Simo
Member
On February 16th, Rockstar invited various online and magazine press outlets in the US and Europe like PC Gamer, thesixthaxis.com, GameStar etc to their New York and London HQs to play Max Payne 3 for the first time including the PC version.
NDA ends on March 1st 12pm EST and thats when the online previews will hit but GameStar Germany has already released their new issue to subscribers containing their impressions and cover story.
I'll try and keep track of the other articles when they're released along with print mag impressions and so I'll update the OP accordingly!
PREVIEWS UP!
TheSixthAxis
Game Informer
C&VG - *Great Read*
GameSpy - PC version
The Guardian - *Great Read*
Destructoid
GameTrailers
G4TV
NDA ends on March 1st 12pm EST and thats when the online previews will hit but GameStar Germany has already released their new issue to subscribers containing their impressions and cover story.
I'll try and keep track of the other articles when they're released along with print mag impressions and so I'll update the OP accordingly!
PREVIEWS UP!
TheSixthAxis
There are no loading screens (unless you die), cut scenes merge seamlessly into game play and Rockstar created a brand new effect never seen before in a video game: during one cut scene Max is sat in a helicopter discussing how he came to be in Sao Paulo and in an instant the scene changes. Max is still in exactly the same pose as before, sitting down, but now he’s at a New York bar, he’s wearing different clothes, unshaven and nursing a whisky.
The whole sequence took less than a minute and as the last thug dropped to the floor the two Rockstar chaps clapped and laughed, “Wow, I’ve never seen anyone tackle it like that, you were totally bad-ass!” they said.
I have to admit I have never been a fan of Rockstar’s open world games, I have never found them as engaging as everyone else so I’m quite surprised just how much I like Max Payne 3. I usually favour the ‘all guns blazing’ approach in most shooters so to find a game that actually rewards the technique rather than penalising it is heavenly.
I have written this final summary paragraph about twenty times with numerous platitudes and recommendations for the game but they never seem to convey my enthusiasm for the title so I will just say this:
Max Payne 3: F*ck yeah!
Game Informer
The second level we play is down by the docks, where the Sombra is keeping Fabiana. By shooting out a wedge behind the tire of parked truck with a silenced pistol, we begin the level with a bit more stealth than we’re accustomed to from Max. However, after blowing our cover, we’re thrown back into the fray. While the level design is straightforward (i.e., run into a new area, shoot everyone), there’s a definitely a learning curve in terms of how to approach each scenario. In one garage area, we also got a look at one of the game’s mini-Bullet Time events. After diving off a walkway, the game automatically went into Bullet Time and I was able to pick off enemies on the ground floor with one-hit kills.
Overall, the base gameplay feels solid, but still needs a bit of polish before it ships – something Rockstar has shown time and again it’s more than capable of doing. I played the bulk of the demo in free-aim mode, but there is also a soft target lock available if you choose (something I was forced to a do in a couple of areas for the sake of time). Bullet Time is still a great gameplay mechanic, even if it doesn’t feel as novel as it did years ago. After all, it’s arguably one of the most imitated gameplay mechanics of all time. It’s certainly challenging – I frequently made use of the “Last Man Standing” feature that allows you to save yourself from death by killing the enemy that shot you.
Based on everything we’ve seen so far, Max Payne 3 appears to be exactly what Rockstar promised in our original cover story: a game that aims to update the Max Payne experience in a new setting and with the best of today’s technology, while remaining true to the traditions of the series. While it would be impossible for Max’s Bullet Time acrobatics to be as groundbreaking as they were all those years ago, the core experience here is still one worth your time.
C&VG - *Great Read*
Max Payne 3 may look like a title that is recycling established tropes. Its story, mechanics and presentation don't sound promising on paper. But the way in which the game's developers have assembled these aspects make the sum gain of their efforts a compelling offering. It's easy to be impressed when you're standing on the outside looking in. Once you're actually in control in Max Payne 3, the experience is mind-blowing.
GameSpy - PC version
One of the most impressive features of MP3 is its animation system, which applies to both Max and his victims. We've seen the Euphoria character physics at work before, in games such as Rockstar's own Grand Theft Auto IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but Max Payne 3 takes it to new levels of action-movie "realism" and hilarity. Besides appreciating the smoothness of Max's basic movement animations, I will probably never tire of making him dive head-long into a wall so I can watch as he crashes into it with bone-crunching force and crumples into a heap. By comparison, in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Max's rigid animation doesn't seem to notice when it's bashed against a solid object -- his head just hits the wall and then slides down.
The Guardian - *Great Read*
Max Payne 3 blurs the line between hyper-cool action cinema and cold realism. Imagine a film written and directed for the most part by Michael Mann, but whose action scenes were all choreographed and shot by John Woo, and you're starting to get the picture. This gritty hyper-reality is evident in all of the presentation and it also informs the game's plot.
Rockstar have clearly put a lot of effort into making Max Payne 3 one of this year's premier shooters. The game looks fantastic, handles beautifully and the depth of content in both its in-game design and settings seems to offer a ton of replay value. Not only that, it's story, which is set up in such a straightforward manner, seems to hint that intriguing denouement is on the cards for the game's titular character.
Players should look forward to a tale of greed, betrayal and decadence wrapped in sleek, cool mechanics that allow them to tackle it one bullet at a time.
Destructoid
As you use bullet-time, you can press the A button (on the Xbox 360 controller) to slow time down to a near-standstill, and whenever you kill the last enemy in the room, you're treated to a final kill-cam that lets you watch as the blood splatters realistically out of a dude's head while you're still pumping him with bullets. This seriously never gets old, and I found myself abusing the mechanic as much as possible.
After jumping back into the game to finish the docks segment, I came away from the whole experience incredibly pumped for what Max Payne 3 will have to offer. With a cohesive storyline that's told in a similar but more evolved fashion and tight combat mechanics that make you feel like the bad-ass that Max Payne always has been, I sincerely cannot wait until this game comes out in May.
Any fears I had about where Rockstar was taking the series have been effectively put to rest, and I can't wait to glue myself to the television set to see how Max's story will progress.
GameTrailers
Whereas most shooters are content to deliver an up close melee attack by throwing an elbow or smacking an enemy with the butt of a gun, Max Payne 3 goes an extra, brutal step. In this game, Max finishes the job. It's a one-two smack in the face with Max's pistol, then a point blank round right to the face of Max's target. It's ugly, violent and hugely satisfying to unload into your enemies this way.
G4TV
GameStar Germany 4/12 EditionMoving from a running position to rolling to diving--all the while shooting, reloading, and popping painkillers mind you--has a remarkable smoothness to it. One of the best examples of this is the way Max recovers after pulling off one of his patented dive maneuvers. Assuming his aerial path is clear (if he hits a wall or other obstruction in mid jump, he’ll crumple to the ground realistically), you can shoot in all directions, aided by the time-slowing bullet time effect. Cool enough, no?
However, once Max lands, he can continue to shoot from the ground without a skip in the animations. As he stands up, he can keep shooting and even reload if need be, again without a hiccup. I mean, you can roll over a dropped weapon, and Max will pick it up during the role and be ready to fire it by the time he’s right side up again. Not too shabby for a soon-to-be AARP subscriber, eh?