The Burrow

Nearly a decade after the Fall of Max Payne, Rockstar saw fit to revisit the franchise with Max Payne 3. Opting to develop the game internally and without Remedy, the game is quite the departure from the first two entries. The era of Rockstar has long since passed, a time when they worked on more than just the next entry in Grand Theft Auto. One of the rare summer blockbusters for games, Max Payne 3, arrived in May 2012 and, to my recollection, was well received. Though this was my first time playing it. Unlike before, I opted to play the game on PC; the game, is available on Xbox Series but to my knowledge, is presented without enhancements.

Being developed by Rockstar and written in part by one of the Housers, as you can reasonably expect, the game features a very different tone. Max leaves New York for what he thinks is going to be a cushy private security detail for some wealthy South Americans. As is usually the case, things don’t work out the way he hoped. The color pallet for this game is much brighter than before. It is made very clear that Max is in bad shape. The events from his past have taken an extreme toll on his psyche; he is addicted to painkillers and alcohol, and it’s not unlikely for him to drink himself to sleep. He is in bad shape, much worse than when we saw him at the end of Max Payne 2.

Developed using Rockstar’s proprietary engine, RAGE, visually, the game is much more sophisticated than games past. Materials look great with fabric textures and normal maps being applied to clothes, giving them a very real look. Enemies are blasted apart with entry and exit wounds, and some of the dynamic animations we saw in Grand Theft Auto IV are here as well. It really does hold up visually over 10 years later. In some cases, I think it could pass as a modern release with a few caveats. It is clear that with a limited scope as far as the playable environments go, Rockstar was able to pack in a ton of detail into all of the environments, which are quite varied this time around. Night clubs, yachts, fancy office buildings, and shanty town slums all make for exciting shooting galleries.

While the visual presentation is what you would expect from a large budget and a team like Rockstar. In some ways, I think the gameplay suffered. Moving and shooting with Max feel great, and there is a new cover system to keep you out of harm’s way as well. However, with this game coming out after Naughty Dog’s Uncharted and Uncharted 2, the influence is immediately apparent. That is not inherently a bad thing; the run of those first two games is great, though I do not think it does Max a good service by borrowing elements from them. This game is cutscene-heavy; having cutscenes at all really sets it apart from Max 1 and 2, and those had them, but they were very limited; this game reaches some absurd levels. You are often teleprompted before they occur, the game slowing Max to a deliberate walk as he approaches a door. The game then takes control away from you, and you will see Max open the door, see something or monolog about his current circumstance, and then get back control. This would not be so bad if not for the fact that on more than one occasion, you will simply walk to the other end of a room and be presented with another cutscene. I am not sure why this was done, I suspect it was to hide loading between environments or something in that vein, but it did frustrate me by the end of Max’s journey. Beyond this, there are elaborate set pieces, giving Max infinite ammo while he is stuck in on a current or in a vehicle while an NPC shuttles him around. These are fine and well done, but I don’t know what they add to a franchise like Max Payne.

Narratively, I think the game successfully spins its yarn. It is engaging enough and offers a suitable amount of intrigue to keep you invested throughout its 10 or so hours of run time. Interestingly, though, there does seem to be a bit of social commentary at play here. More than a few times, Max is criticized for his insistence on his own involvement in the going ons of Sao Paulo. Essentially being labeled a “white savior,” Max is asked why he is so determined to fix what is broken in Sao Paulo. Max simply implies that it is what he has to do, being on a path of self-redemption. What is interesting to me about this aspect of the campaign is that I do not hear it talked about often or at all. That is surprising, considering the discourse around games today, which I do not like. This is the kind of thing that could cause an eye roll in today’s environment, probably being labeled “political.” However, it is a valid criticism of the genre and of Western media in general. Games have thankfully come a long way in representing more than just bald white guys saving the world. I was happy to see this commentary delivered but done so subtly.

Max Payne 3 is a great game. Over 10 years past, it holds up well, and visually, I think it outclasses many of its contemporaries. But it also fits into a strange time. Releasing a year before Grand Theft Auto V, you can see a lot of Max’s bones in the gameplay of GTA. The tone, the art direction, and the presentation are all there. This makes sense, considering they had to have been in development at the same time. It is a kind of game that Rockstar does not bother making anymore. Budget and production values demand an all-hands approach now. This is a shame, as while I have my complaints about the game, it really is something worth playing. It does not overstay its welcome and ties up nicely by the end. Is this the send-off that Max deserved? Yes, I think it is.