Max Payne 3

I just saw this announcement for Max Payne 3, and was so excited I had to post something.  I can't say how much I liked Max Payne 1 and 2.  I think i've already played through both of them twice and after reading this announcement I'm about to go play through them a third time.

I have to say I liked Max Payne 2 better than 1 from what I recall (its been a few years), but both had a great storyline, and a atmosphere that really drew you in deep into the character.  He was so flawed, dark and brooding, but I wanted to see him succeed and take revenge for the games opening.   Oddly enough this dark, gritty, and brooding game takes a page from Disney to establish an immediate bond with the main character and advance the story at the same time.

They kill off his family.

I'm not revealing anything crazy here.  First the game is 8 years old, second even the original reviews refer to this in the first paragraph or two so Ptthhppt.  But anyway that's a classic Disney move mechanic.  Kill off someone close to the main character somehow (usually offscreen for the kiddies sake), and build an immediate emotional bond to the character.  Think back to Disney movies and you'll see the pattern (Little Mermaid? No Mother, Beauty and the Beast? No Mother, Cinderella?  No mother or father, Hunchback? No father, mother dies saving Quasimodo, Tarzan? Both parents killed in opening sequence, you get the idea)

 The sequel didn't quite have such an opening impact, but it still did draw you in due to your past experiences with the character.  The storyline to the second was more complex than the original, and had more moments that drew you in and made you feel like Max's life just plain sucked and he didn't deserve it, but somehow you remained hopeful that there was light at the end of the tunnel for him (usually this happened due to the love interest Mona Sax).

On top of that it had such cool stuff, like bullet time, worked in that let me experience some of the most insane shootout moments I've ever played in a FPS.   I just loved diving out from behind cover in bullet time and taking down a room full of baddies in super slow mo.

The only downside that I remember was that the games were over too quickly.  I was left wanting more.  Then again thats probably why I'm so excited about part 3.