Judith on 4/6/2012 at 00:43
The cutscenes are fine and fit seamlessly into what's going on. I'm not fan of this camera effect and cheesy texts onscreen. I guess that was supposed to replace text bubbles...
They did tremendous job with animations and level of detail, almost every bloody object has a high res tex/material on it. I don't remember how many enemies per level there were in MP1 or 2, but here on medium difficulty the numbers are getting ridiculous. I'm slaughtering whole armies. And the AI is really aggressive and relentless, sometimes I feel like the game really, really hates me for some reason.
Dresden on 4/6/2012 at 10:24
So far, this is the longest movie I've ever watched.
Pemptus on 4/6/2012 at 11:43
They really went overboard with the cutscenes on this one. Walk to a door? Bam, cutscene of you opening the door, hiding behind a barrel/desk and getting spotted.
Also, the blurry effects and words appearing on the screen? Absolutely ridiculous and lacking any sort of taste, point or direction. I really expected more from Rockstar on that front.
I can't count how many times I've pointedly exclaimed "Ok, can I actually play now?" at the screen.
The shooting is pretty fun, but nothing to really write home about. And yeah, it's pretty.
And more importantly: no Lords and Ladies to be seen anywhere so far (I'm at the flashback at the cemetery atm). Disappoint, I am.
SubJeff on 4/6/2012 at 13:53
I don't mind the cut scenes. Its all story and atmosphere isn't it? The camera effect and captions are an interesting choice for sure.
One thing - the soundtrack is just great. And the setting.
Thirith on 4/6/2012 at 13:55
When it comes to story, atmosphere and soundtrack, IMO Rockstar is up there with the very best. They're also one of the main reasons why I wasn't all "gah, they've killed the noir!" frothy at the mouth when info started to come out about Max Payne 3.
Scots Taffer on 26/6/2012 at 12:10
So...? Was this good or shit?
SubJeff on 26/6/2012 at 14:27
It was a blast tbh. The flavour is pretty different to the originals, and the plot doesn't reaaaally make sense (well, one key bit of it anyway). It's pretty grim to be fair, but the setting was very refreshing. It could have been a little longer, yes, but what is there is good bullet-time fun. And I liked some of the set pieces, a lot.
There are a ton of cutscenes and at first I found it a bit jarring, like everyone else. You get used to it though and just go with it. It has become a parody of itself in some ways, but a lot of it is intentional. It's like - well, remember how MP1 and 2 are TIC noir? Well MP3 is a parody of a TIC noir, that doesn't always work.
For bullet-time action though - yes, yes and yes. And (on PC at least) it looks and plays like a dream.
Briareos H on 26/6/2012 at 15:17
But it doesn't really. Oh sure, bullet time is used all the time but the layout of levels, the sheer quantity and accuracy of AI make the shootdodge mechanic nearly worthless. I can't think of a single moment where I willingly threw a shootdodge for any other reason than "Well, if I don't do it at some point it's not really Max Payne is it? It's Max's signature move, might as well try it now -- oh well okay, that sucked."
Presentation-wise, it's extremely linear and cinematic with everything good and bad that entails. The story is a pleasing blend of Max Payne and Rockstar tropes. It works. Dialogue and characters are cliché but likeable, firefights are enjoyable, characters, corpses and objects animate very well and have realistic inertia and dynamic behaviour which make the euphoria engine shine. Visually (aurally, too!), it's almost perfect with a few low-res textures and meshes here and there but a lot of atmosphere. Bodes well for GTA V. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels too cramped for its own good through its own linearity. Sometimes suspension of disbelief doesn't work too well when all doors are closed except the one you're looking for -- which you recognise at once as Max slows down conveniently when he reaches it, only to trigger another cutscene. Sometimes it's too much of a movie, when some parts could easily have been made interactive. Sometimes it's difficult not to feel you're being delivered one setpiece after another instead of playing a continuum.
Mechanics-wise, it's a rather unbalanced mix of too much hand-holding followed by vicious and relentless firefights which require good aiming, good reflexes and a bit of trial-and-error. As such, it's a good cover-based TPS but not so great a Max Payne clone.
So where does this leave us? A nice game and very watchable movie with a great soundtrack, pleasing characters and traditional Rockstar narration retaining some of the charm of the original games but not too much of the original core gameplay and noir themes.
Malleus on 26/6/2012 at 15:50
Quote Posted by Briareos H
I can't think of a single moment where I willingly threw a shootdodge for any other reason than "Well, if I don't do it at some point it's not really Max Payne is it? It's Max's signature move, might as well try it now -- oh well okay, that sucked."
Shootdodge slows down time way more than the normal bullet time. It's perfect for finishing off the last few enemies in an encounter, or to jump between cover objects. Most importantly, you can use it even you don't have any bullet time reserve.
It is indeed impractical in narrow spaces, and you mostly have to use the cover system in the last chapters (lots of armored enemies), but it's hardly worthless.
SubJeff on 26/6/2012 at 16:07
Wow.
I used Shootdodge more than I did Bullet Time for the first half of the game and I was toasting mofos left, right and centre. And I never found it too cramped, only using melee twice in the entire playthrough.
Briareos - what did you play it on? I didn't find the AI too numerous or accurate, but it was certainly a challenge - which I liked.
Liked the way you can only have a max of 4 weapons and that dual wielding made you drop the rifle/shotgun.
