Format: iPhone/iPad
Release Date: 07th April 12
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Games
Price: £1.99 ($2.99)
Size: 1.11GB
With the recent release of Max Payne 3 on PS3 and Xbox 360 I thought I'd gear up for Rockstars latest instant classic by playing through the original PS2 game that first introduced the world to Bullet Time.
Presentation & Story
Rockstar have done a great job here of bring Max Payne into the world of HD. The game has received the usual makeover that PS2 classics get and looks good for it. The textures have all been cleaned up, its been given shiny a coat of high def and everything looks a whole lot better than it did when It came out over 10 years ago. Apart from Max's face, that still looks as horrible and unnatural as it ever did which is a little disappointing. The comic book style cut scenes have translated the best as they always looked fantastic anyway. Max's slow growling monolog throughout the game is infectious and one of the best parts of the Max Payne series. However as its a portable game I sometimes found I couldn't take in every part of the story like if I was playing on my PS3. The story is what you'd expect from Rockstar, in fact it's a great story and shows that even a decade ago this company were already putting out gaming narratives that are far superior to a lot of what is on the market today.
Max Payne was the very first game to introduce bullet time to the gaming masses and change the way we fly through the air firing twin pistols forever. Again this aspect of the game holds up really well against today's shooters and although it's miles behind the quality of its latest sequel, Max Payne is still much more enjoyable than the likes of Stranglehold.
Bullet time is everything here and you'll spend most of your time in slow motion. The controls are functional but no where near as comfortable as a pad. You can relocate almost all the buttons to suit your playing style though which is a neat touch by Rockstar. It's hard too. Even on the lowest difficulty it's still a challenge. This has been compensated for with the ability to save your game at literally any point. So you can now save before particularly hard gun fights which means you don't have trek through the same parts of the level to try to beat one tough battle. Overall though the shooting is fun, the variety of guns (if a little predictable) is good and will keep you interested as the introduction of weaponry is done at a steady pace which means just as you get bored with your sawed off shotty, you'll find a great new rifle to play with. That being said I constantly found myself reverting to the classic twin Berettas as nothing looks as cool as when Max does a backwards dive, over a table firing off round after round into some poor, stupid goons bullet ridden body.
Final Thoughts
Although it is starting to show its age a little, Max Payne does still hold up well especially on the iPhone, a format that is lacking variation in the shooter department at the moment. It's unashamedly hard and a decent length but most importantly a great deal of fun to put on for 10 minutes if you fancy some mindless murdering mayhem. Definitely an iPhone game worth checking out.
Final Rating: 7/10 email: rubberduck1988@gmail.com twitter: @rubberduck