper and later in the game you can still see the healed up hole in his arm, it shows a great attention to detail on Rockstar's part. It even reacts different if Max is carrying a shotgun and a one handed gun as Max's animations will differ depending on the weapons he's carrying, how he is standing when using said weapons and so on. The detail to even the smallest bullet is unreal. Although the flashing lights during gameplay and cut scenes may cause problems to some people.

Final Words:
Max Payne 3 is well worth the hype its been given and is sure to be a top contender for this years Game of the Year, even with some controller flaws holding it back from being perfect, it doesn't ruin the game overall.