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Boxia
10-25-14 08:34 AM
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endings
10-25-14 07:49 PM
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A cop fallen from grace......nothing to lose.

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
9.3
8
10
9
9
10
6
Boxia's Score
9.6
8
10
9
9
10
6

10-25-14 08:34 AM
Boxia is Offline
| ID: 1096647 | 2056 Words

Boxia
Level: 95


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Likes: 1  Dislikes: 0
Back in 2001, Rockstar Games had their first big success with Grand Theft Auto III. This installment added 3D graphics, a larger map, and more missions. The game made millions, and put Rockstar at the peak of attention in a time when heavy violence in video games was extremely controversial. Of course, the company couldn't rely solely on satirical third-person shooters for income - they had to branch out. And branch out they did. Max Payne was released in the same year as GTA III, but the two share little similarity besides both being shooters. Max Payne is much darker and grittier than the latter and, to boot, is much deeper. Let's dive right into the first "serious" game ever made by Rockstar!


A broken man alone on a snow covered concrete jungle......Max Payne is at his worst.



In 1998, NYPD officer Max Payne returns home to find that his baby daughter and wife, Rose, have been killed by junkies high on a new kind of drug. Following the deaths, Payne transforms into a sarcastic, bleak, poetically-minded shell of his past self and transfers to the DEA intent on stopping the flow of the drug, dubbed Valkyr. During a mission in the New York Subway three years later, Payne stumbles across a bank robbery being carried out by mobsters of the Punchinello crime family. Max kills the mobsters, who were stealing bonds of an enormously successful new company, and goes to meet with his colleague and close friend, Alex. Alex is killed by an unknown figure, and Payne is framed for the crime. Now without allies or friends, Max roams the blizzard-sieged streets of New York in a quest to knock down the Punchinellos, stop Valkyr, and evade his former comrades. Along the way, he begins to unravel an ever-increasing hidden web of secrets regarding the death of his loved ones and those who were involved.


There is a level of density and grittiness to this story that remains unrivalled even by most games today. The title never fears to go to forbidden lands (violent murder of children by junkies, for example) and leaves you hanging, wanting to go further and find more. This is a pretty huge feat for a Rockstar game, let alone the fact it was made in 2001.


You can't fight those mobsters alone! Take this!



The most prominent aspect of the game is, as with all shooters, the arsenal. You have just about every type of portable weapon here. Everything from lead pipes to sniper rifles and Beretta pistols to grenade launchers, even Molotov’s and Grenades, are covered. When you start off, you are armed with a simple lead pipe and a Beretta. Over time you can expand your armory to encompass every weapon available to a New York mobster......as well as some that aren't. The best part of these weapons is how fun they are, especially the automatic ones. For example, an assault rifle can tear through foes like paper. Not only is it fun to mow through hoards like that, it's also VERY helpful in the later levels where droves of killers will swarm you all at once. Matter of fact, there's pretty a weapon for every situation. Need to take care of an enemy at long-range? Sniper Rifle, ho! Need to off a hardy boss? Dual Ingram’s, away! Bonus points for expansiveness, enjoyment, and usefulness.


Even the grittiest, toughest bent cop can't withstand a million rounds boring into his body and shake it off. Max can take some shots, of course, but it all builds up and he'll die if he doesn't do something about all of the pain. That's why we have the painkiller system. Painkillers can be found pretty much everywhere; bathrooms, hotel rooms, docks - anywhere with people. A painkiller will restore some of Maxs’ health - about 20% of it. You can only carry eight, so be careful about where and when you use it! Something important to note is that painkillers will not do all of their work immediately. About half of its effect will take a few seconds to set in. That makes sense - medication doesn't work right away, it needs time. Besides that, I’ll also give points for practicality (can be used anywhere and heals a fair bit of health) and how you must use it wisely (you can only have eight and you have to plan when to use them for best effect).


Probably the most famous of the core mechanics is bullet time. This allows our hero to enter a slow-motion mode, during which he can see bullets flying and thus dodge them with much less effort. He can also go into shoot dodge, during which he will jump in whatever direction you are moving and enter slow-motion, allowing you to gun down foes mid-air while still dodging them. A rather peculiar glitch here is that Max is completely invincible during it. Even a grenade launcher, twenty machine pistols, and a million other firearms can't kill you. Sure, you'll take damage but you'll still be very much alive. It's a pretty funny glitch, however, especially when there are loads of heavily armed goons trying hard yet failing harder to kill you, so I really can't take points off for it. As for the mechanic as a whole, it’s fun, it's cool (especially when narrowly dodging a hailstorm of bullets), and it's fresh (for the time, at least).


The other main mechanic is saving. You can save at any point except for cutscenes by pressing F5, and can load the save by pressing F9 twice. The game may also auto save at certain points throughout the mission. It's really a lifesaver, especially in the foe-crammed latter chapters. It's made even better by how convenient it is - one click is a save and another two is a saved rear!


That's cool and all, but what about the stages?



There are a total of twenty-two levels ("chapters") in this game, not counting the prologue levels. The chapters are divided into three "parts" with each part holding a different amount of chapters. For example, the first part holds nine chapters while the second part holds five. The divisions are done logically and in a manner that matches up with the story excellently.


The prologue levels are the first chapters of each part. Excluding the first level, which is set at Max's house on that fateful day in 1998, all prologue stages are set in a horrific, violent, and overall disgusting dream sequence that Max ends up in for different reasons. There are two sections to these levels: navigating a maze-like house modelled after the house Payne's family was killed in, and another maze section where you must walk along literal paths of blood to reach the end. Terrifying noises and disturbing images abound in these levels. Many surfaces are covered in blood, and there's an abundance of distant screams and other assorted ambiance like footsteps and moaning. These noises do an excellent job of terrifying you, especially the screams. A great example is the scream heard when you fall off of a blood trail and into the pit. It's one of the only things in video games the genuinely startles me. However, these stages also do an amazing job of building mood with very dark methods. Shocking, yes, but that's exactly what makes it so effective.


The main chapters constitute the games main show. They all take place in varying locations in New York City, from slums to satanic nightclubs and more. These locations, no matter what or where they are, all share one common aspect: darkness. Besides the obvious graphical darkness features, there's also drabness in the music and even the enemies. Though there are numerous comic relief scenarios (two mooks failing to defuse a bomb, for example), the overall mood of the areas remains serious and cold. Jumping over pits, mowing through baddies, and navigating the common sprawl of many locations you'll notice that most everyone has a burning desire to kill you, even the stages seem like it. Then again, the record-breaking blizzard in town can turn any situation into a life-or-death one. Always employing the mechanics near flawlessly (you'll never not need your weapons, painkillers, and bullet time for encounters), these stages serve not as just as good exhibitions but also as great diversions that really stand out from other "run-and-shoot" Rockstar titles.


Finally, if you're bored of the vanilla story mode on any of the difficulties, you have the New York Minute mode. You must beat the game on any difficulty to unlock it first. As it says on the tin, you start off a chapter from the story with one minute to finish it. Of course, that won't be nearly enough time for anyone, so you can kill thugs to gain an extra 5 seconds on the clock per head. It's a fun little challenge for those who want a different Max Payne experience, but it gets downright unforgiving by the end (all those mooks....so little time.....).


There are some sick tunes to go along with some sicker noire graphics.


Max Payne is certainly one of the most stylised games of its time. The entire graphical system is based off a noire theme infused with the many Norse references appearing throughout (Ragnarok, Valkyries, etc.). There are two main graphical formats:


1) The graphic novel format: This is used for most of the cutscenes. All of the action is showed through several panels arranged and drawn like a graphic novel, complete with several comic effects (like "BOOM"). However, these "comics" are just as serious as the rest of the game, with dark scenes like slums at night infused with heavy violence appearing frequently. It's rather well done, with great amount of detail going into body features and background textures to give it a true authentic feel.


2) The real time graphics. These are used for gameplay and a few cutscenes (like the opening cutscene). They are easily my biggest beef with the game. I understand that this was 2001 and graphics weren't exactly spectacular, but these are flat out ugly! I'm willing to accept that they may add to the bleak feel of the game, but everything that's not blocky is low-quality (perfect example: billboards). That includes structures, vehicles (what I like to call spinning cubes), and most famously, characters. When they don't look perpetually narcoleptic or constipated (or both) they look as though they want to off themselves. The face and bodily detail here is so poor that you'd swear your vision was getting clouded by something, but that's not the case. Once more, I admit this does add to the atmosphere, but it looks uglier than it does mood-building.


At the end of the day I must give major props to Rockstar for building such a genuinely hostile environment long before many other developers could catch on, but I must decry the fact that the game as a whole is in dire need of polish.


Something that compensates for the graphics by far is the soundtrack. They have all the basics and more in just one track. The main theme is atmospheric, energetic, and epic all at once. It's certainly a song that'll get you pumped up for the rest of the game. Besides that, you also have numerous eerie tracks - tracks that genuinely unsettle you and in certain cases even disturb you. These are the pieces that get played during prologue levels, pieces that get played over and over again just enough to spook you but not enough to get you annoyed. Those compositions are balanced perfectly with the energetic works that quickly get stuck in your head due to their sheer power. All in all, it's truly a masterful ensemble to be envied by all inferior soundtracks and also one to be imitated for many years to come.


Final Verdict:



Max Payne is not just one of the best PC games of its time - it's one of the best PC games of all time, period. The story, soundtracks, and stages are amazing and just about everything else about it is commendable. It's a must play for anyone that can handle its extremely dark nature (which I REALLY hope you can, since this game is so dang awesome).


Final Score: 9.6/10
Back in 2001, Rockstar Games had their first big success with Grand Theft Auto III. This installment added 3D graphics, a larger map, and more missions. The game made millions, and put Rockstar at the peak of attention in a time when heavy violence in video games was extremely controversial. Of course, the company couldn't rely solely on satirical third-person shooters for income - they had to branch out. And branch out they did. Max Payne was released in the same year as GTA III, but the two share little similarity besides both being shooters. Max Payne is much darker and grittier than the latter and, to boot, is much deeper. Let's dive right into the first "serious" game ever made by Rockstar!


A broken man alone on a snow covered concrete jungle......Max Payne is at his worst.



In 1998, NYPD officer Max Payne returns home to find that his baby daughter and wife, Rose, have been killed by junkies high on a new kind of drug. Following the deaths, Payne transforms into a sarcastic, bleak, poetically-minded shell of his past self and transfers to the DEA intent on stopping the flow of the drug, dubbed Valkyr. During a mission in the New York Subway three years later, Payne stumbles across a bank robbery being carried out by mobsters of the Punchinello crime family. Max kills the mobsters, who were stealing bonds of an enormously successful new company, and goes to meet with his colleague and close friend, Alex. Alex is killed by an unknown figure, and Payne is framed for the crime. Now without allies or friends, Max roams the blizzard-sieged streets of New York in a quest to knock down the Punchinellos, stop Valkyr, and evade his former comrades. Along the way, he begins to unravel an ever-increasing hidden web of secrets regarding the death of his loved ones and those who were involved.


There is a level of density and grittiness to this story that remains unrivalled even by most games today. The title never fears to go to forbidden lands (violent murder of children by junkies, for example) and leaves you hanging, wanting to go further and find more. This is a pretty huge feat for a Rockstar game, let alone the fact it was made in 2001.


You can't fight those mobsters alone! Take this!



The most prominent aspect of the game is, as with all shooters, the arsenal. You have just about every type of portable weapon here. Everything from lead pipes to sniper rifles and Beretta pistols to grenade launchers, even Molotov’s and Grenades, are covered. When you start off, you are armed with a simple lead pipe and a Beretta. Over time you can expand your armory to encompass every weapon available to a New York mobster......as well as some that aren't. The best part of these weapons is how fun they are, especially the automatic ones. For example, an assault rifle can tear through foes like paper. Not only is it fun to mow through hoards like that, it's also VERY helpful in the later levels where droves of killers will swarm you all at once. Matter of fact, there's pretty a weapon for every situation. Need to take care of an enemy at long-range? Sniper Rifle, ho! Need to off a hardy boss? Dual Ingram’s, away! Bonus points for expansiveness, enjoyment, and usefulness.


Even the grittiest, toughest bent cop can't withstand a million rounds boring into his body and shake it off. Max can take some shots, of course, but it all builds up and he'll die if he doesn't do something about all of the pain. That's why we have the painkiller system. Painkillers can be found pretty much everywhere; bathrooms, hotel rooms, docks - anywhere with people. A painkiller will restore some of Maxs’ health - about 20% of it. You can only carry eight, so be careful about where and when you use it! Something important to note is that painkillers will not do all of their work immediately. About half of its effect will take a few seconds to set in. That makes sense - medication doesn't work right away, it needs time. Besides that, I’ll also give points for practicality (can be used anywhere and heals a fair bit of health) and how you must use it wisely (you can only have eight and you have to plan when to use them for best effect).


Probably the most famous of the core mechanics is bullet time. This allows our hero to enter a slow-motion mode, during which he can see bullets flying and thus dodge them with much less effort. He can also go into shoot dodge, during which he will jump in whatever direction you are moving and enter slow-motion, allowing you to gun down foes mid-air while still dodging them. A rather peculiar glitch here is that Max is completely invincible during it. Even a grenade launcher, twenty machine pistols, and a million other firearms can't kill you. Sure, you'll take damage but you'll still be very much alive. It's a pretty funny glitch, however, especially when there are loads of heavily armed goons trying hard yet failing harder to kill you, so I really can't take points off for it. As for the mechanic as a whole, it’s fun, it's cool (especially when narrowly dodging a hailstorm of bullets), and it's fresh (for the time, at least).


The other main mechanic is saving. You can save at any point except for cutscenes by pressing F5, and can load the save by pressing F9 twice. The game may also auto save at certain points throughout the mission. It's really a lifesaver, especially in the foe-crammed latter chapters. It's made even better by how convenient it is - one click is a save and another two is a saved rear!


That's cool and all, but what about the stages?



There are a total of twenty-two levels ("chapters") in this game, not counting the prologue levels. The chapters are divided into three "parts" with each part holding a different amount of chapters. For example, the first part holds nine chapters while the second part holds five. The divisions are done logically and in a manner that matches up with the story excellently.


The prologue levels are the first chapters of each part. Excluding the first level, which is set at Max's house on that fateful day in 1998, all prologue stages are set in a horrific, violent, and overall disgusting dream sequence that Max ends up in for different reasons. There are two sections to these levels: navigating a maze-like house modelled after the house Payne's family was killed in, and another maze section where you must walk along literal paths of blood to reach the end. Terrifying noises and disturbing images abound in these levels. Many surfaces are covered in blood, and there's an abundance of distant screams and other assorted ambiance like footsteps and moaning. These noises do an excellent job of terrifying you, especially the screams. A great example is the scream heard when you fall off of a blood trail and into the pit. It's one of the only things in video games the genuinely startles me. However, these stages also do an amazing job of building mood with very dark methods. Shocking, yes, but that's exactly what makes it so effective.


The main chapters constitute the games main show. They all take place in varying locations in New York City, from slums to satanic nightclubs and more. These locations, no matter what or where they are, all share one common aspect: darkness. Besides the obvious graphical darkness features, there's also drabness in the music and even the enemies. Though there are numerous comic relief scenarios (two mooks failing to defuse a bomb, for example), the overall mood of the areas remains serious and cold. Jumping over pits, mowing through baddies, and navigating the common sprawl of many locations you'll notice that most everyone has a burning desire to kill you, even the stages seem like it. Then again, the record-breaking blizzard in town can turn any situation into a life-or-death one. Always employing the mechanics near flawlessly (you'll never not need your weapons, painkillers, and bullet time for encounters), these stages serve not as just as good exhibitions but also as great diversions that really stand out from other "run-and-shoot" Rockstar titles.


Finally, if you're bored of the vanilla story mode on any of the difficulties, you have the New York Minute mode. You must beat the game on any difficulty to unlock it first. As it says on the tin, you start off a chapter from the story with one minute to finish it. Of course, that won't be nearly enough time for anyone, so you can kill thugs to gain an extra 5 seconds on the clock per head. It's a fun little challenge for those who want a different Max Payne experience, but it gets downright unforgiving by the end (all those mooks....so little time.....).


There are some sick tunes to go along with some sicker noire graphics.


Max Payne is certainly one of the most stylised games of its time. The entire graphical system is based off a noire theme infused with the many Norse references appearing throughout (Ragnarok, Valkyries, etc.). There are two main graphical formats:


1) The graphic novel format: This is used for most of the cutscenes. All of the action is showed through several panels arranged and drawn like a graphic novel, complete with several comic effects (like "BOOM"). However, these "comics" are just as serious as the rest of the game, with dark scenes like slums at night infused with heavy violence appearing frequently. It's rather well done, with great amount of detail going into body features and background textures to give it a true authentic feel.


2) The real time graphics. These are used for gameplay and a few cutscenes (like the opening cutscene). They are easily my biggest beef with the game. I understand that this was 2001 and graphics weren't exactly spectacular, but these are flat out ugly! I'm willing to accept that they may add to the bleak feel of the game, but everything that's not blocky is low-quality (perfect example: billboards). That includes structures, vehicles (what I like to call spinning cubes), and most famously, characters. When they don't look perpetually narcoleptic or constipated (or both) they look as though they want to off themselves. The face and bodily detail here is so poor that you'd swear your vision was getting clouded by something, but that's not the case. Once more, I admit this does add to the atmosphere, but it looks uglier than it does mood-building.


At the end of the day I must give major props to Rockstar for building such a genuinely hostile environment long before many other developers could catch on, but I must decry the fact that the game as a whole is in dire need of polish.


Something that compensates for the graphics by far is the soundtrack. They have all the basics and more in just one track. The main theme is atmospheric, energetic, and epic all at once. It's certainly a song that'll get you pumped up for the rest of the game. Besides that, you also have numerous eerie tracks - tracks that genuinely unsettle you and in certain cases even disturb you. These are the pieces that get played during prologue levels, pieces that get played over and over again just enough to spook you but not enough to get you annoyed. Those compositions are balanced perfectly with the energetic works that quickly get stuck in your head due to their sheer power. All in all, it's truly a masterful ensemble to be envied by all inferior soundtracks and also one to be imitated for many years to come.


Final Verdict:



Max Payne is not just one of the best PC games of its time - it's one of the best PC games of all time, period. The story, soundtracks, and stages are amazing and just about everything else about it is commendable. It's a must play for anyone that can handle its extremely dark nature (which I REALLY hope you can, since this game is so dang awesome).


Final Score: 9.6/10
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Post Rating: 1   Liked By: drivethemfromourlands,

10-25-14 09:25 AM
drivethemfromourlands is Offline
| ID: 1096690 | 15 Words


noahs_brother
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Boxia : wow. Great review. I praise you. This was much better than my review. Lol.
Boxia : wow. Great review. I praise you. This was much better than my review. Lol.
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10-25-14 07:49 PM
endings is Offline
| ID: 1096914 | 16 Words

endings
Level: 58


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Boxia : Good review sir. Still not one I could play, but you did a great job.
Boxia : Good review sir. Still not one I could play, but you did a great job.
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