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GamingBolt: Why Max Payne 3 Was The Epitome of Third Person Shooters

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Max Payne 3's dedication to its gameplay and story is simply put amazing. That said, whatever does or doesn’t come of the franchise in the future, Max Payne 3 will always be one of the finest action games of all time and the absolute epitome of third person shooters.

I would love a new version (remaster) or whatever they like to play it again in the new consoles. A masterpiece of third-person shooters
 

Consumer

Member
Agreed.
Recently platted the game; requires 5 playthroughs, and each one gave me a greater appreciation for it. Especially the permadeath - there's nothing quite so satisfying as speeding through the game like an action hero because you had 4 playthroughs to memorize the enemy & painkiller spawns

A remaster would be nice. Didn't T2 say they're gonna publish 500 games in the next 5 years or something? lol
 
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A masterpiece of a game up until the last few levels where it basically became a pop and shoot cover shooter.

What the fuck was that boss fight at the end?

That hangar boss fight is literally the anti-thesis of a Max Payne game where you're trapped behind some stupid cover while enemies surround your entire screen and you have no choice but pop and shoot until cut scene trigger appears.

Everything else leading up to the final hour or two was the tits.
 

ZehDon

Member
Opinions differ obviously, but I consider it the worst in the series. I found its style absolutely derivative and its presentation painful. It copied major aspects of its story and presentation from 'Man on Fire'; having recently watched the movie before playing the game, it was painful obvious that Rockstar didn't have much original material to contribute. It's gun play - when it stopped interrupting it every 5 seconds for a cutscene - was good, but once it started with the cover-based focus, I kinda tuned out. It was a Max Payne game in title, but it lost the soul that made the first two special. Max Payne 2 clowns 3 in every way that counts.
 
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ShadowNate

Member
It was a good game but, yeah, there were better, and I loved the first of the series way way more.

If they ever remaster it, they should add a toggle to disable those annoying screen flashes and also have the level maps be a single space rather than having invisible triggers that move you to the next sub-map, with no option to turn back, and no indication that this would happen.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Weakest one, IMO. The story was decent, but I wasn't a fan of its setting or use of the characters. Plus I felt movement and the core shooting felt fucking awful.
 

Jack Uzi

Banned
If they gave me time to play through a section sure. Shoot some dudes, cutscene. Run around a corner, cutscene. Go through a door, cutscene. Watch a cutscene, cutscene.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I remember watching my younger brother play this game a lot back when it released. Seemed incredibly cool, especially when you watch someone who is good at the game.
 

sircaw

Banned
Dull and boring to me, never could understand why people liked it so much, mind you i was brought up on quake, duke Nukem, shadow warrior and blood, that's probably why.
 

Sentenza

Member
Max Payne 3 for me was one of these cases of "mechanically solid game" dragged down by everything else around its core gameplay.
The cheap over-dramatic tone without the tongue-in-cheek vibe of the previous ones, the absolute ABUSE of cutscenes every few steps dragging the pacing down to a crawl, the unnecessary effort to be "BIG" that made some specific sections too long and repetitive for their own good, etc.
 
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Stuart360

Member
The second half of the game is too exhausting for me, just gauntlet after gauntlet, impossible odds after impossible odds.
 

Kuranghi

Member
A masterpiece of a game up until the last few levels where it basically became a pop and shoot cover shooter.

What the fuck was that boss fight at the end?

That hangar boss fight is literally the anti-thesis of a Max Payne game where you're trapped behind some stupid cover while enemies surround your entire screen and you have no choice but pop and shoot until cut scene trigger appears.

Everything else leading up to the final hour or two was the tits.

I do think its weird considering the rest of the game but I didnt pop and shoot for that scene, the cover is quite wide so I always just dove back and forth behind the cover lol which IS stupid but I'm just saying its possible to not do pop and shoot at all.

The bit where the music comes in as you move through the terminal can be done pop and shoot but again you can still do it with dives and general slow motion running, but you do need to have really quick aim to get it done without dying on harder difficulties - you can dive on the travelator and because its going backwards compared to the direction you are travelling you can stay lying down on it and travel back slowly and then get up and dive again and not really go anywhere if that makes sense, you're in cover the whole time while lying except from a few dudes straight ahead up on the walkway but you can kill them first.

I'm not saying its ideal and I'm not so good aim that its easy or anything but you can get it done. The bits on train pretty much are meant to be done pop and shoot though unless you want tons of trial and error just wildly diving forward, thats what I did because I'm a silly billy.

Still one of my favs of all time, I really wish there was a remaster of all of them but I don't think Rockstar are in the business of full remakes. Come to think of it, could they even remake the 1st and 2nd games? I know Take Two own the IP but I don't know if that means they can remake the first two.

Oh man, a remake in the Control engine with all the destruction physics would be insanely great.
 

00_Zer0

Member
I purposely ignored this one. I liked the 1st game the best. I just bought the second one in a Steam sale, so I can't say good good it is. I don't think Remedy had anything to do with 3 though, and that's probably why I skipped it. I'm not a fan of most Rock Star games in general, but I may pick 3 up one day during another Steam sale.
 

Nigel

Member
You should try it on PC. It’s made for mouse and keyboard. Best feeling third person shooter. Shame no one copied off it tbh.
 

Kuranghi

Member
The second half of the game is too exhausting for me, just gauntlet after gauntlet, impossible odds after impossible odds.

Were you playing on keyboard and mouse or controller? I think I would have a really hard time on controller without some mild auto aim, needs a mouse especially at the end when you have to do two headshots on those SWAT-esque guys to kill them which would be mad hard with a controller if they are running and you have no slowmo.
 

Kuranghi

Member
I purposely ignored this one. I liked the 1st game the best. I just bought the second one in a Steam sale, so I can't say good good it is. I don't think Remedy had anything to do with 3 though, and that's probably why I skipped it. I'm not a fan of most Rock Star games in general, but I may pick 3 up one day during another Steam sale.

First off, please play MP2 RIGHT NOW if you liked the first one. Its a fantastic game.

When you play the 3rd one you have to go in thinking its a Michael Mann thriller now, instead of dectective noir, just go in with that and you won't be disappointed by the tone shift. I don't want to overblow it but I think the gameplay of MP3 is some of the most exciting and best TPS action I've ever experienced in a game, still pretty much unmatched 9 years later.

I'd put MP3 in my top 10 games of all time definitely.
 
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MrS

Banned
It really is. Best multiplayer of the PS3 era too. Gunning down fools was just so satisfying. Used to come home from work, put on some classic Stern and just play MP3 MP for hours upon end. Great times.
 
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MMaRsu

Banned
Dull and boring to me, never could understand why people liked it so much, mind you i was brought up on quake, duke Nukem, shadow warrior and blood, that's probably why.
How is it dull and boring when it has some of the best feeling gun shooting?

You like good games so its weird to see that you would not like this game
 

amigastar

Member
Only Rockstar can pull off such quality with a franchise they didn't invent. I would love a Max Payne 4 game.
 
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sircaw

Banned
How is it dull and boring when it has some of the best feeling gun shooting?

You like good games so its weird to see that you would not like this game
doing the same repetitive bullet-time rollover, again and again, is not really setting the world on fire for me, granted, it was fun for the first 20 minutes, but then became a mindless chore. The last few levels were an absolute slog to play through, i cant believe i played it to the end, the only other time i felt similar levels of utter boredom was in Bioshock 3 and Alan wake's dlc.
 
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MMaRsu

Banned
doing the same repetitive bullet-time rollover, again and again, is not really setting the world on fire for me, granted, it was fun for the first 20 minutes, but then became a mindless chore. The last few levels were an absolute slog to play through, i cant believe i played it to the end, the only other time i felt similar levels of utter boredom was in Bioshock 3 and Alan wake's dlc.
I mean lets not pretend quake duke nukem or blood werent the same shit over and over (with extra platforming and secrets lets be honest)
 

Aion002

Member
I disagree
Shemar Moore Swat GIF by CBS


They're both masterworks... It's just that Vanquish has a lot more replayability for me.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


The turn of the century was an important one for gaming, with the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox pushing for more mature and arguably violent experiences over the family-friendly platformers that dominated the last three generations. Amongst the genre-defining hits, Remedy Entertainment developed a game that felt way ahead of its time in the form of Max Payne.

The unprecedented success of the game quickly called for a sequel, and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne was conceived shortly after. The game was released on October 14th, 2003 for the PC, PS2, and Xbox. More than 18 years later, Max Payne 2 still stands tall as one of gaming's finest with a dedicated fan-following still clamoring for a remaster, a remake, or a sequel of any form. Its legacy, the fandom, and the sheer creativity beautifully coalesce together to make Max Payne 2 simply put, one hell of a game.

I would love if this game was available to play via BC on the Xbox series.
 
Opinions differ obviously, but I consider it the worst in the series. I found its style absolutely derivative and its presentation painful. It copied major aspects of its story and presentation from 'Man on Fire'; having recently watched the movie before playing the game, it was painful obvious that Rockstar didn't have much original material to contribute. It's gun play - when it stopped interrupting it every 5 seconds for a cutscene - was good, but once it started with the cover-based focus, I kinda tuned out. It was a Max Payne game in title, but it lost the soul that made the first two special. Max Payne 2 clowns 3 in every way that counts.
Jesus lol. Came to say exactly this.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Not with the constant interruptions and long loading for a frankly bad story. What did they think they were making, a Metal Gear game? MP1 & 2 are more fun anyway though.

And who wants to not be able to dive around in small spaces because they added the oh no I bumped in the wall and hurt myself animations yet still had so many level parts be narrow corridors or full of objects as if they were making a cover shooter (then complain people played it as such).
 
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Thabass

Member
I liked Max Payne 3 and all, but Max Payne 1 and 2 were just better Max Payne games. Max Payne 3 is too Rockstar and less Remedy, which isn't a bad thing, just not really the direction I wanted Max to go in, I guess. Also I felt a lot of the game was broken up too much by cutscenes, which really hampered the game for me. It wasn't a bad game by any means, just...yeah, not like the originals.
 
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