I'd have the finale of the game take place in New York as an epic storm finally hits it. Rain and snow and wind. Echoes of Ragnarok, but different. Max IS the storm. New York is at the end of the journey. The game ends at daybreak and Max's journey through the night ends.
However, in my game, I don't want Max to go after revenge. I want to give him a mystery to solve. I want him using his cop brain too. I want to see interrogations, him piecing the puzzle together as he is driven forward. I want to see a more heroic Payne than before.
My version of Payne is no longer the alcoholic mess of MP3, but a focused man who has put himself back together and is determined to put his demons to bed. He's not content to lay down and whine and is no longer stuck in the past, but broken free and moving forward.
I personally think your color palette in the OP is a bit off. Don't get me wrong, I think Fincher's cinematographers are wonderful, but me? I'd go for way more Only God Forgives and
A mystery? Absolutely. There are two great noir plotlines for any film to follow. One is revenge, and the other is mystery. Sometimes both. We want a character that isn't a complete sadsack, incapable of doing anything right, constantly belittling himself (and thus, the player--remember, this is a game that once disabled our ability to run for no reason at all, then had a small child insulting us for not running, and Max commenting on what a loser he is)... instead, he needs to be someone smart. Capable. Don't get me wrong, he makes mistakes, things don't work out for him, and stuff like that, but this Max should have more in common with The Man With No Name (remember when Tuco got the better of him and nearly killed him?) than whatever the FUCK was in Max Payne 3.
I'd still like that really Lynchian quality that made Max Payne special. The shootdodging was nice and all, but Max is a psychological noir tale, and Max Payne 3 forgot that.
I can't agree with this at all. Yes Max is slower and weightier but there's nothing wrong with that. The combat/gameplay is also especially fierce and actually forces the player to consider their movement. The AIs not super smart but it is agressive and keeps you on your toes. You say a lot of the maps lack the openness that benefits shoot-dodging and that's true to an extent but also a big point of the combat. It just forces you to actually consider where the fuck you are actually diving to. Take notice of the actual environment and it doesn't let you just dive anywhere you want as you get punished harshly for it. There's nothing wrong with that, that doesn't make it bad, it's just different. It just means you don't like it.
The whole point of the game is
feeling like you're in a Hong Kong action flick. It's about constantly being on the move. I am
always considering my movement in 3D games. It's kinda the whole
point. Max Payne is
not a movement focused game. It wants you to stick in cover most of the time. It creates places and says "nah, dawg, don't run around, just stay here and shoot guys when they pop out from cover."
FFS, the game has
five sequences where you don't even get to control your movement, you just sit there and shoot at guys who scroll into your field of vision like some kind of shooting gallery.
I'm talking about maps where there is literally no room to shootdodge at all. There are plenty of those. One room has a bunch of guys above you shooting down. There's no way you
can shootdodge, because any movement out from cover results in your death. Another fight has you inside a boat, shooting through windows--again, no way to shoot dodge.
Many of the game's levels just are
not designed with wide enough spaces for shootdodging in mind.
This is
bad design, because you have maps that don't complement the mechanics.
If you REALLY wanted people to think about movement, a better way would be to let them use kung-fu, so they have to think about dodging fire, getting close to enemies, and punching them in the face.
It's why I suggested it in my first post.
You also say how in comparison to Max Payne 2 but Max Payne 3s bullettime was more like 1. In MP1 you still use cover a lot, especially later on in that game. There's just no official 'cover' button but you sure as hell maneouvre your way behind pillars etc to protect yourself. Hell cover is purely their to make a quick decision as to where to move next in MP3. Max Payne 2s bullettime was VERY different to Max Payne 1. Hell I have a friend who hates Max Payne 2 as he considers the bullettime system in that game a downgrade from the first game!
I disagree with your perspective on this, but haven't played Max Payne 1 or 2 recently enough to recall the minute details. What I do know is that I played both games around the time of 3, and 3's insistence on keeping the player from moving around the map was
very different to the first two games.
Or "Nothing in max payne 3 is canon." Would be even better.
Yes please.
I don't understand the Max Payne 3 hate.
It's because it's a bad game.
