The use of computer-generated images in movies has enhanced the experience of going to the cinema by a great deal. And, as you probably know, if a film is a box office hit a video game is usually made of it. And to put this as soft as I can, they have all been crap. But this has changed, it’s taken many years of film making to do it, but it’s finally here, Max Payne is game that ‘Matrix’ fans have been waiting for, and boy are they in for something special.

Those highly creditable people at Remedy have been working on this masterpiece for 5 years now, and for such a long wait, it’s extremely surprising that they’ve rolled out such a stunner.

Slow-mo
The element of Max Payne that separates it with such distinction from other 3rd person shooters is ‘Bullet-time’, this innovative addition to a game is just one of the things that makes MP such a favorite. Basically, ‘Bullet-time’ is where Max’s body movements go into slow motion giving him the ability to dodge oncoming bullets. Although Max and enemies are all slowed down, you still retain the ability to aim at the same speed, which allows you to kill multiple enemies with just one dive. This talent is essential for progression throughout some parts of the game, if you can kill a couple of enemies without taking one bullet, that can’t be bad! No matter how many times ‘Bullet-time’ is performed, it never ceases to amuse.

Good-lookin’? You bet It would be no exaggeration if I were to say that the graphics of Max Payne are so good it hurts! For a game that was in development since 1996, the near photo realistic look of objects and people comes as a shock. Those miracle workers at Remedy have been extremely meticulous with this one, and it shows! All sprites, character and gun models are fantastic, animation is mind-blowing and textures are golden. I don’t know if Remedy were trying to save time or just being original, but the use of a graphic novel instead of hard drive eating cut scenes is a great adaptation of trying to portray the occurrences of the game to the player. Using a comical tint, the graphic novel comes in handy throughout the game as you can freely access it and scroll through previous presentations. For a long-lived game, this is one tasty piece of eye-candy!

Max Play
The real question you are probably asking is how does the game play? Simple. Like a dream. The handling of the game is like no other, the controls are perfect and need no re-binding to get used to them, all movements are perfectly smooth as max elegantly leaps around gang-ridden corridors showing off his film-like moves. But enough of the praise, a saying that has probably been repeated by your mother many times over: “Nothing’s perfect”, well this rule also applies to video games as well as life, Max Payne is a brilliant game but does come with its fair share of flaws. I wouldn’t say that MP is hugely bugged, but it does have a knack of annoying the player. Things such as general crashes don’t happen very often, but nevertheless, it ’s something we could all do without. A.I is a bit on the dumb side and the game only lasts a few hours, but while it does last, you’ll be having a hell of a time. And just so you budding level designing wannabes out there retain a smile on your faces, MP comes with a level editor which, with some tutorials that are freely available over the internet, you’ll be making fairly impressive levels within no time. Another downside to MP is that it has no multiplayer side to it, although it is hard to imagine how it would work, it still would have elongated the experience and probably boosted sales as online gaming these days is in its prime.

Upon summary, Max Payne is definite buy for anyone that has a beefy machine and is a fan of the genre. Although it may considerably lighten the wallet, it’s worth it, trust me, this game is genius!

- Adam