WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Dear Livejournal,
Today I – oh wait, um, man. How embarrassing. I guess I’m kind of new to this wordpress thing.
Instead of talking about my day (alright) or my dating life (non-existent) or my emotions (what?), maybe I’ll just jump into the whole reason I started this blog. Maybe it’s time to talk about some video games (or music, or movies, but mostly just video games for now).
I’m going to preface the this post by saying that I think Max Payne 3 is a magnificent game, and the things I’m about to say below this paragraph may seem negative at times, but that’s only because I’m kind of an asshole and I’ve been letting these thoughts ruminate since I finished the game a few days ago. Also, I’m aware that the game came out three or so weeks ago for Xbox 360 and PS3, but I’m more of a PC guy myself. Even so, this is a little late.
From the very first screen you see once booting the game up, it’s apparent that the third installment in the Max Payne series is probably going to be a very different experience. Having been developed by Rockstar Studios rather than Remedy, it’s easy to imagine the changes that a studio as big as Rockstar might make to a franchise of games which have previously been dark and brooding, albeit silly and irreverent. For the most part, Rockstar has done a great job in adapting the brooding and darker aspects of Max Payne’s world, but that silliness has gone the wayside along with much of what made the first two games so damn fun.
Don’t get me wrong, Max Payne 3 can still be a very fun game. There’s still nothing quite like entering a room full of thugs, shoot-dodging down a flight of stairs or across a table, and taking them all down before you hit the ground. The problem is that this is rarely a viable way to go about playing the game. With a new cover mechanic and a much more fragile Payne, the Bullet-time and shoot-dodging doesn’t feel as integral to the experience as it has in previous games. In fact, most of the time it’s actually more of a hindrance thanks to the (admittedly awesome) animation work that Rockstar has done. Whenever Max hits the ground after shoot-dodging, it can take him several seconds to stand up and get to cover. On the harder difficulties, where it can take one or two shots to put Max down, you’ll be looking at the game over screen more likely than not. Generally, I found shoot-dodging to be a more effective tool at getting from cover to cover while also taking some bad dudes out, and bullet-time is really only useful if you’re being completely swarmed with enemies and need to thin out their ranks. Even so, expect to take damage in bullet-time if you’re not being fairly careful. Still, Max Payne 3’s particular brand of slow-motion craziness still feels as fresh and unique as it ever has, even with the myriad clones that have followed since the first game’s release in 2001.
Rockstar has to be commended for the shooting and, as previously stated, animation work that they have put into this game. All of the game’s systems feel fine-tuned and exceptionally well-crafted, from the physics to the AI to the sheer beauty of the graphics engine. Euphoria is in full effect here, with enemies reacting dynamically to every bullet (all of which are rendered in full time), whether you hit the mark or the cover he’s hiding behind. The AI is smart enough to know when to flank, and shotgunners will occasionally even rush you, creating some oddly terrifying and frantic moments. You don’t really need me to tell you this, though, as Rockstar have done a fine job in creating a series of videos that highlight the systems in place which can often make Max Payne 3 a very memorable game.
You’ll be seeing this screen quite a bit.
And now, to the meat of the game — which by that I mean the story, of course. If you’ve been following the series over the course of the last decade, you know that Max Payne’s life is seriously fucked up. He’s lost his wife, his baby, his kind-of-lover-assassin-woman, and pretty much all of his friends. The only friend remaining, in fact, is a new character introduced in this game named Raul Passos. There’s a sort of bromance going on there, but it never feels too convincing. Maybe that’s the fault of Max Payne himself, who spends most of the first half of the game buried at the bottom of a glass of whiskey or scotch (that’s how you know he’s a real man). It’s pretty depressing to see a character who has historically been determined and angry and awesome turn in to a tired, sad pastiche of his former self. Keep in mind, though, that I’m not bashing on this fact. I actually enjoyed seeing Max take on the challenge of alcoholism and regret, and the overcoming of these vices is nearly cathartic.
On a related note, much hulabloo has been made over Max shaving his head, with the internet aflame over the idea of a beloved, iconic hero turning into just another bald, generic player-character. The actual action of head-shaving, however goofy and dumb as it may sound, is actually presented in a neat story moment that relates directly to Max’s development as a character. It’s actually great to see Rockstar tackling this character in such a serious manner and in a way that Remedy probably never would have. Seeing Max grow as a person is oddly gratifying, especially so once you realize that he is a video game character. A lot people made a huge deal out of Max shaving his head just as many YouTube responses were furiously typed in response to Mass Effect 3’s ending, but it’s actually kind of awesome that people care this much about video game characters and stories in 2012.
If I had to pinpoint one issue I have with the story, it’s with Max’s inner-monolguing. In the past, the monologues have been more-or-less amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to quote a video game off of the top of my head, save for Max Payne 2’s “The genius of the hole” excerpt. That particular bit of monologue, given almost as a throw-away line at the end of one of the chapters, has stuck with me for one reason or another. In Max Payne 3, there are plenty of good bits of monologue to quote from, and a few have stuck with me, at least for the short amount of time that I’ve finished the single player campaign. The problem I have with this crucial bit of Max Payne quirkiness is the fact that the tone of this game doesn’t always fit with whatever Max Payne might be spouting off about at any given moment. Rockstar has gone a darker route with Max Payne 3, and the game is mostly devoid of humor. Payne has a couple of lines that lighten the tension that coils around the entirety of almost every single cutscene (seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever played a video game where my stomach was knotted for the complete 10 hour experience), but these one-liners aren’t quite enough. This game goes to some very dark places, particularly in terms of who Max Payne is as a character, and it occasionally feels more like a burden to be dragged into Max’s unique corner of Hell rather than an interesting exercise in character development.
Granted, the previous two games have had their own terrible moments, from the death of Max’s family to the death of everyone else he knew, but these moments were always juxtaposed with TV’s that constantly played quirky Twin Peaks homages, or gangsters who said stupid stuff and then blew themselves up. Here, there’s maybe one or two moments of comedic relief in the entire game, and the rest of it is Max moping about, monologuing about how he’s responsible for every terrible thing that has happened to him, or how full of regret he is, or etc. etc. etc. I fully understand that in order to have that revelation, that catharsis that becomes so important to the progression of the plot and the development of Max Payne as a serious video game character, there needs to be that regret, that pain and sadness. But at the same time, I occasionally just wanted Max to shut up. It’s all well and awful to be depressed, but I don’t always want to hear about it, and being forced to sit there and take it because of a story-telling mechanic that goes on for about 4 to 5 hours is a little much. I’d make a joke about how Rockstar should have called it Mopey Payne 3, but I don’t go for easy laughs (whoops).
All of THAT being said, I did enjoy the story of Max Payne 3 and Max’s progression as a character. The writers of Max Payne 3 have taken bold steps to humanize Max, a feat that isn’t easy given the overall superhuman nature of the games’ core mechanics. There are moments in the story where Max reacts to situations in which a (bald) generic player-character might spout off a one-liner that I’m sure someone somewhere probably finds badass (“Eat lead, scumbag!”) in a way that’s genuinely human. He even apologizes for killing a mafia boss’s dirtbag gangster son, albeit while digging his own grave in one of the games 3 or 4 flashback chapters.
On the whole, however, the game earns it’s comparisons to Man on Fire in a positive way. It’s very frenetic and fast paced, and it has that unique quality that you might associate with a good suspense-thriller or horror novel in that you just want to keep going, even though you know things are probably going to turn ugly at any moment. It’s tense and addictive in a way that not a lot of video game stories are, and I applaud the writing team for spinning a story that isn’t inherently unique into something refreshing and interesting.
The game ships with a multiplayer mode that offers a fun distraction, though not much else.
Lastly, the game ships with a multiplayer mode that surprisingly offers a little longevity once you’ve completed single-player. It’s fast and fun, with the requisite upgrade system that offers an addictive component which now seems standard in online shooters. Bullet-time is handled uniquely in this mode — anyone with line of sight to a person engaged in bullet-time will automatically go into bullet-time as well, and there’s nothing quite like the experience of shoot-dodging at an opponent who also shoot-dodges in your direction, both of you engaged in a slow-motion ballet of bullets and swear words as the in-game timer nears zero. It’s hard to imagine that the servers might still be as populated as they are right now in a few months, but multiplayer still offers a fascinating take on the core gameplay mechanics found in the single-player game. Who knows, maybe that’s enough to give this game the legs it needs to stay in the public consciousness longer than anyone might have expected.
I have to admit, going in to Max Payne 3, I had numerous doubts. While some of them were founded, I’d be remiss if I said that Rockstar hasn’t crafted a damn fine game, and one that occasionally lives up to the expectations set before it while simultaneously providing an engaging plot and often interesting character development. Oh, and the gameplay isn’t half bad, too. I highly recommend you pick up a copy and explore the dark and exciting world that Rockstar has crafted with Max Payne 3.
Robo-Suplex 