Classics: Max Payne (2001)
Hard rain is falling all over the city veiled in darkness, while Michael Madsen narrates his dark thoughts in new film noir where he kills a lot of bad guys...
No, this is even darker then Madsen, this guy is pain in the butt for bad guys, he's Max Payne...
Notice great level of details - game had set new markers on expectations scale... Just like horror-adventure Nocturne two years earlier... While Take Two is preparing Max Payne 3 in deep secret labs somewhere underground, and while some websites telling us that game is canceled and never to be (2009/2010) I think we could take our time to remember the legend - first game in series, one that made you cry if you did not have 400Mhz processor at the time it went gold. Well, now it's cheaper in retail stores, and it looks fine on wide screen monitors (yes, Max does look somewhat wider, but that's because he's a tough guy). Also, because of great engine, level of details is still acceptable, and with all settings on maximum, game looks better then some of those coming in to the world just this month.
You meet our protagonist for the first time in a closed subway station - classical set-up, but hey... someone got to do it...Max Payne is a third-person shooter video game developed by the Finnish company Remedy Entertainment, produced by 3D Realms and published by Gathering of Developers in July, 2001. The games' stylish cinematography and choreography is combined with heavy film noir, pulp noir, and pulp fiction influences in characters and dialogue. Rather than employing rendered or digitized cinematic movies for cut scenes, the story is told instead with "graphic novels" which are similar to comics and pulp fiction. Accordingly, Max Payne is rife with artistically orchestrated, often strangely graceful gun play. The game is dark and noir-style, following Max Payne, a troubled cop with internal and external conflicts in a dark, sinister New York City.
While under influence of drugs, Max has nightmares where player need to guide him trough labyrinths of psychological horrors...The prime emphasis of the series is on shooting. Almost all of the gameplay involves utilizing bullet-time to gun down foe after foe. Levels are generally straightforward, with almost no key-hunting. However, some levels do incorporate platforming elements and puzzle solving. Ammo is in virtually constant supply, as all enemies drop some ammo when killed.
When you think you've got the big boss, you realise the game is yet to start... Oh, ok, kill 'em all...The game's A.I. is heavily dependent on pre-scripted commands. Most of the apparently intelligent behavior exhibited by enemies, such as taking cover behind obstacles, retreating from the player, or throwing grenades, is pre-scripted. Thus, when replaying a level, enemies perform exactly the same behaviors each time.
The story is told with graphic novels, dark, but humorous on the moments...Game has it's own style of dark humor, which is mix of noir film influences and tributes to kung-fu moves, the matrix movie, real life tv series, but also graphic novels and computer games. Story has support in Norse mythology, with some of characters, places and books named by characters and terms from myths. Also, apocalyptic snow falling over the city contains reference to Ragnarok, which appears in form of - night club :)
Dead enemy falling down in slow motion...While nearing the end, game becomes much harder, with a lot of enemies coming from all sides, but that is nothing comparing to modes that you unlock once you actually finish the game for the first time...
Is it going to fall?So, what is left to be said in the end? Great game, with great story, graphics, music, small details that make everything interesting, a lot of fun... If you played it back in 2001, go to your game shelf and try it once again, fun is guaranteed, and if you missed it, don't be lazy, go to nearest shop and try one of the classics!
