[Max Payne]'s Journey Through the Night Continues

CaptainNemo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atKv1JyQgV8

Max Payne is man. A man with guns. That he shoots bullets from. In to bad dudes and ladies.

It's also the name of a two game series* of noir third person shooters famed for their fantastic stories and fun bullet time mechanics. Part Maltese Falcon and part Hard Boiled, the story is told through a fully voiced graphic novel instead of the traditional cut scene.

Don't leave, it works here, thanks to the strength of the voice acting and Sam Lake's writing. I've only beat the first so far, but I figure we could have a discussion about the series anyway.












*Anyone who mentions a third game is on Valkyr.

Muddy Water

I can't believe I've only played through Max Payne 2 once. I should remedy that. Are these games available on Steam?

Zombiemambo

Muddy Water wrote: »

I can't believe I've only played through Max Payne 2 once. I should remedy that. Are these games available on Steam?

aye, they are

I'm excited for the third, Valkyr or not

Gunstar

max payne 2 was my favorite, it was one of those games i beat, and then immediately loaded it up again on the hardest difficulty and beat it again. i don't do that much

Klash

The first Max Payne controls fantastically, even today. I finally got my hands on a copy* a month or two back and enjoyed it immensely. Haven't played beyond the demo of the second, but the demo was awesome.

I don't know if those faces were intentional, but they were just... they were a thing. Loved the constant look of constipation of every single character's face. The over the top exaggeration of every single live action character. The horrible, horrible, yet somehow compelling, melodramatic narration, that was so stuffed full of nerd shout outs it could have been written by Seth Green. It all came together just right.

*I played a pirated version when it came out. My brother did a lot of pirating back then, and being 12, I couldn't have cared less. So, my first time playing through the game legally. Really, really glad I got my hands on a proper copy.

CaptainNemo

I will find the fucker that designed the nightmare levels. And I will kill. His fucking ass.

UnbreakableVow

I loved Max Payne 1 to death, even though I only played through it on PS2

For some reason I really couldn't get into 2

Anxiously awaiting the third, because goddamn it looks awesome

Johnny Chopsocky

The Kung Fu mod is civilization.

Shooting mans is great, flip-kicking mans before emptying a sawed-off into their face while in mid-air is better.

Daemonion

These games blew me away when they came out.

Still play through them once every year or so.

UnbreakableVow

I probably should give 2 another chance sometime

Does anyone here know how the OXbox version of MP2 runs on the 360? It's on the Xbox Originals, so I imagine it can't be terrible, but you never know

Frosty the Snow Plow

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

I probably should give 2 another chance sometime

Does anyone here know how the OXbox version of MP2 runs on the 360? It's on the Xbox Originals, so I imagine it can't be terrible, but you never know

Thought about this the other day when looking at the Xbox Originals. I youtube'd some gameplay and it looks like it would hold up real well. Decided I'd save the MS points for New Vegas DLC instead, but I was damn tempted.

SaraLuna

the games usually end up for like a dollar each during the big steam holiday sales. I'd wait to see if they do this time before getting the xbox version.

Caveman Paws

bullet time never gets old. Shooting two guys in the face during mid-bullet time leap also never gets old.

I'm saying that this game never ages, probably due to bullet time.

UnbreakableVow

Frosty the Snow Plow wrote: »

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

I probably should give 2 another chance sometime

Does anyone here know how the OXbox version of MP2 runs on the 360? It's on the Xbox Originals, so I imagine it can't be terrible, but you never know

Thought about this the other day when looking at the Xbox Originals. I youtube'd some gameplay and it looks like it would hold up real well. Decided I'd save the MS points for New Vegas DLC instead, but I was damn tempted.

I may look into this soon then

joshua1

Couldn't finish 2 thanks to the nightmare levels. At first it was because they were genuinely freaky. Then it was because I missed the fucking pixel I was supposed to land on.

UnbreakableVow

2 also has nightmare levels?

Jesus

cooljammer00

You guys hear about how Steam was selling a pirated version a while back?

tofu

Yeah, Rockstar just used a cracked exe to eliminate the CD check for the Steam release

Max Payne 1 and 2 will probably forever remain my favorite games

I'm excited for 3, but for a competent 3rd person shooter and not a continuation of the story

Renzo

The nightmare levels in 2 are nothing like those in 1. There is no intense platforming. It's not even possible to die.

Zxerol

So what's the litmus of excitement in MP3 anyway? I know that I was pretty ambivalent, maybe a little hostile towards the whole thing. You know, back when they were actually releasing information about it. Now I just have no idea.

Then again, I remember thinking the same thing about the new Deus Ex, and what do you know? I'm actually pretty damned bummed that S-E fucked over its release date.

Well, I'll take solace that at least it'll come out on the PC. Unlike if Remedy was developing it. (Or rather, cancel that version only after three years of development.)

darleysam

Renzo wrote: »

The nightmare levels in 2 are nothing like those in 1. There is no intense platforming. It's not even possible to die.

Seriously. "Missed the pixel"? What? Max Payne 2 is one of the finest games ever made. Even if you're one of those people that plays it exclusively for the gameplay, and thinks the story sucks.

That is because you miss the point.

edit: Zxerol, ambivalent means 'in two minds', not apathetic.

Muddy Water

From what I remember, Max Payne 2 was better than 1 in every possible way. Level design, graphics, controls, etc. Only problem was that it was too short.

HadjiQuest

I'm also in the camp that did not like 2 as much as 1.

The story wasn't as odd and bizarre and lynchian, the gameplay was a little too clean (it's hard to explain this), and my biggest complaint was that they used these weird sepia filters and tweaked bullet time a little, and that somehow many it really ineffective compared to how awesome bullet time was in the first.

darleysam

But 2 has so many subtleties all the way through it. You say it's not as 'Lynchian' as the first one.. what about all the Address Unknown stuff? Or all the references to the first game, like Dick Justice.

And bullet time being less effective? The damned thing recharges now, rather than just constantly running out, like in the first.

DasUberEdward

I remember I got Max Payne 1 for my birthday and immediately had a snow day the next day.

Didn't move from my PS2 for the entire day.

HadjiQuest

darleysam wrote: »

But 2 has so many subtleties all the way through it. You say it's not as 'Lynchian' as the first one.. what about all the Address Unknown stuff? Or all the references to the first game, like Dick Justice.

And bullet time being less effective? The damned thing recharges now, rather than just constantly running out, like in the first.

It's been a long time since I played it, but I remember being really bothered because you had less control of your dodge actions and your aim during bullet time, and the damn sepia filter made it really difficult to see enemy fire while you were in it (bullets just blended into the filter).

Zxerol

darleysam wrote: »

edit: Zxerol, ambivalent means 'in two minds', not apathetic.

Pffffft, says who? You and doofus named Webster?



[tiny]I shall now take 100 grammatical lashes for failing at something I should know better[/tiny]

Bacon-BuTTy

Playing Max Payne is like a white hot lightening bolt to the face.

The sparks meandering like fireflies in hot summer darkness.

Metaphor and similies hang thick in the air like putrid black raindrops, drenching everything with it's layer of sickeningly confused narritive, making it sluggish and verbose like a drunken shit covered hobo.

It's awesome.

Renzo

HadjiQuest wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

But 2 has so many subtleties all the way through it. You say it's not as 'Lynchian' as the first one.. what about all the Address Unknown stuff? Or all the references to the first game, like Dick Justice.

And bullet time being less effective? The damned thing recharges now, rather than just constantly running out, like in the first.

It's been a long time since I played it, but I remember being really bothered because you had less control of your dodge actions and your aim during bullet time, and the damn sepia filter made it really difficult to see enemy fire while you were in it (bullets just blended into the filter).

There were two bullet-time buttons. One of them functioned just like MP1. The other was a "free" bullet-time, that allowed you to enter bullet-time without dodging.

Spoit

Zxerol wrote: »

So what's the litmus of excitement in MP3 anyway? I know that I was pretty ambivalent, maybe a little hostile towards the whole thing. You know, back when they were actually releasing information about it. Now I just have no idea.

Then again, I remember thinking the same thing about the new Deus Ex, and what do you know? I'm actually pretty damned bummed that S-E fucked over its release date.

Well, I'll take solace that at least it'll come out on the PC. Unlike if Remedy was developing it. (Or rather, cancel that version only after three years of development.)

Considering that I was so desperate for some bullet time action that I actually kinda liked WET? Yeah...

AnteCantelope

Endgame spoilers:

I always felt like they were hinting that Max somehow got wacked on Valkyr, killed his family, and halucinated the whole mugging thing. The fact that it was meant to be a combat enhancing drug would also explain his bullet-time thing. I haven't played for a while, but I remember that the TV shows in MP2 hinting at something like this. And then... nothing. I'm not sure if the hinting was intentional, or something I read into into it.

Docken

Bacon-BuTTy wrote: »

Playing Max Payne is like a white hot lightening bolt to the face.

The sparks meandering like fireflies in hot summer darkness.

Metaphor and similies hang thick in the air like putrid black raindrops, drenching everything with it's layer of sickeningly confused narritive, making it sluggish and verbose like a drunken shit covered hobo.

It's awesome.

:^:

darleysam

AnteCantelope wrote: »

Endgame spoilers:

I always felt like they were hinting that Max somehow got wacked on Valkyr, killed his family, and halucinated the whole mugging thing. The fact that it was meant to be a combat enhancing drug would also explain his bullet-time thing. I haven't played for a while, but I remember that the TV shows in MP2 hinting at something like this. And then... nothing. I'm not sure if the hinting was intentional, or something I read into into it.

Yeah, I got that feeling too.

Cantido

Grimthwacker

Ah yes, any opportunity to spread more Payne love is a good one. Excellent games, both of them, from both gameplay and narrative standpoints. The original had its awesomely hammy film noir style, while MP2 was more refined and atmospheric. Whatever Sam Lake puts his talents towards turns out great (see Alan Wake), which is why I look at Payne 3 with anxiety and dread - Max Payne without Lake and Remedy will most likely turn out as just another rote, cliched action shooter, which the franchise does not deserve.

CaptainNemo

So I played the demo for John Woo's John Woo's Stranglehold by John Woo, and it seems a lot like Max Payne in gameplay. Is it worth picking up since it's only five bucks now?

UnbreakableVow

It's a neat game

But short

Very short

cooljammer00

I think Wet and Stranglehold didn't do what Max Payne did very well.

Even though Max Payne is directly inspired by movies like Hard Boiled.

Morninglord

Kung Fu Mod 3.0 is easily the most fantastic mod I've ever seen for a vidja game.

It's just sex on a stick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UglU-ZdPM9c

I played through the whole game with this mod, not using any guns. It actually has some bugs, but I found some modified files that worked them out. When I noticed still some bugs, I went and modified the files myself. I also fixed a problem with the staff kung fu so you don't get shot all the time.

It works because the jab and the more basic moves have invulnerability and I modified the staff so it does too. You also need to use wall movements like wall running to get in on the enemy.
Boy is it hard. You need to ambush people and shit.

I even modded the duel pistols so it has no "bullettime dodges". That lets me run into a room and gun down two people then flykick another in the face by activating the manual bullettime.

Casually Hardcore

I'm slloooooowwwwllllyyyy working my way through the first one.

Will the Kung Fu mod work with my existing save game?

Morninglord

No play the game first. It has bugs in cutscenes. Sometimes you need to go use the level select if you get unlucky.

This is not recommended as your first playthrough, at all.

You don't play it like the normal game, you go and select your level to start. You level up your kung fu to unlock more moves via comboing enemies.

Oh and if you "juggle enemies" by repeatedly kicking them and such, you get health and bullettime back as well as experience for unlocking. I love trapping a guy in a corner, beating the crap out of him and getting rewarded for it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTLGtmh3ZKY

This shows the new shootdodges in kung fu 3.0. Keep watching until he pulls out the shotgun to see all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IACTgLPE0ho

This is combat. For some reason he's not getting health back when he kicks them. It might be he's using a different version or something, I got no idea.