Max Payne has plenty of mechanics that you don't really notice until you put time into learning the controls of the game.  Have you ever went to an empty part of a level just to feel Max out?  You know, rolling, running and dive all over so you can get a feel for timing and move buffering and the like?  To me it's like, why wouldn't you do that?  I'm from the old school of gaming where you make the game yours by playing it your way. 

So many games today are so tailored that you can't really do too much outside of the box the developers create for you.  So, it's great when a game like MP3 comes along and gives you a set of mechanics, a bunch of varied weapons and a room full of enemies and just says, "Play."

All the more reason I feel sites like this should be less focused on previewing and reviewing games and more focused on talking more about how to play games. 

Did You Know?

When you do a shootdodge, do it into cover, yes.  But if you do happen to dive into the open, two words, stay down.  Do not get up, you have a better advantage returning fire from prone than you do trying to stand up.

But, do you also know that you do not have to go prone?  Tap the direction of your shootdodge as soon as Max hits the ground to transition straight into a run.  Works everytime for me, I just forget to use it a lot.

Running forward into fire is signifigantly easier when you zig-zag when you run.  Activate manual bullettime and get something automatic and the headshots come easy.

Cover is only for reloading, moving or blindfiring in real-time to build up bullettime.

I can't help but think of the best Mann movies when I play this.  Miami Vice, Heat, even Hancock all have that realistic, gritty, pondering feeling of examining a character for whom killing and conflict is an everyday thing.  The high level of violence, the gun porn, the square, perpendicular camera shots that let the scene tell the story instead of the cinematography.  Hell, Max Payne IS Vincent (Tom Cruise's character) from Collateral.  He's even wearing the same suit!  I'd love to see Micheal Mann produce a Max Payne movie, or produce a Max Payne game!  Anyone with me here?

I think I'm gonna bump this again, as I believe it has't been given it's due. Come on, guys!

bump

Spider-Man was already perfected last gen in Spider-Man 2.

TGM_basic

Come on, gents. I'm keeping this bumped 'till you all wake up.

I got another one.

River City Ransom

I vote for Team Ninja on this one. Make it purely skill-based, like Ninja Gaiden. Easy to play, hard to master. Keep it iso-2D, but with 3D cel-shaded characters. No need to stay in reality here, go way over the top with finishers, team attacks and team combos. It should be like an RPG where you're constantly unlocking and buying new moves and abilities, almost overwhelmingly, so you can find your own fighting style. Movement through the level would be screen-by-screen like the old game, let the camera zoom out to show everyone onscreen at the same time, allow you to create your own characters and schools to fight each other online and make it a cheap XBLA download. BAM!

So, what? No thinkers on Gamespot? Come on, guys. The more we speak, the better chance someone will listen. You'd be surprised by how many developers read these kinda threads.