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[ManaByte]

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Max Payne 3, I just loaded it up again for the first time in years, and this remains Rockstar’s masterpiece. Better than RDR2 and GTAV. It’s a unicorn of a game that we‘ll never see again; a perfect melding of story, presentation, and gameplay.

Keanu Reeves had to have played this before making John Wick, as this is basically John Wick: The Game before John Wick existed. The mele takedowns are something from Wick that had to have been inspired by this game.

Then you have the storytelling with the narration over gameplay, and the set pieces. It’s a perfect action game and it still holds up a decade later. I’m going to finish this playthrough and love every second all over again.

 

[Punished Miku]

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Max Payne 3, I just loaded it up again for the first time in years, and this remains Rockstar’s masterpiece. Better than RDR2 and GTAV. It’s a unicorn of a game that we‘ll never see again; a perfect melding of story, presentation, and gameplay.

Keanu Reeves had to have played this before making John Wick, as this is basically John Wick: The Game before John Wick existed. The mele takedowns are something from Wick that had to have been inspired by this game.

Then you have the storytelling with the narration over gameplay, and the set pieces. It’s a perfect action game and it still holds up a decade later. I’m going to finish this playthrough and love every second all over again.

The game introduced me to HEALTH as well. Solid OST.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Bought it day 1, loved it, organ harvesting and painting walls red in Rio with those godly physics, had a ball. Having said that, it's not even in the conversation with RDR2, nevermind "better" than it. RDR2 is one of the best videogames ever made, period, let's keep it real (GTAV isn't even close to RDR2 either). I've been doing this gaming thing consistently a long, loooong time and RDR2 is without a doubt in my all-time top 10. Would love to see a Max Payne 3 remaster though

 

[kingfey]

Who says its not a masterpiece?
The entire series was fun. I liked the way 1 was playing.

 

[MasterDerico]

*Killed the franchise

 

[Grildon Tundy]

I played all 3 Max Paynes concurrent with their releases. When 3 came out, I went from hyped to balking at it because it wasn't the tongue-in-cheek NYC film noir style as the first 2. I played it through and thought it was alright. Wished the cutscenes were less frequent and intrusive. I put it away, disappointed, thinking, "This ain't MY Max Payne." But I was wrong. It's very much my Max Payne.

I invoke the name of Dark Souls! It's similar to DS in that every enemy encounter is both lovingly placed and crafted, but also has variety that stems from the unpredictable AI. The gameplay is tight enough to warrant mastery, along with the in-game achievements (called "grinds") that encourage it. Over time, I've come back to 3 again and again. It seems to get better with each playthrough. Amazing game, and I can't wait for the remasters of 1&2 and the inevitable reboot or sequel. I'm in.

 

[Thanati]

Can concur.

 

[BennyBlanco]

it's a fun game but it ain't max payne

i still have that HEALTH song in rotation lol

 

[NeonGhost]

*Killed the franchise

 

[bender]

I played Max Payne 3 for the first time this year. It's fun but it is a mess tonally and as poorly written as most R* titles. Max Payne 2 is still the GOAT.

 

[BlvckFox]

Love some MP3 appreciation. One of my favorite Rockstar games.

 

[MilkLizard]

Yep, insanly good game. Loved it on the 360 and I rebought it dirt cheap a couple of weeks ago so I can play it on my Series S.

Also introduced me to HEALTH, which became one of my favorite bands. Hell, I'm literally wearing a HEALTH T-shirt right now and I'm planning on seeing them live twice this year.

 

[Rykan]

I've played this back when it came out and played it again recently. The game is just as utterly mediocre now as it was back then. It basically took everything that was great about the previous games and tossed it out the window.

MP1 and 2 had very tight and responsive controls. Character movement is super smooth and aiming is precise.

MP3 completely fucks this up by using RS's engine that they used for their other games. RAGE engine, at the time, was really good at making character movement seem real and realistic, but its a chore to actually play. The aiming is also noticeably less precise. In fact, on consoles, the default difficulty level actually has auto aim/aim lock enabled by default.
You can turn it off, thankfully, but the fact they even deemed it necessary to turn it on by default shows just how bad the controls are.

The worst part by far is the fact that they've turned it into a cover shooter. You take way more damage in this game than the other ones so you have to use it constantly. Completely destroys what the game was about. Pacing is also terrible with constant cutscene interruptions to tell a tale that isn't interesting.

I'm glad that the next few games are back with Remedy.

 

[bender]

The worst part by far is the fact that they've turned it into a cover shooter.

Nah, the worst part is Max's internal monologue every time he finds or uses pain medicine. SHUT THE FUCK UP MAX.

 

[adamsapple]

It didn't end up being the kind of sequel I expected, but it was an amazing game nonetheless.

Great gunplay and some of the best presentation of its time, even if it was a little too much "Man on Fire".

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Playing it now...the dialogue sucks but the gameplay is still amazing.