Max Payne 3

I have never finished a Max Payne game even though I have owned them all for years. I think I got the first two in a steam dale package for about five dollars and I picked up Max Payne 3 on sale on steam for about 10. I have tried to play through the first game and for one reason or another I gave up and never went back to it.

Same goes for the third game. I started playing it and never finished and never went back to it until now. I did play quite a bit of the multiplayer though when it was still populated and it was pretty decent.

I never even started up Max Payne 2 , but some parts of the third game make me want to go and play the previous ones through to get the references.

I just had an unexplainable urge to play Max Payne 3 again, so I started it up and this time started the campaign on hard. I'm glad I did because this game is incredible. It has graphics that hold up against many of todays games, it has great voice acting by the entire cast and it also has great motion capture.

It does a lot of other things really well too. One thing I really love and don't get tired of are the deaths. When you kill someone ( and you kill thousands of people) they stumble and react in different ways. One guy I shot in a cemetery, grabbed his wound then stumbled sideways. There was a tombstone in front of him which he put his hands on to brace himself as he fell and it was incredibly realistic. There were many more times where I was in awe at how enemies reacted to being shot and killed. I cant think of another game that does it this well.

This game is very cinematic and the narration from the voice actor playing Max is great. He reminisces about his experience as you play through it giving insight into his thoughts at the time of the events , and you can come across clues in the missions that add more voice overs about the situation.

The camera moves around the characters and camera effects quickly flash around which puts you into Max's drug and alcohol induced state of mind. Really, the entire time you're playing as Max, he's drunk and on lots of pain killers so he is never fully focused and clear headed.

There are moments when you kill the last of a group of bad guys and the camera will pull in to a cool shot of Max firing his gun, then you will see the bullets in slow motion tearing through the last enemy and you can stop firing , or keep unloading while the camera moves to show the poor guy get ripped apart by your bullets. It's so fun to see and very satisfying.

The story is actually interesting and keeps you invested by making all the characters engaging. It starts off as a simple story about going after a girl who gets abducted on your watch. It slowly twists into something more with Max being a pawn in a bigger scheme.

The story goes back and forth between the present and the past which was pretty neat. You get to see old style Max with his classic trench coat and full head of hair, to him bald with a full beard wearing a bright shirt with palm trees and parrots on it.

The gameplay is top notch. The basic gunplay is really fun and there are lots of weapons to use. Handguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers. Also, each level has 2 golden guns you can find. Each gun has 3 pieces you need to find and when you do you unlock the golden gun which I assume is more powerful but it doesn't really say. The gold guns also look cooler.

On top of the basic gunplay you have the bullet time. When you press the bullet time button, time slows and you can take out a bunch of enemies before they have a chance to do much. It helps when you are outnumbered and you need to get up from cover to take the group out. Without bullet time they would mow you down quick but with it you can aim and kill them before they do that .

Also, if you dive , time will slow down and you can fly through the air and pick off baddies in a really cool looking way before you hit the ground and time goes back to normal speed.

The music in the game is very intense and keeps with the mood of the situation at all times. I really enjoyed the music in the game and stopped a few times as I realized just how tense I was feeling about what was happening in the game.

Hard mode is definitely hard, and I had to replay certain sections over many many times because of how hard it can be when you are outnumbered, only have so much ammo and health and your survival relies on how good you are at headshots and if luck is on your side. I saw the death of Max too many times to count. It did get frustrating but beating those sections felt very rewarding.

Yes, this game is old, the game came out in 2012, but I personally don't feel the need to purchase every new game that comes out for 80 dollars. I am more selective on new games, but there are always steam sales and even just going through your backlog of game when you're bored and don't know what to play. That's pretty much what brought me to playing through Max  Payne 3.

I recommend this game. If you want a great shooter to play through and you have never played this one, then go try it out. Its always on sale on steam and its worth what you'll pay for it. It has great production value and I didn't run into any game breaking bugs and you will have a ton of fun with it.

Don't shell out big bucks for what's

out now. Do you need the new call of duty or assassins creed at 80 bucks a pop? I say wait for those games to come down in price or go on sale on steam and in the meantime go to your backlog and finish an old gem of a game that you might have overlooked.