But playing Max Payne just wouldn't be as much fun without the "bullet time" feature. Bullet time, when activated, "slows" time down in the game. While in bullet time, you can aim in real time, although your bullets (as well as those of your opponents) only travel as fast as time is moving. While in bullet time, you can see every individual bullet flying through the air towards its target. Bullet time, in all honesty, makes the game quite a bit easier, because without it, you would be ambushed and go down so fast you wouldn't even know what hit you. Bullet time allows you to escape instant death and instead take down all of your enemies in the time that it takes them just to aim. Not only does Bullet Time make the game easier, it also just makes the game more fun. Of course, you can't just play the entire game in bullet time as it's a limited resource, noted by a small hourglass at the base of the screen. Fortunately, the game continues moving nicely enough that I never found myself run out of bullet time when I really needed it.

    In one particularly fun example of the game's interactivity and livelihood, Max rounds a stairwell that leading to a conference room where two assassins are standing around having a conversation. Their conversation is all about how they love making the "big bucks" in their gig as assassins, almost sounding like the one is trying to convince the other that it is indeed a worthy career. After creeping passed the door, I toss a Molotov cocktail into the room. It lands between the two assassins, engulfing the two thugs in flames. Problem solved. Max enters the room, and passes the charred, smoldering remains of his would-be enemies, where a laptop computer lies on the conference table. It powers an LCD projector projecting the plans of your nemesis onto a bullet-ridden screen at the front of the room. Using the laptop will change the presentation on the screen, and if you decide to take out your frustration on the laptop with a shotgun, the projector will display a "No Input" message as the laptop sparks and dies from the mortal wound given by the sudden influx of lead into its casing. In truth, it's not that exciting, and hardly qualifies as one of Max's most incredible moments-but the sheer reality of the moment cannot be ignored.

Graphics, Sound & Music

    With over four years of development, it would make sense if I were to say that the visuals of Max Payne looked out and out of date. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth, and without a doubt, Max Payne has some of the most amazing graphics that I've ever seen in a computer game.

    Everything in Max Payne is realistically modeled, from the clothes on the characters to the cracks in the windows. Even each individual bullet is modeled amazing detail, right down to the scratches on the bullet casing itself. All of the textures in Max Payne are amazingly detailed, giving just about every surface a true-to-life look that I haven't ever quite seen in a game before.

Review Quotes
		"of course, I know you're thinking: these lush visuals have to come at a high cost, which they do. The system requirements for Max Payne speak for themselves.

The level design within the game is simply amazing. Each level looks exactly as it would if it were made in the real world. They look so good in fact, that sometimes I had to stop and wonder if I wasn't wandering around three-dimensional blueprints of actual buildings. In addition to just looking good, the levels are HUGE. A typical example of this takes place near the end of the game, in a large corporate office building, and the entire building only spans two levels, in which virtually the entire building is modeled in amazing detail. In all honesty, I found the detail and care that was put into the levels awe-inspiring.

    Of course, I know you're thinking: these lush visuals have to come at a high cost, which they do. The system requirements for Max Payne speak for themselves. If you don't meet those system requirements, it might be a stretch as to whether or not the game will run with any kind of decency on your machine, even if you turn down all of the graphics details. However, I think the high requirements are definitely worth the eye-candy that Max Payne gives in return.

    The sound completes the entire liveliness of Max Payne. Ambient sounds and atmosphere are abundant in the game, just rounding out the aural part of what has become a nearly complete experience. The voice acting is done very well during the game, almost going over-the-top at times, but given the Film Noir-esque plot it all seems to have gone in stride. The occasional internal monologue from Max helps to move the story along quite nicely, especially during the Graphic-novel "cutscenes" that are intertwined along the journey.

    The music does help to add an extra air of atmosphere to the game, coming along only at crucial and necessary junctures during the story's development. Unfortunately, the soundtrack for the game is only provided by what seemed like a few good music tracks, which are replayed quite a few times in the duration of the game. A few extra tracks would have helped eliminate the repetitive feel, especially during the graphic novel sequences, which always seemed to keep the same background music.

Overall Comments

How It Grades
		Gameplay: 97% Story: 95% Graphics: 98% Cutscenes: 90% Sound: 91% Music: 82% Manual: 90% Interface: 94% Multiplayer: n/a Overall: 92%

    Without a doubt, Max Payne has a lot going for it. With simply gorgeous graphics, an amazing atmosphere, enthralling plot, and fun gameplay, it is definitely a Game of the Year contender, and shows that the last four years of development have not been in vain.

    The only true downfall for Max Payne occurs after you've finished it. Since Max is a single-player-only game, once you've completed the game there really isn't a lot left to do. There are extended difficulty levels--such as the often-talked about "New York Minute" mode, in which you are given a strict time schedule to keep moving through the game--which are decent, but they really don't add much more to the game.

    I wouldn't call Max a short game either. While it definitely is not long, I find that it is as long as it really needed to be. Making it any longer would have seemed unnecessary to the story, and any shorter probably would have been too short. I found Max Payne to be like a watching good action movie, where I enjoyed playing it the first time, and I'll enjoy playing it again a few months down the line-and I can't wait for the sequel.

    Until we get a sequel though, the true replay value of Max Payne lies in the mod community. The game shipped with a full suite of editing tools which should allow fans to edit and extend Max Payne to their hearts' delight, and perhaps even continue the adventures of our new favorite hero. All these things will take time, though, although hopefully not long enough where everyone has already uninstalled the game and is uninterested in any new Max Payne developments.

    Overall, I'd say Max Payne is definitely worth picking up. Even if it may not have the long staying power of a game like Half-Life, with all of the great things it has going for it, it would be a loss not to have Max Payne in your gaming library.