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motbob
United States12546 Posts
Max Payne 3
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Vancouver
Platforms: Xbox/PS3/PC/SNES
This review probably makes more sense if you’ve read other reviews of the game.
When did this game series start taking itself so damn seriously? Are the bigwigs at Rockstar aware that the very name of the game they’re releasing is ridiculous on its face? "Max Payne." That name’s a relic of a bygone era, a time when developers could name their games something slightly off-the-wall without being overruled by the publisher or the stockholders. Yep, those times are long gone. Max Payne 3 is as serious as you can get, serious in its tone, serious in its storyline, serious about selling every copy it possibly can.
Rockstar has produced something miraculous here, a game that should be trash but somehow isn’t. Think of the restrictions they were under. Here, we have a game series that fits the PC like a glove. But porting the game to consoles is a necessity in today’s industry, so onto consoles it goes. The feeling of busting a door down, switching on Bullet Time, and weaving a dance of death through a crowd of enemies was the highlight of Max Payne 1 and 2. But that particular mechanic doesn’t work so well without a mouse, so it takes a backseat to a new cover system that dominates every fight. The noir-style storytelling and comic panels of Max Payne 1 and 2 set those games apart from other shooters and gave the developers the freedom to tell a story that was deeper than most. But it’s hard to read comics on a TV screen, and film noir doesn’t exactly scream “mainstream.” Both of these aspects of the prequels were reduced to shadows of their former selves in Max Payne 3, replaced by a Hollywood action movie tone and dozens of cutscenes connecting the game’s gunfights within levels.
Those cutscenes are a sore point for many gamers. Totalbiscuit actually hated them so much that he made a video explaining his point of view regarding the use of cutscenes in games and additionally explaining why he feels that Max Payne 3 fails as a game because of cutscenes’ constant use. Yet I very much doubt that the constant breaks in the action are there by choice. The RAM problems with current-gen consoles are, by now, fairly well-known. Game developers are finding it harder and harder to deal with a pitiful 512 MB of RAM as games grow in complexity. It would be unacceptable for Max Payne 3 to be a stream of constant loading screens, so cutscenes give the game time to load the next area. It’s an elegant solution to a technical problem brought on by the fact the game had to be on consoles. Of course, the cutscenes themselves are stunning, with top-of-the-line motion capture and voice acting. This is a Rockstar game, after all.
So we have this bevy of restrictions brought on by Rockstar’s desire for the profit that consolization brings. By all rights, this should have doomed the game to mediocrity. It’s certainly not a Max Payne game anymore; the tone is too different, the world is too shallow (because what point is there in crafting a world with intricate details if console gamers just shuffle past them?) and the gameplay works on an entirely different basis of mechanics. I loved Max Payne 2, but Max Payne 3 is completely different. Does that mean I hate this new game?
No. No, I don’t. I don’t think I could find it in my heart to hate it even if Rockstar gave Max a cheery disposition and an Alcoholics Anonymous token in his pants pocket. This game is just too refined. The writing is spot-on (even if the overall story isn’t). None of the darkly humorous jokes miss their mark. As mentioned, the cutscenes are engaging and wonderfully produced. The weapons are designed so that they cater to different playstyles without being massively overpowered one way or the other (at least, on the PC version). The “Last Man Standing” mechanic makes the combat surprisingly deep on harder difficulties, since figuring out how to maximize the invincibility you get can help you get through seemingly impossible gunfights.
Speaking of harder difficulties, do yourself a favor and play the game on Hard your first time through. You’ll die. A lot. But that’s the price you pay for some level of strategic depth; on medium, it’s easy to just blaze through everything without much regard for your own survival.
There are a lot of flaws in Max Payne 3. The story’s obviously just a vehicle to get Max to kill a lot of different types of people; there’s no real depth to it, and apparently a lot of reviewers were confused by it. Last Man Standing has technical problems (protip: you can press H to switch the camera if you can’t see the enemy, but the game doesn’t tell you this!) and the game world, as I mentioned, is pretty shallow. But the level of refinement that this game has undergone is evident in every gunfight in every environment, and in my opinion the strengths of this game far outweigh its weaknesses.
Mass Effect 2 might be the greatest game of its generation, a sequel which flawlessly “consolized” itself by introducing plenty of dumb, heart-pumping action while not sacrificing the depth of the world it took place in and the characters which appeared. Max Payne 3 doesn’t pull off the transition to the console era quite as well, but it comes darn close.
 
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hmm i haven't played max payne since the original, i think the first one was enough for me D: Also hasn't max payne always taken itself overly seriously?
lastly what do you mean by consolized? ported to console? original max payne at least was on console and PC iirc (played it on my PS2)
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Max payne 3 was incredible
however
For some funny reason, this game makes me want to play max payne 1 like no other
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Thanks for the review!
I'm still scared to pick it up myself after seeing Total Biscuits review, mostly because I'd love to see Max Payne 3 and not "Generic Awesome Rockstar Game 11" but I think I'll give it a shot soon.
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China6329 Posts
Max Payne 3 is one of the best shooters I've played for the past 5 years, hands down.
Also great review, 5/5.
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I did myself the huge misfortune of watching a play through of the first couple hours or so on uoutube while waiting for the Pc version to come out. I've never played a MP game before this one, but it definitely made me want to go back and try out the previous two games.
Also, the final chapter is pretty damn awesome (the whole game is good), but the music and atmosphere is matches so well and you feel like such a badass.
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Awesome write up - I've been considering getting it for a while. 5/5!
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Personally loved it, the start was a tad-bit annoying for me. The last few chapters were very well done imo. 5/5!
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On June 20 2012 11:01 motbob wrote:
Max Payne 3
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Vancouver
Platforms: Xbox/PS3/PC/SNES
SNES? ;D
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On June 20 2012 14:27 Brett wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2012 11:01 motbob wrote:
Max Payne 3
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Vancouver
Platforms: Xbox/PS3/PC/SNES
SNES? ;D
I think he was just joking (though you may have picked up on that anyway) 
Hm, I guess I was one of the few who didn't like the game. It was entertaining enough I guess, but overall I just didn't think it was all that fun.
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I have only played the first 30-60 minutes, I suppose, but with the cutscenes you never know. I just wanted to ask if Rockstar were serious with all the magical text underlining Max's narration?
"Here they were, trying to run away (RUN AWAY) from their guilt (GUILT), while I was just trying to have a burger (BURGER!) and a soda (SODA!!). Of course, I'd forgotten, mayor Bloomberg took that away from me too (TOO)."
The one thing that kept Max Payne afloat as a narrative was its self-effacement, the fact it was ironically aware of itself and of its nature as a work of noir fiction, a genre which is typically ironic. Max can't even take his own crusade seriously even as he perpetuates the cycle of violence - which is an excellent mirror for the player, because, you know, you're engaging in an act of Rambo-esque improbability. If Max Payne were a real human being he'd stop thinking about the women who died on him and start reflecting on the acts of mass murder he fatalistically continues to commit.
The fact that Max Payne 3 marches on obliviously is a fact of some worry. I don't know. I get the feeling Rockstar are starting to think they're too cool for the room.
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Max payne 3 is the only shooter i was shocked by the amount of people I kill. Like seriously, you go to a police station and just murder rooms full of swat O.o Game is nice as a game but seriously dumb at times as anything else. And the cutsecenes could really use a ability to skip them :/
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The porting to consoles is not a bad part ... if you would release a proper PC version! Not skipping the cut-scenes because of background loading is something for low-RAM consoles and not for (even my not-)High-End-PCs!
Aside from that I really liked the game. Like you propose: I played it on hard the first time. Yes, I did fu*** die a lot! Some scenes are sometimes incredible frustrating! One scene I never manged to get through... I just jumped around and hit the check-point Also I somehow "missed" a checkpoint, wandered on and fell through the floor and had to restart ... definitely something I have to check out more for speedrunning this game... 
The most annoying part is NOW, after I played through the first time. Because now I wanted to beat the game on the hardest setting and... it doesn't save anymore! I play 1-2h and go back to the main menu. Already, without leaving the game completely, if I try to "continue" the "continue" is grey and can't be used! The game is damn long, I don't have time to play through the whole game (on hardest setting without "last man standing"...). Anyone else has this problem? And how the heck can I fix this?
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I died a lot even on medium, though that might be related to me disabling all the helping stuff in the config (auto-aim, slow down aiming near enemies, etc.)
Max Payne 3 is definitely fun, though i wouldn't put it above MP1&2, i just miss the comic cutscenes and the flair of the previous games too much.
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You're right about playing on hard :p
it's really satisfying to finally get through that incredibly hard fight, which is probably what I enjoy most about the game.
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It was definitely a good game. Rockstar did a great job making it playable on computer; I think one of the best features was the "lock-on" style of aiming vs free aim. So if you're on a console and you have trouble aiming with a tiny joystick you can just use the lock-on system to make things playable, but for computer users it doesn't sacrifice the difficulty of the game because you can free aim with a mouse.
The story actually was a bit confusing to me near the end; I was trying to find out how your friend "Raul" (I think?) fit into the story. After playing it a second time I had time to digest all the information and it makes sense now. But I like that...games should be difficult to understand (at least I like it that way), it makes things way more interesting and not just a linear shooting experience.
In terms of difficulty I was pleased at how challenging it could be at parts (like fighting from the back of the bus against dozens of enemies on last man standing!). But generally its all about taking things slow, and not opting to shoot from cover which is actually quite dangerous. The best way to kill enemies is to use the "H" key as motbob said, and shoot them from around a corner. You just need to find that corner; else try to use bullet time to pick off one enemy at a time and hopefully you catch the people who try to rush you first . By the way...I love that tactic. Made combat more challenging when I have to watch out for people trying to flank me or just running straight for me with guns blazing. Died quite a few times to that
On June 20 2012 18:43 Geisterkarle wrote:
The most annoying part is NOW, after I played through the first time. Because now I wanted to beat the game on the hardest setting and... it doesn't save anymore! I play 1-2h and go back to the main menu. Already, without leaving the game completely, if I try to "continue" the "continue" is grey and can't be used! The game is damn long, I don't have time to play through the whole game (on hardest setting without "last man standing"...). Anyone else has this problem? And how the heck can I fix this?
You might know this already but just in case you don't you can at least go into the option that lets you replay a certain chapter, depending on how far in the game you made it. So even if continue isn't working, you can at least restart a level rather than the whole game. After that the game continues as normal, so...its better than nothing!
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the best way to kil enemies is to use the H key....... W T F ... maybe thats why felt it was so hard.
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Can't wait to pick up this bad boy on my SNES.
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It is a good game
wish they hadnt called it max payne tho
Its really nto a max payne game imo.
I found myself picking bad guys oine at a time ... max payne is ALL about pickign the crappiest weapons you can find running into a room diving and seeing how many head shots you can get before hitting the ground.
as there are only ever 3-4 bad guys now you cant really do that.
And yeah the best way to beat the game IS to change the camera view .... thats fucked up. really fucked up.
I died a lot on hardest starting difficulty ... but so much of that was retarded camera angles ... or starting positions.
The number of times you start taking cover behind what can only be described as a single bamboo cane in a vase is amazing - or a large sheet of tissue paper.
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Finished it on the hardest difficulty, dunno if that's "hard" or if there's another one, sometimes incredibly frustrating, sometimes just hard and rewarding if you can pull it off. First time I heard about changing camera angles LOL, I guess I would've been through a lot faster knowing this.
As for the game itself, it's a pretty cool shooter, even though I despise the consoly "cover behind anything, even things a retard could shoot through will make you invincible!". At least the enemies were smart enough to walk up to you if you hid too long and if you couldn't kill them before reaching you, you'd take a lot of pain. But it got repetitive pretty fast imo. It's been a long time since I've played part 1 and 2, probably around 6+ years, but from what I remember, those games never felt repetitive, I even played them through multiple times, which I usually don't with single player games.
As sb else said, the highlighting of words in cutscenes was ranging from just dumb to unintentionally funny. To what I believe the OP and most other posters want to adress, the feeling wasn't the same. 9/10 times you'd be in lighted places, completely different from the predecessors, oh man the construction yard scene from, I think, part 2.
The story was pretty terrible in my opinion, at the start I was still having faith, but most things were just too obvious. The action itself was well scripted and written, some scenes had some real flair to them, but again the vast majority was just repetitive and lacking in atmosphere.
TLDR: I think MP3 is a well designed and written shooter, which I found to be pretty challenging on hardest difficulty at many points. Though it could be the, probably caused by being a console port, horrible camera angles that make it hard. I've finished it, didn't think it was bad, but most likely will never touch it again. Brb, downloading MP1+2.
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Max Payne 3 is like 20+ GB, so I'd rather have cut scenes than loading screens.
Also the multiplayer is very well done. Like Red Dead Redemption, the ranking system is brutal but pays off (ZEBRA DONKEYS FTW). For some odd reason multiplayer is addicting. Maybe its the variety of weapons and game-modes which is by the way the game-modes still have a nice story telling aspect to it.
The collections implemented in the game are pretty nice. (Golden guns are cool and you can use them in multiplayer) But there is, at least for me, replay value to this with custom story modes like Arcade mode and with fan favorites like New York Minutes.
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I couldn't play it more than a few hours, the abundance of cutscenes completely ruined it for me. There's more cutscenes than actual gameplay, while 80% of the cutscenes are ones where they could easily give you control instead. This has been really irking me lately, same with Mass Effect 3- but at least they are skippable.
E: An excellent example of making potential cutscene material be part of the gameplay was Modern Warfare for me. Like the moment the EMP drops and choppers fall from the sky, or when you have to crawl from the nuke and eventually die.
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On June 20 2012 20:13 Morfildur wrote:
I died a lot even on medium, though that might be related to me disabling all the helping stuff in the config (auto-aim, slow down aiming near enemies, etc.)
Max Payne 3 is definitely fun, though i wouldn't put it above MP1&2, i just miss the comic cutscenes and the flair of the previous games too much.
Wait that shit is default on the PC? It only makes it harder to aim lol.
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I think I will rent this game
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Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging.
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
On June 21 2012 23:11 Praetorial wrote:
Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging.
It's up there, I think. It's one of the few games I know of where the love from critics and users was pretty much universal.
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On June 22 2012 00:28 motbob wrote:Show nested quote +On June 21 2012 23:11 Praetorial wrote:
Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging. It's up there, I think. It's one of the few games I know of where the love from critics and users was pretty much universal.
yeah I think so too
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On June 21 2012 23:11 Praetorial wrote:
Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging.
Absolutely yes. ME2 was an AMAZING experience. Aside from the tedious planet-mining minigame, they pretty much nailed everything right. Action was great, characters were meaningful and interesting, and they managed to provide a satisfactory and engaging conclusion to the game. Suicide Mission was so damn exciting, especially with the theme music used for the said mission. I had huge nerd chills playing that level.
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On June 22 2012 02:20 Bleak wrote:Show nested quote +On June 21 2012 23:11 Praetorial wrote:
Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging. Absolutely yes. ME2 was an AMAZING experience. Aside from the tedious planet-mining minigame, they pretty much nailed everything right. Action was great, characters were meaningful and interesting, and they managed to provide a satisfactory and engaging conclusion to the game. Suicide Mission was so damn exciting, especially with the theme music used for the said mission. I had huge nerd chills playing that level.
I just have to post my dissenting view...(also big spoilers if anyone hasn't played ME1!)
Problem with that game is it was a lot smaller than ME1 overall (i.e. maybe its better to say it had less content). There was no sense of exploration on amazing planets with their own atmosphere and views of their unique solar systems (I know the terrain was generally just copy-pasted), which each had their own areas and minor plots to go through. Also while somewhat justified you basically couldn't do anything on the Citadel which was pretty disappointing. ME2 seemed to be a more linear, story driven experience and less of a true open-ended RPG. To add to that they took away weapon modifications, which made the game a lot simpler, which can be a good thing but IMO mostly takes away from the tactical decision making.
I don't know but for me most of the characters were...well kind of generic. I actually had a genuinely heart wrenching moment when I was romancing both Liara and Ashley in ME1 and then they both confronted me asking me to choose which one I wanted (and the most hilarious option was Shephard suggesting they could both be with him ). And then, at the end of the game, the plot surprises me by forcing me to sacrifice either Ashley or Kaidan. But I feel like Kaidan has a crucial responsibility in making sure the nuke goes off, so I sacrifice Ashley. Never before have I ever felt that level of involvement in a game. I actually felt genuinely sad at the end of the game.
But in ME2...all you have to do is ensure that all your companions are "loyal" and that you outfit the ship properly, then the rest of the endgame requires you to make obvious decisions as to who will do what job. I don't know, but personally I found the experience to be a bit more shallow, and overall the content was significantly reduced and simplified. So all in all I would put ME1 first . Also apparently I'm part of the like 1% who actually enjoyed driving the Mako armored vehicle. I don't know why I guess I mastered the use of the thrusters, and I love climbing mountains with that thing (its like a goat...in can go so steep up a mountain its crazy). Ah well, fun times. Figures I'm also part of the 1% who enjoyed ME3's open-ended, philosophical ending.
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Yeah, I loved driving the Mako off cliffs over and over again and laughing the whole time.
Besides, in Mass Effect 2, you could selectively choose which characters you didn't like and then kill them. For example, I really hated Zaeed, so I let him burn along with the factory he destroyed. I actually felt angry at his character, for his callous treatment of killing others to accomplish his goals.
Unless I'm mistaken, ME1 really only had four main quests that could be done in a nonlinear fashion, with a whole bunch of minor and boring ones tossed in.
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Fuck TotalBiscuit, the cutscenes were a strong well endowed point of the game for me.
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Enjoying this game alot, hard difficulty is exactly the right difficulty for me. No too hard, so I get frustrated and not too easy. Favorite weapon is just a regular pistol and killing people off with headshots, I love how headshots are a 1 shot kill. The cutscenes are usually a nice break in between the non stop action. You should really turn off all the aim assists, it's only frustrating to deal with.
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On June 22 2012 19:39 John Madden wrote:
Fuck TotalBiscuit, the cutscenes were a strong well endowed point of the game for me.
I couldn't care less about the size of Max Payne's dick, I want to play for more than 2 minutes without being interrupted by a fucking cutscene
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On June 23 2012 07:34 TotalBiscuit wrote:Show nested quote +On June 22 2012 19:39 John Madden wrote:
Fuck TotalBiscuit, the cutscenes were a strong well endowed point of the game for me. I couldn't care less about the size of Max Payne's dick, I want to play for more than 2 minutes without being interrupted by a fucking cutscene
On one hand I understand but man, to me the action feels so intense and I have to focus pretty hard to headshot everybody fast enough so I don't die the cutscenes are a welcome break to me but maybe that's because of my playstyle.
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On June 23 2012 07:34 TotalBiscuit wrote:Show nested quote +On June 22 2012 19:39 John Madden wrote:
Fuck TotalBiscuit, the cutscenes were a strong well endowed point of the game for me. I couldn't care less about the size of Max Payne's dick, I want to play for more than 2 minutes without being interrupted by a fucking cutscene
I completely agree with you. I love what you're doing. To me, it feels like you're one of the few critics who actually look at the games from the perspective of a consumer rather than from some ivory tower perspective. I think you slightly over-favour novelty, and sometimes recommend games that become bland once the novelty wears off. But it's forgivable since you call it "first impressions" and it's difficult to get deeply into a game while doing the volume that you do. And you're an opinion I trust to declare any conflicts of interest.
I was surprised at just how many glowing reviews this game got, how many people seem to be underplaying its flaws, and I suspect there is something unethical going on behind the scenes.
On June 20 2012 11:36 r.Evo wrote:
Thanks for the review!
I'm still scared to pick it up myself after seeing Total Biscuits review, mostly because I'd love to see Max Payne 3 and not "Generic Awesome Rockstar Game 11" but I think I'll give it a shot soon.
What I think is happening is that you liked Max Payne 1 & 2, and you want to like Max Payne 3. And you really, really want to buy it. But TotalBiscuit is a source you trust and he didn't like it and you found his reasons very convincing. But you still really, really want to buy it.
You have 2 conflicting desires:
- You want to buy Max Payne 3.
- You don't want to make a bad purchasing decision.
If you believe that Max Payne 3 is a good game, there would be no conflict - the decision would be easy and you can satisfy both desires. The fact that you're feeling this conflict means that you feel it is a bad game but still want to satisfy both desires. So you're trying to resolve this internal conflict by looking for evidence to convince yourself that you'll like this game. Emotionally, you don't want to admit that you can only fulfill one of those desires.
It's called cognitive dissonance, and everybody experiences it. And it often leads people to rationalise bad decisions. Every time you hear someone say, "I'm not a racist, but..." it's the result of cognitive dissonance - they hold racist views, but also don't want to label themselves as racist, so they come up with a non-racist "explanation" for why they hold those views.
Let's have a look at the 2 pieces of evidence in front of us.
TotalBiscuit's review in a nutshell:
- Max Payne 3 did a lot of things well.
- The cutscenes minimise actual gameplay and being unskippable turned him off.
Here's motbob's review in a nutshell:
- Max Payne 3 did a lot of things well given the circumstances.
- The bad features are there because of these reasons.
I found motbob's review excessively apologetic - from a consumer's perspective, I don't care why a bad feature is there - all that matters is that it's there.
I also don't think cutscenes are a big thing for him - and that's fine. Different people have different tastes. He doesnt mind the cutscenes, so he can buy and enjoy the game. TotalBiscuit and I don't like the cutscenes, so we don't like the game.
So for your decision, it comes down to:
- If the cutscenes a deal breaker for you, then it will be a bad purchasing decision.
- If the cutscenes are not a deal breaker for you, then it's possible you'll enjoy the game.
And you know what? They're just preferences. There's no right or wrong. Rockstar put in these cutscenes, so clearly their target market are not people like me, for whom these cutscenes are a deal breaker. It just means I shouldn't buy the game. I'm disappointed, of course, since I enjoyed Max Payne 1 & 2 and was looking forward to Max Payne 3, but Rockstar is well in their right to target a difference audience.
Or maybe I am part of their target audience, and they just made really bad design decisions - so both parties have lost as a result. But this is how a free market works - I shouldn't buy anything that's not good for me, and they should lose out on revenue as a result of their bad decisions.
Either way, I can spend the money on a different game that does want me as a customer and does make good design decisions.
So how do you tell if these cutscenes are a deal breaker for you? I can tell you why it's a deal breaker for me and you can make your own decision:
- I like to replay my games, and unskippable cutscenes will make that painful to the point where I will avoid replaying it - effectively killing all replayability for me.
- They reduce the actual gameplay time. If they claim the game takes 5 hours to finish, then after taking out the cutscenes out (if they later made them skippable), we might expect 2 hours of actual gameplay.
- I feel that design decisions do not stand alone - the people who made this decision also made other decisions about the game. That means they will have made other decisions that I don't like.
These cutscenes weren't the only things that turned me off, but by themselves they would have been sufficient.
I would also question motbob's claim that these cutscenes were necessary to mask the loading times. Some flaws with this claim:
- Other comparably sized games load within seconds on my HDD. If you watch TotalBiscuit's video review, those cutscenes were unskippable for minutes on his SSD, much longer than should have been necessary for mere loading.
- Presumably consoles with 512 MB RAM require the entire duration of the cutscenes to load the next chapter. A high end PC with, say, 8 GB RAM should load much faster, yet the cutscenes remain unskippable for almost their entire duration.
- If you try loading a chapter from the main menu, I bet it would load much faster than the cutscenes let you skip.
If you decide to buy the game, that's fine. It's your money. Maybe you'll find the game worth your money.
If you decide not to buy the game, that's also fine. You now have some money you can spend on a different game to support developers who make games that you enjoy. It is by buying games that we enjoy and not buying games that we don't enjoy that lets developers know what their customers want.
You might have other reasons for buying - maybe you want to support the franchise. And that's fine too. But you should be aware that in doing so you're letting them get away with poor business practices.
And it's tough because you have to make the purchasing decision based on how you would feel owning the game before you actually know how you will feel owning the game.
In general, I would pay attention to cognitive dissonance - because cognitive dissonance means we're trying to disagree with reality.
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Max Payne 3 is a great game , do not let random people get you off the game because they say cutscenes ruin it. Cutscenes make the game better if anything .
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On June 23 2012 07:34 TotalBiscuit wrote:Show nested quote +On June 22 2012 19:39 John Madden wrote:
Fuck TotalBiscuit, the cutscenes were a strong well endowed point of the game for me. I couldn't care less about the size of Max Payne's dick, I want to play for more than 2 minutes without being interrupted by a fucking cutscene
I couldn't care less about watching cutscenes, I just want to play with the ability to QUICK SAVE!
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On June 22 2012 07:38 radscorpion9 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 22 2012 02:20 Bleak wrote:On June 21 2012 23:11 Praetorial wrote:
Is Mass Effect 2 truly considered the greatest game of this generation?
Just wondering, not judging. Absolutely yes. ME2 was an AMAZING experience. Aside from the tedious planet-mining minigame, they pretty much nailed everything right. Action was great, characters were meaningful and interesting, and they managed to provide a satisfactory and engaging conclusion to the game. Suicide Mission was so damn exciting, especially with the theme music used for the said mission. I had huge nerd chills playing that level. I just have to post my dissenting view...(also big spoilers if anyone hasn't played ME1!) Problem with that game is it was a lot smaller than ME1 overall (i.e. maybe its better to say it had less content). There was no sense of exploration on amazing planets with their own atmosphere and views of their unique solar systems (I know the terrain was generally just copy-pasted), which each had their own areas and minor plots to go through. Also while somewhat justified you basically couldn't do anything on the Citadel which was pretty disappointing. ME2 seemed to be a more linear, story driven experience and less of a true open-ended RPG. To add to that they took away weapon modifications, which made the game a lot simpler, which can be a good thing but IMO mostly takes away from the tactical decision making. I don't know but for me most of the characters were...well kind of generic. I actually had a genuinely heart wrenching moment when I was romancing both Liara and Ashley in ME1 and then they both confronted me asking me to choose which one I wanted (and the most hilarious option was Shephard suggesting they could both be with him ). And then, at the end of the game, the plot surprises me by forcing me to sacrifice either Ashley or Kaidan. But I feel like Kaidan has a crucial responsibility in making sure the nuke goes off, so I sacrifice Ashley. Never before have I ever felt that level of involvement in a game. I actually felt genuinely sad at the end of the game. But in ME2...all you have to do is ensure that all your companions are "loyal" and that you outfit the ship properly, then the rest of the endgame requires you to make obvious decisions as to who will do what job. I don't know, but personally I found the experience to be a bit more shallow, and overall the content was significantly reduced and simplified. So all in all I would put ME1 first . Also apparently I'm part of the like 1% who actually enjoyed driving the Mako armored vehicle. I don't know why I guess I mastered the use of the thrusters, and I love climbing mountains with that thing (its like a goat...in can go so steep up a mountain its crazy). Ah well, fun times. Figures I'm also part of the 1% who enjoyed ME3's open-ended, philosophical ending.
ME1 might have been bigger and had more planets, but that part of the game for me wasn't that interesting. Yeah it was cool while playing, but the planets weren't that interesting because we were there just for the side-quests, which for the most time were pretty boring. The main mission planets were pretty nice but not as detailed and engorging as the ME2 ones imo. The Mako made me fucking go insane, and I'm glad they removed that.
I actually liked ME2 being more story-driven, because it had an amazing storytelling. The "mission" aspect was much more engaging and stronger than ME1. I loved recruiting people. I loved the big picture of the fight against the Collectors. I was so excited during the mission speeches of the last mission and assigning people to specific jobs. It really felt like watching an amazing sci-fi movie to me, but instead I was playing it. Weapon mods were extremely tedious for me, after a while they did nothing but fill my inventory with useless junk that I had to remove all the time for making space.
I don't know how you can enjoy ME3 endings. ME3 endings completely take control away from the player, introduces a completely new character in the last 15 minutes of the game and gives you three colours as an option to end this whole trilogy without enough or about any explanation to what the fuck is actually happening and whether any of this makes sense (it does not) I didn't touch ME3 yet after finishing it once, and if Extended Cut doesn't change the ending in a significant way (and it won't...it will be the same shitty ending with a little more explanation) then I can just congratulate Bioware's "artistic vision" for ruining this damn good sci-fi franchise. I felt epic when ME2 and ME1 ended, I felt like the whole game was a joke when ME3 ended. I actually thought I picked the wrong choice, and then Youtube-d the rest of the endings and found out that the colour of explosion was the only one different, with no explanation to what the hell actually happens in any of the three colour picks.
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EPT![[image loading]](/staff/motbob/maxpayne320751920.jpg)
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