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Max Payne 3 |OT| Funny as hell, we couldn't decide on a sub-title

Stitch

Stitch

Gold Member
Why does the game say 'still loading' when it actually isn't loading anything? God, I don't want to watch all the cutscenes again. Patch this, Rockstar!
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
Gareth Bale said:
If you place those limitations on the game then you would have to remove bullettime and shootdodge. But they don't do that, so there is definitely somewhere for the gameplay to evolve to. But within your limitations, some obvious additions would be grenades in single player (especially smoke grenades and flashbangs) or taking enemies as human shields. The ability to take armour off of enemies might be cool. As I said I'm not a game designer, but I'm sure there are other ideas out there that could help diversify the combat situations a little more.
Click to expand...

In Rockstar's vision of Max Payne's world, bullet time is a factor but the fantastical elements don't extend beyond that. Let's keep in mind that he isn't actually slowing down time, that's just how he perceives the shootout when he's in the zone. As for grenades, maybe, but Max isn't supposed to be some super soldier tossing frags and flashbangs using room clearing tactical maneuvers in the fiction they've set up. Human shields would work I guess. Shooting off pieces of armor is a bit much, I think.

IDK, I don't have a problem with the lack of variety. Every kill feels different and it's good enough for me. I'm sure the next shooter I play will have me itching for the physics in this game no matter the variety of gameplay situations.
 
C

comrade

Member
Stitch said:
Why does the game say 'still loading' when it actually isn't loading anything? God, I don't want to watch all the cutscenes again. Patch this, Rockstar!
Click to expand...

I'm with ya. Started another play through and was raging at 5 minute cutscene -> kill 6 dudes -> 5 minute cutscene.
 
Z

zkylon

zkylewd
EatChildren said:
I'm up to what I believe is the second last chapter, if the chapter list is anything to go by.
The police station.

So far if I had to score it I'd give it a 7/10, no more or less. When the game is good it is very, very good. But it still has quite a few issues and plenty of dumb Rockstar shit.

It's funny when people say that Rockstar's version of Max Payne was always going to be at the forefront, versus Remedy's. That's fine. But it doesn't excuse the cliché, lazy writing that pollutes so much of Rockstar's work. It's the same characters from all their games, every time, varied only in different shades of scum and villainy. The writers boner for hardcore thug life and down and out characters ruins the entire cast.

There's also the problem of Max Payne himself being a useless loser, constantly failing, caught up in the events of other people, rarely doing anything of his own. That's pretty much Max Payne 3's narrative in a nut shell: everybody is telling Max what to do, constantly, and he rarely if ever questions it.

Compared to the stronger Max from the first two games, it's a downfall and a half, and not a likeable one at that.

TLDR: Dialogue good, narrative/story predictable and shitty like most Rockstar stuff. Gameplay good except when it's not.

I hear the final chapter is a chore of difficulty hell. I look forward to it.
Click to expand...
My brother compared MP3 to MGS4. In both games the main character was taught important lessons in previous games (
Max moved on past his family in MP2, Snake learned not to trust the darned coronel
), yet they mysteriously forget completely about them and proceed to follow other people around, wondering what the hell is going on for a lot longer than they should.
 
J

Jubbly

Member
zkylon said:
Helps a bit, but unfortunately the in-gameplay cutscenes still remain and the intro cutscene still plays :/
Click to expand...

Replace fe_intro.bik and mp3_payne_pill_rockstar_logo.bik, and remember to use Enter to skip. This will majorly reduce the amount of cutscenes.
 
G

Gareth Bale

Member
Net_Wrecker said:
In Rockstar's vision of Max Payne's world, bullet time is a factor but the fantastical elements don't extend beyond that. Let's keep in mind that he isn't actually slowing down time, that's just how he perceives the shootout when he's in the zone. As for grenades, maybe, but Max isn't supposed to be some super soldier tossing frags and flashbangs using room clearing tactical maneuvers in the fiction they've set up. Human shields would work I guess. Shooting off pieces of armor is a bit much, I think.
Click to expand...

My point that there's no realism in bullettime or shootdodge still stands. No one perceives time like that. As for the grenades, it was just an idea. I'm sure Rockstar could come up with something better. But he uses grenade launchers and RPGs, so would not be a leap for Max to pick a smoke grenade up off an enemy and use it to his advantage. That doesn't make him a super soldier (even though he can headshot an entire group of enemies whilst jumping from a speedboat!). It makes him resourceful, which is very much in character. Shooting off pieces of armour wasn't my idea. I meant taking body armour off of a dead enemy and putting it on. As I said already, I'm not a game designer so these aren't the best ideas. They're just examples of what they could have added.

IDK, I don't have a problem with the lack of variety. Every kill feels different and it's good enough for me. I'm sure the next shooter I play will have me itching for the physics in this game no matter the variety of gameplay situations.[
Click to expand...

I think this is where we disagree. After a while the kills started to feel very much the same, no matter how amazing the physics are (they definitely are amazing!).
 
M

MarshMellow96

Member
Net_Wrecker said:
IDK, I don't have a problem with the lack of variety. Every kill feels different and it's good enough for me. I'm sure the next shooter I play will have me itching for the physics in this game no matter the variety of gameplay situations.
Click to expand...

Whilst the game is not without its flaws, the best plaudit I can give it is to say it's like piece of 'build-your-own action movie scene' software. The game gives you a set of tools and asks you to use those tools to create your own action scene 'narrative'. The best example I can give is from watching my girlfriend play it the other day. She'd never played a Max Payne game before, and initially approached the game with some consternation. But as I watched her get a handle for the mechanics, I also saw her slowly become more brazen in her play. Around the midway point of the football stadium, I watched her anticipate a thrown grenade, roll backwards from cover, initiate bullet time and jump down a set of stairs while popping off the militia one at a time. My girlfriend could explain what she did in that instant and it would probably be a totally different description to something someone on here could offer, and it would probably be different for her the next time, too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's easy to perceive repetition or a lack of variety pejoratively here, when the onus is really on the player to get the most out of a game like Max Payne.

Also, I'm no gore pornographer, but it was hard to watch the Splinter Cell: Blacklist unveiling (just as it was weird watching some of the cutscenes from the 'realistic' GR:FS) due to the lack of exit wounds from gunshots. It sort of took me out of it a bit?
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
Gareth Bale said:
My point that there's no realism in bullettime or shootdodge still stands. No one perceives time like that. As for the grenades, it was just an idea. I'm sure Rockstar could come up with something better. But he uses grenade launchers and RPGs, so would not be a leap for Max to pick a smoke grenade up off an enemy and use it to his advantage. That doesn't make him a super soldier (even though he can headshot an entire group of enemies whilst jumping from a speedboat!). It makes him resourceful, which is very much in character. Shooting off pieces of armour wasn't my idea. I meant taking body armour off of a dead enemy and putting it on. As I said already, I'm not a game designer so these aren't the best ideas. They're just examples of what they could have added.

I think this is where we disagree. After a while the kills started to feel very much the same, no matter how amazing the physics are (they definitely are amazing!).
Click to expand...

Well he does use grenade launchers and RPGs, doesn't he. Huh. I completely forgot about those sections. Well, I guess grenades would work then. :p

As for the kills feeling the same, I really don't see it. They give you bullet time and it's up to you to have fun with it. Every time I die I replay the shootouts in a different way, if possible, and there are some things I've never been able to duplicate like shootdoging through a window, knocking an enemy over while killing his partner, then killing the first guy while we're both stumbling to our feet. I've even managed to get enemies to kill their partners by killing one and having his gun go off on the floor and hit someone. This is where the variety is for me.
 
C

comrade

Member
Jubbly said:
Replace fe_intro.bik and mp3_payne_pill_rockstar_logo.bik, and remember to use Enter to skip. This will majorly reduce the amount of cutscenes.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work right for me unfortunately. After every level I load in with no HUD and have to quit out and re-load. And sometimes the level won't even load I just get a black screen. Doesn't matter how many times I hit enter but I have to end the process with Task Manager.
 
G

Gareth Bale

Member
Well multiplayer was working fine until now. I keep getting stuck on the loading screen now, just watching the names of people in the game... anyone else having this issue?
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I felt like the game was sorely missing grenades in that last chapter. He doesn't have to come loaded up like a one man SWAT team, but there's no reason he can't takes some off the bodies of the people that do throw them.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Member
Papercuts said:
I felt like the game was sorely missing grenades in that last chapter. He doesn't have to come loaded up like a one man SWAT team, but there's no reason he can't takes some off the bodies of the people that do throw them.
Click to expand...

Probably because the grenade throwing mechanic is lame as fuck, I can't tell you how many times I've died in multi due to throwing grenades in a weird angle and having them kill me instead lol.

But yeah it's stupid you don't have nades and molotov's like in the old max payne games. ESPECIALLY since it's in the multiplayer.
 
M

MarshMellow96

Member
MMaRsu said:
Probably because the grenade throwing mechanic is lame as fuck, I can't tell you how many times I've died in multi due to throwing grenades in a weird angle and having them kill me instead lol.

But yeah it's stupid you don't have nades and molotov's like in the old max payne games. ESPECIALLY since it's in the multiplayer.
Click to expand...

The canonical explanation is that he has Val Kilmer elbow..
 
T

Tookay

Member
cackhyena said:
Pretty spot on. I'd add that personally, I'm over Rockstar's way of animating in cut scenes. The over usage of hand motion to try and convey certain emotions or just...silent moments needing to do something to appear lifelike really gets me. Might as well be the puppet hands of old for all the good it does. When are they gonna learn less is more sometimes. Not everyone in the world is a gesturing fool 24/7.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Everybody in Rockstar's games overacts. It's obnoxious.

When everybody's at 110% all the time, it's a little much.
 
S

Salsa

Member
Gareth Bale said:
Well multiplayer was working fine until now. I keep getting stuck on the loading screen now, just watching the names of people in the game... anyone else having this issue?
Click to expand...

Have had this glitch from day one. sometimes it takes a LONG while to load but it eventually does. Im talking minutes. Annoying.
 
Spat_triate

Spat_triate

Member
Multi (PC version) in this game is kinda broken.
From the awful matchmaking (lvl 12's getting matched up against 40's...really?) to the shitty spawn system to the lack of a server browser (with important information like I don't know... ping?), it's a gawdamn mess.
Constantly getting dropped and/or matched up with Russians halfway around the world is the reason I won't be playing this too much in the future.
 
I

Incendiary

Banned
MMaRsu said:
You're playing on hard right? I gave you a comment in the last page too, I would NOT recommend playing on hard to start off with. That part that you are talking about in spoilers I never EVER hid behind that block even on my second playthrough on hard. You really don't have to take cover there.

I blame your wish to play this game on hard the first time.. you'll get wasted because you're not that great yet and you dont know the encounters. On hard most stuff is pretty damn easy once you've finished the game once on medium first.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think going the first time on Hard was somewhat of a mistake, but I'm already into the first chapter of Part III so I figure I'll just finish it out instead of starting over.

I feel like when I'm using bullet time or bullet dodge it's not as effective as in previous games, I still get hit by enemies pretty regularly. But maybe I'm just rusty on my Max Payne skills. Also, some of the checkpoints are ridiculous..I'm at one in the current chapter where I reload the checkpoint, and a second later an enemy appears and is firing right at me, if I don't immediately duck into cover I take enough damage to send me into Last Man Standing. Bleh. I'm actually looking forward to Old School mode at this point.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
MMaRsu said:
Probably because the grenade throwing mechanic is lame as fuck, I can't tell you how many times I've died in multi due to throwing grenades in a weird angle and having them kill me instead lol.

But yeah it's stupid you don't have nades and molotov's like in the old max payne games. ESPECIALLY since it's in the multiplayer.
Click to expand...

Haha, maybe if it was included it wouldn't be so wonky in MP.

Incendiary said:
Yeah, I think going the first time on Hard was somewhat of a mistake, but I'm already into the first chapter of Part III so I figure I'll just finish it out instead of starting over.

I feel like when I'm using bullet time or bullet dodge it's not as effective as in previous games, I still get hit by enemies pretty regularly. But maybe I'm just rusty on my Max Payne skills. Also, some of the checkpoints are ridiculous..I'm at one in the current chapter where I reload the checkpoint, and a second later an enemy appears and is firing right at me, if I don't immediately duck into cover I take enough damage to send me into Last Man Standing. Bleh. I'm actually looking forward to Old School mode at this point.
Click to expand...

I actually caved and dropped from hard on the FINAL chapter. It sucks. :p

I wasn't even having all that much issue in the game until that point, but that last chapter is ridiculous and I was likely not going to even finish the game if I didn't do that.
 
S

Salsa

Member
And credits rolling. Finished it on Hard.

Quite loved it to be honest. It has issues, but as I said previously I find that the best way to describe it is as a sort of film adaptation of Max Payne, as if the previous ones were comic books for example. It feels like Max Payne with a budget and a film director behind it.

That means that, like any film adaptation, it has its shortcomings in staying true to the original material, and in being anything else than just pure fun spectacle.

I realize that not everyone liked the "shoot everyone in the room, move to door, Max Payne starts walking slowly to it so you realize a custcene is coming. Repeat." approach, and I didnt either.. but it's pretty much what I was expecting; Superb gun gameplay, a fun bullet time mechanic, badass moments, stylistic narrative and visuals and overall good writing (sans the story and obvious twist).

It was fun, it looked good, it sounded AMAZING (god damn the soundtrack), it's a great game and im happy.


Also, the shootout in the
airport
is really when it all came together for me and the highlight of the game (open space, lots of enemies, music kicks in). Easily one of the best pure gameplay experiences I've had in a while, that specific part was just perfect. When the game is good is fan-fuckin-tastic, when its bad, it's still good for what it is.

Doing another playthrough in the hardest difficulty soon.
 
F

Fry

Member
Great ending. The second disc is miles better than the first one. Some levels were just breathtaking (great graphics and combat).

Loved this game, one of the best I've played in a while, though I'm not sure I'd put with the greatest of this generation, hmm...
 
H

HawksWinStanley

Member
Wow, I'm nearing the end (I think) of the
airport in the terminal
and the enemies are pretty cheap. I've been trying to pick them off from afar since you get lit up if you get too close and their aim is absolutely perfect while I'm so far away I'm squinting to try to find their heads.

Kind of lame. It's like all of the creativity and skills you've been using to get through levels unharmed have just gone out the window now and they're just throwing waves of guys with perfect aim at you from afar so you can't do anything but just sit...in...cover. Snore.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
zkylon said:
My brother compared MP3 to MGS4. In both games the main character was taught important lessons in previous games (
Max moved on past his family in MP2, Snake learned not to trust the darned coronel
), yet they mysteriously forget completely about them and proceed to follow other people around, wondering what the hell is going on for a lot longer than they should.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I kinda feel that they wanted down-and-out Max to be a bit more gullible, to send home the point that he's off the rails, but in the context of Rockstar's writing it's so contrived and boring.
 
S

Salsa

Member
EatChildren said:
Pretty much. I kinda feel that they wanted down-and-out Max to be a bit more gullible, to send home the point that he's off the rails, but in the context of Rockstar's writing it's so contrived and boring.
Click to expand...

I think it sorta worked since you get that transition where he
sobers up and decides to end all the shit that started
, from then on he isnt really gullible anymore. I attributed him being carried around from one situation to the other to the fact that he was basically drunk and depressed all the time. He didn't give a shit.

Still, its clearly a way to shoehorn a character arc in there, wich was (in some aspects) already resolved in MP2.

It didnt bother me THAT much.. Max is just a fuck-up
 
C

cackhyena

Member
Wow, the favela area might be one of the most well realized levels in a game I can think of. This game gets two things amazingly right for me. A sense of place, and solid gun play. The overwrought self loathing, down and out quips, dragged out story and flat characters on the whole are the downside for me. Rockstar keeps inching closer to something great, though.

They need to just do pacing better when it comes to story. No clue how much farther I have to go, but I'm having a blast.
 
G

Gen X

Trust no one. Eat steaks.
daxter01 said:
chapter
12 boat section
is kicking my ass I died at least 10 times in a row :((
Click to expand...

That took me quite a few attempts on hard too, especially running along the side with all the guys on the dock. You'll get it eventually, just try not to stress, maybe take a time out for an hour or so and come back.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Member
Gen X said:
That took me quite a few attempts on hard too, especially running along the side with all the guys on the dock. You'll get it eventually, just try not to stress, maybe take a time out for an hour or so and come back.
Click to expand...

Wanna play multi after the euro's tonight? Im in for some asskicking..

Did you read about that 60minute game ( where I came first :p ) I had on bronco's office? That was amazing.
 
J

JBuccCP

Member
I finished it last night. Started on hard, got frustrated about halfway through and bumped it down to medium, still felt like a nice challenge. The game has really nice mechanics. Shootdogde is as fun as ever. I wish the reticule would have stayed on screen at all times though, just a minor complaint. The physics when shooting enemies didn't seem as pronounced as Red Dead but was still nice. When the level design is good and gives you lots of directions to shootdoge it's extremely fun. The checkpoints were goddamned awful though. Nothing like clearing two groups of enemies, dying on the third, then having to start all over again.

I really hated this games presentation. Especially when it felt like it was affecting the gameplay, such as when at the end of a cutscene Max decides to run out into the open and take cover to start a fight, putting you in a horrible spot with everyone auto-alerted to you. Happened way to damn much. And the cutscenes themselves were just way to frequent, and destroyed any semblance of level flow.

The story seemed both simple and yet somehow still completely nonsensical, mainly because Max's role in the whole thing felt completely contrived. I didn't like how they justified all of Max's stupid cutscene stunts by having him constantly explain how much of a dumbass he is.

I will say huge kudos to Rockstar for the PC version. One of the best looking games I've played and ran extremely well. My card is middle of the pack and I was still able to crank up the settings with fxaa and almost always was at 60fps.

I'd give the SP a 3/5. Fun shooting is dragged down by Rockstar's bloat.
 
J

JohngPR

Member
Beat it the other day.

Fucking awesome game.

It's a straight forward shooter, but it's a case of a developer that had clear goals of what they wanted to make and executed wonderfully.

I loved the story, style, and action of the game....plus it looked amazing on my PC and really well optimized to boot. It was pretty damn hardcore and the twist in the story was pretty grim but cool.
 
F

fuzzyreactor

Banned
rented this the other day and got bored of the SP fairly quickly. Surprisingly the MP is a lot of fun. I would buy it but the community looks like its already dying (least on ps3). I knew it was stupid to have so many playlist and both soft lock and free lock. barely 50 ppl in any free lock playlist.
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Member
fuzzyreactor said:
rented this the other day and got bored of the SP fairly quickly. Surprisingly the MP is a lot of fun. I would buy it but the community looks like its already dying (least on ps3). I knew it was stupid to have so many playlist and both soft lock and free lock. barely 50 ppl in any free lock playlist.
Click to expand...

Wanna play? My psn ID is mmarsu

Coming online right now
 
Z

Zep

Banned
I'm only going the soft-aim route(multiplayer) so that I can rank up quicker and get better weapons. After that, I'll gladly switch over to free-aim, which I beat the single player with.
 
R

Riggs

Banned
Sorry posted this in the PC MP3 thread but figured I'd give it a try here also.

Has anyone figured out how to enable surround sound on this game? I mean full surround side and back. There is only options for headphones/stereo/surround side/surround behind.

I really don't get it. Why can't I hear enemies from the side AND the back? I have logitech G35 headphones, no problems in any other games. Is this just simply an option not included in the game?? Driving me crazy right now!!

I can't tell where the enemies are, if I do surround sound behind I can tell front and back but not the sides. And if I do surround sound side, I can't hear anything behind or in front sound wise.

Stereo/Headphones seem to be just that, stereo.

My Logitech G35 are 7.1 native but they can do 5.1

I have not had a game yet in 2 years that gave me problems with these headphones.

Any ideas guys?

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2741377

This is not encouraging lol
 
MMaRsu

MMaRsu

Member
Zep said:
I'm only going the soft-aim route(multiplayer) so that I can rank up quicker and get better weapons. After that, I'll gladly switch over to free-aim, which I beat the single player with.
Click to expand...

Sounds boring. I got all my shit legit!
 
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