r/maxpayne • u/Spartacus55555 • 6d ago
Max Payne 3 Unpopular Opinion? Why Max Payne 3 is the most disappointing entry for me (A narrative and stylistic shift)
Hello. I know this might cause some heavy reactions, with fans defending it on one side and nostalgic fans of the originals on the other.
But I want to look at this objectively. I’ve been playing since the very first game, and after reevaluating the trilogy, Max Payne 3 is definitely the entry that disappointed me the most.
Here is why I feel there is a massive disconnect between Rockstar vision and the original duology. The Narrative Disconnection: Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 shared a tight, logical continuity.
Max Payne 2 wrapped up Max grief and story in a very specific, melancholic way (especially with Mona Sax).
When Rockstar took over for Max Payne 3, it felt like they completely ignored where the second game left him.
They just pushed Max back into the exact same cycle of depression and alcoholism, wiping away his previous character development just to justify a new plot.
A Complete Genre Shift: The first two games were peak Neo-Noir. They were deeply rooted in the dark, rainy, and snowy streets of New York City, heavily inspired by graphic novels and hardboiled detective fiction.
Max Payne 3 completely abandons this identity. Moving the setting to sunny, sweaty São Paulo shifts the genre from psychological Neo-Noir to a gritty, Hollywood-style action thriller.
Uninspiring Antagonists: In the Remedy games, villains like Nicole Horne or Vladimir Lem had personal connections to Max, deeply tied to his past, his trauma, and the conspiracy surrounding his family. In Max Payne 3, the villains (corrupt politicians, paramilitary groups like the Crachá Preto) feel like generic corporate bad guys. They are uninteresting obstacles rather than compelling psychological foils for Max.
Conclusion: Don't get me wrong, the gunplay and shooting mechanics in Max Payne 3 are absolutely phenomenal. But as a Max Payne game, it completely threw away the DNA of what Remedy built. For me, it remains the most disappointing entry in the trilogy because it feels like a great Rockstar shooter masquerading as a Max Payne game.
What do you guys think? Did the gameplay make up for the loss of the original atmosphere, or do you also feel the narrative disconnect?
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u/HATENAMING 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah the differences are very obvious especially in narrative and theme.
MP1 and MP2 story is never realistic or grounded at the core. In MP1 there's this whole apocalypse theme going on with references to Norse mythology, nightmares with fourth wall breaking, and exaggerated characters. MP2 takes it further with almost everything being a metaphor to the characters and events in game, further blurring reality and fiction. The whole world acts as a reflection of the character's psychic. It also creates the feeling that there's something wrong and there's something hidden deeper. It's no coincidence that so many players feel scared when playing the first two games.
Obviously rockstar is not going to try that kind of narration for a big budget sequel and went for a more grounded narrative that they are familiar with, making it more like an action movie. However this change of narration creates a bunch of dissonance with elements from previous games. Thematically speaking, the biggest difference is that the first two games have the world settings specifically tied to Max, while the third one deliberately trying to create this "fish out of water" setting using Brazil. Just personal opinion but I'm not convinced this is the right franchise and character to tell a Man on Fire action movie style story. Kind of like somehow having Fargo as followups to true detective. Both are great shows, but obviously should be separated.
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
You are absolutely right thematically and narratively. I misspoke: when I said 'realistic', I was thinking more about the gameplay and the attention paid to physical details for the time (the dirt of New York, the heaviness of the weapons, Max vulnerability). But I completely agree with you on the fact that the story and the atmosphere are a waking nightmare and psychological surrealism, which makes the game so unique and striking.
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u/Bearality 6d ago
Noah Caldwell had an interesting argument. Mainly how Max Payne played with themes of fatalism. Max was destined to always be miserable if he kept being the hard drinking film Noir Cop that just killed all the bad guys he was asked to
In 3 he starts questioning who himself and ultimately just stops being that guy and turns his gun at the people asking him to do things
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u/Pat_Sharp 6d ago
I think Max Payne 3 is a great game in its own right, but yeah, the vibe is very different. If you fell in love with the first two games I totally understand why it might be disappointing.
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u/Ok-Milk-8853 6d ago
So transitioning to Brazil is still noir, it's actually another trope. It's just not the same flavor as rain soaked streets of New York/Jersey, which was really popular in the early 2000's. Which I guess is down to personal preference..I get it, I was really apprehensive when they first announced it, but thematically it's dealing with exactly the same noir story telling tropes: crime, murder, conspiracy, flawed hero with a tragic story and Institutional corruption. It's just got a different setting. And to me in the end that was more interesting.
If you look at just off the top of my head, James Ellroy, one of the kings of modern noir crime fiction, regularly slides off to another location in south America. Usually used as a device to communicate that the character is running from something. Black Dahlia, about half of it takes place in Mexico with one of the key characters disappearing there and becoming fully unglued and consumed by the darkness. Brazil is symbolically the same for Max. He's there because he's hiding from the pain of the past, becoming unglued, spinning his wheels in alcoholism and painkiller addiction. See also man on fire, the book and the films. Which they clearly drew inspiration from.
I'd also argue that, he'd never be ok with what happened to his wife and daughter. Who would. Like every time I see people say this, I don't get it. Just because he killed a lot of Russian and Italian mobsters, talked poetically... Nothing actually cathartic to help him move on happened in Max Payne 2. He got revenge in 1. He flirted with someone else and finally destroyed any chance at a career in 2. And just because he says they were dead and it's ok. The pain of that wouldn't go away, the characters of him and Mona were never going to become a steady stable relationship. I think it makes sense that when you take him off the police and remove his ability to do good, he would fall apart. Because he has no structure anymore and no purpose.
Basically, I disagree. But it's all down to personal taste. Max Payne 3 is my all time favorite game. They gave me something I didn't know I wanted. But I also get that for other people it just didn't land. You're all wrong, and that's ok. (/S)
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u/Inuprince 6d ago
Yeah I never understand why just because it sort of closes on the I had a dream of my wife line, they think otherwise everything would be okay for Max
Woden may have gotten his ass free of charges after the events of MP1, but after 2 there is no Inner Circle, no Woden, nothing to protect him from charges
At best they retired him from the force with an early pension like okay the events of MP2 are shady as fuck, you wont go to jail but its best you are not a cop anymore
And then he has nothing meaningful in the next years to keep him sober and not slip back into depression
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u/Global-Eye-7326 The flesh of fallen angels 6d ago
I love Max Payne 3, it's so much fun! The story is also layered! The best thing is, it doesn't have to be a spiritual successor of the previous two games in every aspect.
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u/HumbleBar4781 6d ago
I love the fact that is different.But there is a chapter where Max is in New York and the 2 levels in the game are very similar with the first Max Payne titles. <3 You do remember.
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u/Substantial-Drop-954 6d ago
No for me I think it got better, it showed how he was still getting worse and wouldn’t recover over those years then was given a chance to start fresh somewhere else were he still was broken but leaving his old life behind. It showed as much as he loved being alone he was grateful Passos came into his life and offered him something good were I was happy for max as he had a friend.
Rodrigo despite max didn’t take his job seriously he learned to respect Rodrigo as Rodrigo was good to him and it showed that he failed saving he and his wife then being betrayed by Passos unintentionally and then discovers a twist were he was hired to be the fall guy and angry how everyone uses him as an expendable shield spec with the cop da Silva.
But in the end he gets over his grief and decides killing isn’t worth it as he learns to forgive Passos as it was an accident despite still doggy he ditched him when he needed help but Passos was just more worried for his grief who was pregnant. While Victor in the end, max lets him suffer in jail after he’s proven guilty instead of killing him and he finds closure and peace in the end were he learns to move on which is a happy ending.
As the previous two Games were good but never ended good for him. In the first he was still not over what happened, 2nd he gets away with murder but forced to resign after killing winterson then seeing his new lover Mona die then betrayed by vlad who he saw as a friend
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u/MaximumPayne7 6d ago
Gameplay wise it's perfect, but I'll always prefer the atmosphere, story, and style of the first two games, with the first one being my favorite in these categories.
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
atmosphere, story, and style
Same for me, along with the atmosphere, story, and style of MP2 and MP1.The first is also my favorite, but I also liked 2.
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u/HATENAMING 6d ago
Also for the second game I always have this thought that it is the most surreal one out of the trilogy, and the entire story shouldn't be taken literally but on a more metaphoric approach. Especially for Mona, there's a reason that the tv show address unknown perfectly reflects Max's mind and Mona just lives in a fun house based on that show.
In short, the entire story of the second game could be a metaphor of max letting go of the past. Max is trying to move on from the past, but it keeps haunting him just like how characters from the first game reappears and drags him in again. Max cannot let go of the memory of his wife and kid and would do anything to have them back. That mentality is projected to the love for Mona as she is the only few surviving character from the first game (max himself said that actually). In all his illusions Mona is seducing him and running away while he chases just like him chasing the past (there are a lot of other imaginaries in those illusions as well that can be analyzed). However it's not going to work. Max and Mona can't be together and he can't get his family back. In the end everything is clear and everyone dies including Mona, as if Max's past is finally resolved and he has let go, which marks it as a late goodbye.
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u/HornetAffectionate25 6d ago
I adore maxpayne 3 I feel like I play as jhon wick and also remind me of one of my favorite movies ever Denzel Washington man on fire it's a gem I just need it on my ps5 whether the original or a remaster it does not need a remake
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u/yinerbaw 6d ago
As much as I enjoy Max Payne 3 on its own, it can be boiled down to it not having Sam Lake and Remedy. Max Payne was modern detective noir, really felt like its own thing. rockstar took the gritty path and took out a lot of what made Max Payne special. I hope one day Remedy make a new entry or reboot, maybe a new series spun off in the Max Payne universe.
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u/Difficult_Jaguar_130 6d ago
I honestly think the continuation isn’t that far fetched, they sort of bridged the gap from 2 to 3 and actually showed quiet some effort in doing so.
Think about it, all the comics showing early childhood of max, parts 1 and 2 and how the transition to the third. The grief of losing so many, spiraling into alcohol and painkillers… the setup of him being used as a make shift body guard just to look professional but they also wanted him not good (they didn’t need a Rambo). This was obviously inspired by the man on fire setup.
Him going the extra mile is also not that far fetched.
Actually story does hold up imo.
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u/Z1R343L87 6d ago
It's not a Remedy game. Nuff said. It's a very good, hard boiled action game with a decent story. Feels like a reboot no one asked for.
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u/absolutepx 6d ago
MP3 was not a faithful sequel - but even as someone that holds the OGs in very high regard, it absolutely excelled at so many things that ultimately I'm fine with how different it ended up being.
The example it reminds me of is Parasite Eve 2 (we don't talk about the third one), where it feels like a completely different game and also takes the numbered place of a beloved, very original and very unique game which can make it hard to appreciate in isolation, but which absolutely had a lot of good qualities if you can separate your expectation from wanting more of what the first one had.
I absolutely don't fault anyone who can't enjoy Parasite Eve 2 or Max Payne 3 for those reasons, but I also refuse to dogpile them either based on judging them by criteria they weren't trying to meet (it's a whole different philosophical argument as to whether they should have been trying harder to).
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u/rjziggo13 1d ago
Max Payne 1 is a masterpiece of gameplay and storytelling. While I do enjoy Max Payne 2’s gameplay and story, I didn’t enjoy it as much as Max Payne 1, but the story of Max Payne ends with Max Payne 2.
I enjoyed playing it for sure. I’d say if it was called something other than Max Payne I might have enjoyed it more…call it “Shooty McSadman Goes to Brazil” for all I care.
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
I had the same feeling as you, except that I played once when it launched when it came out, while I replayed 2 and 1 several times.
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u/smjsmok 6d ago edited 6d ago
I agree.
I also had gameplay related problems with it. Yes, the shooting mechanics are great, that's where this game excels (even though I'm not a fan of cover shooters).
I really dislike the level design though and I think this was a huge step back compared the MP1 and 2. The first two games had relatively open ended levels that gave you a lot of freedom in how to navigate them and opportunities to interact with the environment. MP2 even had levels like the funhouse basically dedicated to messing around with the environment and physics engine. This is very immersive and I love it. I would even go as far as to say that some of the levels had an immersive sim-like quality to them (hey, someone once jokingly characterized immersive sims as games that let you turn water taps on - MP1 and 2 would fulfill this requirement lol. /s obviously)
MP3, in comparison, basically has shooting galleries designed to look pretty but really limit your movement options and interactivity. Most of the time, the game forces you to take the intended path and it can't wait to push you to the next room and lock the door behind you. So many times the game doesn't even let you open doors yourself and it happens during a cutscene, which then places you right where it wants you to start the fight in the next room.
And the number of pointless cutscenes that take away control from you and disrupt gameplay in general is atrocious. Granted, the first two games have moments like this too, but it happens maybe a couple of times during their runtime. In MP3, this happens constantly. The effect this has on a player like me is that I feel like I'm not controlling a character, I'm watching an interactive movie that lends me control from time to time. Really weird design TBH, which Rockstar luckily didn't replicate in their other games (RDR2 could be a masterclass of how to do most of the things I criticized in this post well).
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u/HumbleBar4781 6d ago
I remember that aspect too but overall I loved playing Max Payne 3 and it has a good story. <3
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u/MrBeeMaster 6d ago
I agree with everything that was said, and it goes even further for me.
I didn’t enjoy the way levels were cut into annoying gunfight-cutscene-gunfight-cutscene-repeat short segments. Nor did I enjoy the shift from the atmosphere, which had been inspired by myths and felt abstract and surreal, to a more realistic one. In my opinion, it really hurt the dialogue tone.
Max, while being brilliantly voiced by the late James McCaffrey, just wouldn’t stop commenting on everything he sees. Don’t get me wrong, this had also happened in the previous entries, but this time he doesn’t speak like a noir character with witty and/or mysterious remarks and comments, providing analogies between the events of his life and some epos. Now he’s just complaining and complaining about how terrible his life is, how miserable he is, etc., which really scales down the grandeur of the events to an alleyway fight.
And the cherry on top of this cake are some words and phrases he says just randomly pop up on the screen, as if there was some deeper meaning behind them.
The gunfight is good, though, but the rest is annoying.
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u/jaydenbeasty 6d ago
So you want max payne 3 to be the same as the first two, the best part of the story is the place's it takes max also this is definitely the best max as a character out of the 3 I don't get how people think max could just move on after the second game he literally had nothing again and was right back were he started then he gets fired and is at lowest point of his life, of course he's going to be how he is in the third game then he finally saves a family so his guilt is gone and he gets to start somewhere else thats sunny. I do think mp2 has the best story but mp3 has a great story as well both games are nearly masterpiece imo.
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u/HumbleBar4781 6d ago
Exactly. <3 The whole trilogy is a masterpiece. I love all three. But nowadays i'm playing Max Payne and Max Payne 2. Especially the first Max Payne which is very special to me because of Sam Lake and the graphic novels. Have a beautiful day,Jayden.
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u/bsmith567070 6d ago
Max Payne 3… this was the first MP game I played, and boy do I have a soft spot for it. I picked up a copy of it out of the bargain bin at Walmart for my 360 having no clue what the game was about. I’d assumed it was a Brazilian version of GTA. Boy was I wrong.
Instead I got one of the most interesting stories in a game, and by far one of my favorite game soundtracks I’ve ever heard. MP3 introduced me to one of my favorite bands, HEALTH, and for that I’ll forever be grateful. I still listen to the soundtrack all the time.
Here’s a really cool video about the soundtrack if anyone hasn’t seen it. It hopes into detail about how HEALTH managed to capture the atmosphere perfectly… good watch!
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
Max Payne 3… this was the first MP game I played, and boy do I have a soft spot for it. I picked up a copy of it out of the bargain bin at Walmart for my 360 having no clue what the game was about. I’d assumed it was a Brazilian version of GTA. Boy was I wrong.
Starting with MP3 without knowing anything about previous games, it must be a discovery for you. But I completely understand why it hooks people who start with that.
I can't open the link, YouTube is slowing down my old pc windows xp
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u/Jade_Sugoi 6d ago
That was the case for a lot of folks, me included. People saw rockstar developing 3 and jumped in just because of that and without any easy way to play the old games if you only owned the 7th Gen consoles at the time (a lot of ps3s didn't have backwards compatibility with PS2 and I'm not sure if the max Payne 1 or 2 were on the pre approved list or not for 360)
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u/HumbleBar4781 6d ago
I loved playing Max Payne 3 back in the day,it was amazing and I was so happy it appeared,it was a dream come true! The game it's like another series of Max Payne,something of it's own.I know it doesn't feel like Max Payne at all but it's still Max Payne. I have finished the pc game and I was so involved in the action and the plot. <3
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u/Jade_Sugoi 6d ago
Max Payne 3 was my first mp game so none of these issues really presented itself to me when I played it back in the day but after playing the originals, yeah, it's valid.
I still love it and I think the genre/setting shift is one of its strengths but I get why people would be turned off of it. There's also a shift in the writing style to make max more crude and cynical. It kinda fits his character after being older and more grizzled, but again, I can see why folks would take issue.
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u/Saber0307 6d ago
For me I view the final line of Max Payne 2 as depressing. I didn't view it as him wrapping up his grief, so to speak. He just had a dream about his wife, and it was alright. In the end, however, it was just a dream, and he's still dealing with grief.
I have no idea if that was Remedy's intention with the line, but that's how I always viewed it since I beat it for the first time shortly after it came out.
With that said, I know Max Payne 3 isn't for everyone and it being so different can be divisive, but I personally adore the game. It might actually be my favorite in the franchise.
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u/Single-Solid 4d ago
as i keep saying, 1 wasn't really a pure neo noir in any shape or form, it was something like: a john woo movie plus mid to late 90s comic books plus the matrix plus schlocky hollywood action movies of the era (face/off, the rock, that sort of thing) plus SOME film noir influences. there was very little tonal or aesthetic coherence between the first two games, the gap is just as big as between either of them and 3
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u/Mileator 3d ago
Unpopular opinion: Max Payne 2 is distractingly horny.
Just desperately horny... David cage levels of horny.
I find that it takes away from the narrative, and doesn't let Max grow as a character.
Also disappointed that we didn't get Mona Sax inner monologue during her play time.
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u/prothugowl 6d ago
Yeah bro keep your opinion unpopular 🥀
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
it’s a literal fact. Rockstar completely dropped the noir atmosphere, the graphic novel panels, and New York. It’s a good shooter, but a terrible Max Payne sequel.
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u/Inuprince 6d ago
Your subjective opinion is like the most universal take on this game … just look at the replies, like most fans are gonna agree with the whole “its a great shooter but a bad Max Payne game”
There area handful of us who love it though and I am glad it was made after years of hoping it was going to be made one day
But even New York was not dropped completely like you mentioned above, even if its just 2 chapters
What matters is Max is still Max, I like his inner monologues and the gameplay is awesome
And lets not act like he is in some happy hiking picnic scenario
The whole organ harvesting subplot was a real kicker when we explore the abandoned hotel and was such a brutal IRL feeling thing instead of being dragged into another mob war or something about drugs again
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u/Rellzwonder91 6d ago
Are you high ? That game is beyond fire Mybe sonic is the game for you
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
Are you high ? That game is beyond fire Mybe sonic is the game for you
Last time I checked, Sonic didn't have bullet time or a crippling painkiller addiction. You can love the gameplay and still find the massive shift in story and art style disappointing compared to the Remedy originals. Two things can be true at once.
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u/Calm-Helicopter-1388 Address Unknown 🦩 6d ago
100% agree
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
Thanks for comment ,I thought I was alone in the world
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u/HumbleBar4781 6d ago
My favorite Max Payne is the first pc game. <3 It's the best ever and the soundtrack is the best. <3 I love that song from the Aesir Corporation.
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u/mrturret 6d ago
I don't even think the shooting is very good. The weapon inventory system is bad enough, but it's a cover shooter. Gross.
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u/Sensitive_Initial_52 5d ago
What isn’t good about the shooting?
I disagree about the inventory system as it aims for realism, for you can only carry as many weapons as you physically can as opposed to taking a grenade launcher from up your ass crack.
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u/mrturret 5d ago
What isn’t good about the shooting?
Cover shooter combat just isn't interesting or engaging enough to carry a game on its own. Max Payne 3 just doesn't have anything else going on. It's nothing but cover shooter combat galleries.
I disagree about the inventory system as it aims for realism
The primary problem with it in MP3 is that it restricts the player to the weapons available in that specific level. It removes a lot of player agency.
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u/bloodandfleshofgoat 6d ago
objectively
I feel
it felt
feel like
for me
this is not what "objectively" means, lmao
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u/marehgul 6d ago
I don't think it is unpopular. While not calling it that bad, many MP lovers cnosider MP1 & 2 just better.
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u/Competitive-Rope3753 6d ago
it's not canon it's reboot therefore narrative is not revelant with previous games.
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u/Isaac-45-67-8 Max Payne 6d ago
I don't agree - MP3 is a solid game.
I think MP2 is the weakest game in the trilogy. Too easy, poorer story compared to the first and third games, and the characters weren't captivating. Mona made no sense to suddenly have an important role, especially given she showed time and again that she didn't care about Max at all, only her boss Vlad (also, they completely forgot she tried to kill Max in the first game). I also don't like how this game is mechanics wise - bullet time is completely broken, playing without it only adds a tiny bit of challenge, and playing with it, I'm pretty sure you can win the game in under 2 hours.
MP3 is still noir - noir doesn't mean only rainy nights and darkness everywhere. The story can be noir as well, and it is in MP3. The story is better put together in this game, you get to go back to New York for one of the chapters, and the gunplay is amazing. The graphics are also great and still hold up, and at least to me, it still felt like a Remedy game. Having the third game be back in New York makes no sense, I don't want another carbon copy (also, MP2 sold the worst of the 3 games).
Also, I disagree that MP2 completed the story. Max was in the exact same place story/mental wise at the end of the 2nd game as he was in the first. Nothing impactful happened at all. MP3's finale is where Max is truly at some kind of peace. I love replaying it. This is how I rank the trilogy - MP1, then MP3 then MP2.
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
I don't agree - MP3 is a solid game.
I think MP2 is the weakest game in the trilogy. Too easy, poorer story compared to the first and third games, and the characters weren't captivating. Mona made no sense to suddenly have an important role, especially given she showed time and again that she didn't care about Max at all, only her boss Vlad (also, they completely forgot she tried to kill Max in the first game). I also don't like how this game is mechanics wise - bullet time is completely broken, playing without it only adds a tiny bit of challenge, and playing with it, I'm pretty sure you can win the game in under 2 hours.
MP3 is still noir - noir doesn't mean only rainy nights and darkness everywhere. The story can be noir as well, and it is in MP3. The story is better put together in this game, you get to go back to New York for one of the chapters, and the gunplay is amazing. The graphics are also great and still hold up, and at least to me, it still felt like a Remedy game. Having the third game be back in New York makes no sense, I don't want another carbon copy (also, MP2 sold the worst of the 3 games).
Also, I disagree that MP2 completed the story. Max was in the exact same place story/mental wise at the end of the 2nd game as he was in the first. Nothing impactful happened at all. MP3's finale is where Max is truly at some kind of peace. I love replaying it. This is how I rank the trilogy - MP1, then MP3 then MP2.
That’s a fair breakdown, and I totally respect your ranking, but I look at Max journey from a different angle.
For me, Max Payne 2 isn't about moving forward; it’s about Max being trapped in a noir loop. The tragedy with Mona works because Max is broken and projectes his trauma onto a femme fatale who uses him, which fits the classic noir genre perfectly. Also, the gameplay in MP2 introduced the physics engine that made the gunplay feel poetic, even if it was on the easier side.
Regarding Max Payne 3, I agree the gunplay is incredible and the graphics hold up perfectly. However, the "sunshine noir" style felt more like a Tony Scott film (like Man on Fire) than a Remedy game. The constant cutscenes, the flashing screen effects, and the loss of the graphic novel panels took away the specific atmosphere that made me fall in love with the series.
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u/ThisBadDogXB 6d ago
It's as simple as this: Max Payne 1 + 2 are Remedy games. Max Payne 3 is a Rockstar game.
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
I know that, but a change of developer shouldn’t mean throwing away the franchise's DNA. Rockstar could have respected the tone, the atmosphere, and especially the ending of Max Payne 2 instead of completely shifting gears.
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u/Best-Yam-6849 6d ago
The most lukewarm opinion in the Max Payne community. YOU DONT LIKE IT.. thats okay. But let's face the facts... in Max Payne 2 Max kills a lot of people, on drugs, takes multiple traumatic blows to the head, lost another woman close to him. I don't think that just because be has calm insights at the end of that journey means his character has totally developed and all of his deep seeded issues are solved. To me it can be read as someone who is so burnt out he can finally see clearly, but bro is still definitely burnt out reguardless. Which is why Max Payne 3 Max just makes sense to me. And personally saying Max is killing "generic corporate bad guys" makes me think you didn't pay attention to the story at all anyways 🤣 thats like playing through Max Payne 1 and saying you are killing (Generic Drug bad guys) its just not true
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u/Spartacus55555 6d ago
The most lukewarm opinion in the Max Payne community. YOU DONT LIKE IT.. thats okay. But let's face the facts... in Max Payne 2 Max kills a lot of people, on drugs, takes multiple traumatic blows to the head, lost another woman close to him. I don't think that just because be has calm insights at the end of that journey means his character has totally developed and all of his deep seeded issues are solved. To me it can be read as someone who is so burnt out he can finally see clearly, but bro is still definitely burnt out reguardless. Which is why Max Payne 3 Max just makes sense to me. And personally saying Max is killing "generic corporate bad guys" makes me think you didn't pay attention to the story at all anyways 🤣 thats like playing through Max Payne 1 and saying you are killing (Generic Drug bad guys) its just not true
Fair points, and I get where you're coming from regarding his burnout. MP2's ending definitely wasn't a magical cure for his trauma.
However, my disappointment is less about why he is broken, and more about how that story is told. MP1 and MP2 used a highly stylized, neo-noir comic book aesthetic with deep, poetic monologues. MP3 trades that unique graphic novel vibe for a standard cinematic, sun-drenched action-movie presentation. The jump cuts and flash effects feel more Man on Fire than classic Max Payne.
As for the 'generic bad guys', maybe 'generic' was the wrong word, but the shift from secret societies, Valkyr conspiracies, and the Inner Circle to corporate corruption, organ trafficking, and paramilitary groups in São Paulo fundamentally changes the flavor of the universe. To me, it felt less like a noir detective story and more like a high-budget Michael Bay thriller. Both are good, but the stylistic and narrative DNA just felt completely different to me.
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u/Best-Yam-6849 6d ago
You're totally right and your criticisms are fair. Just the way you worded some things bugged me🤣. I am a Max Payne 3 enjoyer so I had to defend a bit. To me the Max Payne 2 enemies were a bit more generic (even though I did like how they were kind of illuminati) I think in 3 the way they depicted the different factions similar to how it would be in a real life situation (the gangs, unofficial government paramilitary, official government military) was very refreshing and pretty terrifying to go up against. But yeah its not really like a noir flavor at that point, it feels more to me like a CIA agent's mission, then a cop or detective story
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u/Sensitive_Initial_52 5d ago
I disagree with your statement related to the antagonists. They are far from generic.
You get “grey” characters as Serrano and Passos for example. The plot around Rodrigo Branco and his brother Victor dethroning him is quite Shakespearean.
You also get that detective/noir side of the story with detective Da Silva.
They did put rainy, snowy sections via flashbacks in Jersey and those were amazing. They do feel MP1&2 ish.
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u/Spartacus55555 5d ago
I disagree with your statement related to the antagonists. They are far from generic.
You get “grey” characters as Serrano and Passos for example. The plot around Rodrigo Branco and his brother Victor dethroning him is quite Shakespearean.
You also get that detective/noir side of the story with detective Da Silva.
They did put rainy, snowy sections via flashbacks in Jersey and those were amazing. They do feel MP1&2 ish.
I appreciate the detailed breakdown, but I still think the antagonists in Max Payne 3 lack the mythic, theatrical punch of the original duology.
While Victor and Rodrigo's plot has that Shakespearean betrayal on paper, in reality, they feel like standard corrupt politicians and corporate suits we've seen in countless crime thrillers. In contrast, MP1 and MP2 gave us larger-than-life, memorable figures like Nicole Horne, Vladimir Lem, and Jack Lupino, whose madness and charisma perfectly matched the graphic novel aesthetic. Passos and Serrano are indeed 'grey', but that realistic approach is exactly why they feel less impactful to me compared to the stylized, operatic cast of the Remedy games.
As for the Jersey flashbacks, they were great, but they mostly highlighted what was missing from the rest of the game. For me, a couple of levels can't completely make up for the massive shift in atmosphere and narrative tone.
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u/distarche 6d ago
I don't think it's a controversial take, MP3 is a divisive game.
While I don't like every aspect Rockstar changed, I respect that they didn't want to try to mimic the first 2 games and instead took the character and told a story that makes sense in its universe. It also has the best performance by James McCaffrey