Just completed the game and I love it. This opinion may not be popular, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed MP1 or 2 at the time (possibly due to my age).

But... the ending. Why were you not allowed to kill the brother at the end? It made no sense, especially as they just killed him off anyway.

I am assuming that you didn't have to shoot the chief of police, why couldn't they do the same for the brother?

As I write this I feel like a crazy person, but there was so much momentum and now it feels kinda flat.

I had a quick look and saw no mention of this. How did everyone else feel about it?

@SuperSambo: I don't really like spelling out what stories mean to me, or, like, over-analyzing video games, but I think that was kind of the point. Think about it. The whole game desensitizes you to killing. It doesn't mean anything at the end. Max Payne is essentially a weapon. Him not killing Victor at the end was him sort of proving to himself that he didn't have to. He was more than a weapon, you know?

Maybe it's the sadist in me, but you should've done more than just break Victor's leg. Sure, let him live to face his sentence, but at least break both his arms and legs or shoot his jaw off or something. Some real permanent damage.

Then again, I'm the guy who went back and emptied several clips in that Mafia boss' kid's face to make sure he wouldn't have an open casket. Shooting people in Max Payne 3 was extremely satisfying cause everybody were such pieces of shit.

@HatKing said:

@SuperSambo: I don't really like spelling out what stories mean to me, or, like, over-analyzing video games, but I think that was kind of the point. Think about it. The whole game desensitizes you to killing. It doesn't mean anything at the end. Max Payne is essentially a weapon. Him not killing Victor at the end was him sort of proving to himself that he didn't have to. He was more than a weapon, you know?

This was basically my train of thought as well. I was never all too invested in the story anyway, so it blew it over without me caring too much. All of the different organisations made it a little tough to follow, and while Victor being a bad guy was highly predictable, I never got to see him doing much in the way of any nefarious deeds so I never felt the surge of anticipation in putting a bullet between his eyes like I did for say Edgar Ross or Dimitri Rascalov. A lot of the villains you barely ever get to see really, and they only appear for a few minutes at a time. Serrano was the closest to becoming an effective antagonist, but then they had to go and make him appear all sympathetic during his last appearance.

@TeflonBilly said:

Then again, I'm the guy who went back and emptied several clips in that Mafia boss' kid's face to make sure he wouldn't have an open casket.

Haha, I did the same thing!

I hope rockstar brings out a forth max payne game.

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

@RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

You see him drinking. Do you really think he vanquished his inner demons? I think not. He said this himself numerous times : In the end, nothing changes.

@RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

The fact that we last see him laying back with a cool drink on the beach I think is meant to insinuate that he's finally at peace (or the closest he'll get) with a lot of his past. He managed to save Giovanna and her unborn child, which is somewhat symbolic of him repenting for not being able to save his own family. Of course if Rockstar decided they wanted another Max Payne, then Hell no Max isn't done!

Which would supremely suck in my opinion. Ever since he shaves his head giving himself a 'new beginning', he's basically working his way back up out of his depression, and the rest on the beach should signify that he's finally earned some peace. It'd be anti-productive and would work against a lot of what Max Payne 3 stood for concerning the character if *depressing self-deprecating internal monologue* happens all over again and welp, guess there's something else in Max's past that he has to get over. Usually for that sort of character, you'd expect him to die at the end because that'd be the only way he could truly 'be free', so I hope to Hell that Rockstar didn't specifically give Max a happy ending just so they could drag him through even more painkillers and self-pity.

@falserelic said:

I hope rockstar brings out a forth max payne game.

I kind of don't, this should really be the end of Max Payne. I actually think they should have killed Max at the end of the game. I'm fine with them doing another game in the same vein of Max Payne, but Max as a character needs to be done.

Honestly... I expected Max to just put a bullet through his brains... or catch a hot one from a random cop. So I was shocked that Max got to walk away. I think they, in a way, rebooted Max in the end, he is a grizzled cop, with enough of a rep, that it wouldn't be insane for a random bidder to find him in his island paradise.

You shed the weight of him losing his family, Mona, and for once being able to come through for Giovanna and her child. But yeah, I think they left it on a strong enough note, for Max to finally be able to walk away.

@falserelic said:

I hope rockstar brings out a forth max payne game.

The game sold a shit-load, so there most certainly will be a sequel at some point.

@Klei:

Eh, going from downing entire bottles of whiskey to a single beer is some progress.

@RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

It's not like endings matter all that much I mean wasnt he at peace at the end of MP2? Then what happend? He became more depressed than ever and somehow wound up in Brazil fighting a cause he didnt even care about.

I did enjoy Max Payne 3 but I felt as a character he was much less likeable in this game than any of the others. Every other word out of his mouth was just self-loathing and bitching, granted he liked to do that in the other games. But even then he tended to mix things up with a few laughable metaphors.

Personally I think it would've been better if he sarificed himself if only because it would prevent him from having to go through all of this again and have it be even less meaningful. I would like to see another game in this vein though, but give Max a break Rockstar ;p

@BoOzak said:

@RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

It's not like endings matter all that much I mean wasnt he at peace at the end of MP2? Then what happend?

Mona Sax died?

@Yummylee: Watch the end of MP2. Sure he was broken up about it but by the end he'd accepted not just her death but the death of his family.

Then he had a relapse, not outside the realms of possibility I know but it makes me lose respect for the character to think that after all that he hasnt grown.

New Mona Sax game dammit and didn't play MP2 on DOA for a off canon ending.

You know, most of the game got away with it because there was a lot of stuff going on narratively to justify Max going places, but then him going on his revenge trip through the police station and the airport made me realize just how many dudes I was laying waste to. Seriously, do none of these people have families? I must've murdered 150+ special forces dudes in those 2 levels. Like whoa.

Also, that final "bossfight" with Decker and his shield + grenade launcher was infuriating and stupid. I liked how people would show up in trucks and cars and all that, but man was that fight annoying. Ending seemed appropriate to me, though I wouldn't have been surprised if Max suffered a fatal wound in the closing minutes.

How fuckin boss would it have been if De Silva was just using max (like everyone else) to take out victor and becker so that he can rise to the ranks of the police force and then become this corrupt powerhouse in sao paulo and he puts a bullet into max on the runway. 
 
Real Noir shit right there.

@RedRoach: @RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

Since he killed bout 500 people and let everybody he was supposed to protect die I dont think his inner demons went away. Opposite of that.

I just want to know if he will turn in killer or drink himself to death.

@Danteveli:

I think the ending is more optimistic then that, he takes a last sip of beer and and literally walks off into the sunset to presumably start a fresh life somewhere, not to go off and die. Also, he didn't just let everyone die this time, he saved Giovanna.

Off topic but the fourth Die Hard should've totally been this game.

@Yummylee: I detest the idea that a Max Payne game can't be done if he's not in a depressive slump, on the brink of dying from drugs or alcohol. The tone of his inner-monologue can be changed, and it can be situational and played up or down for effect, like the first two games were. While the over-arcing goal for the first game was find out who killed his family and why, most of the monologue was situational and focused on Max's surroundings. In Max Payne 3 it's just kind of negative reinforcement over and over again.

@Napalm said:

@Yummylee: I detest the idea that a Max Payne game can't be done if he's not in a depressive slump, on the brink of dying from drugs or alcohol. The tone of his inner-monologue can be changed, and it can be situational and played up or down for effect, like the first two games were. While the over-arcing goal for the first game was find out who killed his family and why, most of the monologue was situational and focused on Max's surroundings. In Max Payne 3 it's just kind of negative reinforcement over and over again.

I'm admittedly not what you could call a Max Payne connoisseur, but I'm pretty sure the Max Payne series is overall based upon the oppressively tragic hero that is Max Payne himself. Even if as you say his mood jumps up & down during the original, it's still based around a significant loss in his life. Max Payne 2 he gets betrayed by his best friend (?) and Mona Sax dies. And now with Max Payne 3, he was initially struggling through all of that pent up depression and anger and self-hatred, and was drinking himself an early grave. Until of course he then finally decides to fuck it all, shave his head, and basically commit his entire existence to saving Giovanna. And he did! Despite once again being used and betrayed by near everyone he came into contact with.

And then of course the game ends with what is I imagine the happiest note the series has hit. If there was to be another Max Payne game, it would by design have to force something bad into Max's life to once again force him to for some reason pick up the dual pistols and lay waste to another country of thugs. It just wouldn't make sense and would basically be retreading Max Payne 3; he's redeemed himself (to some extent), and he's... probably the closest he'll ever be to being happy. I just don't want another contrived reason for Max to yet again star at the forefront of a Noir story because I'd say his arc is pretty much a done deal at this point. It's not necessarily because I just don't want to hear Max whining on to himself again, I just think that it wouldn't make sense and would contradict the character development he made in Max Payne 3.

Like @WilltheMagicAsian said, though, I'm certainly down for the idea of another game in the same vein as Max Payne, just one that's... not starring Max Payne :P

@Yummylee: I think you missed the entire point of my post, but I really don't feel like going back to it at this moment.

@Napalm: Really? Maybe I focussed too much on your opening sentence. It's also about to turn midnight over here after being awake since 4am so I'm not exactly in tip-top condition mentally speaking.

@Getz said:

@falserelic said:

I hope rockstar brings out a forth max payne game.

The game sold a shit-load, so there most certainly will be a sequel at some point.

Eh, if there is a company capable of 'ending' stories and not reviving them simply for money, it's RockStar. I wouldn't be shocked to see another game in the same vein as Max Payne, maybe in the same world, but I'm not confident they'll continue his story. I mean, look at some of their other games this generation. I don't suspect them continuing LA Noire or Red Dead Redemption. At least not direct sequels.

@Klei said:

@RedRoach said:

My problem with the ending was it didn't tell us if MAx has faced all of his demons. Is he finally at peace? Can he live a normal life? This is what I want to know.

You see him drinking. Do you really think he vanquished his inner demons? I think not. He said this himself numerous times : In the end, nothing changes.

Actually, I think he's drinking a soda. It looks one of the ones that you see in ads plastered all over the game, the green coke bottle between a woman's buttcheeks.

@LooseChange: yeah right there mate.

@hbkdx12 said:

How fuckin boss would it have been if De Silva was just using max (like everyone else) to take out victor and becker so that he can rise to the ranks of the police force and then become this corrupt powerhouse in sao paulo and he puts a bullet into max on the runway. Real Noir shit right there.

That would be a pretty great ending.

It was pretty surprising that Max didn't die at the end. I've got a friend who's unemployed and finishes games a lot faster than I do, so I asked him when he finished the game if Max died at the end, since I was okay with just knowing that. I got pretty excited about playing the game when I found this out.

I thought Max would die somewhere in this game, but I think it has a relatively positive ending for him. Looks like he can move on to some extent. I get the sense though that every time shit goes down though and things just get worse and worse so will he. That was my feeling with him in this game that he just feels like all the things that go wrong are his fault, even though they're not. (I think that, drink or no drink, Fabiana is going to get kidnapped seeing as 5 million thugs come after her).

I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. The cinematic style was very off putting at first but I adapted to it. Less film-noir this time and more Man on Fire.

Shooting felt fun though I was sad that bullet time shoot-dodging was less effective.

I think Da Silva not betraying MAx was supposed to be a lesson to Max that there are decent people in the world and not everyone is corrupt.

I think that it was pretty clear that Max was being indoctrinated the whole time, guys.

I felt like he had achieved some peace in the end. I hope there's no more Max Payne games. Rockstar is good about not milking their franchises to death, otherwise we'd have another Red Dead by now.

While we're at it@TeflonBilly said:

Maybe it's the sadist in me, but you should've done more than just break Victor's leg. Sure, let him live to face his sentence, but at least break both his arms and legs or shoot his jaw off or something. Some real permanent damage.

Then again, I'm the guy who went back and emptied several clips in that Mafia boss' kid's face to make sure he wouldn't have an open casket. Shooting people in Max Payne 3 was extremely satisfying cause everybody were such pieces of shit.

While we're at it, let's just cut him open, remove one of his kidneys, and give it back to the family of one of the corpses that was killed for his. Point being nothing is solved by it. He'd only have lowered himself to that which he found appalling.

I think one of the ways they can make a Max Payne 4 is by having Giavanna and her born child get into trouble. Maybe Passos does something stupid and gets in too deep with some bad people again. They seemed to be the only personal relationships to Max by the end of this 3rd game.

@Rudibager said:

I think one of the ways they can make a Max Payne 4 is by having Giavanna and her born child get into trouble. Maybe Passos does something stupid and gets in too deep with some bad people again. They seemed to be the only personal relationships to Max by the end of this 3rd game.

I felt something similar yet opposite might happen. They almost hint at the end that Max and Passos might end up squaring off. That could happen if the remaining survivors of those Max killed find Passos and his family and kill his wife and child as happened with Max in MP1. Passos might then blame Max for it and after drowning his sorrows, go after Max. It wouldn't necessarily make for a main plot, but perhaps an interesting side story. Then Max might talk Passos down after revealing the thugs were sent to send a strong message to Passos not to talk of the human trafficking Max told him about. So once again we might see the two team up and take limping Victor down for good.

@Frag_Maniac: Victor killed himself.

Didn't Max learn right from wrong like, 30 seconds before encountering Rodrigo Branco?

@DaSmart1 said:

I think Da Silva not betraying MAx was supposed to be a lesson to Max that there are decent people in the world and not everyone is corrupt.

I also thought that Max was going to shoot Victor until Da Silva said "Trust me", and Max decided to trust him. And given all the shit he'd been through, that said something.

So you wanted to negate the entire ending and plot by shooting Victor? Some people...

@TheSlothKing said:

@Frag_Maniac: Victor killed himself.

Actually they said it was a possible suicide, but it left me wondering if instead he faked his death and escaped. It wouldn't have been hard for a guy with as much wealth and contacts that he had access to do so. It just didn't make sense he'd go from so confident he'd walk to being suicidal. Guess we'll know if they make another one.

@Frag_Maniac said:

@TheSlothKing said:

@Frag_Maniac: Victor killed himself.

Actually they said it was a possible suicide, but it left me wondering if instead he faked his death and escaped. It wouldn't have been hard for a guy with as much wealth and contacts that he had access to do so. It just didn't make sense he'd go from so confident he'd walk to being suicidal. Guess we'll know if they make another one.

I have this funny feeling that Victor was 'suicided' by some other corrupt person in power, just to clean up loose ends. Or at least that's the impression I got anyway. I'm sure many people were involved in the corruption due to the number of different groups involved and so a chance to get rid of the instigator would be ideal. That's just my crackpot theory though.

I absolutely loved the ending itself. I was so happy to see that they didn't kill off Max because by the end he had completed a mission, actually saved some lives and was obviously in a good place mentally. I honestly wouldn't mind if they never made another Max Payne game. It's such a perfect ending and such a nice end for the character I was just left so happy at the end for him. Sure human beings aren't perfect and he could easily relapse and become miserable again but I liked the finality of it. Hell I think they could do another Max Payne fine and not have him be so miserable, you could still make a noir story. I don't remember Max in 2 being as miserable in comparison and 3 felt like we were experiencing the lowest point of his life (well after losing his wife and child that is). I wouldn't mind seeing some DLC to show Max sorting out the warring mafia groups in New Jersey, putting an end to both of them, but that's just me thinking out loud :)

@mr_woo: Im also glad they didn't just kill off Max. I hope they don't make another Max Payne game ,but I hope they make a new IP but in a similar vein to MP.

Guys, please, stop with this no more MP games, it's a bad omen.

Seriously though, I do get a bit tired of some of the writing in this one. Though it flows with smoother, more heart felt voicing than the last two IMO, it contradicts itself in some ways and is a bit too cheesy at times. Giovonna in an instant goes from being frantic to confidently coaching Max on how to break into a building, while Passos goes from poking fun at Max for being a pussy to acting like one himself when the shit hits the fan. It does have some good humor and revelatory self analysis, but at times it also breaks down to a poor conveyance of the obvious.

It's odd how many that don't like the styling of this one complain of Max always being absorbed in drinking and self pity though. Have they even seen how it ends yet? Does anyone else play arcade mode as beach short Max? No other Max Payne game had him looking so nonchalant and care free in the end as this one. I for one want to see another Max Payne, and who cares if it parallels another story as this one did Man on Fire. As long as the core gameplay is as stellar as in this one, I could care less if Max Payne 4 has Max as Pacino and Passos as Deniro in their own version of Heat.

OK, maybe not THAT obvious, but if it vaguely follows someone else's story, as long as it's done well, I won't consider it a deal breaker. The thing is, regarding replay value, once you know the story, you can't rely on that alone to keep you wanting to play it. It has to have challenging gameplay with many possible tactics to keep it fresh, and there MP3 excels.

Will Max Payne's journey through the night continue? Only the end credits can truly answer that question.

...But there was no "Late Goodbye Part II: Later Goodbye," so I didn't watch long enough to find out.