Stonecold, and biting snow makes the world of Max ayne a real X-mus game in my sense. Itīs brutal and itīs beatiful. Itīs cool, but not so new as many says it is.
Oki, about the game, itīs a thirdperson view and the camera action is pretty good. Not to many glitches or hidden views, though it can get messy in some parts of the game. The awarness of the sourronding is a bit hard to see inthis way, but thats probably just me being to familiar with 1:st person shooters.
Some say it is a new game and a real revulotion to action games. If you have tried DeusX or Outcast, you will recognize alot. Itīs more like DeusX without the rpg section, but with two major cool features. The comic story that progress the story futher into parts and sections. The bullet time that makes you go like Matrix in slow motion. The dodge and rolls are better in both DeusX and Outcast, but I miss the real big areas and the length of DeusX.
OK, some good things about the game:
Bullet time! Bullet time! Hehe, ok, but it is soo cool to make a James Bondmaneouver and shoot bad guys
The story is a typical B-action story with classic hints and scenery. The voices are real good and MAx Payne is a kickass hero. You like the story and the game.
Weapon selection is real good. No mishmash weird weapons but you have a couple of pistols, smgīs ARīs and greaneades. Easy to choose and of course the duel wielding berettas, all to make a real action hero.
Graphics and sound are really good. Nice graphic without many problems or lagging. Smooth and great. Cutscenes are good and the slowmotion reruns are pretty cool. The music is pretty dull after a couple of hours, but you wonīt notice unless you have time to listen!
Action. The game is full of it and you have the story through the game at all times. You like it, because itīs good! Not the ok, go and shoot all the bad guys cause you have everything from running in corridors to rooftop hunts and jumping on subway cars and dodging helicopters.
OKI, now for the bad stuff.
One thing I hate with action games is when the AI isnīt good enough. This AI isnīt better or worse than most games,but inthis game it gets annoying that you canīt sneak up on bad guys or passed them like in DeusX. Only a few times are they unaware of you. Thats pretty annoying.
Another problem is that the game tends to be really really difficult. You take painkillers to heal and some traps and fights are just to dangerous if you have run out of bullet time. This is also a problem concerning the AI.
Another problem is that the crosshair is very small, just a little small dot, that is white, in the outsie areas where itīs snowing like hell, you can hardly see it, which makes you sepend alot of ammo. Also it gets invisible when you fire the big guns since it is "swallowed" in the muzzleflashes..
Last problem is that the game is pretty short. Took me a day and a half to finish it, 20 hours roughly. You can go sightseeing and find easter eggs and probably try to have a calmer approach to the game which could probably double the game length.
All in all. I still think that the game is a major relief from alot of games this year. No sword and sorcery, no kill aliens but true hardboiled action on the streets of NEw York with a perfect setting and perfect feeling of being on the run and up against the world. A good story and good action. If you want something else thatn Jean Claude Van Damne or Bruce Willis on the tube,check out Max PAyne cause it is like being the star of a action movie. Replay value is well not to good, unless you let it rest between playing it. Most story games tend to be like this. I only played outcast and DeusX twice since I could the story after the first time through, and since you canīt change the character as in most RPG games, it tends to be alittle booring to play it over and over.
Can I end this and say that Iīm looking forward to Unreal2 and DeusX2?? Hehe!
OKI, I give Max Payne 4 wolfgrins out of 5 possible becasue of the action/story/graphics.
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Be vevvy qwiet..Iīm hunting wabbits...
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