Max Payne is maybe one of the best shooters there is.
The scenes where he has his nightmares are maybe the most chilling feeling you can get in a game. Hearing nothing but a women crying and a baby crying. Losing what he loves only made him a stronger and more bad ass character. To date he can even make Master Chief and many other modern heroes cringe at what he went through and what he can do. It is only one man against almost impossible odds looking for revenge.
The game plays very smooth with a few glitches that you have to love. One of them is waiting at a double swing door with a bat and knocking the foe through the door. Since you are blocked by the door you can't get shot, and they can't walk through. Which means swing away.
It's a game that is modeled from action movies, and now it has it's own action movie. It is a must play game if you are into shooters. And even if you don't like shooters you will be sucked into the story.