THE STORY Max Payne is a As Max, you are never sure of whom your friends are (aside from the
fact that they aren’t many), while some of your apparent enemies turn
out to be not entirely inimical to your aims.
At one point in the first game you meet Mona Sax, ostensibly the moll
of one of the As you get deeper into the game, things first become more complicated, then a lot simpler, at least in terms of working out what’s going on and what to do about it. THE GAME The third person view is a little unsettling to those more used to
the Each level, starting off with an episode of the story, pitches you against the forces of the various gangland bosses and/or the police. Your weapons are the usual bunch. Pistols, Uzis, shotgun and sniper rifle, plus some grenades are all available at various stages, and the correct weapon selection is often vital to get you through. Health is replenished with painkillers, usually to be found in medicine cabinets dotted around the level. You can, thankfully, stock up on supplies, so that you have a reserve of health you can dip into as you require, though there is a maximum number you can carry at any one time. It has to be said that progress is pretty linear. Corridors may have many doors, but only one or two are openable, so you always have a good idea of where you are supposed to be going. There are occasional puzzles, such as being trapped in a burning room, which take some lateral thinking to get out of, but for the most part you just have to wipe out the opposition to reach the end of the level. This might have made for a game of limited appeal, whatever the skill of the level designers and clever implementation of enemy AI, but for one thing. Bullet time. TRICKS The first game came out not long after The Matrix, the film that introduced
us to slow motion combat and Bullet Time is pretty much a straight steal.
At your command, ti VARIATIONS ON A THEME In each game there are some slightly more esoteric levels. In one you are injected with the drug your opponents are peddling, and you find yourself in a nightmare world, reliving the awful events that started you on your crusade. One of the most disturbing levels of any game I’ve played, and then some. As I’ve said, in game two you even get to play as Mona on a couple of occasions, the best of which sees you using the sniper rifle to clear a path for Max to escape from an ambush. You also have some levels either operating directly with Mona or with her radioing you instructions on how to get out. There could have been more like this, but it suffices, given how short the game is, relatively. There is also a fairly hilarious passage in which you have to aid one of the lesser baddies to escape, with the catch that he is wearing an explosive comedy mask, which may go off at any time, taking you with it. AND SO … What, then, makes this unconventional two-parter stand out? Superb story, both in substance and design, aided by some of the best voice acting in games to date. Thrilling, violent action, with the added spice of Bullet Time. Top notch graphics and level design. What else would you want? Aside from part three? |
urn
by his erstwhile colleagues. The story is told via grainy, comic book
style storyboards, with his commentary, superbly voice acted, between
levels. The technique serves to immerse the player in the seamy, hopeless
atmosphere of the low-life side of the Big Apple, while the arena, from
the wet, dark streets to the seedy, decaying buildings further reinforces
the impression of a man pitched against all the forces of evil in a modern
city.
top
gangsters, but, in fact, your only true ally. A thread taken up in the
second episode, during which you even get to play as her for a couple
of levels. The designers cleverly add a bit of love interest into the
relationship, particularly in Max Payne 2, which came out almost exactly
a year after the first game. Indeed, this is the central narrative of
the latter version.
me
slows down for Max, with both him and the enemy moving at around a fifth
speed, but allowing you to aim and fire in real time. This gives you a
significant edge and, in many situations, a vital one. Entering a room
with half a dozen heavily armed baddies will quickly see you at the reload
screen if it wasn’t for Bullet Time. Clearly, if you were allowed to progress
through the whole game in this way, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge,
so you are limited in the time for which you can run it, with an indicator
counting down all the while. In game two, the implementation is slightly
different, in that the more enemies you pop with it activated, the more
slow-down you get and the longer you can keep it up. However, it always
takes a finite time to recharge your ability, so if you abuse it you can
easily find yourself in trouble when the second batch of bad guys appears.
