c_doody_1999

Max Payne the third is a mixed bag. Firstly you have to say that they have tried to rejuvenate the series taking it to new settings whilst continuing Max's story and there have been, once again, tweaks to the bullet time controls and some core gameplay mechanics, Overall you can see what they have tried to do but honestly it doesn't work when compared to the first two. The Good, The shooting, that their is, when it works is still sublime, the pin point precision of the bullet mechanics is visceral and satisfying, additionally the story that is told is not one so much of plot but of the continued journey of max payne and as it is, it is entertaining to watch the man transform and get the preverbial kicked out of him in the favelas of southern America. you realise that he is a very human character and as we go through the story we are constantly receiving his thoughts and musings which make us like him more and more. The bad, Well well well, some where along the line Rockstar forgot how to make games, the game is broken in many places, apart from the fact that it is rather consoleified (sadly its better played through a gamepad now) their are large sections where control of max is arrested from you as the story is played and then suddenly you are expected to be ready to play instantly after minutes of twiddleing your thumbs. add to this the graphical issues with corouption and other gameplay glitches causing broken movement and deaths it don't stack up well. Bottom line: MP3 is a fine game for those who want to continue the series and story of this character but control issues and directorial decisions regarding the pace and type of gameplay result in it feeling clunky and it is broken in areas, if you just want a bullet time shooter go pick up the vastly superior max payne 1 or 2.