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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Payne, Pleasure, and Playability, September 4, 2001
Having heard about *Payne* since my early Navy days, I went out to Fred Meyers electronic department last Tuesday and bought it. Over two long nights and part of Thursday afternoon, I beat it. Sucked in from the moment I saw the box art, I refused to escape this game. With few exceptions, four years of development show in *Max Payne*.Produced by 3D Realms, *Max Payne* is a third-person shoot through a noir-choked New York City. Finnish developer Remedy follows the standard set by Valve to immerse the game in an actual plot, bloody and surreal. We begin with our hero at the end of a vengeful rampage, and his reflections are the game. One fine American day, Detective Payne comes home in time to hear drug-crazed loonies shoot his wife and child. He hunts each intruder down, but too late. Payne joins his buddy Alex in the DEA. The killers had flown high on Valkyr, a new designer drug, and after three hard years the pair finally discovers the prime dealersa debased and savage crime syndicate. But the break bursts bigger than anyone could imagine: hitmen ambush Max and Alex during a subway meeting. Max survives, but somebody out there is determined, powerful, and sadistic: Max is quickly framed for killing his own friend. As a terrible blizzard sets over New York, cold rage sets on Max. His enemies think he is trapped and helplessthey only free his trigger finger As the player, I turn Paynes predicament into an opportunity for revenge. But not all is grit and gloom. *Payne* parodies itself along the way, relieving its own pain through the medicine of laughter. Much of the story unfolds in a wonderfully dark and sour graphic novel. Frozen in pictures made to resemble watercolor panels, actors pose comically, goofy expressions across their faces. Voice acting accompanies the novel scenes with such delicious ham I wanted to eat it. As the voice of pain himself, James McCaffrey deadpans morbid metaphor after sanguine simile after killer comeback. After criticizing the insanity of a mob boss, Payne broods, But who was I to talkan underdog avenger alone against an empire of evil, out to right a grave injustice? In the action itself, the player will stumble across nods to *Pulp Fiction*, *Die Hard*, *Lethal Weapon*, *Batman*, *The Punisher*, and *The Killer*. Foes scream hysterically as they die. And wisely borrowing from *No One Lives Forever*, Remedy peppers the game with the conversations of its guards, like Why are vampire movies always set in LA? They cant get a suntan! All of this humor works against the very un-funny circumstance of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. One must actually play through Paynes nightmares and hallucinations; the experience is as frightening as any horror movie. But filling the hole of a dead wife and child is a revenge-sodden plot, with the contrast between humor and horror keeping the atmosphere balanced. Play is balanced as much as plot. Every time the game is booted up, the player has the option of customizing performance: textures, decals, sounds and frames. The software is also apparently able to recognize when the player cuts through the opposition like Deaths scythe, and when the opposition crumples the player-scythe like tinfoil. The stamina and aim of everybody is accordingly adjusted. *Payne* provides no armor, but introduces a Sam Peckinpah-style slow motion to give the player a stunt edge. Named after a special effect in *The Matrix*, this bullet time allows Max to shoot and dodge in slow motion, but aim in real time. Speaking of bullets, *Payne* bristles with contemporary crime movie weapons, including: Ingram M11s, Beretta 92s, and sawed-off shotguns straight out of *The Untouchables*. No bazookas, BFGs, or similar and unnecessary anti-tank weapons exist. Each level is exotic, moody-- and yet realistic (a multilevel parking garage has fluorescent lights and white-washed walls straight out of Navy boot campugh). *Paynes* puzzles and mazes are simple, subtle, and justified with snowstorms and mob wars keeping things in perspective. A proper perspective recognizes quirks as well as qualities. Despite four years to perfect it, a few noticeable flaws prevent *Max Payne* from receiving my five-star approval. Max can crouch, but he cannot creepinstead he automatically stands up and jogs. This makes things easier on the level designer, but harder on Max when he steps around a doorframe and gets shot in the face. Max also doesnt climb anything other than stairs, which again benefits the designer more than Max. While Payne is obviously meant to be a lone-wolf, it would have added to the suspension-of-belief if the levels were populated with friendly New York bums, bartenders, and bus drivers hiding from the snow. Finally, some of the levels felt a lot like those in Ravens *Soldier of Fortune*, but given the location, I think the similarities are unavoidable. Strangest of all to me is the content-line Remedy seems to have drawn for itself. No child should play Max Payne as it is, but the game is not nearly as explicit as many classics. The bloody chum found in *Quake*, *Half-Life*, and *Soldier of Fortune* puts Payne to shame. Swearing limits mostly to blasphemies, as *Payne* avoids words even network television slips in. While Max investigates houses, we see just one prostitute, and one gambler. *Duke Nukem 3D* has more pornography, foul language, and gore in the first two levels of the shareware version than all of *Payne*. The only illegal drug mentioned or seen is the fictional Valkyr. But I can easily understand if content is traded for style or performance (or both). Remedys *Max Payne* provides active and balanced story and game-play. Its faithful film-noir atmosphere makes the player imagine more grit than is actually shown. Only its neglect of a few basics prevent a full rating. Now if youll excuse me, I do believe its bullet-time!" (groan).
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