It is usually pretty easy to recognise a Rockstar developed game.  Typically a hard-boiled tale of violence and desperation is what you sign on for when you lug a Rockstar game home. But, Max Payne 3 is no Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption.

Max Payne 3
	Developer	RockStar Games
	Publisher	RockStar Games
	Rating	MA 15+
PC, PS3, Reviewed on Xbox 360

Synthesised down, MP3 plays like a cross between the Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake -for much of its atmosphere - and the PS3 exclusive Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception – for its gun-play and puzzles – yet Max eclipses both of these titles in these areas.

If they ever decide to make another Max Payne movie, a younger James Caan would be perfect for the lead role.  Payne is wasting away life in a drunken stupor induced by the loss of his wife and daughter.  In steps Passos (a younger Sylvester Stallone role for sure), an old police academy buddy, to offer Payne a fresh start as security for a rich Sao Paulo family, currently living the good life.

Of course things go awry pretty much straight away, and Max’s tendency to drink on the job doesn’t help matters.  Max may be an action hero, but in video game mode it can be a challenge to play through the blurred and flash induced vision as well as his sluggish old-man motion.  You will need every John Woo directed trick in Max’s arsenal to survive endless waves of thugs, gang members, crooked cops and mafia goons the game throws at you.

Max Payne 3 can be played in Arcade mode or one of a number of Story mode difficulties, along with an option to soften or snap auto aiming of the gun sights.  Originally I was going to say turn the auto-snap down to the lowest settings, for at times MP3 can feel like the worst shooting gallery moments of Call Of Duty.  But in the end some level of auto-snap will be required by most players depending on the skill and difficulty levels used.

This is not an open world sand-box game, the story follows Max’s tribulations throughout South America as well as flashbacks to violent encounters in the US, and whilst not open in structure the level design in this game is a triumph.  Unlike other cover based shooter, MP3’s environments are real, with nary a feeling of faux cover inserted at appropriate areas that is the hallmark of most games of the ilk.

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The level design marries expertly with the art design and tone.  At one point Max finds himself in a snow covered graveyard fighting for his life.  Tombstones are blasted apart and the action is funnelled toward choke points as is the want of most games, but it feels so natural and real.  This natural real-world feel to each level means often there are logical alternatives to flanking and out manoeuvring opponents.

These alternative paths are the plus side of the level design, but also it means there will be times where cover may be non-existent, as in the real world there is not much to hide behind during a gun battle upon a gantry walk way for example.

It is also graphically amazing, even playing on the Xbox 360 each location is alive with variety and detail.  Each item is modelled individually and acts accordingly.  This in turn leads us to talk about the aspect of this game that should garner it the most awards during 2012.  It will be a crime beyond even those committed by Max’s enemies if Rockstar Games don’t add trophies to its cabinets for audio design from this title.

Beyond the weapon sounds and special effects, the care that has gone into ambient noises (the Sao Paulo favela slum for example is alive with the mix of babies wailing and dogs barking mixed with the muffled beat of a street party.  Layer this audio upon things as simple as the grind of bricks pushed aside by Max’s movements, and as complex as the cries of dying gangsters and expert voice acting and the result is an aural masterpiece.

Amongst all this triumph there are some niggles, I like many people I know are Y axis mollydukers, or to put it another way, the first thing we do when playing a game like this is invert the Y axis settings so that pushing up on the joystick lowers the gaze on screen (like airplane controls).  Thankfully the Xbox 360’s profile system means this can be the default setting for each game played.

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However, there are a couple of times Max must wield a sniper rifle during the game, and for some inexplicable reason the Y axis controls are inverted again during these sequences!  Nothing a quick trip to the controls screen cannot fix, but still annoying.

At times Max’s ability to ‘dodge-shoot’ will see him leap - albeit in cinematic slow-mo – to his doom, into water, or off the edge of a building.  Again this is not a big problem, one just needs to pick the moments better when thinking to deploy Max’s booze-fuelled athletic trick.

Max Payne 3 is a violent, brutal masterpiece, hey Rockstar, just how did all that blood get passed the Australian Censorship Board?  Even Grand Theft Auto 4 had its bloody footprints cut from the original game, but here we can bathe in our foes life liquid as much as we like.  Hopefully this foreshadows good times ahead for Australians (such as myself) wishing to enjoy fiction of all levels of maturity.

“I ain’t slippin’ mand, I’m slipped” says an addled Max at one point during his attempt to clean up earlier mistakes, but this flawed hero is perfect mature video game fodder.  The realness of the settings, the exceptional graphical and audio presentation is a marvel.  Like Max himself, the fullness of a story that admittedly, starts off shoddy and full of plot holes, but by games end pulls itself together is also a great example of the video-game art.

At the time of writing multiplayer had yet to be tested, but now the game is out there is much to be explored on this front in a title that is the full package.  Well done Rockstar, another classic franchised enhanced and polished to a state worthy of high praise indeed.