Retro Review: Max Payne
A true Retro Review should be a look back at something that was important in the past — to all or just to us — through the lens of today. On The Spinchoon, it might be a movie, a video game, a TV show, or something else. To see the rest of our series, look here at the Retro Review Feature Page.
Max Payne came out in 2001, I remember getting it for Christmas and falling in love with the game. Nostalgia is real; there is a time and place for everything and I wondered if this was just that. In 2001 I was 13 years old, this game is loaded with cursing — something 13 year old me found to be cool. — so I recently wondered about this game, and if the fact that I was a kid and probably shouldn’t be playing the game was the main reason I liked it.
I recently picked it up on iOS for only a couple bucks, and the first night I started playing it, I was hooked on it again. I quickly learned it’s a great game, and me loving it at a kid was not only because it had cursing and violence in it.
Presentation
I forgot a lot of the story is told with comic book panels. It’s such an interesting way to tell a story; I don’t know why it’s not done anymore. The rest of the story is conveyed via Max’s narration — there are a limited amount of cutscenes — delivered to you with zero emotion, but that actually fits the tone of the game perfectly.
The graphics do not really hold up, but it never affected the experience, for me anyway. It’s funny that I remember talking to people in school saying how great this game looked. We have come so far since 2001. The poor graphics actually added some joy playing this in 2019. The weird faces and animations just made me laugh out loud.
A Creepy Experience
Besides remembering that I love the game, I also remember being scared of playing this game. The game can feel creepy, and, even for adult me, there were a couple of parts where I wondered how child me made it through.
For example: you are in buildings with a lot of hallways and doors, so it’s easy to hear people, but not see them. They are all drugged up and sound creepy as they are calling out saying they will kill you.
Still holds up as being creepy.
Other scenes I vividly remember not being able to play (without being terrified) were the dream sequences.
Max is following a trail of blood to his murdered family, while you hear his wife screaming, and his baby crying. I remember this being so long, and so scary, but this did not hold up as scary for me in 2019. It also seemed so much shorter than I remembered; it was more frustrating than anything else.
Gameplay
Something that never got old throughout the entire game was the slow motion dives. You can enter slow motion at any time, but the dives are where the fun is. I would constantly stand somewhere, wait for the enemies to come out, and then slow motion dive into the room, trying to hit them all before hitting the ground.
The gunplay holds up well. You do a lot of shooting, and it felt good, even by today’s standards. My favorite weapon to use was the dual pistols. Running around shooting with both hands, and diving around, just talking about it makes me want to pick it back up and play.
The enemies are all pretty threatening. Even just the common thugs have decent aim and will hit you when they are shooting. They stand behind cover, and sometimes make it difficult to shoot them; the AI seemed to be way ahead of its time.
One issue I had with the enemies, I encountered towards the end of the game: they start to use grenades in a very gratuitous fashion. It seems a lot of them will throw a grenade before they shoot, so you always have to be cognizant of grenades rolling around you.
There are some parts that really got me stuck, and I’m amazed how child me figured it out, without having internet access easily available. There were environmental puzzles that usually required you to shoot something, or find some kind of switch, to cause a reaction in order to progress. It took me a while at some parts to finally see what needs to be done. Some got crazy — like the below screenshot — where all you see is fire and you have to figure out where to go.
The game does a decent job to help you in areas that get you stuck. When you are in the right area a “!” will appear on screen, so you know it’s something important; other times, the way the camera angles itself hints at what you need to do.
Finally, they use a lot of color clues to help you. There are a lot of doors — especially in the end area — so the doors you can go through would have green next to them.
The last part of the game was a clear example of the camera helping you. You drop an antenna on a helicopter to destroy it, but when you get on the roof, and the confrontation starts, the camera is showing you the antenna moving in the wind.
After I dropped that antenna, blew up the chopper, and rolled credits, I did something I have not done in a long time: I immediately started playing again.
Verdict
2001 Grade:
Child me loved this game, for the excellent gameplay, the cursing, and gratuitous violence — 10/10 —
2020 Grade:
Adult me would still rate this one extremely high. Instead of citing the childish reasons, I would say: great story and presentation, great gunplay, and fun mechanics make this an amazing game — 9/10 —
If you never played Max Payne you need to and it’s easy If you have an Apple device. It’s $3.99 on the AppStore and any Bluetooth controller now works as long as you have iOS 13 or higher. What are you waiting for?
For more from me, check out my game reviews on The Spinchoon, such as my early impressions of Dauntless and Apple Arcade’s Tint. Follow us on Twitter @TheSpinchoon & @Big_Broons.
