Max Payne Remedy Software ( PC MA15+ )

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * * * )

It might be time to flick through the Herald and check out computer prices. For few PC-owners will have the sort of system needed to get the best out of Max Payne, possibly the best action game ever.

It needs a gigahertz processor, 192mb ram and a 3D video card with a further 64mb of ram to run with all the graphical goodies switched on. But Max Payne is so good it's almost worth spending the money on a suitable system.

The game has some of the best graphics to date. In-game action blends seamlessly with the cut scenes to create an environment in which it's easy to suspend disbelief.

Add a script that's worthy of a feature film and some Matrix-style slowmo shoot-ups and the result is a must-have game.

Max Payne will run on a 450mHz processor, with a mere 96mb ram and a 16mb card, but a lot of the options have to be toggled off. Imagine driving a Porsche with a Toyota engine.

The game is set in New York, and centres around Max Payne, a NYPD detective whose wife and child were executed by the Mob during a break-in at his home.
Four years pass before the game starts and by then Payne is working for the federal drug-enforcement agency as an undercover cop.

But tragedy strikes again when his boss is gunned down during a routine bust. Payne is the suspect, and finds himself being hunted by his former colleagues and the Mob.

What follows is a gritty journey through the city's seamy underside, peopled by the debris of humanity. The game is broken into three stages, much like a play, with 10 levels in each one. At the conclusion of important events, we're given tantalising glimpses of a bigger picture, which build to a startling climax.

Watch out for some quite graphic footage. This is a game for grown-ups, so remember that a gigahertz processor renders blood most realistically.

peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz