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[TerryWogan]

Finally got around to installing this and giving it a go. OP is bang on the money for me. Frustratingly irritating game to play. Stop. Start. Stumble. Stop. Watch a cutscene.

Not sure I'll bother to load it up again. Glad I bought it in the Summer Sale.

For the record, huge fan of the Remedy games.

Edit: Also, the OP obviously went to some trouble putting together his post. Some of the single sentence "I liked it, OP is an idiot" posts really make me despair about what GAF seems to be these days. Disappointing.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

I missed this thread when it was made.
Gotta say, that is one of the most comprehensible critiques of the game.

Good job OP.


Max Payne 3 felt like a step down in a lot of ways from MP 1 & 2.

 

[foxtrot3d]

I missed this thread when it was made.
Gotta say, that is one of the most comprehensible critiques of the game.

Good job OP.


Max Payne 3 felt like a step down in a lot of ways from MP 1 & 2.

Not to shamelessly pimp my blog, but you should check out my write up about the game, it's solely a critique of the story and how it utterly fails to live up to its namesake:

http://gameonce-over.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-for-remption-everything-wrong-with.html

 

[TheSeks]

Not to shamelessly pimp my blog, but you should check out my write up about the game, it's solely a critique of the story and how it utterly fails to live up to its namesake:

http://gameonce-over.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-for-remption-everything-wrong-with.html

You nailed it. Gameplay aside (I don't like Europhia fucking with Max and the cover system, been over this with Spring-Loaded), that's another thing I hate about Pax3. It doesn't even reach the highs of the series it's trying to copy.

Remedy or Bust. Sam Lake or Bust. I don't care how much money they have to throw at Sam Lake and crew to get them to do it, but just do it Rockstar. Then have them make Max Payne 3 and everyone would forget this attempt.

I mean if you're going to do Brazil at least have a reason. If you're going to have Max there at least have a reason. You nailed it completely: Max is just there and...?

 

[Twin Tails]

i thought it was alright, but it lacked the Remedy touch.

 

[Keihart]

Welp , while i really enjoyed the old Max Payne games, i could not push my sef to finish Max Payne 3. And it's not like i don't like good cinematic games. I love Uncharted and i think even Kane and lynch are more entertaining, My problem is that there is way to much attention to the story when this was the worst part of the game. Also as much as i like the firing in the ground mechanic, eve MGS4 have this one being more functional.
So i agree with you OP in that this is in no way the best TPS as some people say, at least not fo me , and i love third person games in all their shapes.
Even when uncharted get's crap about it's game-play, i find it way more entertaining since you can play a much more close to action movie like experience.
An if we compare gameplay only, well , this it's no Vanquish.

I don't trade games , but this it's the first one making me think it. I might only keep it since it's worth scrap now.

It's not the worst shit i played... but some kind of turd none the less.

 

[Riposte]

I certainly didn't hate it. I even liked a lot about it (primarily the hit reactions/feel of guns and the detailed environments, some of the best), but I couldn't get shootdodge to mean much outside showing off and I got bored with the enemies you faced. I was thinking perhaps there was a layer of the combat system I never reached, though. The idea of using nothing but shootdodge seems really different from my experience.

 

[SlaughterX]

I enjoyed MP3 (looks at avatar).

 

[Apoc87]

I'm trimming the fat on my video game collection and i'm only keeping (and buying) around 10 games for ps3.

I like Max Payne 3 so much that I just re-bought it and plan on revisiting it sometime in the future.

Payne and Vanquish have the best third person shooting mechanics of current gen, hands down.

Game is really dope, and has a pretty robust single player component (I only play single player on my games)

 

[Diamond]

Not to shamelessly pimp my blog, but you should check out my write up about the game, it's solely a critique of the story and how it utterly fails to live up to its namesake:

http://gameonce-over.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-for-remption-everything-wrong-with.html

As a big fan of the first two games (hard to tell isn't it ?) I must say it was a great read, thanks for that.

 

[Doctorhales92]

I agree partly with your review such as the reloading problem and the unnecessary rolling, but i didnt see any problem with the bouncing off walls; the realism and intensity of the game more than made up for such problems. I think the rest of the stuff you gloat about is trivial and is just a case of you looking too deep into the game and you also critique harsh.

Personally i loved how Rockstar combined cinematics with the gameplay, and the shooting mechanics is top notch. Also liked the relentless dark feel to the game.One of the best third person shooters out there, would recommend to any person 18+.

 

[AcceptableGhost]

I certainly didn't hate it. I even liked a lot about it (primarily the hit reactions/feel of guns and the detailed environments, some of the best), but I couldn't get shootdodge to mean much outside showing off and I got bored with the enemies you faced. I was thinking perhaps there was a layer of the combat system I never reached, though. The idea of using nothing but shootdodge seems really different from my experience.

I largely used shoot dodge on Hard and it seems judging from videos you can keep doing that on the highest difficulties too but I will never take the time to find out considering the insane amount of unskippable cutscenes.

 

[Moze]

One of the worst games i have played this gen. Really didn't enjoy it at all

 

[Big_Al]

I largely used shoot dodge on Hard and it seems judging from videos you can keep doing that on the highest difficulties too but I will never take the time to find out considering the insane amount of unskippable cutscenes.

Just play Arcade mode. Their are still a few cutscenes but it skips the big ones and you can also skip a lot of the smaller ones whilst playing.

I also felt MP3 was just as much of a Max Payne game as the others. Hell I found Max much more interesting in MP3 compared to MP1 and 2. I like Sam Lakes writing (and loved Alan Wake) but find him a bit overrated.

 

[Riposte]

I largely used shoot dodge on Hard and it seems judging from videos you can keep doing that on the highest difficulties too but I will never take the time to find out considering the insane amount of unskippable cutscenes.

See, I was looking at a bunch of videos since release and couldn't really find one that was as nuts as I would hope. That sort of convinced me, along with the cutscenes and the game's length (at least it felt long at the time...), not to explore it further.

EDIT: Oh to be clear, that's not to say I never used shootdodge, but only in controlled scenarios where it wasn't risky. Mainly outside heavier firefights.

 

[Dark Octave]

I don't agree with the OP and all the gifs of Max jumping into the wall and other stupid actions are "thanks Obama" status. I can blow myself up with a grenade in almost any game that has them, is that the game's fault too?

 

[somesplace]

great game

laughable criticisms

 

[jtb]

it's a shit game to attach to the Max Payne franchise, I don't know why the Housers were so intent on reviving a franchise they gleefully killed off a decade before if they only planned on butchering it again.

 

[JacksUsername]

I enjoyed the game a lot more than I expected to. Yeah, it had some problems, and most of the criticisms of the game come in the very repetitive second act, but overall I thought it had solid gameplay, and some really nice set pieces.

 

[Ghazi]

The little of it I have played I've enjoyed, I started it on Hard though and regret it.

 

[Polishin8r]

amazing game loading sucked horribly but how impressive the game looks and feels its not a big deal!

 

[AcceptableGhost]

See, I was looking at a bunch of videos since release and couldn't really find one that was as nuts as I would hope. That sort of convinced me, along with the cutscenes and the game's length (at least it felt long at the time...), not to explore it further.

EDIT: Oh to be clear, that's not to say I never used shootdodge, but only in controlled scenarios where it wasn't risky. Mainly outside heavier firefights.

I pretty much used it all the time because I tried to play it like the earlier games where there was no cover system. This pretty much represents what most of my playthrough was like (not my video obviously):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA-9Wh18rpI

Smart shoot dodging and poking in and out of line of sight sometimes, with the occasional cover system use to get a read on surroundings. I think you can play the game somewhat aggressively but yeah, cutscenes are too long and unskippable for me to replay for sometime.

 

[TerryWogan]

great game

laughable criticisms

Great post!

 

[Spotless Mind]

I tried playing it last month and it was a slog to get through. The story was utterly cringeworthy and the intrusive cutscenes brought any enjoyment i got from the shooting to a halt so often, that i had little enthusiasm to continue. Skippable cutscenes would've made a huge difference, but the shooting started to get stale for me too. Max Payne and cover mechanics should not mix.

 

[Galdelico]

Incidentally, I just picked it up (on my wishlist since ages, I found a true bargain on a brand new 360 Collector's Edition which I honestly couldn't ignore).

Looking forward to play it!

 

[LightofRohan]

I'm usually the one to defend games and try to remain positive about them, also cinematic game experiences are my favorite. But I did really dislike Max Payne 3.

It was the first time where I could understand where people were coming from when they dislike games like Uncharted (one of my favorite games of all time) ect. It just got so so tiring when you'd hit some really long, terribly boring cutscene almost after every gun-fight. Especially playing it on PC, I don't have the patience to watch cutscene, I feel more twitchy. That's kind of why I feel like a game like Half Life 2 works so well on PC and a game like Uncharted 2 works so well on console.

And the unskippable cutscenes are absolutely insane. I wanted to replay that damn office shoot-out (looked amazing), but it took literally 5-10 minutes going through that INSANELY boring cutscene. My god were the characters dull in this game... ugh.

Gorgeous game though and some of the animation blending was phenomenal. The artists get a job well-done sticker on that one.

I don't agree with the OP and all the gifs of Max jumping into the wall and other stupid actions are "thanks Obama" status. I can blow myself up with a grenade in almost any game that has them, is that the game's fault too?

Yea, those gifs are completely ridiculous. Some gamers are so fucking whiny and entitled it is pathetic. We've come so far and the amount of insane talent that is developing this stuff is astonishing, trying to go around shaking the camera to get odd effects then pointing, "look how shitty it is!" is embarassing and immature.

 

[brickarts295]

I thought the game was great overall, easily a 8.5/10...only complain would be those dam effects on the cutscenes i seriously had to breaks because my eyes started hurting badly.

 

[Fadobo]

I really enjoyed the game. The story was so so, but the shooting was really good (I can't believe how people were hating MP3 while praising Kane & Lynch, which has some of the worst 3rd Person Shooter controls in my opinion). The unskipable cutscenes are the only reason I didn't replay the game like 3-4 times.

 

[wowlace]

I didn't make it past the 2nd level. I couldn't get into it.

 

[Screaming Meat]

It is flawed (Cut scenes damage flow, unclear story, that fucking stadium level, on rails shooting), but I really, really enjoyed it (finished it 9 or 10 times and spent hours as Mona Sax on multiplayer). I say this as an avowed fan of Remedy's work and a person who lists Max Payne 2 as one of the GOAT.

Not to shamelessly pimp my blog, but you should check out my write up about the game, it's solely a critique of the story and how it utterly fails to live up to its namesake:

http://gameonce-over.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-for-remption-everything-wrong-with.html

Great write up. I have to say though, your problem with the resolution of MP2 and how MP3 starts ignores the fact that there is a similar disconnect between MP1 and MP2.... and it doesn't matter. Max has a history of lying to himself, he says as much himself.

If the Houser's had tried to copy Sam Lake's unique, arch and dense style, rather than go for the revisionist neo-noir take that they did, they would've failed miserably. Instead they landed somewhere interesting... at least to me. I would love to see Max Payne 4.

Even more, he's a self-hating sad sack of shit who drinks a lot. He acts more Man On Fire than Max Payne. I know Rockstar loves them some movies, but it’s so blatant and character-breaking here.

The first Max Payne also wears it's many film influences on its sleeve (Leon, Point Blank, Hard Boiled etc.)

 

[Mawlok]

You're wrong though.

 

[Shinta]

I'm not the biggest Max Payne fan, but I enjoyed the first one a lot. I had pretty low expectations for this one, and got it for sale for $5, expecting a decent TPS adventure. I couldn't make myself play it past landing after the helicopter shootout at the night club. I just absolutely hated the gameplay, and it blows my mind that people say it's got some of the best TPS gameplay.

The game is damn ugly on PS3 too.

If people out there do enjoy it, more power to you. I tried and it was just awful.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Its fine of you don't think of it as a Max Payne game. It's a good generic shooter with a terrible story and horrible voice acting. Then again it's a Rockstar game so no surprise there.

wha.... wha????????


what is good voice acting in your opinion? what is a good story?

 

[chancellor]

Don't worry, the game had mediocre sales so there probably won't be another Max Payne game for a long time.

I'm sad to read this

 

[Shosai]

I really liked Max Payne 3. For the most part it was a fairly-polished TPS, basically a better executed version of RE6.

Yes, it has it's flaws. There's too many damn cutscenes interrupting the gameplay, I lost track of the stupid plot halfway through. The cover mechanics and the shootdodge mechanics encourage two different playstyles that clash with each other at times, despite working pretty well independently

 

[dcx4610]

Loved MP3 and thought it held its own with the first 2.

I wish it would have been a bit more noire/comic style but you can't have the same game over and over. It was still classic Max anguish and was well acted.

I didn't care for the ending and some of the more over the top action moments but it was a great game.

 

[Mr. West]

lol OP put way too much effort into this critique.

 

[ASFM]

Loved Max Payne 3, thought it was one of the best shooters this gen, second only to Vanquish.

 

[bidguy]

dont know why its such an issue for everybody. i liked the cutscenes.

i love this game to death (as much as mp1 and mp2) and i gotta say the only thing thats missing in this one is the dark atmosphere from the first games. other than that ? nope. nothing.

just like a reviewer wrote. this is an action fans wet dream. i dont mind the cutscenes as long as i can jump through a window with a dude while shooting 10 others in slowmotion.

awesome game

 

[Screaming Meat]

The cover mechanics and the shootdodge mechanics encourage two different playstyles that clash with each other at times, despite working pretty well independently

I dunno about that. I find the most effective use of a shootdodge is either into cover or as a last minute save when put in a corner, so to speak. Cover itself is for gathering extra bullet time and catching your breath, not for camping behind. They compliment each other nicely, especially in combination with standard bullet time run and gun.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

great game

laughable criticisms

Even more laughable rebuttal.

 

[butanebob]

Bravo Messofanego, Max Payne 3 is garbage.

 

[BabySlayer]

Just came here to say that Max Payne 3 was amazing... OP doesn't know what he's talking about

 

[gblues]

Having just recently finished MP3, I'd like to take a minute and throw in my two bits.

foxtrot3d, I really liked your analysis and critique of MP3's writing and characterization in relation to Max Payne 1+2. At first I was inclined to give Rockstar a little credit for their treatment, but seeing the dialogue juxtaposed like that effectively illustrates the narrative mis-steps in MP3.

Gameplay-wise, MP3 is a solid shooter but it has a few niggling flaws, almost all caused by excessive cutscenes.

Max Payne 1&2 made really good use of tactical awareness. You could easily see your enemies, and part of the challenge was combining bullet-time and level structure to minimize the amount of damage you took. Often this meant using real-world room clearing techniques to bust through doors and take the goons by surprise. Sort of like Hotline: Miami, now that I think about it.

MP3 replaces all of that with a cover system that is laughable. For all its attempts at graphical fidelity, they clearly didn't do any research on what materials are and are not bulletproof (hint: most luggage is not bulletproof). The controls make it very sluggish to move from cover point to cover point, and in a really weird twist, it's actually harder to aim with the laser sight than it is without it, because the white dot is accurate.

I didn't mind euphoria at all. I liked that Max didn't stand up automatically, so I could fire from a prone position (and actually you get an achievement for doing just that). Granted, I played at a low difficulty level, but none of the enemies were particularly bullet-spongy as long as you aimed properly.

But the cutscenes. God, the cutscenes. Want to break through a door? Forget about it. Climb a ladder? Nope. The tense pacing of the levels in Max Payne 1&2 is just gone. Every time it starts to build, along comes a pointless cutscene to kill the pacing.

At least, on an SSD, loading wasn't a huge issue. but I still [MISSION PAUSED] had [MISSION PAUSED] some problems with [MISSION PAUSED][MISSION PAUSED][MISSION PAUSED] the game sporadically pausing [MISSION PAUSED] itself for no goddamn reason every 10-15 minutes.

Final verdict: an OK shooter if you can get it cheap, but you'll probably only play it through once.

 

[tokyostomp]

I will have to disagree with OP

 

[something fishy]

I've been trying to get into it and I have to agree with the OP. It's been a real let down for me, don't like it at all.

Thankfully it only cost a fiver in Tesco so no great loss.

Seems a marmite game this one.

 

[rashbeep]

It wasn't a horrible game but it was very forgettable. It's a piece of shit compared to the first two however.

 

[Empty]

i played through this a few weeks ago and completely disagree with the op, though i appreciate that it was thoughtful and detailed instead of a few lines.

the animation priority combines brilliantly with the level design, forcing you to consider how most effectively use the combat spaces to maximize slow mo aim. the game is also good at switching this up, there's some levels where it's nice and open and you can vault down a stadium tier in constant slow mo and others where it's cramped and constricted and you have to find openings. the only one i didn't think worked was the water one with the instant deaths falling in, that was a bit too constricted.

it's a bit of a joke just how many cutscenes there for opening doors are but i loved the story and thought it was far and away rockstar's most coherent and effective, normally i think they're only good for believable dialogue. the messy, convoluted plot serves to accentuate how max is losing control of the situation and only able to exist through random violence. as the game progresses his wise cracks become less and less convincing and the voiceacting and direction sells you on his sympathetic fall from grace as you feel his isolation and confusion. i thought it was a clever way of acknowledging that shooters require you to kill a small army and did a great job of writing a complex character that exists in that place.

 

[Odrion]

In Max Payne 3 I dove under a table. Then I got a guy in the foot, which caused him to fall over on to his back and I proceeded to shoot him in his head. Just like in Miller's-Motherfucking-Crossing.

So yeah, there's some good in Max Payne 3. But even IF you like the gameplay it's fucking bogged down by cutscenes, a boring storyline, and bullshit "cinematic" moments.

Then there's the removal of the more surreal, eerie side of Max Payne. The move to Brazil took away the fun cartoonish mafia and replaced them with... A language barrier. Also the alcoholism wasn't justified in a really satisfying way.

But it's a okay game.

 

[Sh1ner]

Euphoria on max was only memorable like in very few instances. Best one being jumping/sliding down the stadium stairs and gunning like 6 guys. Most of the time it was a pain in the ass, dive to the left which should have had Max fly through a glass payne. Nope bounce off and look like a dunce while gunned down by 3 guys.

As a game it was terrible. As a movie it was terrible, As a Max Payne sequel it was dire. As a character piece I hated what they turned Max into. Story wise girl gets kidnapped and Max is a lame bodyguard is that all Rockstar could come up with? Has Rockstar played the previous Max Payne games? Or did they just youtube bits of it and surmised "shooty mechanics good" Where are the noir elements of a charismatic villain? The femme fatale? The game was so bad I can't even remember did it have either of them? Where they any good? If so why did I find the game so forgettable?

Gone are the interesting characters from the previous games. Vlad/Moana. Up has the body count gone to hit away at the one good mechanic in the game shooting bad guys. I can't even remember character names from max payne 3 except for Passos? And that's cause I read his name in the OP. He was a terrible character and he was badly written. Lets give the alcoholic a job to protect a life... yea great idea there. There was party/stupid guy who talked to Max about stupid shit. It felt like someone had watched Pulp Fiction recently and thought they were doing their own version of Tarantino dialogue but failed miserably.

Hey lets screw the game play up further by forcing Max enter a room of a situation with a cutscene, giving himself away and into a fire fight that the player didn't decide onto tackle. Lets make it more linear by putting Max into terrible cover and about to be flanked by guys with automatic weapons.

"Not thinking gunplay" is what max payne 3 in my mind really wanted to strive to be and nothing else. Its a shame everything else fell so badly on its face for me. As I would have ignored the gameplay if the story and the characters were good. I am not a fan of Rockstar games but I believe they are good developers, they just don't make games I want to really play except for Vice City.

My consensus is if this was a game without Max I would have said it was "ok with some interesting character control mechanics and gunplay but with lots of negatives which are hard to overlook"

As a max payne game? I feel it would be more accurate to say someone didn't like the Max Payne series but had to use it. Saw an opportunity to make a game they wanted and use a recognised brand and write the dialogue they wanted, hitting two birds with one stone. And damn I hate Rockstar for it. Flame Shield on.