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Max Payne 3 |OT| Funny as hell, we couldn't decide on a sub-title
- Thread starter NotTheGuyYouKill
- Start date
smuldegspaj
Banned
why is this game getting so average score?
is it not worth getting?
is it not worth getting?
86 on metacritic. I think it's pretty good.
seriously, i expected ign to give this 11/10 after giving uncharted 3 10/10
and i played both games.
blahblah...blah
Member
Just finished, loved every second from beginning to end. Max is a bigger badass than pretty much any video game character.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
finished this earlier today
It might be because I haven't played Max Payne 1 or 2, but I really enjoyed the story / general vibe. I really liked Max's arc throughout. He was a giant, enjoyable fuck-up of a man.
It might be because I haven't played Max Payne 1 or 2, but I really enjoyed the story / general vibe. I really liked Max's arc throughout. He was a giant, enjoyable fuck-up of a man.
Caesar III
Member
Finished the game two days ago and it was really great. It wasn't as good as the previous two games due to other elements to drive the story though.
The last man standing thingies sucked imho. It was so frustrating to being shot by a guy miles away withoug line of sight just to not being able to shoot him at all. That combined with some serious bad checkpoints (rooftop hotel) was really frustrating.
That said, as great as the game was, imho Stranglehold was much better in terms of awesomeness through destruction/work with environment.
The last man standing thingies sucked imho. It was so frustrating to being shot by a guy miles away withoug line of sight just to not being able to shoot him at all. That combined with some serious bad checkpoints (rooftop hotel) was really frustrating.
That said, as great as the game was, imho Stranglehold was much better in terms of awesomeness through destruction/work with environment.
RealDeadOne
Member
I think honestly the story is just not where it needs to be. It's good, but the twists are all fairly predictable and Max as a character just kind of goes along for the ride. The first two games had far, far better stories.
In addition the shooting is kind of ruined by how little health you have, and I think journalists are starting to grow weary of the "cinematic" experiences in games. Max Payne 3 is basically a very long movie that is broken up by minutes of third person shooting; it doesn't push the boundaries of interactivity at all. When even Naughty Dog has moved past linear, scripted and cutscene heavy experiences with the Last of Us I can see gamers as a whole starting to want more out of games.
Although I still think Max Payne 3 is a fantastic game, I can see why it's not resonating as well as R* might have hoped. I mean, the game doesn't really do anything new or impressive, besides the graphics and physics, it's just the Max Payne 2 mechanics with cover put into an underwhelming story told mostly by long cutscenes.
Lord Phol
Member
This game is so fucking awesome! Everything is done so well, the soundtrack, the gunplay, story, even the one QTE felt right (and I never like these).
Seriously haven't enjoyed a game this much since Dead Space.
Only thing that feels meh is the multiplayer but I don't care much about that anyways.
Seriously haven't enjoyed a game this much since Dead Space.
Only thing that feels meh is the multiplayer but I don't care much about that anyways.
Coolbgdog12
Member
Multiplayer is feeling so meh now. I just cant understand why they went the cod route with all these guns and loadouts. Overly complicated.
d00d3n
Member
I bought the game on steam and played with a 360 controller on a tv (only had access to that setup) last week. The game seemed mediocre gameplay wise, but with the usual Rockstar production values when it comes to graphics, user interface, story and so on. Stopped playing quite early in the game (office level) and felt generally disappointed with the game.
Today I got the opportunity to play with a computer screen and mouse and keyboard setup and the improvement to the experience of playing the game felt profound. With a gamepad you could either aim freely, which did not really work because of the super fast combat in the game, or you could aim with the help of a lock-on feature, which basically took out any difficulty from the game. With a mouse and keyboard setup on the other hand combat is very well balanced. It is obvious that the developer failed to adapt the fast paced combat of the series to a gamepad playing style.
I would recommend anyone who was disappointed with the game playing one of the console versions, or the pc version with a gamepad, to try playing with a mouse and keyboard setup instead. This comes from someone who vastly prefers to play with a controller on a tv in every game that is balanced for this.
Today I got the opportunity to play with a computer screen and mouse and keyboard setup and the improvement to the experience of playing the game felt profound. With a gamepad you could either aim freely, which did not really work because of the super fast combat in the game, or you could aim with the help of a lock-on feature, which basically took out any difficulty from the game. With a mouse and keyboard setup on the other hand combat is very well balanced. It is obvious that the developer failed to adapt the fast paced combat of the series to a gamepad playing style.
I would recommend anyone who was disappointed with the game playing one of the console versions, or the pc version with a gamepad, to try playing with a mouse and keyboard setup instead. This comes from someone who vastly prefers to play with a controller on a tv in every game that is balanced for this.
I'm using ak 47 or mini 30 all the maps except the branco offices where I use the uzis.
I don't like weapons loadouts too they are complicated, but most of the guns seems to be useless. The powers are interesting.
I think that some of the maps are not so good, but the multi is very fun but it's not perfect. It was their first multiplayer games anyway and R* hasn't a big experience on multiplayer.
if you want to join a crew: http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/crew/chiliad_jumpers
MMaRsu
Member
Sorry I hate to be a bit negative but I played this game great with a Ps3 controller. Sure enough a mouse would improve it tenfold but to say the game is not suited to be played with a controller is just plain wrong. The Ps3 version plays just fine.
d00d3n
Member
Did you play with lock-on enabled?
MMaRsu
Member
Ofcourse not dude, you just gotta find the right settings with the sensitivity. I mostly end up first place in deathmatch games ( when I'm not kicked out grahhh that annoys the shit outta me.. is a patch coming or what?? ) and I've finished the game on medium and on hard.
valentine71
Banned
I finished the game on Hard without much problems with a PS3 controller. You just need to get used to a controller i guess. Also a friend of mine and me are trying to play on Hard without using the bullet time (well except the auto bullet time scenes). Finished 3 or 4 chapters that way, it was fun.
Everdred
Member
Enjoying the multiplayer a lot but there are a lot of horrible design decisions...
5,000 kills to unlock hardcore playlists
Seperate playlists for the 2 aim modes
Seperate playlists for DLC maps (demonstrated by GameStop map, which no one is in.)
I also wish you could see how many users were online in each one. On PC BTW.
5,000 kills to unlock hardcore playlists
Seperate playlists for the 2 aim modes
Seperate playlists for DLC maps (demonstrated by GameStop map, which no one is in.)
I also wish you could see how many users were online in each one. On PC BTW.
Dick Justice
Banned
DLC MP character. Her voice actress from MP2 recorded new lines.
VibratingDonkey
Member
They've done well with the mechanics whilst making it look good and physicsy. The one thing being the reticle disappears when Max lowers his gun, making it occasionally difficult to line up shots.
The cutscenes/load times and interactive cutscenes are supremely annoying during subsequent playthroughs, which Rockstar encourages what with the unlockable cheats, modes and difficulties. It's a shame, because the too brief-feeling combat scenes can be really entertaining. I feel the cinematic aspirations are hurting more than they're helping. Especially since the story's not particularly great.
I miss the actual arcade mode Max Payne used to have that was like arena survival or some such.
Also miss the .cfg files where you could adjust bullet time settings, and maybe remove the stupid filter.
What's the mod scene looking like? Is there one?
The cutscenes/load times and interactive cutscenes are supremely annoying during subsequent playthroughs, which Rockstar encourages what with the unlockable cheats, modes and difficulties. It's a shame, because the too brief-feeling combat scenes can be really entertaining. I feel the cinematic aspirations are hurting more than they're helping. Especially since the story's not particularly great.
I miss the actual arcade mode Max Payne used to have that was like arena survival or some such.
Also miss the .cfg files where you could adjust bullet time settings, and maybe remove the stupid filter.
What's the mod scene looking like? Is there one?
Always-honest
Banned
WTF.... finally continued playing the single player again today.
I'm in the
kinda cheap...
Anyway, must be near the end if they throw this kind of shit at you, right?
I'm in the
police-station and there is 1 fucking guy with armor that just won't die. There is a small cutscene with him coming through the door.
kinda cheap...
Anyway, must be near the end if they throw this kind of shit at you, right?
the only "bad" part about doing a hard playthrough for me was the fact that since killing while shootdodgin doesnt fill up your bullet time meter I barely got to use regular bullet time while standing/walking.
I struggled with that guy for a while until I picked up a shotgun on my third attempt and made short work of him.
Ah OK, thanks.
Wait for him to reload. Aim for face.
Finally installed it on my PC, I cant freaking wait to start playing.
I haven't played the second one in years, but I did manage to beat it on normal and hard when I did. How is this one, I am thinking of just jumping into with hard, what is the usual reaction?
Anyway, is there any tricks you guys need to remind me of before I dive in?
I haven't played the second one in years, but I did manage to beat it on normal and hard when I did. How is this one, I am thinking of just jumping into with hard, what is the usual reaction?
Anyway, is there any tricks you guys need to remind me of before I dive in?
Some people who have tried their 1st run on hard have complained it's too difficult.
HawksWinStanley
Member
I just made sure I started on the other side of the room before the cutscene triggered and then just shootdodged back and forth behind desks and just turn his face to mulch. It's not the prettiest way to beat him but it only took a few shootdodges before he went down.
So, I think I bugged my game two ways. First, for some reason every time I go to chapter select and start playing that way, the game becomes hud-free, so I don't know how much health I got, etc., and I can't even check which golden guns are missing or pick up guns, so it's pretty much useless.
I also got did some achievements in offline mode, but of course they didn't unlock, and seems like they're gonna stay that way.
Other than that, the game is 10 times better with no mouse acceleration. Props to R* for getting it patched fast, though it shouldn't have been there to begin with...
I also got did some achievements in offline mode, but of course they didn't unlock, and seems like they're gonna stay that way.
Other than that, the game is 10 times better with no mouse acceleration. Props to R* for getting it patched fast, though it shouldn't have been there to begin with...
Jay Shadow
Member
In addition to the MP stuff, there's a
commercial for a Hotel Mona on one of the TVs that she does a line of voice over on.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Finished.
I don't want to rant too much, so I'll divide this into Gameplay, Presentation and Story, and list where I felt Rockstar did right + and wrong - in each.
Gameplay
+ Rockstar finally got proper third person combat right. Shooting feels good. Weapons have a weight you can feel behind every shot.
+ Most encounters are well designs and paced accordingly. Plenty of interesting ways to present enemy ambushes. Most encounters felt winnable with skill.
+ Shoot dodging worked. I was worried that the game would become too cover heavy, and though it did maybe by the end, I played most of the game slow mo headshotting and diving, while running and gunning.
+ On-rails sections were mostly fun.
+ Long game is long. Nice to play a third person shooter that isn't over in five hours. Went plenty of places, shot plenty of dudes.
+ I played through on normal. I feel I should have played through on hard. The balance was pretty good on normal, and I did get mowed down a good few times, but it was very dependant on encounters. Some levels I breezed through without a hit. But yeah, balance was great in terms of encounters and distribution of pills.
- Weapon balance was kinda shitty. Unless you're the worst aim in the world there's no point using anything except pistols and rifles. They do more damage, are it's easier to land headshots. Basically shotguns were a waste of space.
- A couple of encounters were pretty cheap feeling. Looking at you, boat level. There's an encounter there that throws enemies at you right when you have a stretch of ground to run, no cover to hide behind, and an inherent disadvantage. Almost impossible to not get shot, and that's sucky.
- The quickest, easiest way to recover bullet time was to camp behind cover and let enemies spray at you. Hit bullet time, pop out, headshot everyone in the room. Fun as the combat was, it was also easily exploitable a lot of the time if you really wanted to camp behind cover.
- Pre-patch Max Payne 3 had awful aiming bugs that slowed down the cursor under certain conditions. Being able to play it run-and-gun, the way I enjoyed it, would have been nearly impossible prior to the patch.
Presentation
+ The glitchy, flickery film style and floating text cool effects in theory.
+ Incredible soundtrack. Great in-house and licensed music. When the soundtrack kicks in towards the end of the game it feels like you're playing a movie, in a good way.
+ Audio effects for weapons, ambience, impacts and so on were awesome. Weapons had punch, impacts were splatty, and worlds sounded lived in.
+ Gorgeous graphics. Using some cool advanced tech like tessellation, but I feel the greatest pro to the graphics is Rockstar's budget. It allowed them to essentially paint over every scene, every level, and every moment in the game to make it look unique and authentic. One of those games with so many unique assets and custom decals that every environment looks richly detailed and highly varied in colours, tones and patterns. It's an expensive looking game, that's for sure.
+ Fantastic voice acting from the entire cast.
+ Well directed cinema.
- The aforementioned flickery film and floating text were overused to the point of satire. Less is more, Rockstar.
- Abundance of cutscenes detailing every little thing Max did. I get that a story was to be told, but good lord does this game go over the top.
- Unskippable cutscenes ruin arcade mode. No way in hell I'm gruelling through that shit all over again just to hit a high score.
- Game shipped, on PC, with a ton of issues. Dumb issues that Rockstar should have noticed, that made the game arguably broken.
Story
+ Character dialogue, for pretty much everyone, was written in a way that sounded natural and distinct. Rockstar usually excels at character dialogue.
+ Max's dialogue is fantastic. Lots of metaphors and classic Max cynicism.
- The narrative is contrived Rockstar pulp. Because...
- Like so many Rockstar games, the protagonist is a pathetic, useless vessel that exists only to ferry the player through the rest of the story. For almost the entire game Max is told what to do and where to go. Almost never does Max express any independence, control or will. It's the same problem that Niko had in GTA IV. Max almost doesn't exist at all. He's an avatar for the player, to experience a story that is about everyone other than him. It's really lame, boring and lazy.
- Rockstar seems to be able to write only one kind of character: villains. Dislikeable, repulsive villains. I cant shake this feeling it's their sad attempt at making their stories gritty, dark and 'adult'. It's the same shit every time, the same group of characters, reskinned with a different accent. Everyone is a deplorable piece of shit with almost no redeeming qualities. Coupled with the above, it's hard to care for anybody involved in the plot, even when Rockstar wants you to.
- The narrative itself is balls. Because of the above it is easily predictable who the villains will be and how the story will progress. It's the same shit as GTAV. The same themes. The same tropes. It's like Rockstar Googled "favela" and "bazillion crime" and made sure to include every cliché scenario and trope they could. Now you might be thinking "But the last two Max Payne games were cliché too!", and you'd be right. But Remedy's sassy, tongue-in-cheek narrative and writing was deliberate. It was parody and homage. Max Payne 3 takes itself so damn seriously, and Rockstar does this shit all the time. It doesn't work half as well. Plus, for most part, the story doesn't really go anywhere. The early chapters repeat themselves, while Max accomplishes nothing. There's chunks of the game that, from a narrative perspective, serve no purpose. But there Max is, being told what to do, and accomplishing nothing.
+/- I got over this before I went in, so I was impartial, but Max Payne 3 might as well be a reboot of the Max Payne universe. Homage and reference is paid to the previous games, but it's a poor continuation from Max's character and growth over the last two games. Rockstar basically drag Max back to zero and rebuild him as their own. That's fine, because this Rockstar's Max and not Remedy's, but there's an annoyance that two games have been overridden when I don't feel they needed to be.
Conclusion
Max Payne 3 is a great third person shooter, with snappy Max dialogue, fantastic encounters, and gunplay that Rockstar can finally be proud of. In many respects it is a suitable return to Max Payne, with plenty of substance to justify such a title. It looks great and plays great, and only plays poorly in a handful of instances. A handful across a very long game.
But though the dialogue is snappy, the narrative is as average as can be. It's not a good story, simple as that. Contrived, predictable, and boring. Poor character arcs and a weak main narrative that plays on Rockstar's worst writing qualities, as the developer obsesses over the same shit they've obsessed over for too many games now. The plot, twists, themes and character motives are so two dimension, and Max's uselessness as a character avatar shows Rockstar have a lot of room to grow in the area of interactive story telling. They've got the budget and resources to make their game look and present like a movie, but that doesn't write you a good story. The only saving grace of the narrative is Max's dialogue, which is pretty much perfect.
In all, being harsh, I'd give it a 7/10. Generously I'd give it an 8/10. Great game, and well worth playing, with a lot of truly fun and memorable encounters. It will go down as one of the better third person shooters of this generation. It's just a shame it doesn't have a brilliant narrative, like the past two games, to back it up.
I don't want to rant too much, so I'll divide this into Gameplay, Presentation and Story, and list where I felt Rockstar did right + and wrong - in each.
Gameplay
+ Rockstar finally got proper third person combat right. Shooting feels good. Weapons have a weight you can feel behind every shot.
+ Most encounters are well designs and paced accordingly. Plenty of interesting ways to present enemy ambushes. Most encounters felt winnable with skill.
+ Shoot dodging worked. I was worried that the game would become too cover heavy, and though it did maybe by the end, I played most of the game slow mo headshotting and diving, while running and gunning.
+ On-rails sections were mostly fun.
+ Long game is long. Nice to play a third person shooter that isn't over in five hours. Went plenty of places, shot plenty of dudes.
+ I played through on normal. I feel I should have played through on hard. The balance was pretty good on normal, and I did get mowed down a good few times, but it was very dependant on encounters. Some levels I breezed through without a hit. But yeah, balance was great in terms of encounters and distribution of pills.
- Weapon balance was kinda shitty. Unless you're the worst aim in the world there's no point using anything except pistols and rifles. They do more damage, are it's easier to land headshots. Basically shotguns were a waste of space.
- A couple of encounters were pretty cheap feeling. Looking at you, boat level. There's an encounter there that throws enemies at you right when you have a stretch of ground to run, no cover to hide behind, and an inherent disadvantage. Almost impossible to not get shot, and that's sucky.
- The quickest, easiest way to recover bullet time was to camp behind cover and let enemies spray at you. Hit bullet time, pop out, headshot everyone in the room. Fun as the combat was, it was also easily exploitable a lot of the time if you really wanted to camp behind cover.
- Pre-patch Max Payne 3 had awful aiming bugs that slowed down the cursor under certain conditions. Being able to play it run-and-gun, the way I enjoyed it, would have been nearly impossible prior to the patch.
Presentation
+ The glitchy, flickery film style and floating text cool effects in theory.
+ Incredible soundtrack. Great in-house and licensed music. When the soundtrack kicks in towards the end of the game it feels like you're playing a movie, in a good way.
+ Audio effects for weapons, ambience, impacts and so on were awesome. Weapons had punch, impacts were splatty, and worlds sounded lived in.
+ Gorgeous graphics. Using some cool advanced tech like tessellation, but I feel the greatest pro to the graphics is Rockstar's budget. It allowed them to essentially paint over every scene, every level, and every moment in the game to make it look unique and authentic. One of those games with so many unique assets and custom decals that every environment looks richly detailed and highly varied in colours, tones and patterns. It's an expensive looking game, that's for sure.
+ Fantastic voice acting from the entire cast.
+ Well directed cinema.
- The aforementioned flickery film and floating text were overused to the point of satire. Less is more, Rockstar.
- Abundance of cutscenes detailing every little thing Max did. I get that a story was to be told, but good lord does this game go over the top.
- Unskippable cutscenes ruin arcade mode. No way in hell I'm gruelling through that shit all over again just to hit a high score.
- Game shipped, on PC, with a ton of issues. Dumb issues that Rockstar should have noticed, that made the game arguably broken.
Story
+ Character dialogue, for pretty much everyone, was written in a way that sounded natural and distinct. Rockstar usually excels at character dialogue.
+ Max's dialogue is fantastic. Lots of metaphors and classic Max cynicism.
- The narrative is contrived Rockstar pulp. Because...
- Like so many Rockstar games, the protagonist is a pathetic, useless vessel that exists only to ferry the player through the rest of the story. For almost the entire game Max is told what to do and where to go. Almost never does Max express any independence, control or will. It's the same problem that Niko had in GTA IV. Max almost doesn't exist at all. He's an avatar for the player, to experience a story that is about everyone other than him. It's really lame, boring and lazy.
- Rockstar seems to be able to write only one kind of character: villains. Dislikeable, repulsive villains. I cant shake this feeling it's their sad attempt at making their stories gritty, dark and 'adult'. It's the same shit every time, the same group of characters, reskinned with a different accent. Everyone is a deplorable piece of shit with almost no redeeming qualities. Coupled with the above, it's hard to care for anybody involved in the plot, even when Rockstar wants you to.
- The narrative itself is balls. Because of the above it is easily predictable who the villains will be and how the story will progress. It's the same shit as GTAV. The same themes. The same tropes. It's like Rockstar Googled "favela" and "bazillion crime" and made sure to include every cliché scenario and trope they could. Now you might be thinking "But the last two Max Payne games were cliché too!", and you'd be right. But Remedy's sassy, tongue-in-cheek narrative and writing was deliberate. It was parody and homage. Max Payne 3 takes itself so damn seriously, and Rockstar does this shit all the time. It doesn't work half as well. Plus, for most part, the story doesn't really go anywhere. The early chapters repeat themselves, while Max accomplishes nothing. There's chunks of the game that, from a narrative perspective, serve no purpose. But there Max is, being told what to do, and accomplishing nothing.
+/- I got over this before I went in, so I was impartial, but Max Payne 3 might as well be a reboot of the Max Payne universe. Homage and reference is paid to the previous games, but it's a poor continuation from Max's character and growth over the last two games. Rockstar basically drag Max back to zero and rebuild him as their own. That's fine, because this Rockstar's Max and not Remedy's, but there's an annoyance that two games have been overridden when I don't feel they needed to be.
Conclusion
Max Payne 3 is a great third person shooter, with snappy Max dialogue, fantastic encounters, and gunplay that Rockstar can finally be proud of. In many respects it is a suitable return to Max Payne, with plenty of substance to justify such a title. It looks great and plays great, and only plays poorly in a handful of instances. A handful across a very long game.
But though the dialogue is snappy, the narrative is as average as can be. It's not a good story, simple as that. Contrived, predictable, and boring. Poor character arcs and a weak main narrative that plays on Rockstar's worst writing qualities, as the developer obsesses over the same shit they've obsessed over for too many games now. The plot, twists, themes and character motives are so two dimension, and Max's uselessness as a character avatar shows Rockstar have a lot of room to grow in the area of interactive story telling. They've got the budget and resources to make their game look and present like a movie, but that doesn't write you a good story. The only saving grace of the narrative is Max's dialogue, which is pretty much perfect.
In all, being harsh, I'd give it a 7/10. Generously I'd give it an 8/10. Great game, and well worth playing, with a lot of truly fun and memorable encounters. It will go down as one of the better third person shooters of this generation. It's just a shame it doesn't have a brilliant narrative, like the past two games, to back it up.
Ben Pierce
Member
I agree with pretty much everything. It's such a wonderful shooter but a good Max Payne story? It is not.
Very much so. They made the best open world game ever, imo, in Red Dead Redemption, but this feels like a step backwards in terms of story. However, linear games are a different beast, and R* needs to do some tweaking. I'm sure their (hopefully) next Max Payne game will take the reins in--in terms of the visual aesthetic (scan lines got old all of the time), and maybe we'll see a story that makes more sense for the Max Payne universe.
Yeah, that's mostly spot on for me. Though I didn't mind the story as much, it certainly wasn't amazing. Not as good as previous Max Payne games, and not as good as Rockstar's other games (especially Red Dead Redemption). They still have some feeling out to do with that aspect in a linear game I think.
Grimm Fandango
Member
When you play on the harder difficulty levels, the shotguns become much more useful. They are excellent at blind firing when the enemy is running at you.
I'll agree on pretty much everything, except on the praise for Max's monologue, which I think that is as shitty as they come. There's a few redeeming moments (I liked the whole pound of flesh part, by the end, and I can't remember a few other memorable lines, but there's some), but stuff like "Sao Paolo is like Bagdad with g-strings" made up for most of the narration and for me it was constantly cringeworthy. This is a game that would've seriously benefited to have Dan Houser stay the hell away from the script.
I'm not a big fan of Dan Houser in general, so to be frank I'd like all of Rockstar games better if he went on to do other company stuff...
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
One part of the game that I felt got Max's character completely wrong was (Chapter 4: Anyone Can Buy Me a Drink spoilers)
him point blank shooting and killing Tony. Yes, he hit a woman, and was waving around a gun. Yes, he was a Jersey Shore piece of shit. But it was so...uh. Such typical fucking Rockstar writing of making Max do something just to put him in a situation that will drive a chapter of the story. Look at Max Payne 2, when Max shoots Winterson. Point blank shooting first against a character that you're not sure deserves to truly die was a character defining moment. It was a pivotal narrative point that arguably defined Max Payne 2, particularly Max's relationship with Mona. The kind of decision that you're not sure is right or wrong but once it's done there's no going back.
Max shooting Tony seemed reckless and stupid. And not interesting or redeemable stupid, with interesting growth or development for Max's character. Just plain old fashioned stupid.
Max shooting Tony seemed reckless and stupid. And not interesting or redeemable stupid, with interesting growth or development for Max's character. Just plain old fashioned stupid.
MMaRsu
Member
Pretty much agree with everything you said in this and in the previous post
. Good to see you enjoyed the gameplay though. Arcade isn't so bad because you can actually skip most of the cutscenes, it's completely retarded you can hardly skip the opening cutscenes though. I'd rather stare at a loading screen a bit longer if it went no cutscenes were present. Especially chapter 6's opening scene is just dumbass long. Will you jump into the multiplayer now EatChildren? I don't know how it is on PC, but on consoles it's pretty damn amazing ( aside from the retarded player base split and playlists unlocks ). If you don't get disconnected in the middle of a game where you're winning that is. Nothing more infuriating then that.
vatstep
This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
Claimed!
bonesmccoy
Banned
That was the point, no?
A major theme is that Max's demons have fully overcome him, that he's unable to think past the next drink. I didn't mind that scene - I think it would have been stranger to have Max unaffected by 9+ years of isolation and alcohol/drug abuse.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Yes, but it's lazy writing as it doesn't go anywhere. The point boils down to little more than "Max is a reckless cunt". And it wasn't like he started a fight or bottled someone.
He point blank shot a man.
I get what Rockstar was trying to do, but I don't like how Rockstar did it, much like how I don't like the way they handled everything in the narrative.
In replays, I'm playing this more like a cover shooter, and happy to report that it still plays competently, even if it loses it's Max-Payneness in the process. Still, there is definitely the Rockstar brand attention to detail here even though the game is limited. I'm just awestruck in the Chapter 7 location
. The diversity of the graffiti, the ambiance (there are an insane amount of songs to be listened to in the level if you just stick around some of the radio broadcasts), and little things you can do to be more stealthy. I imagine score attack rewards "shoot first," but now I'm giving a lot of enemies chances to move on by without dying. For example, there's a group of enemies in a house, and if you go in gung-ho a fight breaks out in the streets with enemies flanking you from the rooftops and in small alleyways. A innocent bystander opens his door to leave only to see me stuff a poor Tropa Z. Alternatively, if you just take cover or crouch nearby and listen to their conversation and watch them take off, you're clear for that whole area.
The one that really blew my mind was that the dogs in that level (heard but not seen) bark a lot more as soon as you fire your gun.
EDIT: RE: EatChildren
That said, I've come to the conclusion that the plot is a clusterfuck, but I still like the main characters and the themes that surround the violence. Even though there's no "good/bad" meter, Rockstar definitely made a conscious effort to give the player subtle choices that could be either merciful or plain murderous, and either choice fits Max's creed.
Favela
The one that really blew my mind was that the dogs in that level (heard but not seen) bark a lot more as soon as you fire your gun.
EDIT: RE: EatChildren
If you don't shoot Tony, he and his boys see that you've moved for your pistol and shoot you and Passos point blank. Basically, Payne committed to violence as soon as that girl was struck. I think one of the themes of the story is that he has a tragic hero complex, and really wants to protect the women that surround him, even if he doesn't want to get close to any of them. The way he coddles Giovanna and strokes her cheek struck me as a strangely soft move for Max.
I think the entirety of the New York elements could have been left out, honestly. I enjoyed the game play that was in them, but it's telling a new story and the game drags a bit. I never get tired of shooting guys, but there comes a point where every overwrought, self deprecating piece of dialogue becomes monotonous.
Ciastek3214
Junior Member
I assume by choices you mean like 4 or 5 situations when you're behind cover and you face a "choice" to shoot or not to shoot enemies. Well, yeah, these are not really choices, just challenges that you can accept, or move away from, I don't mind them, they're pretty good for what they are. It just strikes me as you are giving Rockstar too much credit.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
The problem with that though is it's exactly the kind of "force the player avatar into a situation , because" writing that Rockstar often succumbs for. It makes sense when you, the player, know the alternative, but in the context of a forward moving narrative where what could happen should be irrelevant it doesn't sit well with me.
But yeah, the narrative is a clusterfuck in general. Rockstar desperately needs someone other than Houser at the helm.
I claimed it. You should try the MP out; it's pretty fun despite connection issues and Free-Aim MP being a bit deserted. I haven't jumped into the game myself for over 2 weeks especially since my brother wants to borrow it from me.
vatstep
This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
I may eventually, but I'm pretty occupied with other games right now. I just don't really play MP games that much anymore, either. As I've gotten older I've just become tired of the frustration that can come with them.
Speaking of Free Aim, I've had it set to that from the start in my campaign here. But there are sometimes where I know I'm not imagining things and the reticule drags towards an enemy I'm just off center of. It's happened numerous times throughout, and every time I go to check the settings to see if it reverted somehow. Never does.