CoffeeExpress
Member
Loved it. I want a remaster of 3 and part 4.
I hate saying this as you can play the game however you like since you paid for it, but you played it wrong if you were hiding behind cover. It's way more difficult if you play it as a cover based shooter. You get killed faster, bullet time makes it way easier, I learned this halfway through my play through, makes the game that much better. Then went up a difficulty and the game was much easier and fun. Best third person shooter imo.I adored the first two games and was so excited for 'Max Payne 3', I played the first two games through in the run up to release. the GBA port too!
While I appreciated MP3 in terms of technicality, it never felt like a Max Payne game to me. Payne was all about taking on those seemingly insurmountable odds, rolling into a room and leaping about picking everyone off. If you tried that in '3' you'd be killed pretty quickly. It was a cover shooter with a bit of bullet time thrown in.
Best Story = Max Payne 1
Best Controls= Max Payne 2
Best Gameplay= Max Payne 3
I really wish there was a Max Payne 4, and please give me the noir style back, and Mona Sax too!
While I appreciated MP3 in terms of technicality, it never felt like a Max Payne game to me. Payne was all about taking on those seemingly insurmountable odds, rolling into a room and leaping about picking everyone off. If you tried that in '3' you'd be killed pretty quickly. It was a cover shooter with a bit of bullet time thrown in.
I hate saying this as you can play the game however you like since you paid for it, but you played it wrong if you were hiding behind cover. It's way more difficult if you play it as a cover based shooter. You get killed faster, bullet time makes it way easier, I learned this halfway through my play through, makes the game that much better. Then went up a difficulty and the game was much easier and fun. Best third person shooter imo.
I didn't find that, personally. Cover was there to top up bullet-time, which increased as you were shot at. If you stayed in cover on the higher difficulties, you'd get murdered: the AI were too aggressive to hide from. You were constantly forced to relocate and the only sensible way to do that was to use BT, Dives and parts of the environment between cover to do so. The rhythm for me was:
Run & Shoot > BT & Shoot > Dive to Cover > Re-up BT > Repeat.
It had the gritty fits-and-starts feel of a modern cinematic gunfight, which I really liked. It was a pretty sweet dance once you got the moves down.
I didn't feel it was nearly as good as Max Payne 2's GOAT Bullet Time system though, which kept giving you slower and longer BT for every headshot, even whilst you were using it (as well as the awesome spinning reload which let you strategically scan the room mid-flow and carry on murder-dancing). I think I managed 30 minutes on one of the Dead Man Walking levels and that was spent constantly in Bullet Time.
However, it was definitely a step up from MP1 which, at times, was a constant struggle to keep the BT gauge topped up. As I recall, you could only gain BT by killing people outside of it, so you'd often find yourself in overwhelming situations where you really needed BT to progress, desperately trying to top up. Unless you were consistently on the ball with the gauge management, it really fucked with the flow at points, hence why they changed it so drastically in MP2.
The point I'm making is that I reverted to playing it as a cover shooter because it punished me for playing it like a 'Max Payne' game. Any more than say, three enemies in a room and you'd get hammered. The AI had ridiculously tight aim, pop out of cover for more than a second or two and you were taking damage. Get caught in the open without BT and you were stuffed too. I played on Normal, didn't enjoy it enough to play through again on a higher difficulty.
I'd use it to move between cover, or when popping out of cover to get the headshots. That's not what Max Payne is about, to me anyway. It's not about playing conservatively. It's balls to the wall. against all odds type stuff... I SHOULD be able to run into a room with fifteen guys in it and come out on top. That's the whole point! 'Stranglehold' was a better 'Max Payne' game than 'Max Payne 3'.
I remember feeling at the time, that if I'd not come directly off of the first two I'd have enjoyed it more. My fresh familiarity only served to highlight what was missing, not what they'd built on. Again, I didn't dislike 'Max Payne 3' but it broke my heart.
Watch the video I posted above, textbook showing of how to play MP3 like a boss.
I just did after I posted! I wish the game felt like that to non high-level players. That's what I wanted. It was kind of what Max Payne was all about, making even new players feel untouchable.
The key is memorizing enemy locations, and abuse combat roll like he did in the video.
Any more than say, three enemies in a room and you'd get hammered. The AI had ridiculously tight aim, pop out of cover for more than a second or two and you were taking damage.
Get caught in the open without BT and you were stuffed too. I played on Normal, didn't enjoy it enough to play through again on a higher difficulty.
It's not about playing conservatively.
SHOULD be able to run into a room with fifteen guys in it and come out on top. That's the whole point!
I remember feeling at the time, that if I'd not come directly off of the first two I'd have enjoyed it more. My fresh familiarity only served to highlight what was missing, not what they'd built on. Again, I didn't dislike 'Max Payne 3' but it broke my heart.
Do you think that might be a slight exaggeration (I don't mean to be rude here)? I've not come across a situation where 3 enemies on Normal would require the use of cover. You can take 3 people out in one Shoot-Dodge, easily. That's literally the first shooting situation in the game.
When you're out in the open with no BT, hip-fire keeps you moving fast and is pretty accurate (like the old games). Firing in the general direction of enemies makes them flinch which stops them shooting briefly (which is a great addition). Plus, if I recall correctly, Shoot-Dodging always goes into BT, regardless of your bar being full or not. It's a great way to get into cover if you find yourself out in the open too long.
I wouldn't describe that flow as conservative. The idea is you use cover to re-up bullet time and assess the situation to spend as much time as possible out in the open and moving, which is where you get the majority of the kills. It's similar gameplay to MP1 but in shorter bursts. Like you said, popping shots out from behind cover gets you whacked (enemy accuracy when you're out of BT and not moving is higher, I believe), so I only used it for crowd control.
I really don't think you can survive a fifteen man fight in MP1 without using some cover. Did you play the hidden level? It's insane. XD
Fair enough, man. Sorry to hear that.
I mean, I'm talking personally here. I'm not disputing that the game felt like it forced you to play like that, I'm just explaining why I didn't feel like it from my perspective
Perhaps not conservative in and of itself, but can you appreciate how it could feel that way after coming directly off the first two games? (which are very forgiving in combat terms)
This is more prevalent in the last sequence which really boggles my mind. It was the perfect setting for those bullet time fights. But after dying constantly I defaulted back to cover shooting because it is the only optimal way to play. Shame because I tend to skip the normal modes because of the challenge but this is the one shooter where I just hated througout the campaign.
I've been playing Max Payne wrong. Now I seriously want to try this.