"Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God." – Superintendent Pang to Tequila (Chow Yun Fat) - Hard Boiled
Ever since those famous words were first spoken in John Woo’s movie Hard Boiled, game players and action fans have wanted to wield twin 45’s and become a God.
- Game: Max Payne
- Developer: Remedy
- Publisher: Rockstar Games
- Xbox 360 Compatible: Yes
- Website: http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne/
- Amazon: $6.69
- Game: Max Payne 2 – The Fall of Max Payne
- Developer: Remedy
- Publisher: Rockstar Games
- Xbox 360 Compatible: Yes
- Website: http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne/
- Amazon: $1.49
Remedy must have seen some of John Woo’s classic movies with the stylish leading actor, Chow Yun Fat, blazing away in slow motion against an army of triad gun men. Remedy, along with 3D Realms and Rockstar Games, gave us two titles based in New York with stories told in a Film Noir homage. The story format adds to the great experience of Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.
If you are new to the Max Payne experience, it is best described as a ballet of bullets. Fast actions with a slow motion game play combine for some of the best cinematic action sequences seen in a video game. The games are certainly based on the movies of John Woo and especially those staring Chow Yun Fat; they even give a nod to John Woo in one of the earlier levels using his name as a password and in the difficulty naming “Hard Boiled” in both games.
John Woo’s Hong Kong movies are his best and worth renting if you have never experienced "The Killer," "Hard Boiled," "A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2" and are far superior to the great "Mission Impossible 2" and amazing "Face Off," which he directed when moving to America.
Story for Max Payne"Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose. A fugitive, undercover cop framed for murder, he is now hunted by cops—and the mob. With his back against the wall, Max is fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for a new breed of deep-action game. Prepare for Payne..." -xbox.comStory for Max Payne 2 – Fall of Max Payne
"Max Payne is back in a dark love story set in New York with betrayal and death at every turn. Max is back..."
Graphics
Graphically, these games were good for their time, using photo textures for almost everything in the game including Max Payne. These textures added a layer of uniqueness to series when most games still used hand drawn textures. But the blocky graphics mixed with low resolution textures did not do the games justice and pulled the player out of any immersion they may have had.
For the next-generation version, graphically, you need to push the system with fully damage modeled environments, destructible walls, and furniture would be required to really compete in the new generation gaming world. A great example would be John Woo’s Stranglehold (coming in early 2007), breaking through the video game ceiling for sheer amount of destructible environments with the full Bullet Ballet we can expect in this style of game. This gives fans something to hope for if Max does return.
The levels of Max Payne were varied, from police stations, hospitals, fun houses, docks, ships, warehouses, abandoned buildings, night clubs and mansions. This is great, but for such a wide variety of levels - they looked the same. Night clubs came across looking similar to abandoned buildings, warehouses looked like the docks and each area closely resembled prior areas. New graphics power could give the player a larger variety of surroundings with out looking like every other level you just blazed through.
One thing the Max Payne developers did do well was the comic panels that help tell the story. Full voice with a cinematic flow help move the story forward and this is one of the best ways to push the often bad story line of Max Payne 2 back into the realm of "Oh ya it’s a video game." Keep this aspect for a next-generation title but improve the actual graphical presentation with the comic style artwork with more of a Sin City (the movie NOT the graphic novel) flow.
Physics
Max Payne has great physics, bullet physics control the path and actual power of each shot, explosions move boxes, flying into bad guys knocking them down and more. But all of it has been seen before and a major push in physics needs to happen. Other competing games have amazing world physics and they've helped standardized the gaming industry for physics engines.
The signature leather jacket Max wears in both games moves well, but adding cloth physics to the jacket would give it that natural sway as he runs and jumps and flies through the air. In "A Better Tomorrow 1 and 2," Chow Yun Fat wore a trench coat and in slow motion the movement added to the action and really was a trademark and part of the ballet on the screen.
In Max Payne 2 shooting one of the bad guys in mid air with a powerful enough weapon, would move him and change direction - great effects. However, we need to see more environment effects from the full body motion and impact. Several times, the body wouldn’t knock over a box, but slightly bumping it while other times Max would send the box flying as if a charging herd of elephants hit the box full force.
Music
Music was by far our biggest complaint in the titles. It was not noticeable and for an action story with film noir elements you need the music to draw you into the environment. There are plenty of local New York musicians who could give you a New York attitude in future Max Payne titles. You are in one of the greatest cities in the USA, give us some of that attitude we expect from the Big Apple.
Sound
Both games have sub par sound effects. The gun fire sounds muted, explosions are firecrackers and environment sound effects are rather poor. Of course, the games were made in the era of 2.0 stereo and not digital but this is something that needs to be improved one hundred fold.
Every gun has its own personality, the sound it makes reloading, when firing and when changing the clip over. There was nothing different unique in sound between the 9mm and the .50 Desert Eagle to set the guns apart. Max Payne is a game about gun play, the guns should be almost characters we come to love and caress like a long lost love, not a cap gun our annoying nephew shoots off at family get togethers.
Voice over is where Max Payne shines. Using over the top dialog mixed with stereotypical accents and voices really apply a personality to each character. Keep this level of quality with the exaggerated dialog and stereotypical aspects so the next title feels like a Max Payne hit.
Game Play
Hands down, the best part of the Max Payne falls to the realm of gameplay. It is flawless, easy to run through a door and in perfect slow motion firing dual machine pistols tearing up a trio of bad guys while they try and shoot you down. There is a few small problems with the overall game play.
Max Payne is a violent game. Back in the day, it was considered a very violent game title. If re-made today, those annoying politicians would be all over it. The game needs to keep its violence level and perhaps push it up several notches by applying more blood and body damage to the character models. It is not realistic to shoot twenty bullets in to a triad member with only a small drop of blood. If you're going to mark the game "M" for mature, we can handle the updated violence.
The game is fun but the sheer amount of weapons Max can carry is a little absurd. Yes, Max is a strong guy and somehow can carry the weight of three shotguns, four pistols, three machine guns, a bat, grenades, two rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammo and still dance across the levels with ease. Of course, it is a video game and not reality, but less weapons and ammo with more of a scramble during combat would be frantic fun and add a bit more challenge.
Max Payne requires the chaos and beauty found in games like F.E.A.R. Chunks of wood, shards of glass, body parts, weapons, papers, trash cans, soda cans and almost everything else blown up in the air during gun fights they really have raised the bar. Duplicating some of the detail in newer hit action shooters could help the Max Payne franchise.
What can we do without? The Dream/Coma/Drug induced vision sequences of the Max Payne games. This is the worst aspect of the game series and we say this with the utmost respect, but Remedy, "You SUCK at this."
Other areas that can be removed or reworked:
- Long drawn out slow motion battles in long green shaded hallways. Confusing and doesn't fit the theme.
- Cut down on the weapon count. Produce a smaller set of high quality varying weapons, each with their own personality.
Controls
The controls are decent but sometimes aiming with the controller is hit or miss. With advancements in game controls we should see a rather solid next generation control scheme.
Multiplayer
Remedy had troubles coming up with a way to add multiplayer and slow motion to the game. F.E.A.R. proved it is more then possible with slow motion type of multiplayer games that are fun and do require some strategy. Adopt the strategy and run with it.
Multiplayer is required in most of todays gaming. Even solid single player games are shunned for not including some multiplayer aspect. Stay away from the standard CTF type of games but go more for the big shoot outs in great locations in ranked matches. Look at Halo 2 for how to do multiplayer correctly. Make sure your multiplayer is solid - nobody wants ten patches after release time.
Story (Spoilers for the first two games)
Not often will we touch on the actual story for a game we want to see on a next generation console, but Max Payne - they need some help. The first title had a great story but someone dropped the ball with the Max Payne 2 sequel.
I know Mona died at the end of Max Payne, good. Playing her was a bad idea in Max Payne 2. Why? The game is called Max Payne - not Max and Mona do New York. While she was a great character and love interest for Max, playing a stage as Mona rips you out of Max’s struggle and removes you from the character the story revolves around.
If Max keeps his job as a cop in the next title, wrap the story in a modern tale post 9/11 in New York. Max needs a master villain to compete against; we really just didn’t see this in the second Max Payne story and it let us down as players. After the revenge driven story of the first game the second title paled in comparison. He could use a partner (not a woman) who is more "by the book" than Max. Cliché yes but it’s a video game after all.
Max is a broken character with deep emotional wounds and after Mona betrayed him he will not fall in love again, keeping everyone at arms length. Max needs a direction and there are many possible angles as a retired cop from the force. We've got many ideas for this, email us if you must, but please do not let an entry level programmer create the story on a pizza box again.
Overall
Both Max Payne games are worth keeping in your gaming library for some fun gun blazing slow mo action. For less than USD $10.00 for both games, it is a no brainer regardless to the sequels weak story line.
Both games sold well and Rockstar needs something other then GTA to keep their name as a great publisher. I am surprised we've not seen a third Max Payne product, especially with the latest consoles ability to push the game to new bullet laden heights.
