Habadashery's review of Max Payne 3
Review of
Max Payne 3
May 15, 2012
Habadashery
See all reviews of Max Payne 3 →Gets way more hate than it deserves. Rockstar was never gonna make this sequel like Remedy would (Remedy didn't want to make it also, they had committed themselves to what would become Alan Wake). Rockstar played to their own strengths as a developer. And I can appreciate Rockstar wanting to take the story out of New York/New Jersey. Noir is a bigger genre than just the American East Coast. I think players get so distracted by Max being bald or him not having the same reverence for Mona as the player would (from Max's perspective I get how he feels about that time in his life) that players can't notice how the game is one of the most lavish, linear 3rd person shooters we've ever gotten. Even now at the time of this writing in 2026. There is a weight to every gun battle in that dynamic Rockstar euphoria physics engine kind of way. Did I miss the ridiculously Max Payne 2 rag dolls where gravity was routinely defied in MP3? Not at all. Not after seeing foes roll violently down stairs or through glass. Another departure from the first two games that pays off really well is Health's soundtrack. That music sells the alcoholic, pill addicted, strained mental state of Max better than every visual glitch and distortion Rockstar flashes on screen (probably my least favorite part of the game). Lastly I, unlike some players, think Max is pretty consistent in this game for a drunk noir character. That feeling he had at the end of that one ending of MP2 where "she was still dead but it was alright" was just a dream that was never gonna last. A happy, well adjusted Max has no business in one of these games. This is why, if there is any justice in the world, there will never be a MP4. And I say this happily as someone waiting for the remakes. This third installment set the bar very high.