Max Payne 3 review

With this incredible level of detail, the level of violence throughout the game seems much more visceral than in previous outings. Hold down the trigger when downing the last enemy in a given area and Max will continue to pump bullets into their corpse as it falls to the floor in slow motion. It doesn’t get any nicer in the cut-scenes, which are frequently graphic.

If you can look past the violence, which even made us wince a few times, there’s an absorbing ten hour campaign to finish. With plenty of twists and turns, you should still be guessing right up until the end. Admittedly gameplay isn’t massively varied, but it is brilliant fun to re-live your Matrix fantasies as an angry bald New Yorker in a string vest. Also, for the first time in the series, Max Payne 3 has a competitive multiplayer mode for when you’ve completed the story.

Rather than put you in control of Max, multiplayer lets you choose between various Favela gangs, tasking you with a series of evolving objectives that vary depending on how well your team performs. It’s a welcome change from the standard deathmatch, especially as you can still use Bullet Time – when activated, everyone within your line of sight is affected, but the rest of the match carries on in real-time. Choosing the right moment to activate and cause the most damage creates a more tactical approach than the run-and-gun methods used throughout the campaign.

Yes, it can be brutal, and gameplay hasn’t evolved much from the previous games, but Max Payne 3 is the best kind of adventure – explosive, action-packed and memorable, if just a little too brief.