Critically Acclaim
User Rating: 8.7 | Max Payne PS2
Now here's what an action game should be. Max Payne is like a tribute to such Hollywood action icons, such as The Matrix (1999) and director John Woo. This is one of the best video games I have played in a long time. Never in a video game have I seen such good graphics, great dialogue, and intense action. At best, a game like Max Payne runs like a television marathon series. The game is separated into three chapters with at least seven parts each, including the amazing graphic novels. The game has a promising premise: DEA agent Max Payne is framed for the murder of his partner, Alex Balder, during a robbery in a New York subway station. With his partner dead, Payne is framed for the crime and the robbery. The case takes a bigger turn with the flow of a new drug in the city, and the possibility of a corrupt organization's involvement in supporting the drug (known as Valkyr). For Payne, it's going to be a long night in New York, during the city's snowstorm blizzard of the century. Max Payne is a dark video game, and the title hero is also the narrator of the story, and while Payne doesn't seem confident in his storytelling, at times, he provides humor during the narration. The game shifts us to the events leading up to Payne being set up. There is a sad and somewhat unpleasant sequence where Payne's wife and baby daughter are murdered by Valkyr junkies. And there is the possibility that the corrupt Aesir Corp. may be responsible for his family's death. Payne must also battle a trail of mobsters, security agents, and black ops operatives, who all want him dead. What makes Max Payne a great video game is the graphics, which uses New York locations we've probably never seen before, such as a run-down night club called Ragna Rock, and an old seaport. There is even a great chase sequence where Payne chases a mobster from buildings to a construction site, and to the rooftops of New York apartment buildings (Not in that order). Payne is also given a cache of weapons, such as handguns, grenade launchers, and machine guns. All enough to start a war. There is even a feature known as bullet time (reminiscent of the action style seen in the John Woo movies), in which Max is able to slow down time and get a better advantage over his enemies. And while Max Payne is such a good game, it has its minimal flaws, which is its lack of character variety; the mobsters (who resemble Joe Pesci wiseguys), and agents all look essentially the same. The body count, and the amount of bullets used are ridiculously too high. And sometimes shooting someone in the head doesn't work all the time. But not all levels rely on handguns and automatic weapons. There is a moment that I like where Payne is unarmed and he must fight through a hallway full of thugs with a baseball bat. There has been rumors that Max Payne is being made into a motion picture by Twentieth Century Fox (or Dimension) that will fill in the gaps missing in both games. The video games, alone, are perfect. Max Payne creates a hero, who, if not plausible, is at least persuading as a man determined to find the truth and clear his name. 
