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A New York Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Max Payne is definitely the best third person shooter ever made. The storyline, graphics, play control, arsenal of weapons, missions, cinema, music, the atmosphere, and the A.I. is more than I could ask for out of a PlayStation 2 game.

Let's start out with the storyline. Max Payne takes place in the grimy streets of New York with crime happening all over the place. Three years ago, Max came home to his house finding his wife and infant son brutally murdered. Essentially the murderers were looking for Max, but when they broke in they decided to seize the moment and make his life a living hell. After this horrific experience Max dedicates the next three years of his life to get hunt down and kill the murderers and any cost, even if it means that he'll be the most wanted man in America.

The graphics and the atmosphere in Max Payne are simply amazing and very realistic. Max and all of the enemies that he encounters all have their own unique details including mustaches, different colored eyes, scars, their clothing, etc. Everything looks like New York with graffiti all over the walls, trashcans on fire, and cars, subways, doors, and buildings drawn in exceptional detail. From the blood of your enemies to the fire from the Molotov Cocktails, everything is done perfectly. Plus you can interact with the environment in numerous ways. For example, you can turn on a vibrating bed, play a piano, get a drink out of a soda machine, turn radios and televisions on and off, look through hidden cameras, etc. Plus with a sniper rifle you can zoom from great distances and there is a camera where you follow the bullet until it reaches your enemy.

The play control of this game is very smooth. Moving around, aiming, and shooting in this game is a sinch. I got used to the controls in about 10 minutes and as you use them more and more they become second nature. Plus with an innovative slow-motion feature called Bullet-Time you can move at the speed of a bullet which is very effective in situtations where you are heavily outnumbered in a room or if you just want to surprise an enemy from a short or long distance.

There are several weapons you can collect in this game yo use against your enemies and they all of their own unique feature. Some of the guns are a Leadpipe, Baseball Bat, Pump-Action Shotgun, Sawed-Off Shotgun, Desert Eagle, Beretta, Ingram, Jakhammer, Colt Commando, Molotov Cocktails, Gernades, AK47, and a Sniper Rifle. Not only can you find these guns from dead enemies, they can be found in cabinets, display cases, inside of boxes, and in other hidden places. Plus, if you are low on health you can pick up Painkillers which reduce about a third of your damage. You can hold as many as 8 and you should use them wisely because they are sometimes hard to find.

There are over 60 diverse, mission-based levels in Max Payne that are very complex and fun to explore. Some if the missions include jumping off a building onto a subway, escaping from a flaming restaurant, sneaking onto a boat from an abandoned shipyard, eliminating 3 mobsters in a mashion, etc. Not only are these missions well-developed but they are fun and challenging as well.

The cinema in Max Payne is the best I've ever seen in a game. There are over 200 different scenes with excellent dialouge and superb voiceovers that it will seem like Max Payne is a well-made movie. Cinema scenes usually are between levels but sometimes if you find an interesting object in a level or if you encounter a devious mobster, you will get a short cienmatic dialouge. Watching these scenes builds and builds up suspense to for a show-stopping climax at the end of the game.

The A.I. of this game is so incredible that I was blown away from their superb reaction. The enemies get smarter and smarter as you progress through the game. If you are the type who runs down hallways, don't expect the enemy not to hear you around the corner. Plus if an enemy is all alone and you have a more powerful weapon than they do, they will call their friends for backup. If you decide to snipe someone from a long distance, they will immediately react but either shooting back at you or they will run and hide behind boxes to get a better shot at you.

The music and special effects in Max Payne does a very good job with blending in with the atmosphere. If you are duking it out with a mob boss or in a room with a lot of enemies with powerful guns you will most likely hear fast-paced music that will keep your heart racing and adrenaline pumping. But if your just walking through the snowy streets looking for weapons you'll hear a calmer beat.

All in all, Max Payne is one of the greatest PlayStation 2 games ever made and it has endless replay value. I've owned this game for about three months now and I still play it everyday. And to my surprise, it hasn't become boring at all. My recommendation is to buy this game as soon as you can. You'll become hooked very quickly, and you'll love it for all the reasons that I still do today.

Stop making PC ports for that crappy PS2!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Max Payne rocks! The PC version was terrific; the Xbox port was even better. But n comparison to PC and Xbox, PS2 [is bad] when it comes to the latest technology in graphics, especially memory and polygon capabilities. It results awful gameplay:
1) a lot worse graphics in the PS2 version - bullet time isn't as cinematic and actually looks cheap
2) framerate problems - its choppy, its laggy, and overall the game feels terrible
3) savegame feature is stupid - in the Xbox and the PC versions you can make a quick save whenever you want (except some higher difficulty levels have limited saves), but in PS2 you need to get checkpoints the old-fashioned way
4) another example of PS2 weakness - loading times are long, and while the PC Max Payne had only one quite brief load at each level, in the PS2 port that level would be divided into like 5 parts, each part would have to load almost twice as long as the start of every level in the PC original, this causes interruption in the action and storytelling
So if you have a relatively new, powerful PC, or an Xbox, get Max Payne for either one of the systems, if you have a PS2, don't even bother buying this port.

Max fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Imagine the matrix with more action.There is also a lot more violence. The bullet time feature is a must have in other games. Great graphics . Very realistic sounds . A must have for action gamers.

What a disappointment!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I recently purchased "Max Payne" and was expecting much more than what I really received from the game. Don't be fooled into thinking that the graphics are high-quality by looking at the back of the case or seeing the commercial, because they are in fact slightly poor and less than satisfactory for a game designated to the PS2 console. The storyline is intelligent, and that is probably it's best attribute. The characters are somewhat blocky and you have only a little white dot used to aim at the enemies, which, at specific points in the game, becomes extremely frustrating. The characters in the movie portions of the game are not well assembled and this makes them look like their limbs are broken or something to that effect. I highly recommend that you do not purchase this title. If you want a game by Rockstar, get Grand Theft. Max Payne [stinks].

Maximumly Payneful Review

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game leaves alot out. The Storyline is way to discrete in the wordage. They use things that sound like they are right out of a 60's movie. It is just another gangster kill all leave no survivors game. Max Payne is an okay game but it doesn't hold my attention very well

good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

this game is interisting go ut and buy this game for lots of fun and cool bullet time.

Best game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is great. Anyone who says its not has a problem. And that guy a few reviews up who says its a cheesy ripoff of the matrix should go see a psychiatrist. This game has an excellent storyline and even thought the controls are a little hard at first, u get used to them. And the bullet time is the greatest feature ever invented. It brings the awesome movie the matrix into a video game and no its not a cheesy ripoff, its great. BUY THIS GAME.

A Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is truly a great game. The bullet-time is a very nice added effect, but the game has such a great story, the bullet-time was just icing on the cake. The voice acting is top-notch as well. Bring on the Max Payne sequels!

good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game. But the best game rock star games has made is grand theft auto 3 i own grand theft auto 3 and max payne i like grand theft auto 3 better alot better. But what i didnt like about max payne is how the controls of it compared to the grand theft auto 3 controls i would get grand theft auto 3 instead of max payne.

GREAT GAME!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What a great game. the fast and furious gameplay, interesting/moving plot, and great graphics makes this game one of the best...

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