Spec Ops The Line or Max Payne 3?

So as I'm sure most of you have seen, Spec Ops the Line is $25 and Max Payne 3 is $30 on amazon PC download right now. I am looking to get one, but I don't know which. They both look really cool, but I have been reading a lot of complaints about both games so its hard to tell which one would be more fun. Is one a better experience then the other, or should I just get both? Also, Syndicate is $15 too! Goddammit Amazon.

I have only played Max Payne 3 so I can't vouch for how good Spec Ops is as I've only played the demo. Max Payne 3 is a strange game in that it can get pretty hard even early on while playing on the normal difficulty unless you really get into the combat system. One thing that MP3 will definitely have over Spec Ops is diversity in level design. You never revisit any location and each Chapter, of the 14 that span the game, takes place in a new area. What Spec Ops might have over Max Payne is that the story is much more interesting - from what I heard.

I've played MP3 to completion and are about half-way through Spec Ops.

I enjoyed Max Payne well enough, it's not really a Max Payne game but it's still decent.

Spec Ops, however, has some very unique stuff to it. I've made a couple of really fucked up decisions and it does things I have never seen in a modern militairy shooter.

I say: Spec Ops: The Line!

Combined with The Walking Dead: Episode 2, I think I'm good in the making-fucked-up-choices department for a while...

I love Max Payne 3, so I say that. Also, people playing on PC seemed to have a much better time with it than others. However, it is very clear that this is a game that just doesn't click with some people.

@CJduke:

Spec Ops :The Line.

It is a great , and fun 3rd person shooter, with a near perfect control scheme.

Max Payne 3 is basically a limited GTA clone with bullet time, and a near broken control scheme.

MAX PAYNE DOES NOT NEED A COVER SYSTEM. ---------sorry lol.

Max Payne 3 is OK , but it is not a Max Payne game, it is a ROCKSTAR game.

Spec Ops is a great new IP.

The online game in both , is not very good.

Very different games. Max Payne 3 is classic Rockstar, making a great cinematic experience. My choice of the two.

Spec Ops: The Line has a very interesting narrative and flips military shooters on their head. However, the combat can be frustrating at times and despite the fact that the story telling is cutting edge the gameplay feels dated.

Max Payne 3 has a lot of style and amazing graphics. It's like playing through a Hollywood budget action/thriller movie. The gameplay works for what it is but after you have been through the story once I'm not sure if you would want to play again as there are no multiple endings like Spec Ops.

However, I felt Max Payne 3's single player campaign was longer than Spec Ops: The Line. Also, MP3's multiplayer was much better with more support and a lot of people playing it.

Overall, Max Payne 3 is a better production. But why not buy both games as you are getting two quality products at the price of one regularly priced AAA.

Full disclosure: I own both on PS3.

@AlisterCat said:

Very different games. Max Payne 3 is classic Rockstar, making a great cinematic experience. My choice of the two.

is it? Only Rockstar game I've played that I gave up on. Uninteresting story (got to the point where he shaved his head and did the first section of that when one of the characters is killed), extremely repetitive gameplay (at least give me some enemy variety at some point!), extremely linear (not bad if the game is good but...), whiny, annoying characters, rather punishing gameplay (perhaps my fault; I played on hard).

I'd rather put Red Dead back in. Consider it one of the best games I've ever played... love it. I'd skip Max Payne 3 if I had the knowledge I have now of it. I already sold it, in fact.

Still attempting to pick up The Line. Sold out everywhere here. Guess I'll have to order it from amazon.

@SAYNTofSYNNERS said:

@CJduke:

Spec Ops :The Line.

It is a great , and fun 3rd person shooter, with a near perfect control scheme.

Max Payne 3 is basically a limited GTA clone with bullet time, and a near broken control scheme.

MAX PAYNE DOES NOT NEED A COVER SYSTEM. ---------sorry lol.

Max Payne 3 is OK , but it is not a Max Payne game, it is a ROCKSTAR game.

Spec Ops is a great new IP.

The online game in both , is not very good.

Wrong wrong WRONG.

At least, if you're playing Max Payne 3 on PC. If consoles, the control system complaints may be valid but I wouldn't know.

It controls like a dream on the PC, looks gorgeous and the cover system totally works. In fact, the levels are usually designed so you can dive from cover to cover really efficiently. It's almost a traversal puzzle in spots.

Also, GTA clone would imply open-world. Or lots of side missions. Or driving. That's a completely inaccurate comparison.

Max Payne 3 is a natural follow up to 2 in terms of tone and atmosphere. It all makes perfect sense for where Max is at emotionally after the end of 2. It's also a really well written story and very engaging. The only similarities with GTA are in the well judged social commentary but that'll be lost on most people who aren't Brazilian like myself. It paints Brazil in exaggerated tones but so did GTA with its breakdown of the American dream.

@Vitor said:

Wrong wrong WRONG.

At least, if you're playing Max Payne 3 on PC. If consoles, the control system complaints may be valid but I wouldn't know.

It controls like a dream on the PC, looks gorgeous and the cover system totally works. In fact, the levels are usually designed so you can dive from cover to cover really efficiently. It's almost a traversal puzzle in spots.

Yup.

I happily paid full price for Max. After playing the Spec Ops demo, there was no way I was going to buy it for anything more than half price. In fact, it I wasn't so curious about all of the story stuff everybody keeps talking about, I probably would have skipped it altogether. Just felt like a very average, run-of-the-mill shooter.

@kumquat: What is your opinion of the story though? (for the line that is)

@CJduke said:

@kumquat: What is your opinion of the story though? (for the line that is)

Haven't played enough to tell. I really liked MP3's, though.

I kind of revile Max Payne 3, so I say go with Spec Ops. At least it's contextual in that game that the shooting is kind of boring. Max Payne 3 is just dull and video game-y on accident, and its high-watermark moments are stil not that exciting and are few and far between. Some really terrible encounter design decisions in that game, too.

I haven't played Spec Ops yet, by the way. And, of course, the Giant Bomb reviews of both games: Spec Ops / Max Payne.

Go with Spec Ops. The story is tight, coherent, and does a great job sucking the player in and bringing him/her down to the story's level of depravity. Unlike Max Payne, enemies drop in two shots, but so do you. It's intense and deserves every pair of hands and eyes that manage to get smart to what Spec Ops is doing. It's hard to justify buying Spec Ops over anything else without absolutely ruining the best parts of the game, but you will be very surprised at what Yager have managed to do with a shooter.

Unlike Max Payne.

@handlas said:

@AlisterCat said:

Very different games. Max Payne 3 is classic Rockstar, making a great cinematic experience. My choice of the two.

is it? Only Rockstar game I've played that I gave up on. Uninteresting story (got to the point where he shaved his head and did the first section of that when one of the characters is killed), extremely repetitive gameplay (at least give me some enemy variety at some point!), extremely linear (not bad if the game is good but...), whiny, annoying characters, rather punishing gameplay (perhaps my fault; I played on hard).

I'd rather put Red Dead back in. Consider it one of the best games I've ever played... love it. I'd skip Max Payne 3 if I had the knowledge I have now of it. I already sold it, in fact.

Still attempting to pick up The Line. Sold out everywhere here. Guess I'll have to order it from amazon.

Opinions! :)

@Vitor:The trouble is is that it is a ROCKSTAR story and game, it is not a MAX PAYNE game or story .

Only in the name is it a MAX PAYNE game, not in tone, or theme, or anything else, Heck even the bullet time does not work correctly- or Max Payne like.

It feels more like F.E.A.R. 'cops'

I am not saying it is a bad game, just that it is a ROCKSTAR game, that is just not worthy to be carry the MAX PAYNE title.

I still say the control Sucks, as does the character interactions in the world., that game is just glitched to heck( IMHO of course)- which of course is another thing that makes it a typical ROCKSTAR game.

Spec ops is a new IP that just works, no real glitches or control issues, looks good, runs smoothly, some neat ideas, but nothing new, but what it does it does well.

So if you are a Max Payne fan , get SPEC Ops.

If you are a ROCKSTAR fan, get MAX PAYNE 3.

@SAYNTofSYNNERS said:

The trouble is is that it is a ROCKSTAR story and game, it is not a MAX PAYNE game or story .

Only in the name is it a MAX PAYNE game, not in tone, or theme, or anything else, Heck even the bullet time does not work correctly- or Max Payne like.

It feels more like F.E.A.R. 'cops'

I am not saying it is a bad game, just that it is a ROCKSTAR game, that is just not worthy to be carry the MAX PAYNE title.

I still say the control Sucks, as does the character interactions in the world., that game is just glitched to heck( IMHO of course)- which of course is another thing that makes it a typical ROCKSTAR game.

Spec ops is a new IP that just works, no real glitches or control issues, looks good, runs smoothly, some neat ideas, but nothing new, but what it does it does well.

So if you are a Max Payne fan , get SPEC Ops.

If you are a ROCKSTAR fan, get MAX PAYNE 3.

Mostly this.

Max Payne 3 barely feels like a Max Payne game in tone and style, which are the most important things about it.

I haven't played either, but I would have imagined it'd be an easy choice: Max Payne 3.

@CJduke I'm going to go out on a limb and say you already bought and beat Spec Ops, or are almost done with it.

Neither of those are easy recommendations, honestly. Both of those come with a huge list of caveats to recommend each one.

You'll either love or hate MP3. Personally, I thought the story was mostly really good, and once I decided to make peace with how said story was delivered and how the gameplay worked, I had a lot of fun with it. Despite what people say, it is a Max Payne game through and through to me. The thing with MP2 was when you came upon a group of enemies, you had to shoot dive and take out all to almost all of them, because if you didn't, there was really no good way to go toe to toe. MP3 adds the cover system, which gives you a way to fight back if you don't get it perfect. Aside from that wrinkle Rockstar added, the gameplay is really similar. Well, aside from maybe a little more realism in how Max moves around - that is to say, he moves in pretty typical Rockstar fashion.

You should be aware that the online is 100% broken on PC though. I've seen people with varying success rates, but for me, 3/4 of loadscreens while playing multiplayer never end. Shame, because it's fun.

You'll almost definitely have the same experience everyone else has had with Spec Ops - slogging through the bad to get to the good.

Haven't played Spec Ops, but Max Payne 3 is great. It's basically Man on Fire the video game.

Max Payne 3. Which is totally a Max Payne game, by the way.

Honestly, I found both of them to be fantastic games. So to remove myself a bit from the equation Spec Ops the Line is a fantastic story with bread and butter third person mechanics (and all I mean by that is the cover system works fine, the mechanics work fine but it doesn't do anything special), the other is an established Franchise removing it's original story beats for something more Cinematic (which is fine, its what they call servicable but not as good as previous iterations and in spots very unlike that which it claims to be) with interesting game play (the animation and what not are really the most interesting thing, the rest is standard max payne with added cover system that you should ignore if you really liked the original Max Payne Games). 
 
Honestly, of the two, even with this comparison- they both have highs and lows. So... if your a graphics whore play Max Payne 3, if not play Spec Ops the line? 
 
This is harder then I thought it would be to answer. Both of them are good in one respect but fail or don't do much in others. Either way I think you'll be fine, but if you're like me you're more likely to finish Spec Ops the Line first because the story is so compelling. 
 
I love Max Payne, but I gotta go with Spec Ops the line as my pick (re-adding myself to the equation).  
When I remove my total enjoyment and try to think what seems most appealing, honestly both have similar ups and down just on different ends of the spectrum and I have no idea which you'd prefer but I suspect you'd like either one.

I really, really liked Max Payne 3. That said, I also really, really enjoyed the first two. It's unfair to criticize MP3 because it's developed by Rockstar. Tonally, it's different than the first two, but it is through and through a Max Payne game regardless. Check out Ahmad's blog on it if you're worried it diverges too far from the prequels.

Max Payne 3.

I’d recommend Max Payne 3 as it’s one of the most well-crafted shooters I’ve played in recent memory. The best thing about its combat being faithful to the originals is that you are punished for playing carelessly. Firefights play out organically and each hit you take challenges you to improve your decision-making, further revealing the nuances of the mechanics - managing bullet time, shootdodging between cover, prioritizing targets/headshots, popping painkillers, etc.

This notion that because there’s a modern cover system, it ceases to be Max Payne game is just untrue. Try playing through the originals without strafing/peaking around doorways or using the environment to your advantage. Those games were just as punishing in terms of having to approach encounters thoughtfully in order to proceed.

@SAYNTofSYNNERS said:

Spec Ops is a great new IP.

The Line is the 10th game in the franchise, hence, it isn't a new IP.

Spec Ops The Line. Max Payne is pretty meh.

Unskippable cutscenes break the game on higher difficulties.

I bought Max Payne 3 yesterday, had a ton of fun with it. Despite it not feeling Noire or w/e old school fans want from a Max Payne game, i'd say it's one of the best action games to come out this year in general.

@CJduke said:

So as I'm sure most of you have seen, Spec Ops the Line is $25 and Max Payne 3 is $30 on amazon PC download right now. I am looking to get one, but I don't know which. They both look really cool, but I have been reading a lot of complaints about both games so its hard to tell which one would be more fun. Is one a better experience then the other, or should I just get both? Also, Syndicate is $15 too! Goddammit Amazon.

Spec Ops The Line if you want a great story with some replayability because of the moral decisions.

Don't buy Max Payne 3. You think because it's a longer game, you'll get more out of it. Nope, only frustration that the bullet-time mechanic isn't that useful compared to the level design, and a badly told story.

So I ended up buying The Line and beat it in about 6 hours and was thrilled I made the purchase. Awesome story, awesome moral decisions, good voice acting, and since I don't play military shooter campaigns very much, I enjoyed the gameplay enough. Also really good lighting and graphics. Overall its a pretty solid purchase for $25 and definitely had one of the better endings to a story I've seen in a while.

God damnit I already bought the darkness 2 and syndicate from this sale. Now I feel like I have to get spec ops ( which if you do the math still doesn't add to the $60 price tag of a brand new game and thats amazing)

@ahaisthisourchance said:

Max Payne 3 is great. It's basically Man on Fire the video game.

That's not what a Max Payne game needs to be, that's just aping a movie that is totally unrelated to the original games.

@mikeeegeee: If it's tonally different, it's not a good Max Payne game beyond the voice actor and shoot dodging. Weather it's a good 3rd person action game (it's slightly above average) is another matter.

@Lebensbaum: Having cover is not the major issue with Max Payne 3. It's the fact that the lack of Sam Lake writing, cool setting, and the new goofy characters make it lose the unique appeal of the originals. It's like it did a halfway job of mimicking the first two without really understanding what made them so great.

Each one has it's own style. What are you after? Good satisfying gameplay? cutscenes? story? graphics?

Max Payne 3 definitely. Spec Ops has a great story, but it's only something you'll play once and then be done and it's not as interesting to play, since the gameplay itself is so generic. Max Payne 3 however is one of the most fun and actually interesting third person shooters in a while and it has a brilliant multiplayer game, which would keep you playing for way longer.

@CJduke said:

So I ended up buying The Line and beat it in about 6 hours and was thrilled I made the purchase. Awesome story, awesome moral decisions, good voice acting, and since I don't play military shooter campaigns very much, I enjoyed the gameplay enough. Also really good lighting and graphics. Overall its a pretty solid purchase for $25 and definitely had one of the better endings to a story I've seen in a while.

Good man!

I have played both to completion and I'd heartily recommend Spec Ops over Max Payne.

Max Payne 3. Easily.

Spec Ops does have a good story line. But the whole actually playing the game part looks fucking horrible.

I can't speak to Spec Ops the Line, but Max Payne 3 is one of the best games this year.

Definitely Max Payne 3. I played a bunch of both, and although Spec Ops has high ambitions, Max Payne outclasses it in pretty much every way

The multiplayer in Max Payne 3 is also fantastic.

Surprises me how many ppl. are saying the Line..that is a significant number.

I haven't played The Line, but I am getting it. My objection to Max Payne 3 is based on personal taste, and actually.. I think it is one of the better games I have ever played. Games like Dead Space 1 and 2 are in this category. You know you have played some even better, but not by too much. I will play MP3 again on the next difficulty up in approx 12 months. Will get around to The Line in time...

Spec Ops has great storyline and Max has that same old crap that does disservice to previous installments. But gameplaywise Max can be more satisfying and its a bit longer.

My recommendation would be to go back and play MP1 and MP2 and forget both of those games. Maybe pick up Binary Domain which is on sale for $10 starting today (Amazon).

max payne 3

spec ops maybe somewhat interesting in some areas but I never found that I was actually enjoying playing it.

@Danteveli said:

Spec Ops has great storyline and Max has that same old crap that does disservice to previous installments. But gameplaywise Max can be more satisfying and its a bit longer.

Storywise Max Payne 3 does some interesting things and is nothing like the old games for better or worse. On the surface it can seem like just a straight run and gun but theres a pretty deep story in there.

Binary Domain is $10 bucks right now on Amazon, get that instead for your third-person shooting needs. Big BO!

Max Payne 3.