Max Payne is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Almost all the gameplay involves bullet time-based gun-fights and levels are generally straightforward, occasionally incorporating platforming and puzzle-solving elements. The game’s storyline is advanced by the player following Max’s internal monologue as the character determines what his next steps should be. Several of the game’s levels involve surrealistic nightmares and drug-related hallucinations of Payne.
In December 2001, as New York City is enduring the tail end of the worst snow blizzard in the history of the city, Max Payne, a renegade DEA agent and former NYPD detective, is standing at the top of a skyscraper with a sniper rifle in his hands, smiling, as police units arrive on the scene to arrest him. He then experiences flashbacks from three years ago and the last two days he experienced. Three years earlier, on August 22nd 1998, Max was working as a regular NYPD detective, having just finished his day's work. His longtime friend and DEA agent, Alex Balder, invites him to transfer into the DEA, but Max declines the offer, wanting to focus on his full-time life with his wife, Michelle, and their newborn daughter, Rose. As he returns to his house in New Jersey, he finds that a trio of junkies had broken into his house, all addicted on a brand new designer drug, Valkyr. Max receives a call from a mysterious woman who seems pleased at the trouble in the house and refuses to call for help. Max rushes to aid his family and kill the junkies, but is too late as he finds his wife shot dead, and his daughter slaughtered. After his family's funeral, Payne accepts Alex's offer, and transfers to the DEA at his own request to stop the spreading of the drugs.
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| CPU | 450 MHz AMD / Intel Processor (or compatible) | 700 MHz AMD / Intel Processor (or compatible) |
| RAM | 96 MB RAM | 128 MB RAM |
| OS | Windows 95 (OSR2 or later), Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 | Windows 95 (OSR2 or later), Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 |
| Graphics Card | 16 MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card | 32 MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card |
| Direct X | DirectX 8.0 or newer | DirectX 8.0 or newer |
| Note | Although Max Payne has been found to work on Windows XP, it has not been thoroughly tested and thus Windows XP is not officially supported. Additionally, Windows NT is not supported. | |
-Pace
Minimal exploration means you're always on the hunt of the next objective. It's linear, but it's focused linearity that fits the story of the game. Perfect for speedrunning.
Action is always around the corner, but that doesn't mean you're always bombarded with enemies. There is a good balance of engaging and breaking to move forward.
Relatively fast load times.
-Skill develops better gameplay
Fairly casual game, but an experienced player can take advantage of bullet time in a way that allows them to be in slow-motion for practically the entirety of an engagement and never need pain killers, even on the highest difficulty.
-Graphic Novels
Allow for a stylized vision of the story to be told effectively without feeling out of place.
-Simple
Only a few game mechanics that synergize well with each other.
-Story
My criticism isn't about it's over the top cheesiness and overuse of noir tropes--that's a plus--it's that it loses steam halfway through, takes itself too seriously, becomes unnecessarily convoluted and ruins its charm by the end.
-Enemy positioning
An inexperienced player would find the positioning of some enemies unfair.
-Bullet spread
Some weapons have too wide of a bullet spread at greater distances, which by the end of the game renders them obsolete.
A simple run and gun with arguably the best implementation and use of a slow-motion mechanic in gaming history.