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Ok, I've done a review and little "1st Impressions" thread, but now I've been at it all weekend near enough (band and the lady not withstanding).
Does my initial impression of it hold up?
Not at all.
I can say, hand on heart, that this isn't probably the best game I've ever played.
It is without a shadow of a doubt, the single best game I have played on any platform, ever.
Why?
Polygon blah, frame-rate yadda yadda, adjustable difficulty talk talk talk.
Forget that geek talk, it's pointless with Max Payne.
It boils down to one and one thing only:
The is the coolest game you will ever play.
Ever.
So howcome?
Well, imagine you were a games designer, and you sat round with your mates and said "What game do we want to play?"
"How's about one with slo-mo stuff like The Matrix? You could burst into a room with 6 people, hit the button and everything slows to allow you to get around and shoot them!"
And, praise the lord, this is what they have done.
But it's not just that feature, although it does set it amongst god-level for me.
These guys have watched John Woo movies, Hong Kong action flicks, every single cool Manga cartoon and taken the bits that you and me love and stuck them in a game to play around with.
It has a narration for the cut-scenes (done in graphic novel style), and ANY game that has the main character say "I made like Chow-Yun Fat and took that place apart" gets my vote.
And a game where one character has to offer a password to get into a laundry?
"What's the password?" "John." "John what?" "John Woo"
This rocks, and you know it.
The slo-mo/bullet-time.
Ok, you can use it whenever you want to, you just have to shoot villains to earn it (hourglass thingy).
But you will use it a lot, simply because it is an incredible effect.
Two people round a corner waiting for you?
No problem, jump right and hit the right mouse button.
Time slows and you fly out shooting.
You can see your bullets moving towards them, see their shots coming at you, hear the whistle as they pass..see the trails left in the air.
Absolutely stunning stuff, I have never had so much fun leaping into a room.
My personal "I goddamn rock!" moment?
A steep staircase in a hotel, leading down to the lobby.
3 guys in the lobby waiting for me.
What to do? Sneak down and toss a grenade?
Nope.
You leap from the top stair, hit slo-mo and shoot as you fly OVER the balcony/
Firing with an Uzi in each hand, you can see their shots coming at you and going past you as you hit the floor and roll to your feet, still shooting.
Then hit backwards and right mouse, time slows down and you leap backwards across the lobby, still shooting as the last man falls to the floor.
Payne comes into normal time once more, does a back roll and ends up standing, still alive, pictures hanging from the walls in tatters.
If you like action movies, if you liked The Matrix, if you like John Woo, if you thought Crouching Tiger was cool, basically if you want to play something so totally original it will leave you with a stupid smile?
Buy Max Payne and love every single second of it.
Does my initial impression of it hold up?
Not at all.
I can say, hand on heart, that this isn't probably the best game I've ever played.
It is without a shadow of a doubt, the single best game I have played on any platform, ever.
Why?
Polygon blah, frame-rate yadda yadda, adjustable difficulty talk talk talk.
Forget that geek talk, it's pointless with Max Payne.
It boils down to one and one thing only:
The is the coolest game you will ever play.
Ever.
So howcome?
Well, imagine you were a games designer, and you sat round with your mates and said "What game do we want to play?"
"How's about one with slo-mo stuff like The Matrix? You could burst into a room with 6 people, hit the button and everything slows to allow you to get around and shoot them!"
And, praise the lord, this is what they have done.
But it's not just that feature, although it does set it amongst god-level for me.
These guys have watched John Woo movies, Hong Kong action flicks, every single cool Manga cartoon and taken the bits that you and me love and stuck them in a game to play around with.
It has a narration for the cut-scenes (done in graphic novel style), and ANY game that has the main character say "I made like Chow-Yun Fat and took that place apart" gets my vote.
And a game where one character has to offer a password to get into a laundry?
"What's the password?" "John." "John what?" "John Woo"
This rocks, and you know it.
The slo-mo/bullet-time.
Ok, you can use it whenever you want to, you just have to shoot villains to earn it (hourglass thingy).
But you will use it a lot, simply because it is an incredible effect.
Two people round a corner waiting for you?
No problem, jump right and hit the right mouse button.
Time slows and you fly out shooting.
You can see your bullets moving towards them, see their shots coming at you, hear the whistle as they pass..see the trails left in the air.
Absolutely stunning stuff, I have never had so much fun leaping into a room.
My personal "I goddamn rock!" moment?
A steep staircase in a hotel, leading down to the lobby.
3 guys in the lobby waiting for me.
What to do? Sneak down and toss a grenade?
Nope.
You leap from the top stair, hit slo-mo and shoot as you fly OVER the balcony/
Firing with an Uzi in each hand, you can see their shots coming at you and going past you as you hit the floor and roll to your feet, still shooting.
Then hit backwards and right mouse, time slows down and you leap backwards across the lobby, still shooting as the last man falls to the floor.
Payne comes into normal time once more, does a back roll and ends up standing, still alive, pictures hanging from the walls in tatters.
If you like action movies, if you liked The Matrix, if you like John Woo, if you thought Crouching Tiger was cool, basically if you want to play something so totally original it will leave you with a stupid smile?
Buy Max Payne and love every single second of it.
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Not having enough RAM is definately no excuse now...you can pick up 128mb for £15..
What would really have been funny is after saying how good it was in the 24 hour impression, saying that after 48 hours it was totally crap.
Putting a little "NOT" or "Not really" on the end ofcourse. :-)
Putting a little "NOT" or "Not really" on the end ofcourse. :-)
beanz wrote:
> isn't it meant to be a really short game...
also i have a feeling
> that many future games will have this bullet time thing
After you complete the game it unlocks "hard-boiled" which is a more challenging version of the game. Complete that and then you get "Dead on Arrival" which is suppose to be very, very hard. And Finally you have "New York Minute" which is a speed test, you run throw levels trying to complete them in a set period of time. Also you can install a program which allows you to desing your own levels, so i bet there are many web pages with user desinged maps on them. I'm still tempted to go back to the beginning and start again.
Goatboy, what level are you on? I'm on Chapter 2 in the mansion. I've killed one of the trio and i've gone upstairs. I properly would be further but i keep on jumping off ledges while using bullet time and falling to my death!
The sniper rifle is kinda weird to use, especially when you fire a bullet and you actually ride "piggy back" and watch the bullet plow into the enemy. Pure class!
Darkreaper
> isn't it meant to be a really short game...
also i have a feeling
> that many future games will have this bullet time thing
After you complete the game it unlocks "hard-boiled" which is a more challenging version of the game. Complete that and then you get "Dead on Arrival" which is suppose to be very, very hard. And Finally you have "New York Minute" which is a speed test, you run throw levels trying to complete them in a set period of time. Also you can install a program which allows you to desing your own levels, so i bet there are many web pages with user desinged maps on them. I'm still tempted to go back to the beginning and start again.
Goatboy, what level are you on? I'm on Chapter 2 in the mansion. I've killed one of the trio and i've gone upstairs. I properly would be further but i keep on jumping off ledges while using bullet time and falling to my death!
The sniper rifle is kinda weird to use, especially when you fire a bullet and you actually ride "piggy back" and watch the bullet plow into the enemy. Pure class!
Darkreaper
I want to get Max Payne to but I am going to check up on the specs again and see if my computer can safely play it no sweat, if it wouldn't run totally smoothly, I will wait until my new computer comes!!
Goatboy wrote:
> So?
This is the 1st.
That's like saying "I won't buy a car,
> because other cars will be out afterwards"
Don't make no
> sense
that was not what i was implying...what i was trying to say that many future games will use this (maybe a bit too much in the future)...
> So?
This is the 1st.
That's like saying "I won't buy a car,
> because other cars will be out afterwards"
Don't make no
> sense
that was not what i was implying...what i was trying to say that many future games will use this (maybe a bit too much in the future)...
That would be wicked! Especially if you could upload them for everyone else to look at as well.
I may be forced to purchase this game you know....
I may be forced to purchase this game you know....
Apparantly it's possible to finsih it in 10 hours.
Not sure if this is true or not....
Not sure if this is true or not....
So?
This is the 1st.
That's like saying "I won't buy a car, because other cars will be out afterwards"
Don't make no sense
This is the 1st.
That's like saying "I won't buy a car, because other cars will be out afterwards"
Don't make no sense
isn't it meant to be a really short game...
also i have a feeling that many future games will have this bullet time thing
also i have a feeling that many future games will have this bullet time thing
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