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Max Payne is a strong narrative experience. It has an interesting single player story which carries this game. Such games are Remedy_Entertainment speciality. Other than that, there is nothing special in this game. Even bullet time which this game was famous for is done poorly.

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Bullet hell mechanics might be what pushed Max Payne popularity at the start, but it is the story which makes it worth playing. Max Payne has such a great combination of cheesiness, seriousness and depth to itself. It plays on every gangster stereotype. It makes its each boss a memorable encounter. After all those months, I still remember each chapter and unique characters which it contained. It is really worth playing once for the story.

It is like Futurama TV, but in real life!
• This is where it all started! Max Payne is famous for its surreal television. Lord and Ladies are such cheesy and short TV drama that it goes full circle and it becomes really good. I simply love it!
  https://youtu.be/5IZbVXZZO5Y?si=b-_axwCAsQICoIvk
  Likewise, Pink Flamingo is an horror alternative. It is weird, but avoid being nonsensical while not making any sense. I love this show too. Back then these little details were made this game great. It is still greatly enjoyable to see them in this game. It adds soul to the game. It shows real passion and care for a product. Many players just sat and watched those videos in awe. I still do and I find them so much more enjoyable than any over-marketed, generic indie game which exploded in popularity.
  https://youtu.be/Mx932bZ-ILo?si=XIea8xYcjISTlz1l
  Lack of Focus
  
• Unfortunately, large roster of characters are limited by lack of characterization. Max Payne tends to focus on unremarkable details and start characterising your villains just about you are going to face them. This results that you rarely get to know them before you face them. The last villain is the exception, but she is unfortunately also the least interesting out of the entire cast. Game would had benefited from a tighter focus as it often feels just aimless wandering across extremely generic environments. Only specific levels are more interesting and remarkable. Like mansion, lab or a night club.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3103946525
  This dude had amazing presentation. However, it only starts when you enter his night club. First with story elements and then he presents himself with his own amazing voice acting. However, there isn't much more to it than you can glimpse from a single screenshot. This is why it is disappointing that the least interesting villain is explored the most. Game has just too many great characters and not enough time to show them all!

Actual meat of the game is highly disappointing. It is hard as nails, unforgiving quick load simulator. Its gameplay experiments are unmitigated disasters. Its environments should get a reward for being so incredibly boring.

Nightmarish nightmare sections
• These nightmare sections take the cake of being one of the worst alternative gameplay sections in a mainstream game. I hope you like precise platforming in a game which wasn't made for it. It feels like you are controlling a tank. You are expected to make long jumps over abyss with it. Also, a platformer is a featurless void. To make matters more interesting, platformer is a maze. To put cherry on top, mazes are long which makes great use of its quick save mechannics. This...this game comes from an age where developers felt a need to drastically shake up gameplay. Games from this era often have extremely contrasting sections which usually range from bad to awful. However, this little gem is straight up abysmal.
  
  Bullet Hell
  
• It is of course fun to jump around the corner and gun down enemies while bullets whiz around you. At the time of matrix this was very popular. For kids of that era, it was awesome mechanic. This is the only thing that makes Max Payne fun on gameplay level. However, as a progenitor, this mechanic isn't well done. Bullet time is too short. Jump is too small. In addition, it often leaves you vulnerable if you fail to kill enemies within a jump which happens a lot due to number of enemies. This is the irony of bullet time, the game which started it all is actually crap at it. If you are playing seriously, it will be more or less a gimmick.
  
  Saddistic difficulty
  
• The issue with Max Payne is that it demands perfection from you. Every encounter feels like a quick save & load exercise. There are plenty of enemies behind every corner and their bullets are just as deadly as yours. This forces you to perfectly engage every corner and every hit is a mistake. Gameplay, especially on higher difficulty settings isn't good or fun at all.

This game is made by a small, inexperienced studio which had more passion and dedication than they had skill or money. It is fairly typical for that era. This unfortunately results in some early jank which at best is entertaining, at worst - bad.

Facial Expressions
• Steam's community page is full of screenshots featuring Max Payne's face. Their highly detailed sprites for 3D models really do look apart. They are cheesy in a good way as it adds level of comedy to a game which doesn't take itself too seriously.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3103937729
  
  Poor Quality Comics
  
• Story by large part is told by its comics. However, they tend to vary in quality greatly. Some parts are quite well detailed, while others are just too abstract. Second game really improved in these dirty aspects of a game.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3103945115
  Likewise, game's story is often stretched too thin to the point of absurdity. Do you know your story romance, but not really? Well, this is literally when you catch up after the first meeting. She dies in the second slide...
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3103945541

It just keeps on snowing in Max Payne and I'm happy that I played. Though, I would not want to repeat it. Its highlights are parts from which are hard to extract extra satisfaction when playing second time. Its simple storyline is devoid of hidden meanings. Gameplay doesn't have any complexity or its levels any secrets. Take out story out of Max Payne and game itself is a giant slog. It is tough as nails shooter where enemies are waiting in ambush behind every corner and you are forced to slug through most forgettable and bland environments of the era.

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