Max Payne (Mac)

by Macsoft

Product Features

• Max Payne is an original third-person 3D game based on the MAX-FX engine, and uses photo-digitiz
• Story is the bedrock of Max Payne
• Game play never looked this real, nor frightening! Auto-adjusting game play
• Painstaking attention to detail, bullets are even modeled accurately resulting in realistic and

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000645X8
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 18, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,094 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #32 in Video Games > Mac Games > Arcade
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Max Payne, the New York police detective, has had a bad time of it recently, and it's time for payback. Three years ago, junkies high on a mysterious new narcotic called Valkyr slaughtered his wife and child. The tragedy drives him on a prolonged path of vengeance. It turns him from a detective looking for easy work to a deep undercover vice cop infiltrating the Mob to a hardened vigilante. Max Payne is a film-noir-inspired game about revenge that is unflinching in every way possible. It's dark and moody, extremely twisted, and turns PC action gaming on its ear by featuring state-of-the-art graphics, audio, and cinematic action.

Aside from its inspired use of photorealistic graphics and unique graphic novel (comic book) panels to further the plot, the game also features something called Bullet Time: a slow-motion toggle, usable for a limited time, that re-creates the awe-inspiring diving maneuvers made popular by director John Woo and, of course, The Matrix. At the touch of a button, Max can go into slow motion and leap forwards or back, and side to side, while pumping generous amounts of lead into his enemy's bodies. This toggle isn't just eye candy, it's a strategic device that evens the sometimes staggering odds the game throws at you. The action is made even more visceral by the interactive environments (glass shatters, plaster puffs into dust, and wood splinters) and generous amounts of blood.

The game carries a Mature label, and this should be taken very seriously. The game doesn't pull a single punch, whether in flashbacks showing Max's reaction to his gunned-down spouse, or even, somewhat tastelessly, flashbacks that include his slain infant daughter. And he mows down a virtual army of hackneyed Joe Pesci-style Italian mobsters or ski-mask-wearing terrorists with extreme prejudice. The plot is predictable, the script is humorously bad (intentionally so?), but the action will definitely make a shooter fan drool. Max Payne is the übershooter, and as such, it should be kept out of the hands of kids. But mature action fans will love it. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Fantastic graphics and unparalleled action
• The slow-motion Bullet Time is The Matrix or Hard Boiled come to life

Cons:

• It's a little on the short side
• The script is, at times, hilariously bad

Product Description

Hit the streets of New York as Max Payne, a man with nothing to lose fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. You'll struggle to survive as you attempt to uncover who framed you for a murder you did not commit.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story driven shooter..., August 11, 2002

By 

M. Zolton (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Max Payne (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I'll spare you the review of the plot and game mechanics because you can read that just about anywhere.

What I would like to review is MacSoft's port of the title. If you follow gaming at all on the Mac, you'll know that the titles often times have a serious delay between their release date and the PC counterpart. That being said, when I read a review of the Mac port, I'm only concerned with a) how well it translated to the Mac platform, and b) will it run good on my system.

Although I have never played the PC version of the game, I have experienced the PS2 and XBox versions and I'd have to say the Mac version holds up well. Capable of running in OS X (shouldn't all games do that now?), Max Payne ran flawlessly. I had no installation problems and no game play problems that weren't related to the capabilities of my system. I would recommend that if you are going to run this under Mac OS X that you upgrade to the latest version as it contains more recent drivers for many Mac based video cards. At the time of this writing, the latest OS X version was 10.1.5. This really brings me to my second point, how well will it run on your system?

I tested Max Payne on a PowerMac G4 450 with 768MB RAM and an ATI Rage 128 Pro with 16MB RAM. Max Payne ran quite at medium detail levels considering the age of my system. Although there was a hint of slowdown in large, open areas or in areas where there was quite a few enemies, nothing really detracted from the enjoyment of the game. I sure would have liked to see it at full detail, but my system just couldn't handle it.

Suffice to say, max Payne is one hell of a fun game. Even on my aging Mac, I had a blast with it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Max Brings The Payne, April 10, 2003

By 

piff (Ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Max Payne (Mac) (CD-ROM)

Max Payne is one amazing game. You play as Max Payne, a everyday person who walks home one day to find his wife murdered...because of this he goes undercover and thats where the story begins...the story is filled with action and adventure and it keeps rolling out, never getting "slow". The graphics are great and "bullet time", a matrix type gameplay, is very cool...everything slows down and you can dodge bullets easier. Although there is no online option, Max Payne still has a very good story line and is probably one of the most popular shooters. The best part about the game is where it takes place...takes place in New York City where there are tons of cops and gang members to kill.

Gameplay: Lots of action MATRIX style! What more can you ask for in a FPS??

Graphics: Game may be a little old but the graphics are still terrific...

Story: Probably one of the best stories for a FPS. Contains a real ganster story instead of those other games that try to contain a "street" story and takes place in ohio with no cops to kill.

Overall: Max Payne is one must buy title! I haven't played anything this good in a long time... If you like BLOOD, GUNS, or ACTION, this one is a MUST-BUY!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a shooter (third person) par excellence, March 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Max Payne (Mac) (CD-ROM)

normally, shooters dont do much for me unless combined with some other quality such as stealth, role playing, or puzzles, specifically nolf, deus ex, and tomb raiders. i dont have the reflexes or hand eye coordination of a teenager, and i cant do unreal tournament etc, even the training. max pain, though is a real winner with excellent visuals and a convincing, though improbable story (one man wipes out the entire illegal drug industry, from street junkies all the way to the head of the corporation that makes the drugs) of revenge for the murder of his family. the script is hilariously overwritten and BAAAD, obviously a parody on tv and movies. the story and exposition are presented in comic book form. as with most pure shooters, there are no puzzles and very few secrets.

gameplay. max's moves are limited to kicking open doors. he cant climb ladders, move boxes, etc. however, there is bullet time, a great slow motion effect, which can allow him to get the bad guys more easily. on "fugitive", the default and easiest level of difficulty, this was pretty useless, allowing me to watch max's demise in gory detail, but on "hard boiled", the next level up, it is more useful, though not frequently. since its hard to take on 3-4 thugs at once and live, my favorite and effective technique was to run and wait around corners and blast the bad guys when they followed. seldom does one have to attack directly. "safe spots" are non existant, because ai is as good as they come; you cant hide; theyll get you. all the weapons are useful at one point or another, my favorites being the shotgun in the early phases and the colt automatic rifle in the later ones. this is because there was tons of ammo for each. there are also tons of medkits, referred to as payne killers. there are a couple of boring surrealistic mazes ..., but these do not detract from the overall game.

visually striking, conveying all the seedy side of new york. it surprises me to see that most of the names in the credits look like Finnish. max tends to run duck footed, and, as typical of third person games, he gets in his own view, especially when crouched. this does not hamper the action much, though, which is so intense that you really dont notice this is a short game, at least not until the second time through. many windows users have complained of poor running, even with their "high end" machines. this ran perfectly at 1024x768 on my slow emac.

in summary, this is a classic, even for those who dont like shooters. buy it now, and in great quantities so mac users will continue to get great games.