PAX East 2012: Max Payne 3: Hands-on Preview

Pinned down behind a bar booth, Max counts his odds against a desperate gunfight with the mob in a rundown billiard hall. Max starts to feel the ache in age as his partner Raul runs to take cover to the right, preparing to lob bullets into their attackers. The Max Payne series, seemingly forgotten since 2003, has resurfaced this generation with Max Payne 3, and waits to be released on May 15. Right now, however, it is currently playable to all in attendance at PAX East 2012. I decided to stop by and see what the fuss was all about.

The first five minutes immediately introduced the flow behind the formula, and while the approach felt intuitive, the execution proved otherwise or rather... a lack of flow to its intended formula.

As the game booted up, we find Max trying to fight his way out through sections of enemy mobs. Taking control of Max, you’ll have to take cover and survive the opposition, avoiding the temptation to take the run-and-gun tactic with bullet-time support that the series focused on before. The strength of the Max Payne series has always relied on the frenetic action that demanded a bullet twitch response, while keeping it accessible with its bullet time mechanic.

Max Payne 3 -- being the first in the series to include cover-based tactical shooting -- felt as if the element was thrown in without changing or adapting the formula to provide a response that complimented each other. The result instead felt juxtaposed as the focus of bullet-time was diminished through sluggish movement and evasions, in and out of cover shooting that further downplayed the practicality behind Bullet-time. The flaw in these two mechanics spectacularly crash in failure, particularly when applying it during cover fire, where enemies can also take cover and hide themselves from your fading bullet time. Within moments, you’re all out of bullet time, racing back to the trenches in order to survive. However, it was in my failed efforts to regain the cover position that I discovered a very useful and engaging new feature in Max Payne’s combat.

As I began my dramatic slump into death from being gunned down, I noticed that I was still carrying my gun, and I was able to still partially aim given the slow motion and stagger implied with imminent death. As I retaliated at the enemy (who pulled the trigger on the killing bullet of my death sequence), I discovered killing that particular enemy helped me recover and dive backwards with seconds of invulnerability, allowing me to continue firing at any other opponent within the room. There is a cost to this feature, however. If the last shot is initiated and pulled off successfully, you'll lose any bullet time you have stored, costing you one of your pain killers.  

The shoot dive feature is fairly reminiscent of John Woo’s Stranglehold, recapturing some of the reckless abandon of engaging a mob of enemies with your bullet time. The feature is intuitive in its aim, even with the camera slowly panning down. The downfall of the technique, however, is that you are again vulnerable, unless you quickly slide into cover (which may become a problem given the sluggish movement). The visuals are amazing and completely sell the gritty world of Max Payne all over again, from backdrops painting the scummy details of the billiard hall, to the alley way near the end. The setting engages you along with its narrative, despite the simplistic level design.

Max Payne 3 holds a lot of potential, but it’s the juxtaposition of older third-person shooter mechanics with modern cover-based tactical shooting conventions can be troublesome. The game still holds plenty of promise and has an enriching story ever grabbing you to empty the next gun clip, so watch out for it on May 15.