It’s been nearly 10 years since we’ve seen Max Payne sulk through the New York alleys; he’s decided that he’s had his fill of the big apple and is moving to São Paulo, Brazil for the sun, babes, and gangs. With Remedy being too busy working on whatever it is they’re doing (please be Alan Wake 2) Rockstar decided to pick up the third entry in the series. With the trade of gloomy New York for sunny São Paulo don’t go thinking that things are any more cheerful; Max starts out in the shitter and slowly gets in deeper as the game continues that culminates in possibly Rockstar’s darkest game yet.

The game is quick to remind you that Max is still leaning on the booze and pills to keep him running, but things start to look up a bit for him when he moves to Brazil and gets a bodyguard position to protect a wealthy family. That lasts a good five minutes before things start to hit the fan and Max is thrown between protecting the family and controlling his own substance abuse issues. Besides the new cover mechanic not much has changed in how you play compared to the previous titles. You can take cover if you want, but be prepared for enemies to start flanking your position to deliver a healthy dose of ass whooping. It’s the Matrix styled shootdodge mechanic that’s going to be your main source of dealing out death. You’ll see a meter to the right that shows how much time you can spend in this mode and can be refilled quickly be simply scoring kills outside of shootdodge. With the added euphoria engine that powered Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption, you’ll be greeted to some amazing moments from shooting enemies and seeing them stumble around to diving in the air over a desk, spinning around, and quickly sending a few thugs to meet their maker. Did I mention the physics? Almost everything can be smashed apart and it will with clean rooms looking like a wrecking crew drove through after gunfights. For fans worried about Rockstar dumbing down the game fret not because painkillers are still your only source of health in this game; only multiplayer has slowly regenerating health, not on hardcore though. I found Max to be stupidly brittle even on normal difficulty. I’m always up for a good challenge but later missions really punished you for using the shootdodge mechanic and I found myself starting to use cover more and more. Painkillers can be somewhat difficult to locate if they’re not in plain view, but the game thankfully refills your health each time you die so at least you can’t screw yourself by walking into a situation with little to no health. You’ll find ‘grinds’ to do through both the singleplayer and online. You’ll find a variety of menial tasks such as finding golden guns, and tougher ones such as shooting grenades in the air or scoring kills while on your back.

Besides the 10+ hour campaign and grinds to, excuse the pun, grind through you’ll also have New York Minute and Score Attack to keep you playing. Score Attack rewards you with points for kills, more points the more impressive the kill, with a focus on keeping your multiplier up. New York Minute on the other hand is meant more for speed-running players with each level starting you out with a timer that continually trickles down; the only way to get more time is to score kills.

So when you start up the playlist you’ll think Max Payne 3 has quite a lot of game modes to play, but in reality out of the either modes you see, there are only really 3 different ones. There’s Rookie Deathmatch/TDM, regular Deathmatch/TDM, large Deathmatch/TDM, Payne Killer, and Gang Wars; there are also hardcore variants you can unlock once you get 5000 kills. The idea behind Payne Killer is that two players will play as either Max or Passos while the other team has to work together to bring them down. The player who deals the most damage to either character is re-spawned as that character loaded to the teeth with painkillers, guns, and adrenaline. It’s a neat mode that has you bouncing between trying to deal the most damage to Max or Passos, or trying to let your teammates whittle down their health so you can score a final kill. You’ll get points for dealing damage/killing Max or Passos, but the real numbers start flowing in when you play as either character; winner at the end is the guy with the most points. The marquee mode here is Gang Wars though; in it you’ll take the role of one of the various factions and complete various staged objectives. Each map has its own little story that snugly fits with the main game and you’ll go through various objectives such as defending checkpoints, assassinating targets, straight up elimination, and more. The neat thing is that you’ll never get the same sequence of objectives twice with each game having a completely random set of objectives that change depending on whether you won or lost the previous one. It’s something I’ve loved since Killzone 2 and really hope more games start to implement it.

So you know I love me some customization in my multiplayer games; it’s not so much that I want other people to see how my character looks, it’s just that I’m so narcissistic that I enjoy seeing how I look. There are half a dozen factions, each with their own look/style, that you can change from head-to-toe with gear you’ll acquire by simply leveling up. You’ll also be able to select how you want to look for straight deathmatch modes and you can unlock story characters by achieving either a platinum in each level in score attack or prestiging. So as you kill other players or loot their bodies you’ll gain adrenaline which fuels both your bullet time and your bursts. Bursts are a sort of perk that grants you a special skill divided into three tiers as you fill your meter up. For example, equipping the heavy firepower burst will give you more damage for 20 seconds, the second tier will replace your guns with a powerful LMG, and the final tier gives you a grenade launcher. Players have to be quick to think if they want to spend what adrenaline they have on an extra kill in bullet time or with a burst. Just as in most shooters, you’ll be able to set up various loadouts that will allow you to change your tactics throughout a match. You’ll be able to equip up to three weapons, a head item that gives effects such as not being affected by flash grenades, body armor, your burst, your projectile/grenade, and three pieces of gear. Gear is a sort of passive skill that doesn’t run on adrenaline; with over a dozen pieces of gear you’ll see ones like a lucky coin that grants more cash from looting or a walkie-talkie that puts any enemy player your teammates see on your radar. The game can get quite unfair though, since it seems to not care who it matches you with and will throw you into games with people at level 50 (max rank). These guys will be rolling around with grenade/rocket launchers and bursts that let them appear as allies which makes fighting them some serious bullshit.

The graphics are damn impressive and the attention to detail in all the environments is just mind boggling. Rockstar also had the noise rock band Health to score the game which ended up being another smart move by Rockstar who have a smart taste for music. Rockstar really has a knack for bringing out the best of their voice-actors with James McCaffrey (the voice of Max) pulling in probably his best work here. The sound team should really get acknowledged for their work on the game because the way everything sounds, from the guns to the environment getting shredded during gunfights, is phenomenal.

The Final Word
Max Payne 3 is a great grab for newcomers to the series, but even more enjoyable to players of the previous two games. With a hefty amount of singleplayer modes and a pretty solid multiplayer component, besides the bit of unbalance, MP3 is definitely something that you won’t be trading in anytime soon.

- MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good

Along with our weekly dose of news, be sure to check out our reviews for the latest games.

Diego pulls out his pickaxe to craft together his review of the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft:

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Review

Prepare for zombies and difficult moral choices with Diego’s review of Telltale’s latest adventure game, The Walking Dead: Episode One:

The Walking Dead: Episode One Review

Check out the news below:

DiRT Showdown Delayed to Next Month

Traveller’s Tales Got Some Legos in my Arkham City

Omerta City of Gangsters Brings the 360 into the Family

Arkham City Shows its Feminine Side

Happy Gaming

Get a handful of news from this week’s and last, along with the latest MonsterVine reviews.

Diego evaluates what would happen if you “took Warhawk formula, threw in some RTS elements, a little bit of tower defense” in his review of Starhawk for the Playstation 3:

Starhawk Review

Check out the news below:

Dead or Alive 5 Unveils Returning Fighters Christie and Bayman

Hitman Absolution Reveals New Character and Voice Talent

Diablo 3′s “Evil is Back” TV Spot Burns For Your Desire

Dishonored Screenshots Galore

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Goes To 2025

Max Payne 3 Announces Multiplayer DLC, Rockstar Pass

Mario Tennis Open Reveals Online Details, QR Codes

New THEATRHYTHM Screens Illustrate Character Progression

Get a Taste of DiRT Showdown Starting Today

Diablo 3′s Wizard: A Colourful Character

Lollipop Chainsaw Let’s Us Get Behind the Lollipop

Ubisoft Teases a Assassins Creed III Gameplay Trailer

The Elder Scrolls Online Set for 2013

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Coming to PC in May

Play Wolfenstein 3D on Facebook

Stay Stylish in Lollipop Chainsaw

Kalypso Sheds Some Light on Dark

Rockstar Games Social Club Gets Revamped

Max Payne 3 Official Launch Trailer

Dishonored Set for Early October Release

Arkham City Just Got a Change in Management

Game of Thrones Gives a Peak Behind the Wall

Assassins Creed 3 Gameplay Trailer Released

Sleeping Dogs Combat Trailer

Max Payne 3 Details Arcade Modes Score Attack and New York Minute

Activision and Treyarch have released the reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which takes place in 2025 in a futuristic setting. The game will release November 13th.

The game’s description is as follows: “Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare. Pre-order today.”

Along with your daily dose of news, we have a couple reviews for you to check out.

Diego jumps into his time machine to bring you his review of Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat:

Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat Review

It’s a twofer for Diego this week, as he jumps into the highly talked about RPG, The Witcher 2. Diego checks out the Xbox 360 port of the PC title, and *spoiler alert* he really enjoyed it:

The Witcher 2: AoK Enhanced Edition Review

Check out the news below:

SSX DLC Delivering the Classics

Bethesda Shows off Dishonored

DanceDanceRevolution Making its way Into the Classroom

Codemasters is Full of DiRT Showdown Announcements Today

Arkham City Gets Logofied

Line of Defense Screenshots

Risen 2 Launch Trailer

Free Portal 2 DLC Perpetual Testing Initative Coming May 8th

Port Royal 3: Pirates and Merchants Trailer

Max Payne 3 Weapons Feature: 1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol

Gas Guzzlers Available for Pre-Order

Heroes of Ruin New Walkthrough Trailer

Mercenary Ops Modes Revealed, Third-Person Shooter Exclusively on PC

Bethesda Working on a Survival Horror Game

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Announced

Happy Gaming!

Players will duke it out on Sony-themed worlds and environments including God of War’s Hades, Ratchet & Clank’s Metropolis, and Jak & Daxter’s Sandover Village. All Stars Battle Royale features multiple single-player and multiplayer game modes along with online play and a “tournament” option. More details on the Playstation Blog. Who do you think will be in All-Stars?

As always, check out the list below to catch up on all the industry news, as well as the latest MonsterVine reviews.

Diego gets his tower and defense gears rolling this week to bring you a review of Anomaly: Warzone Earth:

Anomaly: Warzone Earth Review

Check out the news below:

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is Out

Resident Evil 6 Second Trailer, New Release Date

Lost Planet 3 Announced

Get a Boost With New DiRT Showdown Trailer

Skullgirls Comes to PSN April 11, XBLA April 12

Max Payne Mobile Heading to iOS April 12th

Torchlight II Discusses the Charge Bar

Hitman Absolution ‘Professional’ Edition

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection PS Vita Screenshots

Skullgirls Launch Trailer

Medal of Honor Gameplay Trailer is all Action

Dark Souls Coming Over to PC on August 24th

Dragon Ball Z Powers up to 9000 on Kinect

Shout Yourself to Embarrassment With new Kinect Update for Skyrim

One Piece: Pirate Warriors Announced for PS3

Sleeping Dogs Sets a Release Date for August 14th

Happy Gaming