 Still depressed. Still fearless. His wife is dead. His lover is dead. His career as a cop is over. Max has had a pretty rough life. He decides to take a cushy job as a bodyguard for a rich family in Brazil. Unfortunately for him, things don't go quite as well as he had hoped.
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I love the Max Payne series. There are few games that can take a character that is utterly depressing and make him into one of the best anti-heroes ever created. Max constantly questions himself, constantly blurs the lines between right and wrong, and yet somehow manages to be the good guy every time. Max Payne 3 is a great game that continues in that tradition, but lacks a bit of the finesse that made the previous two games absolutely amazing.  It does look great though. Max Payne 3 was just completely different from the previous two games in the series, and that isn’t a bad thing. It’s not film noir anymore. Max Payne is still a hard-boiled detective of sorts, but solving crimes isn’t his career anymore. Instead, he’s just a simple bodyguard hired to protect a prominent family in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His cushy job ends up going completely sideways when heavily armed thugs kidnap one of the family members. Max has to try and rescue the woman and figure out why she was kidnapped before it’s too late.  You'll always be one step behind. Unlike the previous games in the series, Max Payne 3 is a cover-based shooter. Players will have to learn to quickly attach and detach from hard objects in order to avoid getting shot by enemies. It’s a bit of a weird system for veteran Max Payne players, but it’s simple enough to get used to. The story is well written and the characters are all believable. The game includes a lot of twists and turns that kept me wondering what was going on until close to the end of the game. It wasn’t predictable, which was a huge plus.  I'll bet they didn't see this coming. One thing that I desperately missed was the literary elements. Most of what made the previous Max Payne games so awesome was the fact that the cutscenes felt more like a classic literary novel rather than a video game. It was dark and depressing, but the roots were clearly in great film noir. Max Payne 3 has a lot of cutscenes that provide some awesome potential, but lacks those similes that give the game a heightened intelligence. The few times when Max does make an excellent quip, though, are hilarious.  Jersey Shore makes a cameo. Max Payne 3 was definitely enjoyable and a great way to transition the series into a different setting. I would like to see the old script writing brought back in future games, but the game was still great without it.
Max Payne 3’s campaign lasted a little under 8 hours for me. However, there is a good amount of replayability. The game includes different clues that provide extra back story to those willing to search for them. It also provides pieces of golden guns that the player can search for. It’s a tempting option for those achievement-oriented gamers, and the game is enough fun that it’s worth a second playthrough. As mentioned before, the game includes a multiplayer game mode. However, I found little reason to play the multiplayer for more than a few rounds , since there are far better cover-based multiplayer shooters on the market.
There were only a couple of factors that I found frustrating about this game. Health could sometimes be an issue on the normal difficulty level, but proper combat tactics would usually minimize this. As long as players used cover and bullet time in liberal amounts, it was pretty easy to avoid most enemy gunfire.  The ability to blindfire definitely helps. The cover system could be a bit odd at times, but that was mostly because I was used to more detailed cover systems in other games like Gears of War. For example, it was a bit annoying that I couldn’t quickly move from parallel forms of cover, or that it was very difficult to get my character to move from standing cover to crouching cover without getting shot. Eventually I started to spend less time attaching to cover objects directly and instead used them as informal cover. This was especially true in the multiplayer game modes.  This is a bad position to be in. What was slightly more aggravating, and has been discussed constantly in gaming forums, is the fact that the cutscenes are basically impossible to skip. The game is designed to load the next level during the cutscenes, which is an excellent way to almost completely eliminate loading screens. The game does not allow you to skip during a cutscene while it was loading the next level, which is understandable. However, there were numerous occasions when I knew that the next level was done loading (I constant keep track of my computer’s processing load) yet I was still unable to skip the cutscene. Frequently I would find that I would be unable to skip the cutscene until it was nearly done, which defeats the point. Still, the cutscenes weren’t usually unbearably long and the game had a way to reload specific checkpoints within chapters, so replaying the game wasn’t that tedious. 2. Parental Notices
While most of the game is spent watching cutscenes that contain more conversations than violence, violence is constantly present during the gameplay and a number of the cutscenes. The player will use a variety of firearms to shoot enemies. Hits will result in a somewhat large spurt of blood. This is compounded if the player uses an automatic weapon and hits the enemy multiple times.  He's never going to remove those stains. Occasionally, when the player kills the last enemy in an area, the game will slow down into a cinematic “bullet time” kill. It will focus on the dying enemy, showing bloodsplatter and exit wounds in close detail.  Facemasks are not armor. Remember that next time. These types of cinematic kills happen fairly frequently.  That's just gross. For the most part, explosions will not cause any visible gore. There are some exceptions. Some scripted explosions will cause considerable amounts of gore. For example, there is one part where a somewhat insane veteran blows himself up in order to kill three mobsters. The player can find the remnants of the mobsters’ bodies in a hallway afterward.  I guess even the mob isn't invincible. Toward the end of the game, the player will have to shoot the round from a grenade launcher in order to kill a corrupt police official. The subsequent explosion severely damages the official and blows his left arm clean off. His dying body is shown in great detail during a cutscene.  Hey buddy, you forgot your arm. Sir, your arm? If a fire is lit near an enemy, such as by shooting a propane tank, that enemy can be lit on fire. He will react and try to put himself out. This is often futile, since the propane tanks often explode soon after being shot.  That fireball to the right of the image was an enemy. Not so much anymore though.
For the most part, sexuality isn’t really an issue in this game. There is one blatantly obvious exception, however. In one section, Max wanders around back alleys of the slums of Sao Paulo (not a smart idea) while looking for a pay phone. He enters what he thinks is a bar. Upon entering, he describes it as a “strip club”, but it’s really more of a brothel. The first few rooms on either side are used by prostitutes and their johns. The rooms have no doors and people are clearly depicted having sex with the prostitutes.  Can't a man get some privacy?... with his friends?... and this hooker?... Many of the strippers / prostitutes walk around “half naked”. I put that in quotes because not only are some of the women topless, but they also only wear very thin g-strings as underwear. If the developers bothered to model all of their lower-halves, there would definitely be some other bits showing.  Cheapest gonorrhea you'll ever contract. In numerous places the player can find softcore pornography. There are pictures and posters put up mostly around manufacturing areas. They are generally hidden in dark corners though, so they’re fairly easy to miss.  This takes fake boobs to a whole new level.
From the very opening cutscene, Max Payne is introduced as a man who is seriously troubled. He drowns his sorrows in alcohol, cigarettes, and painkillers. Throughout the majority of the game, Max is seen drinking and / or popping pills, often at the exact same time.  Maybe it's just aspirin. In one scene he drinks so much that, likely as a combination of the alcohol and painkillers, he ends up throwing up in the sink before passing out.  Barf, puke, ralph, upchuck. It's the same in every language. Max isn’t the only one who drinks. Many of the other characters will be seen drinking in some capacity. It’s just usually not as noticeable because the cutscenes tend to focus on Max more than the other characters.  I wouldn't be wearing that watch in the slums of Sao Paolo. But maybe that's just me. The addiction to painkillers in the cutscenes is, at least in part, a way to explain the health system. Instead of picking up health kits or mysterious potions, players will pick up bottles of prescription painkillers that can be used to lower the amount of damage that Max has received. When using these pills in combat, Max is shown simply opening a bottle and downing the entire contents. The entire process is very fast, however, and easy to miss.  I almost missed it too. Max does redeem himself of his substance abuse in some ways towards the middle of the game. He eventually decides to go cold turkey on alcohol in order to gain some clarity. His desire to save the people he was hired to protect was clearly in conflict with his desire to drink. Eventually, he decides that helping people is more important than staying plastered all the time. He still smokes and takes painkillers though.  I guess being sober doesn't necessarily mean being healthy. Other forms of narcotics are found numerous times in the game. Sometimes characters will discuss these narcotics, but this is a relatively rare occurrence. Instead, it is more common for the player to find lines of cocaine or bags of marijuana.  White lines flowing through my mind....
There is at least one example of a table where gambling was clearly taking place. There are cards and money laid out on the table as if a poker game was taking place minutes before.  Playing with that many benjamins and they still order chinese take out? Cheapskates. 3. Other Factors
There are no modding tools available for this game.
There is one place where a crucifix can be found on a wall of an apartment in the slums.  It's not exactly a shrine... Crosses can also be found on a number of gravestones in one chapter.
It is difficult to pinpoint where anti-law begins in some sections because I am unfamiliar with law and culture in Brazil. However, there are some points where anti-law elements are very obvious. For example, a decent portion of the police force that the player will encounter are corrupt, well-armed thugs that are more concerned about making money than about the citizens they are sworn to protect. They end up involved in an operation that murders people and steals their blood and organs for sale on the black market.  Dude. Wtf. Drug cartels and other forms of organized crime are also constantly present and are used to drive the story forward. The lower forms of organized crime are often just lackeys, trying to shoot enemies or keep kidnapped prisoners from escaping. The higher levels of the organized crime rings are in charge of the drug and organ shipments that plague the people of Brazil. The player will constantly run into different forms of anti-law and will frequently receive little to no help from local law enforcement. It was actually more common for local law enforcement to hinder Max’ progress rather than aiding him in rescuing hostages.
The online community for this game is a bit of a mixed bag. New players are, for the most part, cannon fodder for the veterans. When I was winning, my average lifespan would be somewhere around 30 seconds. When I was losing, my average lifespan would be as little as 11 seconds or below. Try doing 10 seconds of anything in multiplayer, not including the time it takes to respawn. You jump in, you walk into a room, you get shot, you die, rinse, repeat.  Death is always just one bullet away. There were some matches where I did very well. These matches were somewhat fun, but not enough to keep me going. The multiplayer is designed similarly to the single player, so it seems to favor cover mechanics. In reality, this isn’t the case. Players that had the best loadouts and the most accurate weaponry would win every time. These players hardly ever used cover. This would pose a serious disadvantage to new gamers, who would often use cover to try and avoid enemies. My problems with the multiplayer mode didn’t have to do with the community. I never found any hackers, which is a rare thing in PC multiplayer gaming. Bullying was never an issue and even though microphones were clearly used, they weren’t a requirement. But the game just isn’t designed for a good multiplayer experience.
The previous games in the Max Payne series were fairly mild in terms of extreme sports. Max would have to do some crazy bullet-time shooting dives every few minutes, but that was it. Extreme sports in Max Payne 3 are definitely ramped up though. Shooting dives are back, but they’re not the only trick in Max’s playbook anymore.  Still look pretty awesome. In the very first chapter, Max is trying to save a woman from would-be kidnappers. The woman and her captors are on a balcony below him. In order to free her, Max jumps over the side of the railing, slides down a metal roof, and while sliding, shoots one of the captors in the head. It would be impossible to do this in real life, but Max makes it look easy.  Jason Bourne has nothing on Max. And that’s one of the more mild examples. There are numerous times when Max will perform other slow-motion shooting feats that would be impossible to do in real life. He may slide along a cart while shooting enemies or hold onto a chain that is quickly pulling him up multiple stories while shooting enemies. In one section Max’s friend is driving a motor boat while chasing another set of kidnappers. Max is in the back of the boat shooting at pursuing enemies. The driver decides it would be an excellent idea to try and free the hostage by driving up a huge ramp and getting at least 20 feet of air. Max goes diving off the boat and, in slow motion, tries to kill all of the captors. He manages to kill a good portion of them, but a few escape.  I'm really not sure how this would work in real life. In another section, Max has to slide down a metal roof, turn around in mid-air, grab onto a metal pole and swing into a glass window pane before he’s crushed by an air conditioning unit. In swinging into the pane, he also manages to kick and knock down an armed enemy.  Surprise!
Magic is not a factor in this game.
Suicide In one section, Max briefly talks with a somewhat crazy veteran who lives in his apartment complex. The veteran reveals that he has explosives strapped to his chest. He then goes up to three mobsters and blows himself and them to kingdom come.  Through the fire and flames... There is a section where Max gets arrested. As he is being led to an interrogation chamber, a pair of legs can be seen from a man who was hanged in his cell. It isn’t made clear whether the man killed himself or if he was murdered by someone else. Execution Executions happen a number of times throughout the game. Usually the victims of the execution are hostages. For example, there is one section where a private cruise of young wealthy people is taken hostage by pirates. The pirates end up leading every hostage to a roof where they are subsequently shot and killed. Max ends up finding the remnants of the execution.  They never stood a chance. In a later section, Max watches as one of the people he was hired to protect is executed. The young man was forced into a stack of tires, doused in gasoline, and then lit on fire.  Barbeque, anyone? Kidnapping Kidnapping happens on a number of occasions and drives most of the plot in the game. Members of the wealthy family that Max was hired to protect end up being kidnapped by gangs and held for ransom.  They probably just thought the gold skirt was made of real gold.
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