Having just recently finished MP3, I'd like to take a minute and throw in my two bits.
foxtrot3d, I really liked your analysis and critique of MP3's writing and characterization in relation to Max Payne 1+2. At first I was inclined to give Rockstar a little credit for their treatment, but seeing the dialogue juxtaposed like that effectively illustrates the narrative mis-steps in MP3.
Gameplay-wise, MP3 is a solid shooter but it has a few niggling flaws, almost all caused by excessive cutscenes.
Max Payne 1&2 made really good use of tactical awareness. You could easily see your enemies, and part of the challenge was combining bullet-time and level structure to minimize the amount of damage you took. Often this meant using real-world room clearing techniques to bust through doors and take the goons by surprise. Sort of like Hotline: Miami, now that I think about it.
MP3 replaces all of that with a cover system that is laughable. For all its attempts at graphical fidelity, they clearly didn't do any research on what materials are and are not bulletproof (hint: most luggage is not bulletproof). The controls make it very sluggish to move from cover point to cover point, and in a really weird twist, it's actually harder to aim with the laser sight than it is without it, because the white dot is accurate.
I didn't mind euphoria at all. I liked that Max didn't stand up automatically, so I could fire from a prone position (and actually you get an achievement for doing just that). Granted, I played at a low difficulty level, but none of the enemies were particularly bullet-spongy as long as you aimed properly.
But the cutscenes. God, the cutscenes. Want to break through a door? Forget about it. Climb a ladder? Nope. The tense pacing of the levels in Max Payne 1&2 is just gone. Every time it starts to build, along comes a pointless cutscene to kill the pacing.
At least, on an SSD, loading wasn't a huge issue. but I still [MISSION PAUSED] had [MISSION PAUSED] some problems with [MISSION PAUSED][MISSION PAUSED][MISSION PAUSED] the game sporadically pausing [MISSION PAUSED] itself for no goddamn reason every 10-15 minutes.
Final verdict: an OK shooter if you can get it cheap, but you'll probably only play it through once.