Incoming wall of text.
So, I'll get this out of the way: I don't really like this game. I wanted to love it; I bought it and played it extensively on both PS3 and 360 (and later PC, which is the best version easily), but I just don't like it. I have played the original Max probably 10 or more times all the way through (including on a mobile device which sucks, don't do it), and the sequel probably about 5 or so. I love the series, and even with my general dislike for this game, I played it at least 4 times to completion on various difficulties, and started several more playthroughs (such as New York Minute which I'm convinced is impossible in this one).
Let's start with the positives- James McCaffrey was fantastic in this game, and I'm so happy he was back. Changing his VO like they toyed with would've been so disappointing due to Max's distinctive voice- and since the character has aged in (essentially) real time, James has also, leading to a truly dynamic performance. I felt his delivery was really underrated for this game, and would put this on par with some of my favorite game performances
The atmosphere- there's some fantastic areas this game goes to, and each feels distinct and unique (including the flashbacks which tread old ground). There's a large amount of detail in capturing the mood of the story.
The music. Soundtrack by HEALTH was a good fit, both somber and aggressive at various points. I know Tears is the popular one for how it was used, but Combat Drugs is the album highlight imo.
Headshots are generally one hit kills (or two hit if they have a helmet). It was nice to have enemies who were bullet sponges due to body armor, but with the logical weakness, requiring risk-reward moves to eliminate them early before they pin you down or overwhelm you
The mixed:
The gameplay itself. I know, seemingly everyone loves this, but I find it to be a mixed bag. When it works, the gunplay is on-point and probably unrivaled right now for TPS. However there are times when the physics engine gets in the way of the need for precise clutch aiming, but most notably with that "last shot before death" mechanic. The movement at times just felt stiff however, a common problem with R* games. This led to me finding it to be unnecessarily clunky at times, and really smooth and effective at other times, which just made some aspects frustrating. I never really used the cover mechanic, but at times it felt necessary- but that's when the stiff and clunky movement showed itself the most.
However the bullet impacts on bodies as well as the ragdoll was utterly satisfying, there's no denying.
The multiplayer- mixed again; a lot of fun at times, but the wonky physics really showed their head here (worse than the campaign) with the aiming, and some of the loadouts and powerups were hilariously unbalanced.
Now the bad:
Max is an idiot. Yes, Max is like bad luck incarnate, but he's never been so much of an open moron. Instead it's written up to him being drunk and/or suffering from withdrawals later in the game when he attempts to sober up. This of course makes some sense and goes along logically with the bad luck streak, but he makes genuine grade-a stupid decisions that get people killed.
At some point his incompetence becomes too much of a dissonance issue, which doesn't really meld with the reason he was hired by the boss to begin with- because despite his alcohol and drug issues, he's good at what he does.
The story itself. It didn't gel for me. No, I'm not one of the people that think that the only way to do noir is in New York, but how the story is presented here, it just wasn't compelling. I didn't really care about the villains, the organ trafficking ring didn't mean much, and Max didn't really have any stakes in the plot beyond trying to correct everything he was continuously fucking up, so it was hard to understand why he was so focused on righting his wrongs other than the plot required him to. I cared about what happened to Max and Fabiana, so that's a plus, but the plot seemed to wander around aimlessly until it sort of comes together at the end.
Also, on the story: Let's just throw this out there- this is a R* story, not a Remedy story, and the difference is almost like night and day. Remedy Max felt surreal, and dream-like, with bizarre things and overt (or covert) symbolism and themes grounded by a noir presentation. It was at times very pretentious (and I think incredibly self-aware of that fact), but that made it unique. This is another typical grimy corruption/criminal story, with really none of it's predecessor underpinnings. It's functional but not anything special, and certainly lacked the flair of the previous entries. Though Max does have some good lines, and the characters as a whole are well-written and acted, with Fabiana and Marcello being particularly good.
The presentation- the headache-inducing Tony Scott style was an irritant. I've heard that the reason was to simulate addiction or withdrawal or some nonsense. Well Max is withdrawing, I'm not, so I don't need the game to freak out with color flashes and bizarre camera movement during cutscenes, thanks. It didn't work.
Unskippable cutscenes (on console at least) that hide load times.
Scenario design- some of the firefights were really good, some were seemingly built for trial and error gameplay due to checkpoint location. Some features prevented too much frustration (giving you ammo and painkillers after a set amount of deaths), but really with the load times and unskippable stuff on console, trial and error checkpoint locations is not something I can accept. I like a good challenge (and the various modes and difficulties certainly offer that also), but at times the game just seemed like it had inconvenient design.
I'm of the "praise by exception" school, so anything I didn't think to mention is basically fine.
TL;DR
Some guy on the internet didn't like Max Payne 3 all that much.
So, I'll get this out of the way: I don't really like this game. I wanted to love it; I bought it and played it extensively on both PS3 and 360 (and later PC, which is the best version easily), but I just don't like it. I have played the original Max probably 10 or more times all the way through (including on a mobile device which sucks, don't do it), and the sequel probably about 5 or so. I love the series, and even with my general dislike for this game, I played it at least 4 times to completion on various difficulties, and started several more playthroughs (such as New York Minute which I'm convinced is impossible in this one).
Let's start with the positives- James McCaffrey was fantastic in this game, and I'm so happy he was back. Changing his VO like they toyed with would've been so disappointing due to Max's distinctive voice- and since the character has aged in (essentially) real time, James has also, leading to a truly dynamic performance. I felt his delivery was really underrated for this game, and would put this on par with some of my favorite game performances
The atmosphere- there's some fantastic areas this game goes to, and each feels distinct and unique (including the flashbacks which tread old ground). There's a large amount of detail in capturing the mood of the story.
The music. Soundtrack by HEALTH was a good fit, both somber and aggressive at various points. I know Tears is the popular one for how it was used, but Combat Drugs is the album highlight imo.
Headshots are generally one hit kills (or two hit if they have a helmet). It was nice to have enemies who were bullet sponges due to body armor, but with the logical weakness, requiring risk-reward moves to eliminate them early before they pin you down or overwhelm you
The mixed:
The gameplay itself. I know, seemingly everyone loves this, but I find it to be a mixed bag. When it works, the gunplay is on-point and probably unrivaled right now for TPS. However there are times when the physics engine gets in the way of the need for precise clutch aiming, but most notably with that "last shot before death" mechanic. The movement at times just felt stiff however, a common problem with R* games. This led to me finding it to be unnecessarily clunky at times, and really smooth and effective at other times, which just made some aspects frustrating. I never really used the cover mechanic, but at times it felt necessary- but that's when the stiff and clunky movement showed itself the most.
However the bullet impacts on bodies as well as the ragdoll was utterly satisfying, there's no denying.
The multiplayer- mixed again; a lot of fun at times, but the wonky physics really showed their head here (worse than the campaign) with the aiming, and some of the loadouts and powerups were hilariously unbalanced.
Now the bad:
Max is an idiot. Yes, Max is like bad luck incarnate, but he's never been so much of an open moron. Instead it's written up to him being drunk and/or suffering from withdrawals later in the game when he attempts to sober up. This of course makes some sense and goes along logically with the bad luck streak, but he makes genuine grade-a stupid decisions that get people killed.
At some point his incompetence becomes too much of a dissonance issue, which doesn't really meld with the reason he was hired by the boss to begin with- because despite his alcohol and drug issues, he's good at what he does.
The story itself. It didn't gel for me. No, I'm not one of the people that think that the only way to do noir is in New York, but how the story is presented here, it just wasn't compelling. I didn't really care about the villains, the organ trafficking ring didn't mean much, and Max didn't really have any stakes in the plot beyond trying to correct everything he was continuously fucking up, so it was hard to understand why he was so focused on righting his wrongs other than the plot required him to. I cared about what happened to Max and Fabiana, so that's a plus, but the plot seemed to wander around aimlessly until it sort of comes together at the end.
Also, on the story: Let's just throw this out there- this is a R* story, not a Remedy story, and the difference is almost like night and day. Remedy Max felt surreal, and dream-like, with bizarre things and overt (or covert) symbolism and themes grounded by a noir presentation. It was at times very pretentious (and I think incredibly self-aware of that fact), but that made it unique. This is another typical grimy corruption/criminal story, with really none of it's predecessor underpinnings. It's functional but not anything special, and certainly lacked the flair of the previous entries. Though Max does have some good lines, and the characters as a whole are well-written and acted, with Fabiana and Marcello being particularly good.
The presentation- the headache-inducing Tony Scott style was an irritant. I've heard that the reason was to simulate addiction or withdrawal or some nonsense. Well Max is withdrawing, I'm not, so I don't need the game to freak out with color flashes and bizarre camera movement during cutscenes, thanks. It didn't work.
Unskippable cutscenes (on console at least) that hide load times.
Scenario design- some of the firefights were really good, some were seemingly built for trial and error gameplay due to checkpoint location. Some features prevented too much frustration (giving you ammo and painkillers after a set amount of deaths), but really with the load times and unskippable stuff on console, trial and error checkpoint locations is not something I can accept. I like a good challenge (and the various modes and difficulties certainly offer that also), but at times the game just seemed like it had inconvenient design.
I'm of the "praise by exception" school, so anything I didn't think to mention is basically fine.
TL;DR
Some guy on the internet didn't like Max Payne 3 all that much.