Max Payne 3

Why can't I just focus on finishing games I already own? Ugh... Bought this one a few weeks back along with Skyrim. I'm glad that I'm at least finishing this game. Who knows when or if I'll ever get through Skyrim - not mention its predecessor or the myriad of other games I have yet to complete. Such a waste. But allow me to suppress my shame and move along...

I remember the release of the first Max Payne way back in the early aughts. Everyone was fairly wowed by its use of "bullet-time" (The Matrix still being huge at the time) in the game play. The game is violent, dark, gritty, and just a blast to play. A few years later its sequel came out where they tried to capitalize on all the points of success from it predecessor. Weak sauce. I don't remember much about it other than it only took me a night or two to beat it and I wasn't very impressed. Now here we are... About a decade after the start of the franchise, the third game is delivered. 

The wait wasn't worth it. The game is alright. No glowing recommendations here, but it was entertaining with a fair amount of challenge. To start things off, Max is no longer in New York (where the first two games took place), he's in Rio de Janeiro.  Exiled from New York after gunning down the son to one of the city's toughest mob bosses, Max picks up work as a bodyguard for a family of rich industrialists. From square one the family is under attack by local thugs wielding big guns. It's not long before everything goes to Hell. People are kidnapped and executed leaving Max without an employer or any real reason to stick around Brazil. Only his thirst for vengeance keeps him going. He eventually discovers that this whole mess leads to corruption in Brazil's political powers where the poor of the slums are being abducted so that their organs can be harvest and sold on the international black market. Fairly bleak story, but, then again, it's just keeping with tradition. 

Another thing keeping with tradition is the game play. Still a third-person shooter, still has the bullet-time. The bullet-time becomes essential when in a jam and you need some slow motion to line up those head shots. The one noticeable difference - from what I can tell - is the increase in gore. Blood flies everywhere in this game, which isn't really that much of a shocker anymore. In fact, it's become the norm. This game tries to take it one step further by displaying the final kill at every stage in a slow, gruesome manner. The point when you kill the last opponent at a stage, the camera will follow the bullet as it makes its way for the final kill. Even though blood and gore will be sprayed all over the camera, it really has no effect. Meh...

So I'm left here not really sure where I can stand on this game. Yes, the fight scenes are still fun and the game does a great job at changing up your environments with ever new chapter you progress through. The story drifts through different flashbacks explain how/why Max had to escape New York to begin with. In a sense, you do get to play through some of the old stomping grounds. Back to my point, it was fun and entertaining, but nothing I'm going to hold onto. In fact, there's little to no replay value from what I can tell - I haven't tested out any multiplayer options, but Rockstar isn't know for their multiplayer to begin with. If your curious about this game, rent it, beat it, and be done with it. 

Now to Skyrim... Who am I kidding? I'm not going to complete that.