I own all 3 max payne and I absolutely loved the first two games. I've went through both of them many times. The action was awesome and the shooting was very satisfying, combined to a nice story and cool ambiance, I had a blast playing them. It is very different for max payne 3 as the list of irritating stuff stacks sky high.

A major annoyance is that you get cutscenes all the time... and by all the time I mean ALL THE TIME. It totally destroys immersion and annihilates all chances for the game to build any pace at all. Most of the cutscenes could be removed out of the game and it wouldn't change the story at all (especially since like 50% of the cutscenes are max drinking and falling asleep. Yeah ok, we get it...)

Speaking of redundant cutscenes, max payne was quite the bad ass in other games and you could sympathize with him but when they make you run around the world to save tasteless characters (the dumb blonde and all the brazilian family), you understand that it's to make up for his past but at some point you start wondering why he even gives a damn anymore...

Something that started pissing me off early in game too is the fact that every time you run out of health, the game slows down so you can get a "saving shot" off. At first it's a cool feature but it gets annoying ultra fast as the levels get more crowded: later on, most of the time you can't even get that shot off because there is something in the way or you just can't aim at the target at all. Forget it if you're using a grenade launcher, the grenades are so slow they can't even detonate in time, making the GL way too risky to even use. Oh and what makes this even more of a pain in the ass is that when you're in slow mode and you know you're doomed, the "restart at last checkpoint" option in the menu is unaccessible, so you have to suffer through the entire thing before you can do anything.

Another thing that ruined it for me is that it seems the AI has way too good aiming sometimes. They don't even know you're there and the next nanosecond you get headshot. I don't know how many times this happened. Not only that but it seems like when you use the UZZIs in automatic mode, you shoot all over the place but the AI seems to be able to snipe a fly a thousand yards away with them. Now the cover system is pretty good but it's often entirely negated due to the "encounter" pattern that is always the same: you ALWAYS end up in a big open area, a wave of baddies spawn and then you're pinned down by like 10 dudes. Not only it's about impossible to avoid getting hit a few times but the second you think "yay I'm safe, let's leave cover to get ammo and painkillers" WRONG! As soon as you get far away enough from cover, a second wave spawns in your face. Also, sometimes you try to get cover without the cover system (by cutting angles with most enemies so you can get them into view one by one) but max payne's aiming angle is so awkward that often you get shot by targets you can't even see. Most firefights are so frustrating that it takes the fun out of shooting stuff up... That's saying a lot.

Another few minor annoyances that sounded the alarm the very first seconds I opened the game for the first time: when you get in the game it says press enter to continue at the bottom of the screen... but when you press enter, it does nothing. You have to click the text... Speaking of which, have the people doing the port played a computer game in the last 10 year? Seriously, who uses enter anymore to navigate menus? Well for max payne 3 they decided to do it all the time. Also, for some reason, the mouse is ultra slow in the menus (menus only) for a reason I ignore. Minor stuff you'll tell me... Of course, but it just adds frustration on top of all the other issues.

Add very bland stages with very little variation to that and a bunch of glitches all over the place (from bugged cutscenes that you can't skip so you have to ALT+F4 out to weird convulsing ragdolls) you have a game that has disaster written all over it. I pretty much always finish the games I buy even if I find them tedious but I uninstalled this one about 75% through. I only paid 10$ for it during a steam sale and I still feel ripped off.… Expand

Max payne 3 is a great game. It's part shooter, part interactive movie.. mostly the latter. And I paid less for it ($12, steam sale) than a real movie ticket would have cost. The graphics are superb. I absolutely don't agree with the negative reviews of this game. I'm a diehard PC games fan, and I was actually almost not going to buy this game because of the negative reviews. But I'm glad I did. Fight scenes are pretty realistic, and weapon handling and mechanics are realistic and good too (you can only carry 2 handguns and 1 big gun). Story is pretty good, but I didn't follow some stuff (i'm retarded like that). The only problem is that the game weighs in at 30 GB which is massive (it obliterated my download quota).

I don't really care about multiplayer, but the single player rocks! I also didn't mind the trippy visuals, like some people did.

I think PC game fans are being very ungrateful. Even if this is a console port (I absolutely detest consoles and consoletards), they've done a superb job of it and it is eminently playable on PC.… Expand

I give it a big goose egg (0). I shouldn't have to go into all my modem settings just to get the game that I bought to work.
I have no other problems with online games unless I try to activate this game on "Rockstar Social".
It's absolutely ludicrous.
I've observed other people with this problem as well.
Rockstar can kiss my ass because I will not buy another game from them with this horrible service.… Expand

Max Payne 3 is a very addictive and fun Role Playing Game and 3rd-Person Shooter. I can't describe the epic experience derived from this amazing from Rockstar Games.
Bought it during the $9 Steam discount, but it is definitely worth more than that.
The downside to the game is the big file size of 27.2 32 GiByte.
But honestly, give Max Payne a break, i don't think there would be a fourth sequel although i am looking forward it. T
his game is a very quality one with lots of cutscene that puts your mind as the protagonist. Also not to mention the good A.Is and Bullet Time effect.… Expand

Ciężko zrobić kontynuację tak starej gry aby nie byli obrażeni jak i fani jak i nowi gracze. Rockstar games odwaliło świetną robotę. Wciągająca fabuła, bardzo ciekawa postać Max Payne'a, ładna grafika i świetna grywalność. Gra wręcz obowiązkowa dla każdego fana strzelanin. Szkoda że nie jest do końca dopracowana, zawiera trochę bugów, i w niektórych misjach/mapach wygląda kiepsko. Gra jednwygląda kiepsko. Gra jednak naprawdę bardzo dobra. Moja ocena 8,5/10… Expand

With its mature story and intense shooting, Max Payne makes for one of the best single player experiences from this generation, with up to 10 hours of visual entertainment, accompanied by clever storytelling and one of the best voice acting in gaming history. The multiplayer is also one of Rockstar's finest, offering a nice array of customizable options with pretty standard gamemodes, but the bursts and bullettime work so well that, after a few matches of getting used to, you will enjoy every stylish and simply awesome kill you'll pull off online.… Expand

Bullet time is just fun, the game is challenging in it's own right and it is fun. The Brazillian themes and level design really deserves the praise. Story keeps you interested long enough, although not being able to skip cutscenes might hinder some replayability but that was not too bothersome. It is a great game and worth your money especially if it is on sale.

Not sure where all the bad reviews come from, maybe people expected something different. The plot is decent the mechanics are good, body physics is great. I bought it due to 3d vision support and it was great experience, really enjoyed the 'shooting gallery, cutscene, shooting gallery, cutscene". there is absolutely nothing wrong with it for me, although I'm not oging to replay it for every achievement possible.… Expand

While I enjoyed the experience the main problem was the aiming system and the re-appearance of things I had just blew up 5 seconds ago. The game play is sluggish compared other 3rd person shooters and they failed to keep it up with the other max payne games. The whole bodyguard thing doesnt suit the persona of the guy from the original 1 and 2 games too. Feels more like a marketing guys idea because Spec: Ops The Line came out.… Expand

It's a Rockstar game, did you expect any less than a 10/10? Graphics are amazing for current gen 10/10 Storytelling is gripping and thrilling 10/10 Gameplay is smooth and addictive 10/10 Hidden items and bonuses are a breeze to find and have a satisfying reward10/10 The multiplayer brings more action and addictiveness and has a ton of replayability 10/10 This is a fantastic gritty, and brutal sequel to the original max payne double of the 2000's

and the Multiplayer isn't half bad either, it's satisfying enough to keep us playing for longer and longer.

This is a must play for Max Payne fans and shooter fans everywhere!… Expand

10/10 best game I've ever played --cutscenes are worth watching, gameplay is consistently impressive and the graphics are near perfect for a game which runs at high frame rates with low processing requirements.

great game!! i'm italian and when the enemies speak portoguese, me and max seem the same man!! thanks Rockstar!!
After i finished this game, my next destination is Brasil!

Beautiful story, great shooting mechanics, amazing visuals, good soundtrack, on the other hand cover mechanics could be simplified, could introduce some vehicles... All in all, the single player is equally as awesome as multiplayer, really excited to see the crews transiting into GTA V and other titles. Perfect shooter.

Shoot all the baddies, cut-scene. Wash, rinse, repeat. Over and over and over again. And don't you dare hang around any longer than necessary, you'll get a rhetorical remark every 30 seconds to remind you that you have to press this button, walk through that door. No, you're not allowed to think for a second. Just shoot the baddies and follow the linear story.

Good:
+ Graphics
+ Max is back
+ Painkillers

Bad:
- Game-play
- Overdone and overused blurry effect
- No puzzles
- Never let's you think
- Linear
- Okay-ish story

Ugly:
:( Max always pops out his handgun after a cut-scene, even when you had a rifle
:( Camera is sometimes very bad, which makes you unable to kill a baddie sometimes
:( Very bad AI… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Upon further playing I have come to realise this game is actually fantastic. Think about it Max was done in New Jersey and this was portrayed brilliantly in the flashback section of the game. All the nods to the previous games are a nice touch especially the piano playing. It leaves a few important things unanswered but it is somehow ok.… Expand

tldr; an ok -sometimes good- game but i wouldn't say this is a max payne game.

this is definitely an above-average action game. what makes this game better than it normally is max himself but it also creates a huge dissapointment. the first two was my favorite 3ps while this game feels like it could not use its potential as a max payne game. the pratagonist could have been any guy; he doesn't look like max payne for most part of the game, he talks like max payne but does not sound like him (his quotes were far more better in previous games) and his purpose for nearly killing every men in their 20s in brazil is not satisfying. i read somewhere that rockstar stated that not every noir should take place in new york. well after playing the game all i can say is it should have been. the only chapters i truely enjoyed were those chapters took place in new york. yes the scenery and view was more maybe beautiful in brazil but if i wanted a ghetto or a jungle tour i wouldn't playing max payne would i. THIS GAME IS NOT A NOIR. it is an action game with a former detective.

the game looks beautiful and i would say really optimized for pc with high frame rates and advanced graphic options. i liked the level designs with nice graphics and they didn't feel like corridors although they definitely were. i have no problem with cinematics and i think they did a nice job mixing normal cinematics with payne style comic scenes (but i always prefer old school comics of payne).

if there will be a next max payne i really hope in the opening cinematic max would wake up in his hole in new jersey and say "i had the worst nightmare. i was in brazil."… Expand

Max Payne 3 is a very tough game to review, at times it's blundering, overly cinematic and linear, at others its brilliantly violent, dynamic and clever. I have yet to play a game with this many ups and downs in my opinion on it. However, I finished the game with a huge smile on my face and an eagerness to go through it again.

The first thing you will notice is of course the change in setting, Max Payne 3 switches the grimy streets of New York for Sao Paolo brazil. Max Payne is no longer a sharp wisecracking detective but an aging, incompetent drunk. The sequences of him drinking and popping painkillers and talking about how much he hates himself get old really quickly, however within this overused cliche Rockstar develops a strange relationship between the character and the player. Much of Max Payne 3 is spent watching Max act in extremely stupid ways (in one scene he busts into a hostage situation, outnumbered 10 to one and just says "drop the guns", in another, he wanders down the streets of brazil in a Hawaiian shirt asking people for directions before inevitably getting robbed.) and you, the player, having to bail him out of his situations withy our superior shooting skills. You, the player, will come to hate Max as much as he hates himself, whether it is intentional or not it was a clever way of getting the idea across.

The game is made up of cinematic sequences (QTE style set pieces), escort missions, vehicle levels, occasional "boss battles" with heavily armed enemies, and open ended shootouts with multiple enemies. It is when Max is alone, outnumbered and has to shoot his way out that the game really shines. The gunplay is generally brilliant on a level not even achieved by MP1 or 2. Environments are almost fully destructible, the rag-doll physics are really well done, and shoot-dodging has a whole different feeling to it. Max now interacts with his environment. if you shoot dodge into a wall, max will hit his head and land on his face, having to correct himself before being able to get a clear shot at anything, this means shoot dodgning is no longer an easy answer to everything, it can go horribly wrong and you actually have to plan your moves. It is in this mechanic that the game truly shines, each gunfight plays out differently depending on your actions, and is generally a joy to play through. The other sequences on the other hand, can be god awful. Vehicle sequences drag on and seem ridiculous, escort missions missions get obnoxious as the game plays a cutscene of your buddy dying if you fail to meet certain perameters which the game is not clear to you about. This can be extremely frustrating. In one sequence I managed to outsmart a sniper by hidning behind the wall he was sniping from, the game then played a cutscene of max wandering out into the open (despite the fact that i was taking cover) and getting shot, meaning i had to restart the sequence. The game does this a lot, requiring you to do EXACTLY as the game intended, even if there are other solutions, and punishing you by playing a cutscene of Max or one of his friends getting killed and a "Mission Failed" screen. This is not OK in my book, the game can be disgustingly linear during these sequences. Luckily near the end of the game, Max goes it alone and these sequences become less plentiful. The last 4 or so levels of the game are brilliant, featuring almost exclusively brilliantly sculpted shootout.

Like the gameplay, Max Payne 3 doesn't know exactly what it wants to be storywise. The first 6 or so hours feel like a michael bay movie, with cheesy dialogue and really stupid cutscenes. Eventually things take a turn for the darker, max payne is left with no one to talk to but himself as he must unravel an intricate plot in neo-noir fashion, and a lot of people die. The game sort of finds itself and resolves beautifully, despite its many misteps.

The story took me about 12 hours, at the end there is both the option to play through each chapter of the story, even allowing you to load individual checkpoints to skip all the crappy levels, or Arcade mode. Arcade mode allows you to play through the levels with a score counter, trying to beat the high score, you can also choose your player skin (including old school max payne, which is hilarious) and other paramters. I had a lot of fun doing this, the replay value on this game is very high for a story based shooter.

A lot of people here are saying that you can't skip cutscenes, that is not quite true. You have to watch cutscenes while the game is loading, however once its done loading you can skip them, most of the mandatory pre game sequences which you have to watch after you die last 5 seconds at most, so its really not that bad. One big complaint is that on the PC version you cannot alt tab, this is a big problem.

Overal max payne 3 had me cheering at bits and screaming and cursing at others, its a flawed game, but the brilliant gunplay makes it worth it.… Expand

@1440p max settings x4MSAA SLI 680. The game ran at 60fps 95% of the time and virtual memory topped at about 1850MB through out the entire game. The game looks and handles really well. The story and mood of the game was really fun to experience. The game is has extremely repetitive gun play. You basically bullet time, cover, head shot the whole game. But the story, sound and moodiness of the game makes you forget about it. Well worth $20 on a Steam sell. Game play is about 12hrs.… Expand

Absolutely horrible. If I didn't have a digital version I'd set the box on fire. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a Max Payne game because it says Max Payne in the title that is a lie. Instead of dancing around bullets doing cool shoot-dodge moves and slow motion fun this is instead yet another Generic Third Person Cover Shooter. Should you dare to exit cover and play the game like MAX PAYNE you will be shot full of holes in an instant. Instead, the slow motion is there so you can hide in cover, activate slow motion, get an easy headshot, and repeat over and over for the entire game. You are forced to play the game in the most boring way possible to succeed, as the fun arcade action of the originals is completely gone.… Expand

This is a brilliant game, I loved the graphics, the game play was smooth and the cinematics was awesome. I would have given it a 10/10 if my game play time was more than 11 hours though.

Max Payne the third is a mixed bag. Firstly you have to say that they have tried to rejuvenate the series taking it to new settings whilst continuing Max's story and there have been, once again, tweaks to the bullet time controls and some core gameplay mechanics, Overall you can see what they have tried to do but honestly it doesn't work when compared to the first two. The Good, The shooting, that their is, when it works is still sublime, the pin point precision of the bullet mechanics is visceral and satisfying, additionally the story that is told is not one so much of plot but of the continued journey of max payne and as it is, it is entertaining to watch the man transform and get the preverbial kicked out of him in the favelas of southern America. you realise that he is a very human character and as we go through the story we are constantly receiving his thoughts and musings which make us like him more and more.

The bad,

Well well well, some where along the line Rockstar forgot how to make games, the game is broken in many places, apart from the fact that it is rather consoleified (sadly its better played through a gamepad now) their are large sections where control of max is arrested from you as the story is played and then suddenly you are expected to be ready to play instantly after minutes of twiddleing your thumbs. add to this the graphical issues with corouption and other gameplay glitches causing broken movement and deaths it don't stack up well.

Bottom line:

MP3 is a fine game for those who want to continue the series and story of this character but control issues and directorial decisions regarding the pace and type of gameplay result in it feeling clunky and it is broken in areas, if you just want a bullet time shooter go pick up the vastly superior max payne 1 or 2.… Expand

This is quite simply one of the slickest, smoothest and most satisfying games I have ever played. It looks incredible and the artwork theme is incredible, giving the game such a unique feel. The cutscenes and menus are slick and the game moves flowingly throughout. It's lack of bugs and glitches only add to it's seamless atmosphere. The in-game mechanics are well-balanced giving the bullet-time and movement a satisfying substance whilst remaining tasteful. The story is deep and immersive, Max Payne's character is rich and goes against the grain of Hollywood's heroes. It's so rare to have a game that feels and plays like a well-made film but this is the perfect way to describe Max Payne 3. Playing this game is like watching Pulp Fiction for the first time, you simply won't forget it and you'll want to watch it again. Max Payne 3 gives what every gamer lusts for, an actual experience built on detail, story and fantastic gameplay. Buy the out of it.… Expand

this has nothing to do with the original Max Payne 1 and 2. it's basically a bundle of cutscenes with occasional shooting. it's really embarrassing to call this thing a game. a game is something i would like to play, not to watch.

I'm not only complaining because this Max Payne doesn't feel any similar to the previous games that made him famous and appreciated. I'm complaining because behind a weak and predictable storyline, it doesn't let you enjoy the game with continuous cut-scenes and automated movements. It feels like Time Crysis!! Aim, shoot, change position. Aim, shoot, change position. VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED!

I can see there are lots of negative comments. Are you kidding me? Some commented that they don't like the name of football team, the game is serious. Lol. This is a great game. The story is awesome. Pyscho- Thriller action packed game. What more can you ask for. Nice Job Rockstar!

I've seen this movie already it's called Man on Fire. Yes, the un-skippable cut scenes definitely kill the replay value of this movie, err, I mean game. Technically, you may skip the cut scenes when they are finished loading, but that can take a long ass time depending on your hardware, and usually you're merely loading another cut scene. Max's monologue gets very redundant as well. I'm pissed that I have to log into Social Club to play. But still, the plot is good (for a videogame). The environment looks great and is highly detailed. The gun play is very satisfying and the gratuitous, slow motion violence makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. This game is really is a mixed bag, but if you're remotely interested in putting bloody holes in peoples faces close up and in slow-mo then I'd say pick it up if it's on sale. I want to rate it a 6 but I'm a whore for violence so I'll add another point.… Expand

Great game.compelling story and smooth control.A fan of the series.second only to the first.This is ranked one of the best shooters.As the story gets deeper it brings you in part by part doing a good job in staying fresh and not being repetitive

Hahaha notice that all the reviews which give this game a 10 are posted 1-4th of June 2012, just when the game was released. I guess rockstar (wisely) didn't trust real gamers to write positive reviews.

Since the reviews wont tell you what you get with this game, I will: it's a bad console port. One can't change the controls, it is 100% corridor shooter, gameplay is run & gun for two minutes followed by a long cutscene, rinse and repeat.
Graphics are fairly poor, gameplay is worse the handholding is so heavy and the cutscenes so frequent it's effectively a slightly interactive movie. Oh yeah, and it REQUIRES that you register online for a "social" account before you can play.

Possibly the most disappointing game I've played in two years. Really sad to see how far the Max Payne franchise has fallen.… Expand

Currently on regular sale on steam for under a tenner, Max Payne 3 happily fills the linear action shooter niche, complete with laughable dialogue and well-paced action. The story is predictably hammy throughout, yet pleasingly self-referential. Cover-glitch issues and unskippable cut-scenes sadly pull this down into an 8/10, but there isn't any to match what Max can bring. Read more at http://teachergamer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/max-payne-3.html… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The single player campaign wow'd me originally, mainly because of the graphics but as the game went on it because more a nuisance because you die so many times even on normal... there's no content after you beat the single player besides 'arcade mode' which is basically trying to compete with nobody since the score is so ridiculously high... well that sucks.

The multiplayer is so dumb because everyone starts out with ridiculously better weapons than you since they've been playing since release or something, and the melee feature is so overpowered and annoying that's one of the main reasons the multiplayer isn't fun for me.… Expand

I've read some reviews before I bought the game, and they all said it was a good port, that Rockstar made a good job... well, I disagree. How can you call it a good port when you have to hit Enter, which is located away from both hands in an action game with mouse aiming, to do a lot of things? That's the worst choice, really. There are a lot of cutscenes, I mean, really... A LOT. When they say you spend most of your time watching things happen than playing, they are not kidding. But that's ok, no big deal, it's a way to tell the story... but what makes me really mad about it is that they placed some checkpoints BEFORE some cutscenes. Not long cutscenes, but when you watch the same damn thing 10 times, you get pretty upset. I mentioned the story, which was absolutely great in the first game. This one? What a joke. Max adventures in Brazil are very cliché, and since I'm actually from Brazil, it bothers me even more that it's all wrong. Galatians F. C.? What the If you can't put the team's name for licensing issues, please come up with some name in Portuguese, not a generic american soccer team name. Gameplay is frustrating in the beginning, it took me like 2 hours to really get used to it. After you learn how to deal with the AI and the mechanics, it's not bad at all, kinda funny the bullet time, jumping slow-mo, kill cams, etc. The graphics are good (for a console port anyway). But honestly, I expected much more from this game. Oh, I almost forgot! I bought it on Steam, but to actually play it, I had to create a Rockstar Social Club account and login into it every time.… Expand

Max Payne 3 made a great comeback for the franchise and Max Payne comes back as hard as ever. One thing you will notice straight away is the superb graphic and the extreme details in the graphic. Max Payne 3 have of the BEST graphic I’ve seen with a TPS game. Max Payne 3 is a very cinematic game. And all the loading screens are replaced by cutscenes so you wouldn't be bored staring at a boboring loading screen screen. The story is catchy and the single player campaign is tense and fun. Max Payne 3 also have one of the BEST dual wield mechanic and shooting mechanic for a TPS game. The AIs in MP3 are also one of the most realistic AIs I've seen in a game. The AIs are capable of gettin headshot of the player especially the elite soldier/cops. The AIs with shotguns can also get a one shot-kill of the player if the player gets too close. And don't forget the funs and grippy multiplayer complete with the bullet time mechanic and shoot dodge mechanic.There are the usual game modes such as death match team death match but one of the main game mode is the gang war which is a combination of different game modes including grabbing the bag, capturing the turf, one team tries to defend a turf while the other tries to capture the turf and when the turf is captured the capture team will move on to capture the next turf etc. There are also many different interesting and fun game modes in the gang war mode. This game mode really supports teamwork. Overall the Max Payne 3 is SUPERB game. The single player have a grippy and fun campaign. And the multiplayer is tense and very interesting. Max Payne 3 is a game shooter fans should NOT miss!!!… Expand

This is the first game, that I have ever given a 10 out of 10. For this genre, it's the absolute best you could get. It's a masterpiece! The story is great, you feel like you really know Max Payne as a person and can feel how depressed he is, he isn't just a stupid lifeless video game character. The game play is even better than the previous two, as it capitalized and expanded on all of the features introduced in the original games. You really can't ask for any more in this genre. Now I don't have a single problem with the game, however I do have a problem with many reviews on this site, discouraging people from buying the game, as it almost did for me. For example, on steam forums, multiple posts have said something like this "Was psyched about buying the game until I saw the reviews". As there were probably many more that didn't post on the forums. I think that Metacritic should really think about taking some of those bullsh*t forums off that are affecting the rating, and discouraging customers from buying. Secondly, the most common "fault" in this game (according to the negative reviews on this site) mainly consist jibber-jabber about the length and inability to skip cut scenes. Now I don't know if you guys just are posting bullsh*t reviews for fun, or if there actually was an update recently, because I swear, that in the bottom right side of the screen during every cut scene there is a button saying "press enter to skip". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That's almost 200 reviews of 0's and 1's that are dragging this truly incredible game's user score down to a 7.4/10. It really is an exaggeration when someone says "shoot, cut scene, shoot." I mean, people MUST be just posting stupid reviews for fun. Furthermore on the cut scenes, the cut scenes are what separate this game from the average third person shooter, IT GIVES IT A STORY, I mean it's not like they are boring, well unless your not a fan of the action movie genre. So seriously, skip them if you want, the rest of us will watch and enjoy, and if you REALLY HATE games with a story, then please, do us a favor, and go back to call of duty, or one of those other midless shooters. Overall, the reviewers of this game really need to cut the crap, and open their eyes to the button in the corner of the screen that allows you to skip cut scenes. Keep it up, Rockstar, you continue to make games that impress, and wow the action game genre of video game players.… Expand

I just hope anyone from Rockstar Games is reading this: it's about your GTA engine. DO NOT EVER attempt to make a game where a protagonist has to shoot ridiculous heaploads of enemies and where the plot kind of depends on that process. Your engine really kills the narrative. It just plain sucks for games like that. It is just not suited for games with a decent story at all. Stick to your GTA stuff (it is really good). THANKS A BUNCH!… Expand

I select easy ok EASY. For me when a put a game in easy, is because I want to finish it but not with Max Payne 3 For Roch Stars easy equal hard. Impossible to finish this game unless a good gamer can be but I'm a casual. Yet another waste of money for me.

I liked every single aspect of the game except the cover system....it is very lame...u h to be very precise bfor coming out or sum1 wil shoot u... the gameplay is totally awesome bt the cover system is the only reason i hv given it a 9...

In a word: disappointed. I’m a massive fan of the first two games and still play through them every now and them, but I have no intension of replaying Max’s latest adventure. Graphically the game is very good, but completely devoid of the noir that made the previous games so atmospheric. And where is the humour and the constant movie and TV references? It’s like it takes itself too seriouseriously in a vain attempt to come across as “gritty”. The graphic novels have been replaced by lengthy and unskippable animated cutscenes that quickly become tiresome. And the story is dull and instantly forgettable. I managed to complete the game in two afternoons (for which I paid £30, so not good value for money). The action seems to have evolved into something more resembling COD and they have implemented a cover system that is crucial to survival. You spend most of the game crouched behind walls, popping out every now and then to take headshots. Bullet time is no longer centre stage gone are the dynamic and insanely fun fire fights of the previous games. The multiplayer is nothing special. It’s basically a 3rd person COD, with similar gamemodes, and a similar experience and perks system. The bullet time function is clumsy and doesn’t really work as all players in line of sight enter the mode with you when activated. In fact the multiplayer is already pretty much dead. After the dullness and dumbed-down experience of LA Noire and the mediocrity that was GTA IV, I strongly suspect that Rockstar has lost their way. It’s like they’ve forgotten what used to make their games so good.… Expand

Fantastic, My favorite video game ever, great graphics and visual effects, a game-play that doesn't get boring or less amusing even after multiple game plays, and Max is the deepest, most depressing, most-living video game character I've ever played with.

Being a Rockstar game, it feels very much like GTA in terms of combat, which did get slightly repetitive, but was still great fun, the story was very well developed, my only problem with it is that some cutscenes take a little too long and some of them shouldn't have been there and should have given you control. The soundtrack was amazing, and the graphics were great, even if I couldn't max out settings due to my average graphics card.… Expand

It's a awesome Singleplayer experience. The Multiplayer is almost unplayable, because many server problems and a lot of settings, including the firewall.

This game made a big fuss before its release. And after it is released I waited about a month to buy it until I checked the success well, then I bought it. I run the game and I started to play. At first I've found nothing interesting. I said maybe it's just the beginning, the game will improve in the next chapter. so I played for another hour. Still nothing, nothing impressing or new, nothing unique. I finally realised that the whole game is big failure. Rockstar earned large profits from this game due to the older versions, but also lost the confidence of many fans. That's my own opinion, and I totally disagree with critics. I do not know what really impressed them in this toy.… Expand

Cutscene, shooting gallery, bulletime. Rinse and repeat. The story was average, and so was the game play, and the fact that if you couldn't get past one point you could just restart it with full health and a couple extra painkillers really bugged the hell out of me, it took away the challenge.
The one redeeming feature is that it's not a terrible PC port.

Best of 2012! A work of art. Exquisite!
Nothing to complain. They did everything right!
Excellent visuals, outstanding playability, luxury atmosphere, compelling story.
The work and dedication have its fruit and is called: Max Payne 3
Thanks "Rockstar" by this superlative game!

So disappointed. The biggest problems are technical, it's pretty much a craps shoot as to whether you will get it to run (Didn't run properly on my gamer PC, did run on gamer laptop at much reduced settings). So if you get over the technical, what do you get in the game? Cut scenes that make the Metal Gear Solid series look brief and uninspiring game play when you do get the chance to interact. nil points.… Expand

The graphics look good, the voice acting was good and the story was decent although I was only able to stomach about 75% of the game before I stopped playing, so I can't comment about the ending. While the first 10 interactive shooting scenes were fun, there was nothing to break up the monotony except for the endless movie cut-scenes or the hunt for the silly golden guns. The slow-motion effects got so nauseatingly repetitious that I uninstalled the game. Since the game is tightly woven with the story I'll forgive the single-threaded nature of the game but the boring game-play killed it for me.… Expand

The gameplay is good, but the camera confuses you sometime. The best part of the game is the story. The narrative in the game does not let the story vague. The voice of the Max demonstrates his loneliness.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The gameplay feels just as good as MaxPayne 1 and 2 but there is one thing that destroyed the game. MaxPayne is too stupid. He is always drunk and surrender to anyone with a gun in the cutscenes even thou you could do 30 headshots before they have time to blink using bullet time.… Expand

The game is good but not perfect so i can`t give it a 10 it has great graphics sound and a decent gameplay. I like the change of scenery from US to Brazil it lost some of the dark feeling but it gained more open spaces and hordes of enemies :D I don`t mind the film sensation but the effects in the cut scenes are not that great. The fact that you can`t really explore the game and the doors close permanently behind you is a huge flaw of the game they wasted so much potential aslo no puzzeles very linear .The combat system it`s ok but the cover dosn`t allways work and you can`t shoot the AI because they are behind multiple objects but they still manage to fire at you ,aslo you can`t kill the AI from under bridges but they can kill you through any material :D I finished the game on pc on hard and it`s a nice challenge despite some bugs and camera visibility issues. The MP in this game is very weak the pistols are overpowered and the fact that you have to shoot multiple times to get a hs it`s not right it shoud be instant kill also i notices players who have higher levels can regenerate the health when they are under supresion by enemies that is bs.... I recommend this game if you liked MP1 and MP2 and if you like to feel like you are in Brazil… Expand

I'm so happy I got this on the steam sale. Max Payne 3 is one of those games that make you clear one area, and after this you move on to the next. If you get killed, you have to start over again. Sometimes the 'areas' turn out to be much larger than one would have thought and after completing a challenging part of a level, you move on, looking around (more about this in a second) only to get shot and restart something that you already did. I know there are people that like this kind of thing: if that's you, you might like the game. But that's not the only shortcoming of the game.

I normally love games with a good story. Max Payne attempted to be cinematic, but it failed miserably. The way they created his character is just cheesy. You've got an ex-cop, who's a pill-popping alcoholic, who takes a bottle of pain killers and chases them down with a bottle of vodka or whiskey or whatever is his poison. All that Max does is complain about being a failure, monotonously. His wise-cracks are just like he is as a character: miserable and predictable. And, always banging on the same drum, ultimately boring. I know that sometimes protagonists of video games are supposed to be stereotypical, but its hard to find something less enthralling than a whining alcoholic. Other characters aren't much better. There also is a small technical plot hole. If you're bent on finding somebody, and time is of the essence, the game should encourage you to charge, or at least try to get to your goal ASAP. But it doesn't. Oh no. It does everything to discourage you, it even award you for not doing so. You have to find clues and parts of golden weapons as bonus objectives (remember when bonus objectives were a real part of games that made you do a level 5 or 6 times to get everything right?) Here its just the opposite. You have to canvas entire areas looking for something that might be a clue, or a weapon part. Which can be ludicrously hidden at times. Again, this isn't something new, and games such as Black had this.

The game also has too much cliches. You have the favellas bit (Fear 3, Modern Warfare 2), escaping a burning building (EVERYTHING last year)... What it lacks is innovation. And being fun.… Expand

Positive things are nice graphics, movie-like gaming experience and quite ok storyline. Negative things are that cutscenes may start even if you don't want to proceed on level yet (no warning) and ALWAYS after cutscene Max changes his rifle to pistol, which is...aaaargh! At it's worst, Max Payne 3 is continous repeat of itself: walk-shoot-cutscene-walk-shoot-cutscene (boring!), mixed with average storyline. As a whole, this game ain't nothing new or special, just a shooter with slow-motion and nice graphics.… Expand

I love this game. Although the gameplay is a some what repetitive, the story is amazing and the graphics beautiful. Bullet Time is better than ever and you will need it to stay alive, because this game is hard. The only thing that's wrong about the story is that almost everyone dies, but the rest of the story is perfect. I also think that this game has one of the most underrated multiplayer modes of all time, it's extremely deep and fun. Too bad almost no one plays it. If you like crime movies, good stories, slow motion and just a well made game, pick this one up.… Expand

After I played both prequels, I was worried they could have changed the meaning of payne like others did because the understanding of video games changed in the past few years. But, after all, I am very excited about what was produced by Rockstar and how they could connect the game to its prequels. The athmosphere is awesome. Seldom felt like being that in a game instead of sitting infront of a monitor and just playing. Music fits great to the surrounding and the story is one of that good old scool action hero movie style tales. I guess all most negative comments are written from guys who played the payne to relaxe or next to 2 or 3 other games. To get the best out of that game you have to treat it like a good book. Just enjoy it once in a while in the afternoon and play it chapter for chapter. Great stuff!… Expand

There is only two words I can use to describe this game are "masterpiece" and "epic". You're literally playing a movie with a great story. The mechanics are easy, approachable, and fluid. Was ported very well also.

Uno de los mejores juegos a los que he jugado últimamente. La historia y estilo narrativo de la misma, engancha desde el primer momento. Si a eso le sumamos el estilo de juego que sigue el patrón de la primera y segunda parte aunque en un entorno muy diferente (Brasil, representado de una manera que te hace sentir verdaderamente allí), obtenemos una tercera parte que está a la altura de la saga y que no defraudara ni a los que jugaron a las anteriores partes, como a los que se sumerjan en el mundo y vida de Max Payne por primera vez.… Expand

Man, I really can't believe some people are rating this game low because you can't skip cutscenes, wow. Max Payne 3 is one of, if not THE best third person shooter of all time (single-player), if you disgaree you're not a gamer, that is a fact.

Not great as Max Payne 1 and 2, but actually a very good game. I've played this after Borderlands and there are abysmal differences. Max Payne, intended as game and not only as the character, has always so much charisma and class, unlike Borderlands and other FPS & TPS. The game has a good plot and it's very enjoyable and satisfying, with only a few situations maybe a little too difficult and frustrating. A must to play for old school Max Payne lovers and not. A really good graphic with a good optimization, and a great sound sample for weapons.… Expand

Looks great, fluid movement from the characters and the environment is attractive and fun to explore. Action is fast paced and fun, the seamless load screen/cut scene makes it hard to put the game down, however, drag the experience down from the empty and poorly written story line that you can't skip through. This is not Max Payne either, Max was a ruthless emotionless man with nothing to lose, now he's a overly dramatic cry baby. The story and writing was so beautifully done in the first two games but unfortunately this falls well short and make you feel embarrassed for the clumsy misguided "max payne". Great game with a lot going for it, just not as Max Payne.… Expand

It's a good game, visually awesome, but too short and overrated. It's very linear, you only end up shooting and shooting all the time... could have been much better, overall it felt really short.

I'm giving this game a zero because there are so many frustrating things about the playing experience that make me not want to play. I almost clicked uninstall just now but I'm going to wait and give it one more chance. My hopes are not high.

The story is really pretty decent and intriguing; I'd say the only thing that's kept me in the game this far. The actual game play and mechanics are abysmal and the game is wrought with bugs. I've had the same essential PC hardware for over 2 years (video card and processor, etc) and this is the first game that has ever caused a blue screen/crash. Approximately one out of every 5 times I take cover I get stuck in cover, cannot move, cannot peak out, aim or shoot and I have to wait until they shoot me to near death for it to animate me out or just restart the check point. It's bad enough that I mostly have to avoid the cover system.

Moving is awkward, clunky and slow. Mouse control/sensitivity is out of control. Luckily I have a mouse with a hardware button to adjust the DPI or I would not have been able to play this game at all. Aiming is still very clunky and predicting where your aim will go when leaving cover is nearly impossible.

There is an art style applied to the MANY cut scenes that you will want to hit someone for after the first 5 minutes. It looks like a VHF channel with signal problems on an old CRT television and they do it CONSTANTLY. Also the game will pull you out of actual game play into unskippable cut scenes without warning simply for stepping somewhere on the map. This often means you cannot go back to where you were before the cut scene which also means you can't collect items such as guns or ammo from enemies you just killed. Also fantastic is that your weapon selection is constantly changed FOR you during cut scenes and otherwise. Had dual pistols equipped? Maybe an assault rifle? Not anymore, now you just have one lousy pistol equipped and they've dumped you into a fire fight with a dozen bad guys. Enjoy that weapon switching too because it takes so long that you'll most likely get shot up while waiting for it or maybe even die. Overall there is a very low attention to detail in this game. Inconsistencies between scenes and cut scenes (can't keep track of what gun you're carrying). Very little player control and when you are in control it's just not very fun. What happens when you're in cover and you get shot close to death? You go into slow mo mode with a chance to kill the bad guy who shot you. This means you lose bullet time and you do an in place sideways dive of sorts so that you end up out of cover lying on your side. So even if you're able to win that little battle Max is so slow to get back up you'll probably just die again before you can get back to cover.

I REALLY can't believe that anyone play tested this and said "Yes, this is a fun game to play". It's a really embarrassingly bad game mechanically which ruins a pretty decent story experience.

P.S. Don't think that your game play actions have any actual effect on the outcome of events. The story and events are set in stone so you can fight your ass off for an hour and kill dozens or hundreds of bad guys only to have the entire purpose of your fighting undone in a 90 second cut-scene where suddenly you're powerless. Yay 1990's gaming!… Expand

The first word that comes to my mind when describing the game: mediocre. I just finished playing on hard difficulty level. I was just a kid when the first Max Payne came out, but I did play it again at a later time also. It was not that polished, but still an enjoyable experience. Max Payne 2 on the other hand was spectacular. The action was flawless, shooting was really fun and the story went on smoothly. I did not expect this third installment to be a masterpiece like the previous one, but I still did expect an enjoyable piece of action. Luckily, I got it from Steam sale and did not pay full price.

The narration was repetitive and did not do really anything to move the plot. Cut scenes were really annoying, not only stopping any shooting action you might have had going on, but also putting you to some stupid starting position for the next fight. If you played Deus Ex: Human Revolution stealthily and were screaming during the first boss fight, that is the feeling you will be often having playing Max Payne 3.

Controls were frustrating at times. The cover system is flawed as changing cover (by diving jump for example) is impossible, you always have to exit your current cover first and risk getting shot. Luck is heavily involved in most of the firefights, especially if you have to change cover (because the scripted nature of the game forces you to). I did not have problems getting head shots, but sometimes one bullet just was not enough and when there are more than five guys shooting at you, you need lots of painkillers to even try those head shots. Painkillers, or luck, or preferably both. Some scenes were incredibly frustrating and required many tries just to learn by heart from where and when the next enemy was going to appear. It happened too often that there were still one or two enemies standing, I had no ammo left, my health was almost gone and without painkillers, I had to make a run for the nearest weapon, exiting my cover. At that point, it was simply a matter of luck whether I made it or was shot. And usually it was the latter, which really was not fun after certain amount of retries. Even after succeeding, you did not get any enjoyment from an exciting firefight, you only felt you were glad it was over. The point of painkillers was simply that, given enough retries, you could make it to the next checkpoint. In the previous games, having lots of painkillers enabled one to try out some imaginative ways of dealing with the enemies, resulting in more fun; having no painkillers forced one to play it safe. Here, it is just pure luck and eventually you will run out of it, painkillers or not.

The game also has good points, however. The graphics and sounds are fine, if nothing spectacular. A few scenes and even one or two cutscenes were genuinely fun. The game mechanics are simple enough that having all those weapon select wheels etc. from the console world did not distract too much. During my over ten-hour run, the game crashed just a couple of times. Still, I feel like cutting all the boring levels, dropping all the unnecessary cut-scenes and fixing a couple of frustrating firefights, the game would have been five hours at max a ride, but hugely more enjoyable. I would not recommend this, at least not with the hard difficulty level. Instead, try out Max Payne 2 if you fancy some nice shooting action.… Expand

Best game of 2012 for me, the pc ports really rocks: dx11 support, really smooth even on my old machine and full support also for 3dvision, great job Rockstar, more of this!!
The game contains a lot of cut scenes very well done and much better than most of the movies i've seen recently, the action is frenetic and it can be also very tough on hard difficulty setting.
Multiplayer also is very good, i'm playing with some friends and having a lot of fun, there are levels to advance like most of the recent fps shooters.… Expand

Max Payne 3 is a game featuring natural and entertaining shooting mechanics, however this is not where the game shines its brightest. It contains some of the best writing I have seen in a video game. It immerses you in a story with a memorable setting and with deep and complex themes that will keep you thinking. The game plays out in a book form, with Max Payne narrating. This is something that must be understood before someone plays the game. If they expect a typical game with constant action, they will be bored quickly. There are a lot of cut scenes. To many this is an issue, but I felt the cut scenes played an important part in making the game a story-like experience. Apart from the writing, technically this game is a masterpiece. The animations for the characters make the shooting satisfying and add to the immersion of the game. If you are prepared for a very linear but perfectly crafted experience, than May Payne is perfect for you.… Expand

First, let's talk about the good, because there is actually quite a lot of good in this game. For one thing, the surroundings look absolutely gorgeous. The character models are done really well, too. It's like you're looking at a film... and that's the game greatest weakness: it's treated like a film. It's been mentioned before, but the amount and length of cut scenes is truly bizarre. Come on, Half Life 1, which is rapidly reaching the 15 year mark, did storytelling better. But even with all those cut scenes, and with having to replay certain parts over and over, the game is remarkably short. That's the second gripe.

But it doesn't end there, unfortunately. Whilst the character models are great, animation is sometimes wooden. For some things, it's obvious that motion capture has been used, which makes the non-motion capture animation stand out even more. And the facial animation is possibly worse. There doesn't really seem to be any, despite what's claimed in the credits. It's like everybody has a bad case of botox or Parkinson's disease.

The game play is generally good, but there are some really obnoxious elements, especially when your health reaches 0. In that case, you use a painkiller, and you automatically go into some sort of slow-motion and aim at the one who shot you. But what if your need to reload at exactly that moment? Yup: you die, but it takes easily five seconds of slow motion where you already the outcome, and you can't skip it or restart from a checkpoint during that period.

Worse: Max automatically takes the #1 slot weapon, so if you have a pistol and an assault rifle, you have to change back to your rifle every time you need to replay a certain scene. And there are quite a few of those instances. That is, if Max hasn't decided to ditch that assault rifle in between two scenes for absolutely no reason.

Finally, I don't really care about Max' problems. Maybe some characters like Gordon Freeman don't talk enough, but Max just won't shut up, Yes, we all know that he drinks too much and uses too many painkillers, but does he really have to say so every second time he picks up pills? Not to mention, all the clichés that have been beaten to death.

What's left is a game, for want of a better word, that looks absolutely fantastic, but leaves you feeling empty. You end up not caring for any of the characters, including Max, and once you strip the gloss (and those incessant cut scenes), there's very little left.… Expand

I have been playing shooters on pc since Doom and Wolfenstine 3D and I must say the mouse aiming is just plain retarded. It just feels wrong like when you move it jumps 10 pixels at a time. Absolutely disappointed with rockstar on this one. I am so glad I only paid $14 with steam sale! I was a huge fan of MP 1 & 2. In multiplayer on any pc shooter "soft aim lock" should not even be an option this is not xbox360 us pc gamers do not need any type of auto-aim, then again with the retarded mouse movement maybe we do on this one.....… Expand

I loved this game. How can you not love a depressed drunk who can't help but stick to his word running around shooting the **** out of everyone? This game does a real good job of making you feel like a total badass. Realism is completely brushed aside for the sake of kicking ass. Accuracy for example, Max Payne can hit someone on the far side of a sky scraper roof with an uzi while hanging from a helicopter by his ****ing legs. Now that's man mode. I didn't even try the multiplayer so I don't know about that but the campaign was fun as hell. Best game of the year IMO.… Expand

I love stories that center around its characters and delve into their psychological state. In this way, I found Max Payne 3 to be deeper than the previous two installments. On the outside, the story doesn't contain a thousand plot twists or go into unpredictable directions, rather its depth stems from its brilliant depiction of Max Payne. The simplest of stories can contain the most intricacies, such as a House episode. Other reviews do a great job at explaining the pros and cons in the gameplay. There is a surprising amount of bugs and glitches for such a linear game. Many will get you killed, and considering the hardcore difficulty, it can be annoying. The difficulty is by no means a bad thing though, I love that a prominent developer finally has the baIIs to make a game that involves skill, and where where your HP gauge doesn't automatically replenish itself. Beating stages was very satisfying and the difficulty extended the duration of the story to a good 20 hours.… Expand

Max Payne 3 is a typical example of a capitalist age. It's no more than making money based on a good series of games without upholding the standard of that series. And anybody who claims otherwise has either not played that much games yet to compare others to this one, or is getting payed to rate well. There is absolutely no excuse to rate it high otherwise. Sad but true. I'll explain why now.

1. It lets the fans down. Not the most important reason for all but still VERY important. The whole atmosphere is gone and max is turned into some rambling Duke Nukem kind of figure, lost and depressed. The bullet time is still active and however people tried to something new with it, it's much worse than the first two games. 2. It's nothing more but a shooting gallery. You keep trying to kill punk after punk, and they try to kill you. Nothing less, nothing more. A mediocre story isn't enough to change that. Max payne 2 for example, still had it strange dreams and character developing to keep the interest of the player. Minutes of pointless walking (and shooting) in part 3, does not.
3.It's still FULL of bugs. Such as when you get in cover mode, Max gets stuck a lot so he can't do anything else. If this happens, you must hope you get either shot so you fall on the ground, somebody gets close enough to melee hit, or you have to restart at the last checkpoint, which looks like a cheap way out to get around these bugs.
4. They lost the funny aspect of the game, there is not a single fun side in the story, not even a good dark humor part. Also they changed your arsenal to some **** load-out: a handgun left, a handgun right. If you use a rifle or shotgun that's OK, but as soon as you dual wield two handguns, Max drops the larger gun like a baboon on acid, and you have to pick it up again. Also you can't use a secondary skill such as grenades anymore. I give this game a 5/10 for the shooting and bullet-time, but the gameplay and bugs are really messed up, boring and stretched down a road you had to made by all the money you needed to put down for this game that wasn't worth it.… Expand

I gave it a 4/10 because I kept getting stuck in cover, so it was unplayable. I couldn't get further than the football stadium. Also, the normal level is quite difficult, you die all the time, then all those cut scenes are annoying. I did want to like it though.

What can I say aside from rockstar created a master piece.. The cut scenes are awesome, story is kind of cool but I don't exactly like how max (the main character) goes out and continues to drink nearly every night but I guess its for the fun.. Well rockstar, you created a great game, i believe it was worth my $60 thank you

Good graphics, nice cutscenes, wonderful environmental details. It's fun for a few hours but after that you just start to look for ending in a pain. Oh wait, the biggest problem is that this game has no freedom even you are able to open a door if a cutscene allows. And please someone warns Rockstar about their unnecessary collectables. Those collectables could make Max Payne 3 neither wider nor fun.… Expand

Max Payne 3 is undoubtedly an excellent game, the gameplay is very well maintained, full of details and nuances that make it quite striking (Whatever is the bullet time and animations during firefights make the experience quite unique and very entertaining) . The story, narrated by Max (The voices are very, very good), is very well developed, using a lot of cutscenes with a "comic" filter (A reference to the other Max Payne). That this for many was a major snag as there are many scenes where want to do something on their own but the game does a cutscene, which makes it very casual parties, since it seems more a movie than a game, not even the majority can be skipped. In paragraph audiovisual technology and Rockstar did a great job, works very fluid, uses advanced DirectX 11 effects, and the soundtrack and the sounds of the weapons are manicured. The multiplayer, pretty simple, serves to fill, not addicting and matchmaking is pretty bad, sometimes entertaining, but the campaign is enough (about 15 hours). Definitely a game is recommended for those who want a simple game linear and explosive style of Hollywood movies.… Expand

Great game,as good as the first one.I've seen Max Payne evolve over the years and it never let me down.
The multiplayer is extremely good,I've had a lot of fun.The DLCs are cheap and often useful.The SP was also great,the flashback part brought back some memories and even if you never played Max Payne before you'd still understand what this game is all about.

Game imitates movie, movie imitates game and now the game imitates - well - game. On an aesthetic level, MP3 is stunning. It looks lush and detailed, smooth and vibrant. The environments are gorgeous and gritty. Character designs are varied and crisp. Levels are a tad linear but break off here and there for items. Cover spots are great and are spread out evenly. The script is excellent with some hilarious narration by long-time MP voice James McCaffrey (as well as motion captioned) among others. It's an engaging story with clever plotlines and creative dialogue. Excellent foley work with terrific sound FX and vocals. The arsenal has a nice variety but not having grenades is a bit of a disappointment. The weapon select is a tad clunky and inconvenient in a pinch. All aesthetics aside, everything works but that's where the golden stickers stop. Technically in terms of controls it's a mess. The cover actions are clumsy as well as glitched. The glitch causes Max to get stuck unless you roll out of it. The cover action also is very sticky and causes Max to cover where you don't always want him to. The character movement is slow and there's some problems with mouse whipping. Max also reverts to the default weapon (pistol) after a cut scene. Saving isn't too bad since there are no manual saves but the checkpoints are fine most of the time. Multi-player is fine for those that play that sort of thing. It's not perfect and can be frustrating at times but for an overall experience it's a total visceral thrill ride. It's bloody, funny, clever and action-packed. Next time just do some more quality control before you release it.… Expand

Лучшая игра 2012 года,достойное продолжение легендарной серии.

Overall, this is a fun game and really deserves a 7 but I gave it an 8 to balance out the haters. The main problem is that the developers forgot to make a the game itself fun and focused entirely on creating cut scenes and story. The story and cut scenes are entertaining but it appears that's where all of their creativity went. All the enemies are exactly the same except the rare bosses. The developers tried to make it feel different by changing the environment and uniforms but it still feels the same. The later levels just means there's more enemies on screen at once. There's no difference between a handgun and rifle except the magazine capacity and rate of fire. You can hit a guy with a handgun just as accurate with a scoped laser dotted rifle. Even when they place you in a unique shooting situation, it never felt any different because the enemies and mechanics of your gun is no different than before. So after the first chapter you're just playing for the story because killing bad guys in the exact same fashion gets tiresome. The story is where all the money went. The cut scenes makes up for 50% of the game but I found it enjoyable which is the only reason why I finished it. If you're the type of player who skips all the cut scenes then you'll get bored because you're almost always using the same gun shooting at the same bad guys. It's really too bad because there are so many different places they could have been more creative game play wise. What is the point of the silencer on guns if you never actually do any sneaking in the game? How about more unique weapons like using bullet time to throw a knife at someone's face or flame throwers? Why not enemies with different attributes like having one carry a shield and another specializes in throwing flash bangs? Instead of just making us shoot out of vehicles all the time, how about allowing us to control the helicopter and fire its weapon systems? Instead, at the core this feels more like a time crisis arcade game except time crisis was more fun game play wise.… Expand

Juego de pasillos donde los enemigos van saliendo por oleadas, no te da nada más, ni puedes hacer nada más, imposible salirte del guión establecido, todo marcado con checkpoints, muero, reinicio, muero, reinicio, avanzo 10 metros, otra oleada, historia clásica.

This is one of those games which could be pure awesomeness but developer obviously tried too hard and - FAILED. Graphics is good. Even gameplay is good. But... There are animated sequences all over the game. You can hardly play for 1-2 minutes without be interupted with animated sequence. Game is soo linear that even moving from 1 room to another is animated sequence. AI is terrible. AND WORSE and most annoying thing is that when you die you are always returned on checkpoint BEFORE animated sequence which usually cannot be skipped. So each time you die you are forced to watch same sequence again. Without this things which make this game unplayable game would probably be 9 or 10!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. MP3 is a great game - really cool shooter with all the best features taken form previous MPs... All? Nope, unfortunately not, the story of MP3 is about one old dude, whose best time-killers to be drunk and to moan all the time about his hard life etc etc etc. All that he do - drink, moan, kill, moan... Pathetic.
As an old-hard-boiled fan of MP I really hate Rockstar for killing Max's soul, the soul of noir, deep sadness, revenge moving stroy... Remedy was the best in creating MPs story (eternal respect to Sam Lake), I was really unhappy when heard about the deal between Remedy and Rockstar. At first there was crapped movie about MP, then...
But in the end - MP3 is not that bad, as you may think from my review. Rockstar has balls in game developing business, the game itself is not total crap.
I don't want to describe everything for too long, so I'll put it in a nutshell: it would be perfect if the game was named "Die Hard", but not "MP3". It's not Max Payne...… Expand

What drivel! It is everything I should have expected from a shooter made by Rockstar. The cut scenes are EVERYWHERE, interrupting the game play every few seconds so there is no flow to the game. I have never had problems with epilepsy but these cut scenes make me want to vomit, with all the "artsy" blurring and fading in and out. I understand that the protagonist is in a perpetual state of intoxication, but you don't need to make me vomit as well. The weapon selection is pure crap and is obviously a port from the console version. I will have my 2 handed weapon selected when, yes, another cut scene interrupts. I am now released back into the action with my pistol selected instead of my more powerful primary and if I roll my mouse wheel the wrong direction, I drop my 2 handed weapon all together leaving me exposed in a firefight without my main weapon. Of course the painkillers are your friend, you WILL take a lot of damage, but they are scarce and not readily available. The controls are awful and clunky. The aiming recital disappears when not in use so when you enter a firefight you will need to fire off around before you can even attempt to aim. I don't like Rockstar to begin with, but after destroying one of my favorite classic games, I downright hate them. Save your money for a worthwhile game, this one is awful.… Expand

It's hard to continue to do so the old game that they were not offended and fans and new players. Rockstar games has done a great job. Addictive gameplay, a very interesting character Max Payne, nice graphics and great gameplay. The game almost a must for any fan of shooters. It is a pity that it is not entirely perfected, contains some bugs, and some missions / maps looks bad. The game, however, really very good. My Rating - 8.5 / 10… Expand

This game is an ATOMIC BOMB! The cinematics are phenomenal, the action breathtaking and the game-play extremely fun. I LOVE IT! I just wish the DLCs would add more to the single player experience. Right now, they're all augmenting the multiplayer experience only.

Max Payne 3 is a great game but its not for everyone. I loved the game, the action is great but the game feels like one long action movie where you play the shooting scenes and I can see some people having a problem with this. Once again rockstar succeeds with the story from Max Payne 3 even though it is not as dark as the previous two titles. Max Payne is also a beautiful game, this helps when watching the cutscenes (unskippable). Personally I loved Max Payne 3 and fans of the series should play it the gameplay is much the same with a new cover feature, so it you like slow motion action look no further.… Expand

This game is once again a proof that you cannot rely on critic reviews to buy games.
This game is apart from a brilliant graphics extremely bad.
This was my first Max Payne game so I cannot compare to the previous versions but the story line is bad, the narration is bad, the game evolution is bad, the game features are bad, the aiming is bad, the enemies suck, there is no challenge even in the hardest available level.
In a couple of words, I didn't like this game, it was boring and 12 hours long (for 60… Expand

I played this series from the start. I am the fan of that film-noir atmosphere, so this game is definitely not one of them. It's not a bad game overall, but it is not the original Max. Nice details, nice graphics, nice cut scenes but not the one it should be. Play it for the old times sake, but you'll get a sour wtf feeling at the end for sure.

awsome game this is the first one i played in the series of max payne and it is awsome a very mature story the bullet time mode is very helping in the game.now the multiplayer i think that max payne 3 multiplayer is not that enjoy but its great i will steal give it a 10/10 because i play in most of the games single player accept call of duty frenchise

This game has top notch voice acting, from the Brazilian thugs sound amazing to Payne's monologues, everything is of excellent quality. The graphics are good, but the hair and expressions on most characters seem very stiff and plastic.
The game-play suffers a lot, or rather, it makes the gamer suffer a lot. The third person perspective shooting is poorly made, and frequent deaths occur because of that, making the game a lot more difficult and very annoying. It is necessary to always maintain your right side clear, because you can't make transitions to a left side stance while aiming, but many times that is not possible, making you take unnecessary exposition to enemy gunfire, and getting killed. On top of that, the game is constantly changing your weapons and throwing the gamer into instant action, meaning that you will have the wrong weapon many times and again getting killed because of that. It is not understandable how a AAA game like this gets released with so many game play problems, that just break the game to a point that it is almost unplayable.… Expand

If you're like me, 40s with kids and not that much time to game, you'll want a great single-player, movie-like experience with lots of soul and grit. Max Payne 3 will give you that, a great 10 hour experience or so before it's back to your normal, boring non-uzi wielding day-job. Terrific gunplay, great gameplay, cool story, I enjoyed this one lots.

We all (well, older ones at least) remember insane playability of the first Max. The fun of shooting bad guys and wipe them out, and all in a very climatic noir settings, with cool dialogs. Moreover, many mods made a game even better.

And Max 3... well, does not have it any more. It's a nice game, all right, it has it's moments. Bullet time is still a feature worth to play with, there's a plenty of stuff to kill people with. And this is a major pro for MP3 - killing those moving pixels in slow motion IS fun. As for Cons:
-The story background is not so bad as I expected after lately GTAs, yet it is not very special either. Dialogs and monologues... well, Max became a whiny male version of Carrie Bradshaw and Paulo Coelho in one. The same "deep" thought (omg I'm such a l0000ser, i drink and girls are dying on me *sob*) repeated over and over again. I just switched off my speakers after 3h or so, because I could not stand it anymore. Oh, about the story - Passoss arc is very dissapointing in a vanilla game. I smell a $DLC.

-The most irritating part of MP3. Is. CUTSCENES!! Beneath them Rockstar decided to hide INCREADIBLY LONG LOADINGS. If you thought that unpatched Witcher 1 had long loading screens you will have to update your info. Since these cutscenes hide loadings you can't just skip them until the loading ends. And the cutscenes are (well, more less) 1/3 of the entire game. Ok, cuts are longs, what else? After a cutscene you will probably end with your primary hand gun in a worst possible cover. Yes, it switches your weapon, and you will feel the payne of this solution very quick, when you'll have to react in a split of a second to kill the pixel bastards.
Moreover, if you forgot to check some part of the previous corridor, maybe for a golden gun, you won't be able to go back. Once the cutscene is fired, you have to push forward.

-The game is heavily scripted. Which means that the very same guys will pop out from the very same places in a very same time. No surprises included. Some of you might think this is an advatage, for me is a con. This was good way for first Medal of Honor, not the recent games.

-DLCs - not much to say here, so let's keep it short: Rockstar tries to become another EA. It's not nice. Period.



I can't say much about multiplayer because, apart from standard team deathmatch, I had never any chance to play other mods. There's simply no one playing anything else than TDM. It's a pity.


Summing it up - this game might be fun if you have patience. Or you are reading A Song of Ice and Fire (or any other long book). And assuming that you can buy it in a sale, because I would be very angry if I bought it for a full price.… Expand

I have to agree with wilddeer. I've played the first two Max Paynes and all I can say is this is nothing like the first two max paynes. The game starts with a 10 minute movie and then after shooting at people for about 5 minutes I get another 10 minute cut-seen. Which wouldn't be bad except after the cut-seen max always finds the dumbest place to stop and hide behind. Can't hind behind the steel counter, lets hide behind the 3 pieces of luggage in the middle of the airport. The other part I like about the game is the horrible computer A.I. it's always aiming at you (even through walls) and always knows where your at. I really love when after you kill the first wave and the 2nd wave magically appears and you have people shooting you in the back and since your health gets shot off so quickly since the computer always hits you and always hits you in the face. So here is the basic rundown of the game. First, 10 minute cut-seen, max then hides behind the dumbest object he can find and the shooting begins. You can either a) wait until your slow-mo bar fills up so you can actually kill somebody or b) try shoot at one of the 5-6 guys shooting at you at the same time at which point you get shot in the face. After the fight max always has some silly comment, which after hearing about him drinking or being screwed over for the umpteenth time you get to a point where you don't care. So in a nutshell, cut-seen, shootout, max **** cut-seen, shootout, max **** Fun......… Expand

The good: I got it on the Steam sale for $14.99 and the gun play can be fun.

The bad: the amount of cut scenes is maddening. When people say shoot for a moment, cut scene, repeat they are not kidding - it gets old fast.

The horrible: they keep doing out of focus and disorienting colors/perspective constantly - this eventually gave me a serious headache. I don't know if I have the will power to go on...

The ridiculous: kidnap one person and thousands must die (it might make sense by the end...I doubt it).… Expand

Let me say first that I've never played any Max Payne games before, but I still got the story. The game does an excellent job to convey how broken Max Payne as a character really is. You don't see many protagonists that are drowning in demise and it is an interesting break from the **** testosterone-filled protagonists of other games. You really do feel for the main character and even though I don't know how he lost his kid and wife, I still felt sorrow when he visited their graves. The game does an excellent job weaving it's narrative smoothly with the game play sections by having the player hear Max's thoughts every now and then. All the supporting characters are also well done. They are believable and voice acting is top notch. The game play is is also pretty fun. Bullet Time is great. I love how action packed each encounter is and how satisfying it is to clear a room of baddies with the last kill cam being a slow motion close up of your bullet lodging itself deep into the enemy's skull. The game doesn't shy away from violence as it shows the gritty world Max lives in. The settings of this game is also something worth mentioning. From the favelas of Sao Paolo, Brazil to the gritty and dark concrete of New York City, the game does surprise me at every turn. I see some people here commenting on how cut scenes are prevalent, and they are, but it does wonders for this game. Cut scenes are used to dramatic effect and it really does add to this game. This is definitely one of the best games I've played all year.… Expand

Max Payne 3 have pretty big shoes to fill and the games manages to get it right in some areas while it falls flat in others. The action in the game is pretty damn good. They have changed it from the old formula by adding cover-based shooting to the mix which makes the gameplay a little bit slower than it was in the previous games. The old health-system is thankfully still intact and even though the action is a bit slower than it was earlier it never feels like its entirely based around covers. The old jump and gun action is still there and it works and looks great and i personally have no problems with the addition of the cover-system. One problems that i have is that the slightly left/right behind camera angel feels awkward and you often get the feeling that Max have clear view of the target while you dont. Story-wise the game follows in the footsteps of its predecessor and is pretty great. The old visual-novel style story telling is gone and the story feels less self-aware of its own silliness than in the previous Max Payne games. That doesnt change that the story and narrative by Max is pretty damn good and i wholeheartedly
enjoyed it. The biggest flaw of Max Payne 3 though is the cutscenes. The problem is not that they look bad, the problem is that they wont stay away. I have no problem with a shooter being linear but in this game the narrative takes total control over every action you make and it feels like you are only allowed to play the shooting parts since the games is worried that you might screw up and make it look bad. In the first hour of the game there were probably more cutscenes or "gameplay" in cutscenes than there was real gameplay. Thankfully it gets a little bit better later in the game but its still always there. In some areas it gets totally absurd when you arent allowed to control the sniper-movement the few second between the shootings. It totally kills the immersion and you are left wondering why cant i do that. Why arent i allowed to do all the cool stuff that happens in the cutscenes? It feels cheap and it really hurts the
game. The worst part of it is that it makes the game feel like its following a formula. Cutscene-->Shootout in a small area--> Cutscene and so on. I still had a good time with the 10 hourish campaign though and i would still recommend playing this game for all fans of action games or old Payne-fans. I wouldn't recommend paying 40 bucks for it though.… Expand

My review is based on the PC version, NOT any console version!
As a long time fan of the Max Payne series I have to say how disapointed I am by this drivel rockstar have seen fit to release. Lazy console port would sum this game up in short, but it would be unfair to label it thus without explaining why.
Visuals first: Well, not too bad, But for a PC game I expect far more. I would have liked more graphical options. I would have liked to see some emotion in the faces of the characters, they all look so wooden. Everywhere you go or look just seems a little too empty. This is supposed to be a gritty dark game but it reminds me of the latest Duke Nukem in the way it looks.
Storyline/acting: Not too bad as a story, sort of, but the acting is awful. Not hammy awful, just really crap awful. Even worse than Mark Wahlberg was in the film...If that is at all possible!
Gameplay: Poor really. Too many interrupting cut-scenes. The cover system causes more problems and makes you just as vulnerable as standing out in the open waving a big "shoot me" flag. Many times I have been killed because an enemy flanked me while I was in cover and as I have turned to try and shoot them the camera has flipped around and I have ended up facing completely the wrong way. The camera need to see through pillars and walls when you are in cover and you turn, not whizz round disorientating you like it does now.
There seems to be lots of weapons in this game, the only problem I have with the weaponry is that the targeting reticule is tiny and it can be hard to figure out where you are aiming in the heat of battle. I would have liked the option to have a cross-hair or larger, more visible aiming point. (unless there is one in the options menu somewhere that I have overlooked)? Controls: It feels like moving through quicksand sometimes. Camera placing issues aside, it feels hard to accurately target your enemies. The movement of your character seems sluggish and there also seems to be some form of inertia when you try and stop behind pillars or wall ends. I found myself overshooting and then over compensating on many occasions, not good when under heavy fire.
Reliability: I'm not sure which Max Payne 3 some people are playing, but I have had many problems running this game. Several crashes. Screen lockups, jittering and stuttering. Running slow and then skipping to my death scene for no apparent reason (and yes all drivers are up to date, it's the game not my computer).
Overall: If you can get this game cheap (I paid £8 for it) then it is worth all of the 4 points I have given it, and It might be worth persevering with. As for full price? I wouldn't waste your money...Unless some seriously good patches come out to correct the shonky camera, control, crash and bug issues.… Expand

This game is good enough. What I liked - the graphics, the diversity of levels, cool character personalities. I completed the game, so I guess the story is good enough. What I didn't like - shooting enemies in bullet time got kinda old a long time ago. Also there are no more cool comics and the atmosphere is not quite like it was in MP1 and MP2. And playing as the old Max is somewhat sad, though he is still a badass. His old face is kind of... disturbing. Yeah, and the image of numerous exit wounds on your character's back and especially on his ass is questionable. Sure, realism is not to be expected in this game, but it's like your character is running without a head.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is essentially a series of cutscenes with some player interaction in between, not the other way around. In one part for example, you leave a cutscene, walk about 20 metres very slowly with nothing happening around you and enter another cutscene. Why even bother. Why not just make the whole game a cutscene and be done with it. Too often, the cutscenes end with no real signs that you have control and you watch yourself die in various ways before thinking "Oh. I had control there did I?".

The combat is good, but its not Max Payne, more generic cover based 3rd person combat (think GTA4) but with slow motion button. Shootdodge is generally suicide due to the open environments of the game. The crosshair is very small, as in the previous games. The difference is the cross hair doesnt show when you're in cover, so when you jump up to shoot, you have to wait for it to appear.

The game also has a tendency to choose the wrong camera angle for the corner at hand so the enemy can see you before you see them. This can be rectified but requires going into cover at various angles to get it to change. If you activate slow motion, the enemies start shooting before you even leave cover. Literally as soon as you toggle slow motion, they start shooting. If you have an assault rifle out and enter a cutscene, you will probably leave the cutscene with that pistol you have with no ammo and you probably "dropped" the assault rifle somewhere as you no longer have it. If you're in good cover during a cutscene, you can be sure that Max will run out into the middle of the enemies before giving you back control and allowing you to run straight back to the cover you were just in.

Moving on to the story, its just frustrating. The game makes all the important decisions for you, and in almost every case Max just does something absolutely stupid. For example, running out from good cover into the middle of a room full of enemies and hiding behind some suitcases. If you want a game where you are essentially the damage control for your characters endless stupid decisions, this is it.

The game scores 5 in my opinion because when it works its good fun, but its let down far to frequently by just pure irritation.… Expand

got this in a sale and it won't link with my steam account so because of the DRM I can't play it so I have no choice but to rate this game a zero but I am willing to change my review if the problem is fixed

If you have a decent computer with a little need of epic 'Die Hard' action you will adore this game. The graphics are splendid, the story is great, and the slow-mo dive and shoot action can't be any better than this. The cons involve the cutscenes and replayablity. If you are patient like me, the long cutscenes and conversations won't bother you too much. Others say the cutscenes did too much of the action for you, but trust me, there is enough action to go around. The urge to play the game again lies with you. I personally got a little weary of shooting baddies after about 40 hours and I thought I would last longer. The multiplayer has a sense of Call of Duty in it with perks and such, but with their own twists and some-what original ideas. A semi-con with the multiplayer are the DLC's, which I personally loath. Multiplayer is a challenge, and you probably will rage quit here and there, so if you are a person who likes a challenge and wants to master a game, give this a try. It is quite neat. All in all, a good 8/10 is what this game deserves. Bravo Rockstar.… Expand

This is an awesome game none stop action, story is great, game time not too bad all in all a great Max Payne game for the franchise. I give it a 9.5