1) Max Payne 3
This is one of those games that I got as a rental through red box, found out that there was only one disc in the case, couldn't finish the game, then got the full game and never finished. Poorly punctuated, and grammatically incorrect sentences aside, I put about an hour into the second half once I bought the full version, but I never really went back to it until just recently. Once I picked it back up, I couldn't stop playing it again. Max Payne 3 isn't a very long game by single player campaign standards, but it's still longer than most first person shooters and the total run time usually takes around 8 hours. I haven't finished it yet, but here's what I think so far.
I remember playing through most of the first game of the series long ago, and at the time it felt pretty game changing. I understand that the development of the franchise has changed hands since then, but I never got to the second title. That being said, I haven't been too hung up about any tonal shifts in the game's central plot arc or with the overall tone or style of the story telling. However, since I started playing this game last year, I have gotten increasingly more annoyed by the cinematic style used between game play sequences. It borrows pretty heavily from 2004's hit movie Man on Fire with text popping up on the screen periodically for emphasis. The concept seemed pretty cool for the first couple of hours. Beyond that, I got pretty burned out, and I'm not one to skip cut scenes so I continue to endure it.
Rockstar always does a really great job with dialogue though, so even though the narration is riddled with cliche, and many of the game's central characters have as much depth as the plastic disk the game is written on, It makes things extremely entertaining for a late 1980s action flick fan like me. That's pretty much what this game is though. It's exactly like a dark, convoluted tribute to the great action flicks of years gone by.
The violence of this game can also be jarring at times, but then again shooting people in narrow corridors in the seedy underbelly of Brazil should make players uncomfortable. There is no glorification of violence to be found here even though gore is abundant. Furthermore, Max is never glorified for his actions in any way. For most of the game so far, Max is nothing more than a fall guy for some of the campaign's more nefarious characters. He drinks, he pops pills, he smokes, and he's basically the most miserable thug you could imagine. Whether or not he finds his redemption has yet to be seen, but whether or not he deserves it is the grander question.
2) Driver: San Francisco
I know my fellow blog founder reviewed this game a while back, but I never bothered to touch this game until the other day, and I'm still pretty glad I did so far. I feel like I've been playing nothing but shooters lately, and a little change of pace was just what the doctor ordered. I haven't played a Driver game since the days of the original Playstation, and I felt that Stuntman for the PS2 didn't really hit all the free roaming notes that I expected it to. Hence, I had little interest in the franchise up until this point. But there it was, sitting in that binder sleeve just staring at me.
Driver: SF is another game with a relatively short run time for a free roaming game. The main campaign missions take around 10 hours to complete, and I think I must have put in around three or four hours so far. The mission types stay true to what I remember from the good old Driver days, with a little bit of the stunt work from Stuntman mixed in for flavor. Still, SF puts a new spin on things by introducing the "Shift" mechanic, whereby the main protagonist can take control of other driver's bodies, and drive any car he wants.
The ability is introduced by one of the most convoluted and highly improbable plot deliveries imaginable, but who cares? Shifting opens up a whole new level of player strategy that keeps things entertaining even though some of the game objectives start to become repetitive. It's plain to see that Driver: SF isn't too interested in taking itself seriously either. After I had completed a few of the main story missions, I was treated to a little "Previously on Driver: San Francisco" vignette that recapped several of the main plot points so far. It was pretty great, and also pretty cheesy.
If Max Payne 3 is the equivalent of a 1980s action movie, then Driver: SF is best summarized as a 1980s buddy cop show with an emphasis on driving. It's kind of like Smokey and the Bandit, but you're the cop....and you are in a coma....but you are solving crimes in your mind. Yeah...it sounds stupid, but the game is really quite fun, and the visual fidelity is pretty awesome for a free roaming car game. Car models all look true to their real life counterparts, and every vehicle drives differently.
I also like the fact that you can purchase different vehicles with in game currency. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the fact that you can jump into any vehicle, but you sometimes bounce back to a default ride for specific city events. I haven't finished the game yet, but the story seems good enough to carry things through to the end.
As things slow down for the summer release season, it looks like I will still have plenty of blog fodder to chug through in my backlog. There are a couple of action RPGs that I have been too intimidated to touch yet, but they will most likely take a pretty good chunk of time, and they will keep me busy enough to prevent me from spending all of my money before the new consoles launch in the winter. Until then.
Stay Frosty!
~Krimmit
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