Sunday, December 09, 2001

Max Payne lives up to great expectations

By MORGAN HOLLAND SPECIAL TO
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Max Payne has been one of the most anticipated games ever, and after three years in development by Remedy Entertainment, it's finally here.

    For those who followed the Max Payne legacy, the most prominent question was: "Is it all it's hyped up to be?" The answer is: Yes, affirmative, of course, and absolutely. If you know the basics of the Max Payne story, you have absolutely no business reading this. Go buy it. If, however, you're not in tune to the gaming world and are perhaps looking to buy this for someone else, read on to discover what all the talk is about.

    Max Payne is a third-person action shooter; in other words, the player goes around and attempts to kill things. Now if you're a skeptical pacifist parent, don't stop reading yet. This isn't all blood and gore. From the start, Max Payne catches your eye with an intense, one-of-a-kind graphic-novel storyline. The first chapter of the novel introduces you to Max, a New York cop who has it all, including a beautiful wife, a new baby and a steady job he enjoys. Suddenly, all of this is swept away. His family is killed, and Max is off on a drug chase that will span a number of years.

    While the action is great, the foundation of the game is the story. At every turn you're drawn deeper into Max's dilemma as new pieces of information cleverly present themselves. While many gamers feel restricted by plots, Max Payne doesn't keep you tightly railed to the storyline. Even though each level ends in the same place no matter what and the graphic novel kicks in at pre-assigned junctions, the levels are so giant and complex that they allow for any style of play. You can charge right in with guns blazing, or you can stick to the shadows and explore the scene. In Max Payne, you decide how things get done.

    One of the most impressive aspects of Max Payne is a brand-new effect called "bullet-time." This new aspect of game play, which is sure to appear in many other games in the future, allows you to control the speed of the action. It adds a new dimension to first-person shooters that brings to mind "The Matrix."

    Not only is bullet-time extremely helpful in dispatching goons, it also happens to be the coolest device ever used in an action game. Let's say, for example, that you hear a couple of baddies chatting around a corner. You jump sideways through the doorway and trigger slow-mo, still under your complete control, and take down the leader, flip over in midair and take down his comrade while he is drawing a bead on you.

    Nearly everything in the environment is destructible, another reason Max Payne is one of the most enjoyable games to play. In one scene set in a New York subway, your hail of fire will hit linoleum floor tiles, glass-covered posters, lights and plaster walls.

    The sheer beauty of the different effects will make even an unobservant gamer drool. Minute details that are given careful consideration - paper floats to the ground as chunks of plaster fall faster - accompany the havoc you will be wreaking.

    One of the main arguments against Max Payne is its lack of a multiplayer mode. While multiplayer gaming is here to stay, Max Payne will most assuredly convince gamers that single-player adventures are still intense and satisfying. For those of you who still aren't satisfied, Max Payne comes with an amazing level designer, and there are already a vast number of mods (user-created levels) to be found on the Internet. The problem with multiplayer mods is that a lot of the time they are dropped in at the last second.

    Max Payne's editing tool is incredibly easy, and other single-player games are going to have to scramble to keep up. The editor has been in production for as long as the game has, and it is ridiculously well-designed. While multiplayer mods are the rage at the moment, Max Payne should give single-player mods their day.

    Max Payne is undoubtedly one of the most involving, intuitive games to come along in years. For skeptical parents who are worried about game violence, you could certainly do worse. Believe it or not, there aren't many kids out there intent on lots of blood, and they will certainly enjoy this game despite its lack of excessive gore (sorry you sadists - no exploding limbs to be found here).

    While price may be a concern, Max Payne has been out for some time now, and it won't be too hard to find a copy for less than $30. System requirements are also not a big concern for people with fairly recent machines, but you should check just to be sure.

    Morgan Holland is a student at William Fleming High School in Roanoke and an intern at PC Therapy Inc. in Vinton.

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