Max Payne 3

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3066 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,142 out of 3066
  2. Mixed: 604 out of 3066
  3. Negative: 320 out of 3066
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  1. antihero1969
    Jun 26, 2012
    2
    The graphics are amazing! Unfortunately, the game itself is a huge disappointment. The first Max Payne was great, and the second was amazing. I've gone back and played them both again and again, but since I finally finished this one, I doubt I'll ever touch it again.

    My biggest complaint is that you can no longer save your game. You have to get to a "checkpoint." Having to repeat    The graphics are amazing! Unfortunately, the game itself is a huge disappointment. The first Max Payne was great, and the second was amazing. I've gone back and played them both again and again, but since I finally finished this one, I doubt I'll ever touch it again.

    My biggest complaint is that you can no longer save your game. You have to get to a "checkpoint." Having to repeat the same parts countless times gets frustrating pretty quickly, and takes all the fun out of it. Apparently these software companies think that gamers everywhere are saying, "You know what I really hate? Being able to save my game whenever I want to!" Granted, it's not nearly as bad as Far Cry, where I was stuck at the same checkpoint for two weeks, but it's quite frustrating. The controls are a royal pain. I got used to them after awhile, but that doesn't mean I liked it, especially not being able to jump. And for some reason, Max can only carry a couple guns at a time now.

    I loved the cutscenes in Max Payne 1 & 2, and thought there should have been more of them. But this one has way too many. And it's not always obvious when the cutscene ends and you're back in the action. I got killed this way quite a few times. And as several other people mention, after some cutscenes, it insists on switching you to that stupid pistol, regardless of which weapon you were using before the cutscene.

    Before you can even play a single player game, you have to sign up for an online account. You read that right. An online account. For a single player game. What is the point of this?

    There is a particularly annoying bug in this game, where sometimes it will pause itself for no reason. Last I heard, the company had no plans to fix this, because they "can't recreate the problem." The storylines in the first two games were interesting, full of plot twists, and memorable characters. I kept playing because I couldn't wait to see what happened next. This one, it got to the point where the only reason I kept playing was to be done with it. The characters are so uninteresting that I kept forgetting who was who as the story progressed. I even lost interest in the story itself after awhile. Max being in South America just seems wrong. The flashback scenes from before he left the USA were a little better, but it still wasn't the same. And it never really explained how Max got to where he "wasn't a cop anymore." At the beginning of the second game, it went into a decent amount of detail about the events the happened between the first and second game, but there was none of that in this one. None of the characters from the first two games were in this one, other than a couple of passing references. I know, most of the characters had been killed off, but there were a few that survived, and a few that sounded like they may have survived.

    After the second game, I was hoping for a third one. Sadly, it turned out to be a huge disappointment, and I'm sorry I wasted $60 on it.    … Expand
  2. Vacnez
    Dec 7, 2012
    2
    This game is once again a proof that you cannot rely on critic reviews to buy games.
    This game is apart from a brilliant graphics extremely bad.
    This was my first Max Payne game so I cannot compare to the previous versions but the story line is bad, the narration is bad, the game evolution is bad, the game features are bad, the aiming is bad, the enemies suck, there is no challenge even    This game is once again a proof that you cannot rely on critic reviews to buy games.
    This game is apart from a brilliant graphics extremely bad.
    This was my first Max Payne game so I cannot compare to the previous versions but the story line is bad, the narration is bad, the game evolution is bad, the game features are bad, the aiming is bad, the enemies suck, there is no challenge even in the hardest available level.
    In a couple of words, I didn't like this game, it was boring and 12 hours long (for 60    … Expand
  3. Nerves82
    Dec 14, 2012
    2
    What drivel! It is everything I should have expected from a shooter made by Rockstar. The cut scenes are EVERYWHERE, interrupting the game play every few seconds so there is no flow to the game. I have never had problems with epilepsy but these cut scenes make me want to vomit, with all the "artsy" blurring and fading in and out. I understand that the protagonist is in a perpetual state ofWhat drivel! It is everything I should have expected from a shooter made by Rockstar. The cut scenes are EVERYWHERE, interrupting the game play every few seconds so there is no flow to the game. I have never had problems with epilepsy but these cut scenes make me want to vomit, with all the "artsy" blurring and fading in and out. I understand that the protagonist is in a perpetual state of intoxication, but you don't need to make me vomit as well. The weapon selection is pure crap and is obviously a port from the console version. I will have my 2 handed weapon selected when, yes, another cut scene interrupts. I am now released back into the action with my pistol selected instead of my more powerful primary and if I roll my mouse wheel the wrong direction, I drop my 2 handed weapon all together leaving me exposed in a firefight without my main weapon. Of course the painkillers are your friend, you WILL take a lot of damage, but they are scarce and not readily available. The controls are awful and clunky. The aiming recital disappears when not in use so when you enter a firefight you will need to fire off around before you can even attempt to aim. I don't like Rockstar to begin with, but after destroying one of my favorite classic games, I downright hate them. Save your money for a worthwhile game, this one is awful.… Expand
  4. sayplastic
    Mar 8, 2013
    2
    I just hope anyone from Rockstar Games is reading this: it's about your GTA engine. DO NOT EVER attempt to make a game where a protagonist has to shoot ridiculous heaploads of enemies and where the plot kind of depends on that process. Your engine really kills the narrative. It just plain sucks for games like that. It is just not suited for games with a decent story at all. Stick to yourI just hope anyone from Rockstar Games is reading this: it's about your GTA engine. DO NOT EVER attempt to make a game where a protagonist has to shoot ridiculous heaploads of enemies and where the plot kind of depends on that process. Your engine really kills the narrative. It just plain sucks for games like that. It is just not suited for games with a decent story at all. Stick to your GTA stuff (it is really good). THANKS A BUNCH!… Expand
  5. wwwhizz
    Apr 15, 2013
    2
    Shoot all the baddies, cut-scene. Wash, rinse, repeat. Over and over and over again. And don't you dare hang around any longer than necessary, you'll get a rhetorical remark every 30 seconds to remind you that you have to press this button, walk through that door. No, you're not allowed to think for a second. Just shoot the baddies and follow the linear story.

    Good: + Graphics + Max    Shoot all the baddies, cut-scene. Wash, rinse, repeat. Over and over and over again. And don't you dare hang around any longer than necessary, you'll get a rhetorical remark every 30 seconds to remind you that you have to press this button, walk through that door. No, you're not allowed to think for a second. Just shoot the baddies and follow the linear story.

    Good:
    + Graphics
    + Max is back
    + Painkillers

    Bad:
    - Game-play
    - Overdone and overused blurry effect
    - No puzzles
    - Never let's you think
    - Linear
    - Okay-ish story

    Ugly:
    :( Max always pops out his handgun after a cut-scene, even when you had a rifle
    :( Camera is sometimes very bad, which makes you unable to kill a baddie sometimes
    :( Very bad AI    … Expand
  6. tekki
    Aug 2, 2013
    2
    Bought during summer sales, one of the rare games that i find its a chore to play. many reviewers mentioned that the game has too many cut scenes and i share this argument. the game mechanics is also flawed, often a cut scene will leave you wide open to various assaults, which results to instant death on higher difficulties.

    the games controlls are also bad, while mouse can be    Bought during summer sales, one of the rare games that i find its a chore to play. many reviewers mentioned that the game has too many cut scenes and i share this argument. the game mechanics is also flawed, often a cut scene will leave you wide open to various assaults, which results to instant death on higher difficulties.

    the games controlls are also bad, while mouse can be calibrated to your needs the crosshair moves depending on where you are at cover. this leads to more frustrating moments where you pop up to take a shot only to realise that the crosshair is somewhere else

    bullet time is also not used often cause its rather pointless, the cramped and dense surroundings would mean that majority of the time you will hit something and lay vulnerable to gunfire

    dont buy unless dirt cheap, like steam sales    … Expand
  7. Jerrrrrrm
    Aug 22, 2013
    2
    The best part of the game is it's graphics. Graphics however do not make a game. The story is forced and unoriginal being ripped from a subpar movie. Max payne deserves a better story than a sub par movie plot.
  8. nutyarlab
    Aug 19, 2013
    2
    A frustrating and maddening game primarily because of the way it was implemented.

    Cutscenes and slow-mo cams killed this game. You spend about 3 minutes shooting people and once you just about got into the groove, a cut scene ensues and it breaks the pacing. Another silly thing implemented was that you would automatically slow down when going past an object relevant to the game. Case in    A frustrating and maddening game primarily because of the way it was implemented.

    Cutscenes and slow-mo cams killed this game. You spend about 3 minutes shooting people and once you just about got into the groove, a cut scene ensues and it breaks the pacing. Another silly thing implemented was that you would automatically slow down when going past an object relevant to the game. Case in point: At some point you will be fighting in a building and you are meant to attach some objects to the pillars. You can be running around and all of a sudden, you just slow to a crawl simply because you are going past a pillar.

    Slow-mo cams. The annoying part of the game is when you are just about to die, the game goes into some slow-mo mode that the devs must have thought cool, but it isn't. What's irritating about it is that you automatically do a flying lunge (often on your back) and the game slows down taking on some saturated look and you're left desperately hunting for the cross hair (which has changed position, often way off the mark because the view has switched to some awful position that often is behind a wall or such that you appear to be viewing things out of your arse) to kill the person who was causing you so much damage. Once that's accomplished, you end up remaining on the floor and in a dilemma because if you stand, you get hit and there's no option to reliably get back into cover or crouch automatically.

    Next, scripted actions. When you enter any room or reload, you automatically end up with a pistol. No matter if you are carrying the baddest assed gun in the game, you end up with the pistol. This is fine for the early bits, but when you are faced with enemies wearing body armour and carrying assault rifles and outnumbering you 7:1, you don't want a puny pistol that has only 8 rounds in the mag. What's worse is that the time it takes to change means that the enemies are often right on top of you because that's the way the game was scripted.

    Also, there's a strange bug that causes you to lose control of the keyboard and you end up defaulting into the aimed mode but you can fire or jump or anything except walk at a slow pace. This happens even in the midst of a firefight and has caused several reloads. Silly video effects like wavy cams, blue-red distortions and other necessary effects destroy all that's left of this once fun franchise (see Max Payne and Max Payne 2).

    In conclusion, stay away from this and other Rockstar North games until they sort their sh it out. Better yet, wait for it to come down even lower in a couple more years when it's in the bargain bin or on some sale. Rockstar needs to be taught a lesson via their income statement to stop developing half-assed movies that masquerade as a game. If I wanted a movie, I'd pay for it (cheaper) and sit with my spouse in either the comfort of my home or in a theatre and eat chips and drink sodas and not frustrate myself with this movie-on-rails. That's right, you could hardly qualify this as a shooter even.    … Expand
  9. game_over
    Oct 19, 2013
    2
    A bunch of shooting galleries inter-spaced with long cut scenes. Despite the decent graphics this game is simply not that entertaining. The fact that I had to sign up for a special account to play the game didn't help my opinion of the game.
  10. gaminggamer19
    Nov 7, 2013
    2
    The makers of this game must have paid the critics to get such a high score. This game is absolutely atrocious. There isn't a single aspect of this game that is fun, aside from the bullet time action. But even that get's old, when that is all you're doing.

    The game's camera and visual effects get old after 10 min of play..and they get downright distracting and painful to look at the    The makers of this game must have paid the critics to get such a high score. This game is absolutely atrocious. There isn't a single aspect of this game that is fun, aside from the bullet time action. But even that get's old, when that is all you're doing.

    The game's camera and visual effects get old after 10 min of play..and they get downright distracting and painful to look at the longer you play the game. And I use the term "play" very loosely here, because you mostly spend looking at crappy shaky camera cut scenes. with a bit of running around and then just shooting enemies over...and over again. This game has not redeeming qualities, because even the bullet time action gets old because you have to use it CONSTANTLY, because the cover system sucks, and there is no strategy involved at all.

    I would give this game a 0, but I'll give it a 2 because bullet time is fun for about 5 min, and there is one water level that's a bit fun. Otherwise, don't bother playing this game, and for the love of god DON'T BUY IT! Spend your money on something you'll actually get to play and won't give you seizures.    … Expand
  11. dlkjed2342
    Sep 21, 2014
    2
    For the second time, I played through several chapters and saved, shut the game down, and came back later only to find that much of my progress had been wiped out. Again: I didn't go back to a specific chapter and I allowed the game to save as you are supposed to. I don't "have read-only enabled" or any other stupid **** I just played the game as intended, and lost half my progress.For the second time, I played through several chapters and saved, shut the game down, and came back later only to find that much of my progress had been wiped out. Again: I didn't go back to a specific chapter and I allowed the game to save as you are supposed to. I don't "have read-only enabled" or any other stupid **** I just played the game as intended, and lost half my progress.

    **** Rockstar for **** all over the PC versions of their games. This will be the last Rockstar title that I buy.    … Expand
  12. BFM
    Apr 5, 2020
    2
    This is not a Max Payne game.
    Neither in setting, atmosphere or writing.
    The gameplay is different but not better.
    Auto-saves have replaced superior quick-saves.
  13. NieuweGassie
    Oct 15, 2016
    2
    Absolutely atrocious as a videogame.

    As a movie? 10/10. Well, 8/10 but you get the picture. This isn't a videogame. This is a movie with little minigames added in between. You get to play for maybe 20% of the game's length. The rest is just cutscene after cutscene after cutscene. The gameplay that is there is almost too little to be judged, but it comes down to clunky as all hell.    Absolutely atrocious as a videogame.

    As a movie? 10/10. Well, 8/10 but you get the picture.

    This isn't a videogame. This is a movie with little minigames added in between. You get to play for maybe 20% of the game's length. The rest is just cutscene after cutscene after cutscene.

    The gameplay that is there is almost too little to be judged, but it comes down to clunky as all hell. Max will often not move in the directions you're pressing. The tiny areas you're in a laden with invisible walls. The cover system is counter-productive. Popping out of cover will get you killed, while simply standing behind cover and slowly walking out of it guns blazing will always work well. The bullet time is too short and your reticle blends in with the enviroment making it almost impossible to aim without bullet time. Cutscenes will often end abruptly, leaving you standing out in the open while enemies blow you to smithereens. The game NEVER conveys ANY information without cutscenes. Someone wants to talk to you? Cutscenes. Someone wants to take a dump? Cutscene. Someone wants to open a door to enter the fight? Cutscene. Cutscene. Cutscene. Cutscene. Cutscene. Cutscene. Cutscene, and yet more Cutscenes.

    The visuals, notably the special "blurry" effects you get, are distracting and unnecessary, and often just disorienting.

    Too bad games are so expensive. Maybe I'd appreciate it more if I just bought a 15 dollar ticket to a movie.    … Expand
  14. metacritic12121
    Jan 12, 2019
    2
    Horribly written characters and dialogue. The game should never have been called Max Payne 3, due to the fact that this winey protagonist is only a surface deep hack rip off of the Max from the first two games. The mechanics are fine, the graphics are honestly great and there are some solid set pieces, yet the writers of MP3 have replaced all the self awareness and clever lines with sillyHorribly written characters and dialogue. The game should never have been called Max Payne 3, due to the fact that this winey protagonist is only a surface deep hack rip off of the Max from the first two games. The mechanics are fine, the graphics are honestly great and there are some solid set pieces, yet the writers of MP3 have replaced all the self awareness and clever lines with silly swearing and a ripped off Man on Fire plot that has tons of holes and not a single memorable side character.… Expand
  15. DogeWowIsBack
    Mar 19, 2019
    2
    This game is a pointless sequel, no one ever asked for. It ruins the character everyone grow attached to, jumps the shark, changing Max Payne from being it's own thing into to the Man on Fire rip off and not a good one at it. Dialogues are poorly written, over the top swearing all over the place and horrible attempts at humour, plot itself is full of holes and cliches.
    When it comes to    This game is a pointless sequel, no one ever asked for. It ruins the character everyone grow attached to, jumps the shark, changing Max Payne from being it's own thing into to the Man on Fire rip off and not a good one at it. Dialogues are poorly written, over the top swearing all over the place and horrible attempts at humour, plot itself is full of holes and cliches.
    When it comes to the gameplay, it's basically Kane & Lynch game. What's the point of gold weapons again? Oh wait there is none... I'm really sure creators didn't know as well, but hey you have to attract some of these call of duty players somehow...    … Expand
  16. moifoi
    Jun 7, 2012
    1
    The game is complete junk, did anyone test the mouse movement? The mouse acceleration is horrible. The mouse sensitivity becomes super slow during most actions. The enemies models are too small, which makes the game feel wrong and unrewarding. The pacing of the game was a joke too. The only good thing was almost every object in the game was destroyable and a few good lines of dialogue.
  17. Rockman9
    May 18, 2013
    1
    Fell asleep after playing two hours. Shoot cut scene, shoot cut scene nothing else. Avoid this game if you have no insomnia. Can't believe how this game get a 8+ score.
  18. diesbildnis
    Jun 6, 2012
    1
    Max Payne 3 is essentially Duck Hunt 2012 with swearing and long cut scenes. A good-looking, well-optimized game that follows this basic formula: cut scene, pop-up shooting gallery, cut-scene, follow arrows to pop-up shooting gallery, LOOOOONG cut scene, long shooting gallery, cut scene, end chapter, looooong cut scene of Max drinking and puking. Due to the save point system, for the longMax Payne 3 is essentially Duck Hunt 2012 with swearing and long cut scenes. A good-looking, well-optimized game that follows this basic formula: cut scene, pop-up shooting gallery, cut-scene, follow arrows to pop-up shooting gallery, LOOOOONG cut scene, long shooting gallery, cut scene, end chapter, looooong cut scene of Max drinking and puking. Due to the save point system, for the long shooting galleries you will have to start from square one if you die. And if you are playing on hard, you will die a lot. Still, the game is not really challenging, just frustrating and one-dimensional. I would give it a 6/10, but the game refused to load until an hour later of searching and trying methods from forums I fixed the problem. The exact same thing happened to me with LA Noire as well. Rockstar needs to beta-test their PC games more thoroughly and I need to stop buying new release PC Rockstar games. I would buy this on sale for $20 as a fun, quick way to spend a few hours before you get bored, but at $60 it is a shiny ripoff.… Expand
  19. Charles_Peterso
    Jun 19, 2012
    1
    Every 5 minutes you get a new cut scene. It is not a game, its a film. The trouble is, if I wanted a film, id buy a film. This is not a game, therefor it cannot be reviewed as one. Boring story, boring game play, boring dialogue, Oh, and shaky camera. How novel! Yawn
  20. SaintZz
    Jun 23, 2012
    1
    TOO MUCH CUT SCENE, but the few places were there is game play it is good, you feel his age, and it is not helping him. Biggest complain is the cut scene thing.
  21. Incogn1to
    Jun 24, 2012
    1
    The worst game i have ever played..... I am a huge fan of Max Payne but with this one it is **** now. Thanks Rockstar..... I did buy the first Max Payne for my tablet 100 times better than this garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  22. Trippynet
    Aug 17, 2012
    1
    Looks good, but the controls are dreadful (way too often you try and change to the rifle and end up throwing it away and pulling out a second pistol instead) and the checkpoint system is infuriating. A really promising game, let down by being an appalling and very sloppy console port. With decent controls and a quicksave feature, it could have been brilliant. But it isn't.
  23. AnnoyedatThis
    Jan 27, 2015
    1
    Locked on cutscenes forced to watch over and over for challenge modes defeats the point in challenge modes i was not going to sit there for 3000 years rewatching the damn cut scenes to do that.

    Bugs map level bugs weapon bugs model bugs texture errors all on 2 copies of the game even on 360 the story was ok COMBAT SUCKED compared to MP and MP2 Missed the comic style missed the Film    Locked on cutscenes forced to watch over and over for challenge modes defeats the point in challenge modes i was not going to sit there for 3000 years rewatching the damn cut scenes to do that.

    Bugs map level bugs weapon bugs model bugs texture errors all on 2 copies of the game even on 360
    the story was ok

    COMBAT SUCKED compared to MP and MP2
    Missed the comic style missed the Film noir scenes like in MP and Mp2

    THIS WAS A CASH GRAB ON A ESTABLISHED NAME it was totally different game

    Don't make another max payne you ruined it enough.....................    … Expand
  24. LiTrik
    Jun 18, 2020
    1
    seriye ihanettttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
  25. aLuZiNK
    Mar 20, 2013
    0
    this has nothing to do with the original Max Payne 1 and 2. it's basically a bundle of cutscenes with occasional shooting. it's really embarrassing to call this thing a game. a game is something i would like to play, not to watch.
  26. Coeco
    Jul 23, 2012
    0
    A game that tries to be a movie accompanied with console-port performance and controls while forcing us character story down our throats with a plunger. Nothing more to be said about this one than STAY AWAY. Watch walkthroughs if you want to know how everything plays out as an old fan instead of flushing your money down the sink.
  27. goddomotfronk
    Nov 12, 2012
    0
    Probably the worst game released in the last 5 years. It's like they decided to take a dump on the previous titles and make some quick cash. Rockstar should be ashamed of themselves for putting out this crap.
  28. wilddeer
    Jun 15, 2012
    0
    Shooting gallery, cutscene, shooting gallery, cutscene, nothing, cutscene, shooting gallery, painfully long cutscene. Max, may i open that door? No, cutscene will do. Max, may i enter the room and shoot the bastards? No, cutscene will enter and choose the most stupid cover for you, and you will do the shooting. Max, may i look around through the sniper rifle scope while nothing happens?Shooting gallery, cutscene, shooting gallery, cutscene, nothing, cutscene, shooting gallery, painfully long cutscene. Max, may i open that door? No, cutscene will do. Max, may i enter the room and shoot the bastards? No, cutscene will enter and choose the most stupid cover for you, and you will do the shooting. Max, may i look around through the sniper rifle scope while nothing happens? No, cutscene will look around for you.… Expand
  29. Shinigurai
    Jul 13, 2012
    0
    35 gigs of harddrive space required. That's all that needs to be said. Purchased through Steam and downloaded on a 25mbps connection took 3 full days to install, because Steam's download service is so slow (I wasn't even using my bandwidth for anything else). For 35 gigs of space this should have been the best game ever - it wasn't.
  30. elgringo
    Jun 8, 2012
    0
    As a fan of the series I couldn't wait to get my hands on this beast, but I was soon frustrated by a couple of things: The limited control over the main character and unskippable cutscenes for example take away a lot of freedom from the player. The only way to exit a cutscene is to ALT+F4 out of it, because you can only pause and continue. Whilst the gameplay itself didn't lose charm theAs a fan of the series I couldn't wait to get my hands on this beast, but I was soon frustrated by a couple of things: The limited control over the main character and unskippable cutscenes for example take away a lot of freedom from the player. The only way to exit a cutscene is to ALT+F4 out of it, because you can only pause and continue. Whilst the gameplay itself didn't lose charm the levels are small and the fights are heavily scripted. The cover system causes problems because it doesn't always work. If you don't mind a heavy consolized game and like playing with controllers instead of keyboards you might want to get it for PC, else wait for a Steam deal.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PC Game of 2012
9
#9 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 13, 2012
    87
    Max Payne 3 feels like a PC original, in a very good way. [Aug 2012]
  2. PC Master (Greece)
    Aug 31, 2012
    91
    Its deviation from the mood instilled by its predecessors might annoy some purist fans, but Max Payne 3's undisputed quality standards in all accounts will make them look the other way and enjoy the game as it is. [July 2012]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 29, 2012
    90
    Max Payne is god and it really doesn't matter that he is not the fair one. He is the most interesting action character these days and the game itself is one of the best you can get. [July 2012]
See all critic reviews »