r/maxpayne

I'm partial to when you pick some up at the cemetery in 3 and Max says "Saying goodbye is painful".

I just bought this game for the first time ever, and I loved it.

I know i’m late to the party, but does anyone still play online?

They're so goddamn stylish and psychedelic and unique and fucking COOL dude I CAN'T man

Plus they're a really sick visual indicator of both how disheveled Max is by this entry and of his emotions/physical state of being in a non-verbal way (like he stumbles slightly and the camera flashes like his head just stung or he pops painkillers and 3 mirror images of him fade in next to him because of the hazy way those feel and things like that)

If I ever make a game/a movie and I have the budget for it I'm definitely taking heavy inspiration from 3's visual style

First time I noticed this lol

what does this quote mean?

After beating Max Payne 3 last year, I ended up doing another playthrough just recently and it was just as hard. The game's difficulty is brutal and punishing. I remember when I first played the game a long time ago and I tried approaching it like a traditional third person shooter. It was unlike any other shooter that I had played at the time. Let's just put this way. I got humbled very quickly and it served as a wake-up call. I was forced to step outside of my comfort zone.

Rockstar intentionally designed Max Payne 3 to be much more difficult than a standard third person shooter. For one thing, Max Payne has actual weight to his movement. In the first two games, Max Payne could bounce back right onto his feet after a shoot-dodge. However, in Max Payne 3, he has momentum. If you dive into an open area and you don't clear a room, you are basically laying on the ground for a few seconds until Max can slowly pick himself back up. You end up being a sitting duck because you're still taking damage until he's able to recover.

Second, enemy A.I. is super aggressive. It's not like Call of Duty where I could sit behind cover and peek my head out and shoot. Enemies don't just wait behind cover until I stick my head out. They will flank, rush to the player's position, and blindly fire with accuracy. Their aggressive behavior means that they can kill Max in two or three shots. They're very good at getting headshots as well.

Another thing that's worth mentioning is that there's a cutscene weapon reset. One of the most overlooked aspects that contributes to the game's difficulty is the fact that the game automatically equips Max with his single-handed pistol. Apparently, Rockstar didn't want him holding a rifle during cutscenes. When a cutscene finishes, Max is stuck using the aforementioned pistol while enemies are already shooting him.

Lastly, and this is easily the most frustrating thing about Max Payne 3. Enemies have a habit of popping out of nowhere. If you don't spot an enemy right on the dot, then Max's health will drop to zero in a blink of an eye. Sure, you get the last man standing mechanic where Max can kill the last enemy that delivered the fatal shot. However, if an enemy pops up behind a wall, a pillar, or at an awkward angle where you're reticle can't reach him in time, then you have to watch Max bleed while he wastes a painkiller. Because the camera is framed so close to Max's shoulder, your vision is severely limited. Just when you think you cleared an area, an enemy will show up out of nowhere. Before you know it, shots are fired and Max is already dead.

Max Payne 3 is a great game, but, at times, it ends up requiring a bit of trial and error. Chapters end up being like puzzles where you have to try your best to remember the ambush points. It's easier said than done though. I was able to do that here and there, but not all the time. It's also worth mentioning that certain cover can be destroyed. You can't always use it as a safety net. Like I said, it's a great game, but it's unforgiving. I appreciate the challenge, but it comes at the expense of being unfair at times. What are your thoughts and opinions?

"Say what you want about Americans but we understand capitalism. You buy yourself a product and you get what you pay for, and these chumps had paid for some angry gringo without the sensibilities to know right from wrong. Here I was, about to execute this poor bastard like some dime-store angel of death, and I realized: they were correct. I wouldn't know right from wrong if one of them was feeding the poor and the other was banging my sister."

God, what a beautifully written line for a character such as Max who we all universally adore. You have to hand it to the writers for creating such uniquely gritty lines for James McCaffrey to have such a God given gift for delivery in the recording studio.

Rest In Peace James, thank you for providing the voice and likeness for the character across the entire Max Payne trilogy, as well as in other Remedy Entertainment titles like Alan Wake and Control. You will always be missed but more importantly, you will always be remembered.

Fuck yeah didn't pay too much for these