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When we aw Max Payne, he was a broken, beaten man. He had lost his wife and his infant daughter to a conspiracy of drugs and violence that involved common street thugs, narcotics kingpins and even members of the US government. When he searched for answers with another revenge-driven vigilante, Mona Sax, he lost her too, sadly, after he started to fall in love with her. When Max Payne 3 opens, it's clear not much has changed for our anti-hero in the eight years he's been away. For gamers, on the other hand, plenty has changed, but some series staples make welcome, if somewhat questionable returns. Rockstar improved on what worked earlier in the series and fixed what was broken to offer a complete package of a shooter and a welcome return to one of gaming's most robust characters.
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Story
Max's personal losses will always take their toll on his psyche, but almost a decade later, he has found washing away the memories with hard liquor and chasing them down with painkillers seems to keep them out of his thoughts as best as he can hope for. He is disgruntled, disheveled, and disassociated with the world around him. He's no longer on the NYPD. He's no longer doing much of anything actually, besides drinking and passing out in his dirty hole in the wall of an apartment. One day, he finds himself in a bar (where else?), when he runs into an old face from his police academy days named Raul Passos. Raul sees the condition Max is in and after they escape a scuffle with some rich punks and their influential mob families, Passos offers Max a job: Private security down in Sao Paolo, Brazil. All he would have to do is look after an affluent family at their parties and public goings-ons and he'd have himself a new career. Sadly for Max, nothing ever goes as planned, and usually it goes to Hell.
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The character of Max Payne is unquestionably one of the best protagonists in the industry. His inner monologues, thankfully returning and with the same voice actor, James McCaffrey, give great insight to the story as it unfolds. Like the previous two Max Payne games, there is a wide list of names and faces to follow as his mundane job turns into a web of lies, murder, and competing motives. Max's sarcastic, weary perspective brings back the noir atmosphere of the previous games, but also act as an ongoing play-by-play of all of the otherwise hard to follow sequences.
Rockstar really fleshed out the character of Max into someone dynamic and worth following. Alongside the superficial story of what's going on, who's killing who, and where we're going next, there is a thought-provoking psychological dilemma. Why did Max take the job in Brazil? Why does he cling to protecting this family, who he previously didn't give a damn about, when they start being abducted and murdered? It seems obvious he relates this family's struggles to his own. Where he failed to protect the Paynes, he is driven to save the Brancos. Or is he? As the story goes on, we can't be sure his motivation is redemption or desperation, and that's the question Max Payne 3 poses over the course of its 12-15 hours of gameplay. It's heady stuff for a video game, but it is a sign that the industry as a whole is moving forward, and Rockstar is again at the forefront.
In addition to the story, you also have the options of playing out each of the 14 chapters in two arcade modes: New York Minute and Score Attack. Score Attack is familiar in that the better you perform the higher your score, like an old-fashioned 8-bit. You get more points for causing destruction, getting headshots, and stringing together kills. New York Minute is even better. You start with a minute on the clock and have to get to the end of the level by killing enemies and earning more time as you go. It's a race against the clock and upon completion, you unlock the Hardcore difficulty of the game mode. Each mode is complete with leaderboards that can be compared to members of your Crew, friends list, or global records.
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