Max Payne

Woah this is late! Having reviewed Max Payne 2 ages ago I think this deserves one as well.

One of the things that makes Max Payne as brilliant as it is is the time it was made in. The PS2 was barely on the shelves when this was released, and although this explains the poor graphics during gameplay it also makes the actual gameplay more impressive, as I haven't seen many PS2 games this immersive. The storyline is nothing short of outstanding, with similar graphic novels to the second, along with the brilliant voice acting and sound effects. It's dark, bloody, quirky and cuttingly emotional. As this game involves the cold murder of his wife and baby daughter that started his vendetta, the feeling of loss and the never ending striving for revenge is ever-present, and you find yourself violently wishing death upon ever thug you shoot in the face in slow motion, with grace and diligence on every shot.

For fans of realism in games, this one may be preferable, as this uses more weapons actually obtainable to thugs, and you can't do things such as magically throwing a grenade whilst holding a weapon; you have to equip it. There is no ragdoll physics due to the limitations of the time, but it's easily ignorable. It is also a harder game in general, your health is slightly less Incredible Hulk-like, but I didn't find this a letdown, in most cases I found this only added to the immersiveness. I would say that storyline is more of a focus in this game than the sequel, as although they both have great plots, this is far more grim and also goes with the tradition of originals in a series having the best stories. This isn't to say the actual gameplay is worse, just hindered by what was actually possible at the time.

Once again, it's gonna have to have an 11/10. I can hear a groan from people saying I'm a joke of a reviewer. Whatever, to be fair I haven't played better games ever than the Max Payne series. Huge kudos to Remedy and Rockstar. I really don't know how you do it.