When its Matrix-inspired action moments give the player a slow-motion ballet of bullets and bad guy collisions, it can be exceptionally thrilling. All of this slickness, however, can't distract from how the game stands at odds with its own presentation. It's an impressively produced package, make no mistake, and it's sure to wow most shooter fans.
This time, however, Rockstar has upped the ante and given the game its de rigueur treatment: the still-thrilling mechanics are all wrapped up in a heavily cinematic skin of wall-to-wall cut-scenes, narration, and enough adult content to choke Disneyland. Players take control of the titular anti-hero as he drinks, shoots, waxes poetic, drinks, goes into Bullet Time (copyright), drinks, does a Shootdodge (trademark ), waxes poetic again, and drinks some more.
She's got great new graphics and kill-cams! She's got more guns! She's got hot new multiplayer! In the end, though, all of that centerfold's makeup and all that Photoshopping can't really hide that the fact that she seems,… well… dead inside.Īnyone who's played a Max Payne should know that Max Payne 3 is still Max Payne. Rockstar is, of course, no stranger to lavishly-produced products, and they've done this resurrected Max Payne up so purty, she's looking like a centerfold. So, what's one of the world's most high-profile developers to do when in this mad-scientist kind of situation? Why, they take that new iteration and produce the sh*t out of it, that's what. Since it's been that long since the release of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, the fact that Rockstar Games has brought back the series gives rise to thoughts of bringing back the dead. In this constantly changing Video Game World of Newness, 2003 can seem like a century ago. LOW Anyone else tired of morally mucked-up shooter heroes?
HIGH A slow-motion, high-caliber rifle round breaching an enemy's skull is terrifyingly beautiful.