Max Payne

1 - Bullet Time! Being able to shoot, dive, and roll in slow motion to take out a room full of baddies is just plain addictive. I never got tired of recklessly running into danger with both guns blazing.

2 - Dialogue! If you're a fan of action movies then the dialogue in Payne will have you cracking up. Yes, it is supposed to be THIS bad (the people at Extended Play missed the boat here).

3 - The Story! I was always wondering where this game was going to take me. Each time I thought, "This is the end!" a new level began. Every level also made me smile as I could see how film noir and action cinema helped forge the areas that I would be battling through.

4 - Time! Unlike many games you don't need to devote your life to playing Max Payne. It's an excellent weekend renter as it's easily winnable within 10 hours. True fans though will enjoy the challenging difficulty levels that can be unlocked once you win the first time.

All in all I recommend Max Payne for Xbox owners who want to spend some time smiling and having a fun time blowing away the bad guys.


Max Payne dishes out the pain!   May 13, 2002
Speedy Petey (Chicago, Illinois)
9 out of 20 found this review helpful

This game is awesome and I'm not just saying that because of the bullet time.

GRAPHICS- The only thing I wished they changed is the look of Max Payne he's like this old dude, I guess they had to do that because the whole point of the game is that he's mad because the dudes killed his family but i still wish he looked cooler.

GAMEPLAY- Very good I don't know how they could do better.

BULLET TIME- As I said I would have loved this game even if they didn't have bullet time but it is an awesome feature. Oh and its not that hard to control.

STORY- It is really a cool story I just wish that he could kill the enemies in story mode, for example on the last level you are standing right in front of the biggest enemy in the game and you just let her walk away.

OBJECTS- The objects in this game are totally cool. The guns are awesome only I wish the sniper could lock on to people. The painkillers are really great idea they restore life and thats what they do in real life too which makes it a much better idea than health packs. Also a lot of stuff you see you can use, I only wish you could climb over fences.

MAX PAYNE VS. HALO- This is certainly a hard decision. The single game in Halo has many problems people drown those problems out because of the multiplayer. Max Payne has no multiplayer but the normal game makes up for that very easily, I still wish there was a multiplayer to it.

Pro's For Halo
*Greatest Multiplayer of all time
*Awesome vehicles that you can control
*Awesome human and alien weapons
*The visor was a good idea. It was a good excuse for seeing how much health you have unlike Max Payne.

Pro's For Max Payne
*Even better weapons
*Better story
*Much better single game than Halo
*Painkillers instead of Health Packs
*Bullet time

Con's For Halo
*Single game not better than Max Payne
*Flud (kind of alien thing you have to kill) is a very bad idea.
*Not the best story
*Awesome weapons but not enough of them
*Gets Boring

Con's For Max Payne
*No multiplayer
*No excuse for seeing how much health
*Max Payne is an old man

I personally like Max Payne just a tad bit better, but that may be because I like the urban setting.

Max Payne may seem like it has a flaws but no other game is better and has less flaws except maybe Halo.


Simply.. Entertaining.   December 31, 2001
Alex E Lottes (St. Louis, Missouri United States)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

I have owned Max Payne, the computer game, for a long while. When i saw it was coming out for the XBOX, i wasn't sure if to buy it or not.

So i compromised. I didn't buy it, instead i let someone else buy it and give it to me as a Christmas present. I've gotten more out of this 50$ gift than anything else I've gotten this year.

I would go as far too say that this game is 2x what Halo is. Mostly because Max Payne didn't have all the hype that Halo had, and it's still a more appealing shoot em' up game. Replay value sticks out more than anything; I've already beaten the game once, and am mid way through doing it again.

The graphics are stunning, and the bullet time is simply sexy, and addicting. Sometimes you manage to get that perfect Bullet Time and it just looks so spectacular. Bullet time not only makes the game look more appealing, but also can save you where you're in a tight spot as well.

I think Max Payne is a perfect game exept for 2 flaws, and yes there are only 2 peticular things i don't like about this game.

A.) Not bloody enough.
This game is already gory and seedy, why not go all out? Yes blood splatter on the wall is a common thing, but I miss seeing the bullets riping through the enemy. instead you just see a puff of smoke:( A soldiers of fortune gibbing aproach would work very well for this game.

B.) The begining of each Part.
Whenever you start a part of the game (Part II and Part III in peticular) you are forced to go through these tedious and sometimes frustrating balance beam mazes. BORING!! I had a hard time figuring the second one out, spending about 15 minutes on it, when It could have been done in 15 seconds if i knew where to go. But this is really minor because the time you spend doing this compared to the time that you are fragging the enemy is silly.

Overall, this is THE MUST HAVE XBOX game. If you havn't seen pictures of this game, go find some and stare in awe because you don't know what you are missing.

Gameplay: 5of5
Replay: 5of5
Graphics 5of5
Value: 5of5
Learning Curve: Maybe an hour max, new people should try the tutorial.


best third person shooter ever   November 16, 2001
Ronnie Rose (St. Louis, Mo)
5 out of 13 found this review helpful

I think this game is the best third person shooter game ever. I bought my x-box on the 15th and I had a demo disk with Max Payne and it is like 100 times better than any Duke Nukem. I also like this game because when you shoot someone it looks so real, and the maker of this game also make 4X4 evolution 2 which is also a very good game.


Engrossing Story and Tremendous Graphics   December 19, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Well, I will be the first to say that i had never heard of Max Payne before it hit the X Box. I was at a friends house when he told me he had the game. I laughed and said "what game is that?" Well, let me tell you that when i saw the game my jaw hit the floor. I have never seen a game that has so much to offer. The graphics and gameplay are second to none and the game is just plain addictive. The Matrix style battle where you can slow down the scenes are unique to Max Payne and are awesome. If you are thinking about getting any RPG type adventure, shooter game then this game is for you. I am now a Max Payne fan 100%. This game is a must buy!!!!