Max Payne 1 word.........WOW!! (Max Payne (PC))

Member Name: Lakerskb8

Product:	Max Payne (PC)
Date:	29/07/01 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: bullet time, action, guns

Disadvantages: not long enough

Ok I was really looking forward tot he release of Max Payne on Friday and the day came after hours of tormenting myself with screen shots and videos. I went to Game and purchased a copy, rushed home and installed it. The game after installation loaded and just before it goes into the opening video there is a game configuration menu which is really good making Max payne fully customisable so PC's with really low specs can run the game. I tried the game in minimum setting and the graphics are stil very good so don't let it put you off. I did the training mode before I started which was quite handy as it introduced you to bullet time and many other things which do help you throughout the game. The concept of bullet time is that in the game when you encounter a load of enemies you use it and this enables you to 'dodge bullets'. When standing still and you right click the mouse you hear like a sound barrier braking and everything inc. yourself moves in slow motion. Although you are moving in slow mo the mouse which is what you aim with isn't in slow mo so you can aim up really fast and kill someone in the time it takes them to reload for example. When standing still and you go into bullet time you run inc slow so it has hard to dodge bullets. Also the bullet time runs out quick so I don't really do this (gain bullet time by killing people). I only use it if I go into a room and there are about 4 bad guys shooting all at once. Going into bullet time I can see where the bullets are going and dive out of the way by jumping and moving in a direction. The best way to use bullet time is to dive in a direction in bullet time while shooting bad guys. You do this by right clicking and moving a direction. This doesn't use a lot of bullet time and it automatically turns itself off when you land on the floor to save it. As you can see there is alot to it so this is why I recommend you use the training mode. What I have just put up doesn't sound too ex
citing so I shall now write a paragraph of a predicament I was in, in the game and how bullet time helped.

I dived round the corner to see a bad guy with a shotgun. I dived forwards in bullet time shooting at him with a desert eagle (hand gun) as he let off a shot. His bullets skimmed over my head as blood was coming from his body. I hear a scream as he falls to the floor.... dead. I hear shooting from behind as the bullet time ends I get up and dive backwards shooting at the man as bullets go flying past me on my right. As he dies the camera moves off me and spins around the man in slow mo as he falls to the floor letting out a wail of pain.

The game starts off really well in Max Paynes home. The story of the game is set here with a couple of cut scenes. I am not going to go any further as you'll want to find out what happens in his home yourself.

I am currently on Part 2 of 3 and I am still stunned by the in game effects. they are amazing. However if you have a system below a P550 with 128Mb and 32Mb G-Card I would say don't bother getting the game as you won't enjoy the constant low frame rate.

I am just addin this bit on the end for Chev who wants to know more on bullet time. Well basically it will aid you through the entire game to kill say 6 bad guys in a room without getting hit once although the chances are very unlilkley. When you use bullet time your gauge for how much you have left runs out very fast although every time you kill someone it moves up a bit. When you slow the game down and dive in a direction it allows you to find the person who is shooting at you, aim at them and take a shot before the bullet time ends. This is unless you chose to let the bullet time continue which is a waste as it'll run out by the time you get up. Also when in bullet time the sounds change. eg the sound of a gun going off is extended from say 1s to 3s to emphasise the fact that your in slow mo bullet time. Also when bull
ets whizz past you it's like in 3d as the sound gets louder as the bullets get closer. When in snipin mode when you shoot the gun the camera moves to bullet time behind the actual bullet so you see it strike the person close up. This uses no bullet time from your guage which is good. Hope that explains it a bit more for you.

Summary: