Something tells us an official Max Payne clothing line might not go over very well...

If 2003’s Max Payne 2 was subtitled The Fall of Max Payne, then the long-awaited third game is The Near-Death Experience of Max Payne. Seriously, this is 12 hours with a broken shell of a man who’s so far past the proverbial edge that he’s practically undead. Max has nothing to live for and nothing to lose, so he might as well shoot a few thousand scumbags before one of them inevitably takes him down.

In typical Rockstar fashion (the publisher inherited the series from Remedy), Max Payne 3 presents a much darker, edgier protagonist. The first two games cast Max as a razor-sharp instrument of vengeance, whereas here he’s a rusty, serrated blade who’s going to leave scars. Voice actor James McCaffrey returns as Max and steals the show, again delivering the character’s dulled sarcasm with pitch-perfect petulance and pessimism. The wildly eclectic soundtrack also sparkles, while the gorgeous visuals leave little to be desired.

Just another typical road-rage incident in New Jersey.

Though the tone may differ from the earlier games’, the frantic, third-person action remains. A very necessary cover system has been added, but Max Payne 3 does its best to encourage liberal gunfire, Bullet Time, and painkiller-popping with little regard for resource conservation — there’s always more of each around the next corner. The Euphoria-powered physics-animation system makes it a joy to leap around these environments, and the best levels are ones where glass is shattering and debris is flying. The occasional scripted Bullet Time sequences (riding a chain in a warehouse, shooting a rocket out of the air) are all grin-inducing spectacles worthy of their slow-motion delivery.

Sadly, an unhealthy chunk of Payne’s 12 hours involves replaying certain sections quite a few times. Not only is the game plenty difficult even on the default Medium setting (not a bad thing), but it sometimes feels unfair as well (not a good thing). For instance, you’ll occasionally have to fight a heavily armed and armored mini-boss, and if you kill his pals and happen to be standing away from cover when the big boy makes his scripted entrance, one of his high-caliber bullets will drop you before you can even move. On the tough Docks mission, meanwhile, you can easily shoot-dodge off the piers, which usually results in instant death if Max hits the water.

Melee moves trigger brutal executions — and also let you steal the victim's gun!

Seemingly cognizant of how tough it can be, the game gives you an extra bottle of health-restoring painkillers for every few times you restart at the same spot, but the situation is gratingly exacerbated by Max Payne 3’s erratic checkpoint system. More often than not, you’ll have to replay painfully long stretches of white-knuckle sequences, turning levels into chores, not treats.

Also head-scratching are the scoped-weapon controls. Bafflingly, the thumbsticks reverse when you’re aiming with a sniper rifle or scoped machinegun, meaning the left stick suddenly looks around while the right stick zooms in or out. It’s such a jarring transition that we chose to simply avoid using a scope, even when the game clearly wanted us to.

In multiplayer, Bullet Time will trigger only if you shoot-dodge with another person in your sights.

Fortunately, Max Payne 3’s extensive multiplayer suite offers none of these annoyances. We found its vanilla deathmatch modes pretty forgettable, but both Payne Killer and Gang Wars are terrific. The former is a heated battle where one player is Max (replete with Bullet Time powers, Uzis akimbo, and painkillers), another is SAW-toting ally Passos, and everyone else is trying to take them down. The simple goal — kill the heroes to become them — is devilishly appealing. Gang Wars, meanwhile, plays out as a series of branching, team-based objective games such as territory capture and VIP, with the victors crowned only at the end of all five rounds. Class-based powers (Bullet Time, health bonuses, and so on) add extra flavor to this mode, while the addition of “crews” (i.e., clans you can take into any Rockstar game) further complement the team dynamic.

On the single-player side, supplemental campaign modes like the time-based New York Minute and flair-favoring Score Attack add ample replay value. Strip away the game’s various modes and issues, though, and Max Payne 3 is, at its core, a compelling action game in its very own sub-genre. More epic than the likes of Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta and packed with more personality than most entire first-person shooters, Max Payne 3 is a unique brand of entertainment. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait almost a decade for another dose of it.

Smartly, multiplayer is split up into two playlists: soft-lock targeting (hold LT near an enemy to lock in on them) and free-aim.

PUBLISHER: Rockstar Games  •  DEVELOPER: Rockstar Studios  •  ESRB: Mature  •  MULTIPLAYER: Up to 16 over Xbox Live  •  ACHIEVEMENTS: Better learn to free-aim!  •  COST: $60  •  AVAILABLE: May 15, 2012

On Xbox 360

+ Brutal, gory action; great writing; exciting set-pieces and scripted Bullet-Time moments.

+ Stellar production values; compelling multiplayer modes.

– Poor checkpoint spacing induces frustration; awful scoped-weapon sequences; geometry sometimes becomes your enemy.

? Would Max Payne and Sam Fisher make great drinking buddies? We think so.

8.0