Max Payne is a classic. It was the game that brought slowing down time in a shooter to prominence. Of course, this mechanic has been done to death in games, and at this point, it is more of an annoyance in most games.
Max Payne Mobile ($2.99) 
However, with this game, it does not feel like a played out mechanic, since it has not been done to death on the iPhone as it has on consoles. In addition, you cannot really fault them; they are the trendsetter, after all.
When Max Payne was first announced on iOS, the gaming community was cautiously optimistic. We all wondered how well Max Payne would work on a mobile device. Would the visuals be impressive? How would the controls feel on a touch screen? Well the game is out, and all of the answers are before us.
Presentation
Max Payne looks like a game that was made in 2001. That is not to say it looks bad, but it does not look nearly as good as games built specifically for the Retina Display. Graphically, the game shines more in terms of environments than it does in character models. The facial animation on characters is pretty much nonexistent and the overall movements do not look like anything special.
Still, when the put the sum of Max Payne’s parts together, it looks solid. It is not the most beautiful game you will ever lay eyes on by any stretch, but for an 11-year-old game, it looks pretty damn good. However, the frame rate can get a little choppy in spots, especially if you are playing the game on an older device.
The story of Max Payne is as good as it ever was, and let me tell you, it was always incredible. While the gameplay has some issues, which I will get to later, the story alone is worth the price of admission, especially if you did not play it when it first came out. The tale of Max having to avenge his family is so well done. The voice acting might not be on par with some of today’s games, but it is so well written that it does not matter.
Controls
The controls in Max Payne are not great. I found myself having to fight the controls throughout my entire time playing the game. You move with a virtual analog stick on the left side of the screen, and you look and aim with the right side. Standard stuff here, but the problem is the virtual analog stick for aiming is basically in the shoot and slow down time buttons.
You can use the options to edit the location and size of the on-screen buttons, but no matter where I put them, I still found myself hitting them when I was actually trying to initiate aiming. Thankfully, the game partially auto aims to enemies, or else it would be almost unplayable with how frustrating the controls can be.
Once you get used to the controls the game at least becomes playable, but just be prepared for spending some time becoming accustomed to the poor controls. They are worth getting used to, because diving around in slow motion and shooting people in the face is as fun as it ever was.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Max Payne is still a ton of fun, even 11 years after it first came out. It is a third person shooter that sees Max jumping around and slowing down time to shoot everyone who stands in his way of finding out what happened to his family and stopping the Valkyr drug. You will find yourself slowing down time while diving at enemies and blasting them with a large array of weaponry available in the game.
Besides slowing down time, the game plays like a pretty standard third person action game. You run around, solve puzzles and try to move to the next objective. The puzzle solving is not a huge part of the game, but they help break up the shooting gallery every now and again and keep things exciting and fun.
Shooters have come a long way since Max Payne, so I was genuinely surprised with how much fun it is. The gameplay holds up very well consider the amount of the time that has gone by since it was first released.
Suggestions
The controls are not good. It’s clear that Rockstar spent a lot of time trying to get the controls right, but it just doesn’t work as well I would have hoped, which is a real shame considering how well done the port is otherwise. If they made a better control system this game would be one of the greats, but with the frustrating controls, it holds the game back a great deal.
Conclusion
Max Payne for iOS is a good game. It has the potential to be a great game, but is hampered by some pretty weak controls. If you compare the fluid, accurate controls of a game like Mass Effect to Max Payne, the difference is highly visible. It is still worth playing for the awesome story and fun gameplay, but it is not nearly as good as it could have been if they had nailed the controls. 7/10
