izigame.me

“Anyone can make what I have built
And better now
Anyone can find the same white pills
It takes my pain away” 🎶
~Jimmy Eat World, Pain

“OMG, that's not Max Payne! #NotMyMax” Remember such topics from back in 2012? It was pretty fun. Surprisingly, though, quite a lot of people (yours truly included) kinda... didn't even feel like playing this game back then. And not because they were triggered or something like that, but because... you know. I mean, look at the screenshots. Another random bald guy shooting some generic gangsters. In Brazil. There's literally nothing that screams “Play me right now!!!” in that. Especially since we already had one popular series that went down the drain since the moment the main character shaved his head (hello, Sam...). Even though I bought Max Payne 3 ages ago, I was like “meh...”. A lot of people I know felt the same. And that's the funniest (saddest?) thing about this game. See, Max Payne 3? It was supposed to be a shiny big present to the old-school fans.
I'm not kidding. Since it's a famous series we're talking about, I took things seriously and before starting with this one, I dusted off my old PS 2 (in my region Steam offers only crappy local releases with terrible dub and I always loved rumble feature in console versions, so...) and re-played the first two games from the beginning till the end. And you know what? After I've started with Max Payne 3? It felt exactly like that. Like Max f*cking Payne. 3. And I totally didn't expect that. I mean, this game? Not only it's a great nod to the originals, it's also surprisingly old-school. Orthodox even. Up to the point where modern kids may dislike it. Everything from the originals was copied as is. Everything. For both good and bad.
I mean, OK. I can't call myself a die-hard fan of Max Payne series. And yet, I remember just how satisfying the narration and bullet time feature felt. I always had a very special place in my heart for Film Noir and since the first Max Payne game came out only two years after The Matrix... Let's just say I've ended up played it quite a lot. I mean, come on! There was that dude who did Neo thing (even though technically, Remedy Entertainment came up with the idea before the Wachowskis's movie came out, it was hard not to compare)! How cool is that?! Naturally, it felt great to discover that my old skills still work in Max Payne 3. You played the previous games a lot? You'll feel right at home mere. Sure, Rockstar (who owns the series now) added quite a lot of modern stuff (QTE, car chases, "let's just walk and do nothing" parts, etc), but the core mechanics? It's pure Max Payne.
The problem is – aside from bullet time, familiar weapons and “press the button to start the train” stuff (I'm not kidding, they've literally copied Roscoe Street Station part from the main game), they've also copied things like corridor levels, confusing design which wants you to guess which door can be opened and which one can't, and, of course, cheap deaths. The only thing that was abandoned is falling. Remember those nasty parts, in which it was too easy to fall? Like nightmare level from the first game or plank walking from the second? You won't find anything like that here. Thanks goodness... But aside from that? It's the same exact thing. You walk through corridor-like levels, you use bullet time and you eat painkillers like there's no tomorrow. Because yes, you still heal manually here.
In a way, what Rockstar did here is a lot like what Jar Jar Abrams did in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They were so afraid to break Remedy's old formula that they literally refused to experiment. Well, technically, they didn't, but all the experiments went into the multiplayer mode. Which is a thing now (because Rockstar loves multiplayer) and comes with a lot of good. When it's about single player mode, though? It's the same old thing. And personally, I can't help but see it as a problem. Pretty big one too. I mean, when you watch Force Awakens, you feel a lot like they sold you the same old movie in a shiny new package. Even though there was a chance to give you something bigger and better, they just gave you the same exact thing. That's how I felt about Max Payne 3. It was released ten years after Max Payne 2. And yet, what we've got is... more of the same. Sure, heavily improved (there's, like, a million of juicy little tricks you can do with the old formula now and therefore shootouts feel satisfying like never before) and with multiplayer support, but still.
The biggest difference between Max Payne 1-2 and Max Payne 3 is... the color palette. In the third game Max moved from New York to São Paulo and naturally, it looks way more bright than dark and gloomy New York streets. And technically, after finishing the game, I must say that I'm all in for the idea. Just because it feels fresh. I mean, what's the point to just copy / past the same exact setting, right? But with everything else being exactly the same? It creates a pretty weird effect. An effect thanks to which there's still no Max Payne 4. See, for the new players? This game may feel a bit too old-school with its corridors and painkillers. But the old-school players? There's a big chance they won't even want to start with this one thanks to the bright palette. Even though all they need to do here is to give the game a chance.
Sure, you can say that Max Payne was never about bullet time alone. It was also about it's Film Noir narration. But the thing is – the narration is still here. The same exact Noir-like narration with story being told a little bit out of order. James McCaffrey returned to play Max, the writing is done in the same old way (directing may be a little too Tarantino here and there, but still) and even the comic-like cutscenes are here in the way. They're animated now and therefore way less stylish, but still, they're here. In other words, like I already said, everything's here and even visually you can easily recognize similar approach to design. But yes, the palette is different. So, in the end here's my advice to the old fans – do not, I repeat, do not be afraid of colors. This game was made for you and it's a crime to keep ignoring it.
P.S. Some technical stuff. Even though naturally, the PC version is the best-looking one, it has its share of problems. And most of them are related to that crappy Rockstar Games Launcher thingy. I mean, seriously. You thought that Uplay / Ubisoft Connect was bad? Rockstar's laughing at you. This crap right here is where true despair is. In my case (Windows 10 Pro / 64-bit) the game hated Alt / Tab and preferred to kill itself instead of letting me continue. And every time I wanted to launch it again, Rockstar's launcher told me that I'm already in game, so the only way to return was to fully reboot my PC. Every... bloody... time. Like, what... the heck is wrong with you, Rockstar?! Even the achievements here are half-broken. No, technically they work. Technically. The problem is – they act like bloody stoners. Sometimes they work, but sometimes they're like “na-a-ah, let's get some of dem chicken wings instead...” You beat the game on high difficulty, the achievement doesn't unlock and you're like “F-F-F-U-U-U...” That's how it works here. Not like the game is unplayable, but seriously, that's a lot of bull. One way or another, though, I'm glad that I finally gave Max Payne 3 a chance. And I hope that if you still didn't, you'll do the same too one day. Dixi.