Max Payne

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Rockstar might own the rights to the games now but they didn't have jack shit to do with MP1 and was only the publisher for MP2. Those two games are really Remedy's masterpieces. If Rockstar pulled another GTA DE with them I think it would actually be even worse in a way, as they would be taking a huge shit on work that isn't even their own.
 
Rockstar might own the rights to the games now but they didn't have jack shit to do with MP1 and was only the publisher for MP2. Those two games are really Remedy's masterpieces. If Rockstar pulled another GTA DE with them I think it would actually be even worse in a way, as they would be taking a huge shit on work that isn't even their own.
You should play Alan Wake and Control if you haven't already man. Maybe even Quantum Break which I loved but wasn't universally praised. Remedy are the only developers where I look forward to their games now.
 
You should play Alan Wake and Control if you haven't already man. Maybe even Quantum Break which I loved but wasn't universally praised. Remedy are the only developers where I look forward to their games now.
Control was... a pretty interesting game. Same with Alan Wake. I'll check out Quantum Break soon then and see what its like.
 
Control was... a pretty interesting game. Same with Alan Wake. I'll check out Quantum Break soon then and see what its like.
QB is a movie game done right. impressive setpieces but not much replayability and a bit short where it ends when you finally get used to all your powers (something they kinda fixed in control by giving you enough stuff to fight while and after), but the few hours I spend 100% it I had __fun__.
 
Control was... a pretty interesting game. Same with Alan Wake. I'll check out Quantum Break soon then and see what its like.
I played Control a year ago, debated making a thread devoted to it but couldn't quite work up enough interest.

But basically the setting of the game is brilliantly realized and a ton of fun to explore, the story is interesting, but the protagonist is a fairly bland "strong female character" in the modern style, she's not too bad as far as that sort of things goes, but she could a lot better, a bigger ass and a smaller jaw would have been a good start, it says it all that Max Payne and Alan Wake are named after the main characters and Control is named after... the setting, which is the real star.

Another issue is it's a very long game, especially when coupled with the DLC and I felt the combat wore out it's welcome long before I was finished, fighting the same small handful of mooks over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again got fucking old, even with the powers and abilities you have, I dreaded seeing that red light flash signaling a fight was about to begin, the game really could have used either more enemies or just not force you to fight so many of them.

Overall it's a pretty great game though.
 
I wanted to enjoy Control, but the constant voice in my head going "they've nicked all this shit from SCP fan fiction" wouldn't stop. SCP in and out of itself isn't particularly original a lot of the time, but it was such a blatant parallel I couldn't work my way around it.

Similarly, the protagonist was kinda bland (even if the writers trying to tie Control into national woman's day with their PR stunts was incredibly cringeworthy) and inoffensive, but it couldn't make up its mind whether or not she was a socially stunted outcast that had been on the run her entire adult life, or a sharp talking quippy action heroine.

Was good to hear Max Paynes voice actor again, though. He's apparently not a fan of the medium, but still really puts the effort into his role.
 
QB is a movie game done right. impressive setpieces but not much replayability and a bit short where it ends when you finally get used to all your powers (something they kinda fixed in control by giving you enough stuff to fight while and after), but the few hours I spend 100% it I had __fun__.
I'm a bit lazy to look it up right now but... did they really cast Littlefinger as the bad guy? Gotta say he was more than perfect for the role.
I played Control a year ago, debated making a thread devoted to it but couldn't quite work up enough interest.

But basically the setting of the game is brilliantly realized and a ton of fun to explore, the story is interesting, but the protagonist is a fairly bland "strong female character" in the modern style, she's not too bad as far as that sort of things goes, but she could a lot better, a bigger ass and a smaller jaw would have been a good start, it says it all that Max Payne and Alan Wake are named after the main characters and Control is named after... the setting, which is the real star.

Another issue is it's a very long game, especially when coupled with the DLC and I felt the combat wore out it's welcome long before I was finished, fighting the same small handful of mooks over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again got fucking old, even with the powers and abilities you have, I dreaded seeing that red light flash signaling a fight was about to begin, the game really could have used either more enemies or just not force you to fight so many of them.

Overall it's a pretty great game though.
I only played before the DLC's dropped, but I'm pretty much agreed on all your points regardless. That not-quite-Escher room where its the digital illusion of square lines made manifest is up there for kickass power fantasies, especially with the flying and the music. You really do take control, for perhaps the first time in the entire game.
 
I wanted to enjoy Control, but the constant voice in my head going "they've nicked all this shit from SCP fan fiction" wouldn't stop. SCP in and out of itself isn't particularly original a lot of the time, but it was such a blatant parallel I couldn't work my way around it.
The whole game is inspired by weird internet fiction, creepypastas and the like, I thought that was perfect subject matter to make a game about.

I in particular liked the episodes of Threshold Kids you could find, which was obviously inspired by Candle Cove.

Similarly, the protagonist was kinda bland (even if the writers trying to tie Control into national woman's day with their PR stunts was incredibly cringeworthy) and inoffensive, but it couldn't make up its mind whether or not she was a socially stunted outcast that had been on the run her entire adult life, or a sharp talking quippy action heroine.
I didn't hate her and that's good because the character very easily could have been completely unlikable.

But since the game is so long and we spend such a massive amount of time looking at her ass, it really couldn't have been a little nicer?

Was good to hear Max Paynes voice actor again, though. He's apparently not a fan of the medium, but still really puts the effort into his role.
It was.

I only played before the DLC's dropped, but I'm pretty much agreed on all your points regardless. That not-quite-Escher room where its the digital illusion of square lines made manifest is up there for kickass power fantasies, especially with the flying and the music. You really do take control, for perhaps the first time in the entire game.
Yes, that was a great sequence.

But because I played the complete edition which included the two DLC and I wanted to explore every nook and cranny and find as many secrets as I could, the game took me forever to finish and it was definitely a challenge seeing it through to the end, but stuff like that sequence made it worth it.
 
QB is a movie game done right. impressive setpieces but not much replayability and a bit short where it ends when you finally get used to all your powers (something they kinda fixed in control by giving you enough stuff to fight while and after), but the few hours I spend 100% it I had __fun__.
75 GB for the "cutscenes" or just stream them. I think Quantum Break was MS' foreshadowing with cloud gaming and cinematic storytelling. They wanted to be like Sony by branching out into the entertainment industry. I don't think it paid off in the end.
 
I replayed MP1 a couple days ago and I'm working through MP2. I called it a night with one of the worst escort missions in gaming. Probably going to do the whole trilogy again at this point.

1 definitely has the best story. 2 had the best gameplay. After 2 feel like they didn't know where to take it. After all he took down they Illuminati. The only logical place to go is a 3rd world hellhole. 3 was a product of its time. Cover shooting and edgy protagonist. The edge was actually done in a good though. Max was such an hate-able piece of shit but redeems himself in the end, for the most part.

1 and 2 are some of the greatest 3rd person action games. 3 was a great shooter but ultimately kind of generic. The market was a little over saturated with them but I would say it was better than most 3rd person shooters at the time.
 
75 GB for the "cutscenes" or just stream them. I think Quantum Break was MS' foreshadowing with cloud gaming and cinematic storytelling. They wanted to be like Sony by branching out into the entertainment industry. I don't think it paid off in the end.
it was developed during microsoft's TVTVSPORTSTV phase when they had their own tv production studio etc. all that ever amounted to was a halo series I think. that's why you also got all the high(er) profile actors in there.
still, they did good work with it being less linear than a fucking sony game.

I wanted to enjoy Control, but the constant voice in my head going "they've nicked all this shit from SCP fan fiction" wouldn't stop. SCP in and out of itself isn't particularly original a lot of the time, but it was such a blatant parallel I couldn't work my way around it.
and SCP stole it from indiana jones which probably stole it from somewhere else. government agency in charge of containing possibly dangerous items isn't anything new nor exclusive to SCP, just a combination of mundane bureaucracy with spoopy mystery. same reason x-files worked.
plus, when you consider what happened with SCP especially when you remember it started out as a collection of /x/ creepypastas it felt fucking great just reading about weird things doing weird stuff with a bit of lore again, none of that series 4000+ horseshit.

more importantly they had fun doing it what makes it fun to play (only click after completing foundation):
https://soundcloud.com/alanko/red-glow-tunnel-rush
cristoph waltz as female lead is also less egregious than it looks, it's still a remedy game so a certain level of quality is to be expected, not like there's much room for wokeshit anyway (and any current year female empowerment spin can simply be explained away lorewise by alan wake writing her as the chosen one).
the game will also get a high bonus from me for being spooky just by atmosphere without any jump scares or other cheap shots.

I'm a bit lazy to look it up right now but... did they really cast Littlefinger as the bad guy? Gotta say he was more than perfect for the role.
you mean cia? without getting into spoilers, you really should give it a try, it's not overly long (and four 20-minute episodes inbetween you just watch).

I only played before the DLC's dropped, but I'm pretty much agreed on all your points regardless. That not-quite-Escher room where its the digital illusion of square lines made manifest is up there for kickass power fantasies, especially with the flying and the music. You really do take control, for perhaps the first time in the entire game.
the dlc plays after the main story tho, it's easy to take a break at that point (even I had to).
I think it's a combination of trying to make up for QB's shortness (by the time you finally get a handle on the combat and know how to properly use your stuff the game's almost over) and doing it in a way you could describe as "open world in corridors". just like a ubisoft map you don't really have to do everything if you don't want to, at some point you can simply ignore the alerts, the jukebox (which was added after release I think), SHÜM or stuff re-spawning constantly. you don't even need most of it for achievements or anything, however it's there if you want it, which is probably better than the other way around.
according to steam it took me 61 hours to 100% it, most of it without a guide. if you ignore/miss the puzzles and secrets without backtracking for them and just do the story you can probably shave off 10-15 hours of that.

still prefer american nightmare's climax just for the WTF?! moment making me grin like an idiot.
 
you mean cia? without getting into spoilers, you really should give it a try, it's not overly long (and four 20-minute episodes inbetween you just watch).
I already played and beat QB which is why I was genuinely asking if the guy they got to play Paul Serene was also Petyr Baelish.
the dlc plays after the main story tho, it's easy to take a break at that point (even I had to).
I think it's a combination of trying to make up for QB's shortness (by the time you finally get a handle on the combat and know how to properly use your stuff the game's almost over) and doing it in a way you could describe as "open world in corridors". just like a ubisoft map you don't really have to do everything if you don't want to, at some point you can simply ignore the alerts, the jukebox (which was added after release I think), SHÜM or stuff re-spawning constantly. you don't even need most of it for achievements or anything, however it's there if you want it, which is probably better than the other way around.
according to steam it took me 61 hours to 100% it, most of it without a guide. if you ignore/miss the puzzles and secrets without backtracking for them and just do the story you can probably shave off 10-15 hours of that.
Not sure I feel like redownloading it though, not right now.
 
the game will also get a high bonus from me for being spooky just by atmosphere without any jump scares or other cheap shots.
Oh yeah, wandering empty hallways and rooms was wonderfully eerie.

However I wish the game had more genuine attempts at horror, I kept waiting for something like the nightmare sequences in Max Payne, but it never quite happened, it reminds me of Alan Wake and how that game wasn't all that scary either, the nightmare sequences in Max Payne were scary as hell, I wonder why Remedy is not willing to do something like that again?
 
it was developed during microsoft's TVTVSPORTSTV phase when they had their own tv production studio etc. all that ever amounted to was a halo series I think. that's why you also got all the high(er) profile actors in there.
still, they did good work with it being less linear than a fucking sony game.
Oddly enough Sony also made a push for that around the same time with "playstation tv" or whatever it was called. Powers was exclusive to it, it was an adaption of the comic book with Sharlto Copley and Eddie Izard. It was decent and I believe that maybe four people in the world knew that it existed and have watched it.
 
female lead is also less egregious than it looks,
I liked Jesse, I thought she was well written and acted. That was helped by the great supporting cast too though.
 
It’s been a long time since I played Max Payne, so let me tell you through video format my favorite missions of Max Payne 3:




Unpopular opinion, but I do wish that there was a Max Payne-GTA crossover. GTA V could have improved online if they had more Max Payne-like character missions.

Micheal de Santa was great, but he’s no Max Payne.
 
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