Max Payne 3 – Review (PS3)

I never actually played much of the first Max Payne and certainly didn’t touch the second one. Nothing at all against those games but at that stage of my gaming life it just wasn’t what I wanted to play.

Having seen the franchise change owners and land up in the hands of Rockstar Games I was quite excited to see what they would do with it.

This third instalment sees Max at rock bottom – drunk and addicted to painkillers while working as low rent security for a wealthy Brazilian family down in South America.

As you can imagine things go wrong quickly and Max is left trying to pick up the pieces while fighting his own demons.

Graphically the game looks fantastic, taking in various different areas/scenes as Max’s adventure continues. Some wonderful use of bright colours really makes a difference and reminded me at times of the Uncharted series.

The comic book style of the cut scenes was fairly refreshing and overall the game oozes the class that Rockstar normally stamp on their products.

The band Health provide a truly great soundtrack (check out ‘Tears’ here, it’s pretty amazing) and the developers have really dialled up the grittiness. Max Payne 3 is one of the darkest games I’ve played in a while and it made a nice change to play something that didn’t mind getting it’s hands dirty, so to speak.

There were complaints from some quarters about the slow-mo kill cam and how graphic it is. I can see how that is a valid argument but I feel it fits in with the rest of the game so it wasn’t a problem to me.

On the gameplay front it took me a while to adjust to how fragile Max is (which makes sense as he’s an old ex-cop with two crippling addictions ) but once I got used to the fact that, even in bullet time, two or three shots will kill you I went with a more conservative play style and the frustration was gone.

One thing that surprised me a little was just how much fun the online multiplayer is – I found myself coming back again and again to stick another few hours in. The highlight there for me is the Gang Wars mode, which is a much more fleshed out version of Killzone 3′s ‘Operations’ mode.

Most enjoyable and I like the fact that for the first few hours you’re only playing against other ‘noobs’. Once you hit a certain rank the game opens up and you’ll be playing against players of varying levels. It’s a nice way to ease people in.

My complaints about the game were mainly directed at a handful of misplaced checkpoints, which led to me having to replay *another* firefight before getting back to the one I died in – frustrating at times.

When Max Payne 3 flows it is a wonderful, gritty, dark yet vibrant gaming experience. Unfortunately it doesn’t always flow. I was expecting big things from this game and Rockstar have delivered for the most part but some minor niggles along the way mean Max Payne 3 doesn’t quite hit the heights I’d been hoping for.

Rating: 8/10

Where should Rockstar go next?

Rockstar Games are one of the greatest publishers in recent game history and have tackled plenty of eras and different settings in their games.

They always seem to have a fresh take on things whether you are controlling a modern day criminal (Grand Theft Auto IV), a cowboy (Red Dead Redemption), a Scarface type gangster (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City), a schoolboy (Bully) or even the reluctant star of a snuff movie (Manhunt).

We know of at least two more genres they attempting to capture with the forthcoming L.A Noire (a 1940′s detective) and The Agent (1970′s spy).

                                                                                  L.A Noire looks set to take gamers somewhere different.

But where else can they go from here?

After pondering the question for a while I’ve come up with some suggestions that I think Rockstar could do a great job on. So here you go in no particular order:

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PIRATES

We’re not talking about the poncey Jack Sparrow pirate type of recent years – I’m thinking Treasure Island style pirates, real pirates. Starting out as a hand on the ship you work your way up at sea and on land until you’re assembling your own crew and sailing your own ship. Knowing Rockstar your old captain left you marooned for a crime you didn’t commit and somehow you’ve been rescued and must hunt him down for revenge.

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VICTORIAN LONDON

While similar in timespan to Red Dead Redemption, setting a game in Dickensian London would make for a fantastic experience. There are plenty of stories (Jack The Ripper/Thames Torso Mystery etc) that they could base a plot around – or just come up with something unique of their own. I believe a game set in this era would be something a lot of people would be interested in.

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ANCIENT ROME

I know ancient Rome has been done before in games but I don’t feel it’s ever been done a great justice. I’d like to see Rockstar give us a chance to experience the treachery and gluttony of the Roman Empire – whether that’s as a skilled gladiator or perhaps a soldier close to one of the great figures of the time.

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FRENCH REVOLUTION

There is plenty of great material from the era of the French Revolution that Rockstar could go with. The masses rising on the street, overthrowing the monarchy. Would be great to storm the Bastille! Or possibly viewed from a different perspective you could take on the role of a Monarchy sympathiser who has to escape the wrath of the uprising.

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WORLD WAR 1

The second World War has been a rich basis for games over the years, what with the almost cartoony villainy of the Nazis. But what of the original conflict? I’d like to see them approach it from a different perspective – perhaps as part of the Black Hand assassination group that murdered Franz Ferdinand? So not necessarily would you fight in the war itself but you would certainly get a feel for the time.

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EGYPT

Egypt isn’t a setting I recall for a lot of games but it is fertile ground for a game. Of course there’d be a lot of sand (:lol:) but I think the civilisations of the time would also be of great interest. Perhaps a little artistic licence could be used to have the player solve (or even cause) the death of a Pharoah such as Tutankhamun, who is rumoured by some to have been murdered.

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RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

There were actually numerous revolutions in Russia during 1917 with the Tsar deposed in February and then the government that replaced him overthrown in October by the Bolsheviks. I’d like to see you maybe play as a member of the Bolshevik party who works his way up and has a hand in the revolution.

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U.S CIVIL WAR

This is one I’d love to see, though I’m not sure whether it would be too sensitive for a US audience? Would be great to play through campaigns as a character from the North and a character from the South to see it from both sides. Perhaps the stories could converge at some stage in the final act of the game.

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CHINA

The fall of the Ming Dynasty began around 1630 and lasted until 1644. Again, this could be a rich environment and world for Rockstar to play in. You could take control of the rebels or the dynasty as the collapse happens around you.

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NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND (1066)

Would like to see this set in the build up to the Battle of Hastings. Would be brilliant to take part in that, from either side to be honest. Maybe even a character who is ‘on the fence’ so to speak and then you choose which side to allign yourself with before the battle begins.

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JAPAN

 

There is plenty of scope for this one, whether you’re looking at the origins of Samurai or perhaps when they were at the height of their power. With the new Metal Gear game showing it can be done with some crazy sword cutting antics this would be a welcome addition to the Rockstar roster.

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So there you have it – a wealth of places Rockstar could go next. But what do you guys think? Agree with the above or have any other suggestions?

GTA Chinatown Wars – Review (PSP)

Having been a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series since it’s first very instalment it is nice to see Rockstar taking the game back to it’s roots.

This PSP title returns the series to a top down perspective, although tilted to give it a semi 3D sheen. It certainly looks a lot shinier than those old PSX titles.

Set once again in Liberty City this time the story focuses on a triad gang member called Huang. He is escorting a rare family heirloom when he is set upon and it is stolen. His uncle demands he gets it back and the story kicks off from there.

One thing I was a bit disappointed with was that there was no voice acting – with cartoon cut scenes telling the story. Would’ve liked to have seen them accompanied by audio but perhaps that is too much strain for the PSP.

The missions are traditional GTA – some amazingly fantastic and some too hard. Too hard maybe isn’t the word – frustrating might be better. Because often you’ll have a large mission broken up into two or three pieces but if you die you start the whole mission again. It’s pretty annoying but is at least consistent with other GTA games.

The story is good but not great and a lot of the twists were fairly obvious, which is a shame.

One thing I thought was excellent, and I hope to see it implemented on the next console version, was the wanted system. As well as stars you now also have number of cop cars underneath.

So you’ll have two stars and two cars say. To get down to one star you’ll need to destroy two cop cars. Then another one to get rid of your last star. (You can also lose the cops in the traditional ways as well)

This led to some truly stupendous chases where I led the cops on a Dukes Of Hazzard style pursuit through the city, luring them into oncoming traffic etc. Awesome

GTA Chinatown Wars is a large and well presented game. With almost 60 main missions and plenty of side projects it will certainly take a while to get through.

Despite a few annoyances this is definitely one of the best games out there for the PSP system.

Rating: 9/10