GOG really needs to get this series! The wishlist has over 14,000 votes!

The shooting mechanics are awful. Enemies can hit you through walls and can track you wherever. It's extremely bland with absolutely no progression. :P

Fair enough, the way the shooting in Max Payne is done differs from many other shooters. It takes a bit to get used to. But the controls are spot on and responsive. What do you mean by progression?

And L.A. Noire, Midnight Club series, Manhunt series, State of Emergency, Oni (I'm not sure with this one)... some of them are pretty good games.

It does look like it would be payneful to play.... <leaves quickly>

Max Payne 1 aged like milk, but it was the hot shit on PC back in the day. I specifically remember Remedy giving their new tech to 3DMark once to show off the new capabilities of the engine because it was so cutting edge! Plus it had a then-untainted 3D Realms stamp of approval, so it definitely propelled Remedy into high regard amongst gamers.

The second game was a pretty good sequel, and still manages to look decent in the visual department. Max Payne 3 was also good fun, and personally I probably fall in the camp that doesn't mind the style switch. I'm somewhat glad R* went with their own spin on the series rather then copy Remedy's 1:1, though the beginning to MP3 taking place in New York is a nice nod to the series roots.

I wouldn't mind seeing more R* Games come here to GOG, though I wouldn't count on it. I've always been a fan of their games all the way back to GTA 2, even though they've had a spotty relationship with the PC fans. Manhunt is probably one of my favorite games of theirs, for many reasons. The atmosphere, the subject matter, the amazing soundtrack, the bleak look into how low humanity can sink, and not to mention that game led to my S/O of 4 years and even some friendships. It's like playing a Carpenter movie and I love it for that. Too bad the sequel sucked and went for more of a Hostel angle (which I also hate).

Oni is developed by Bungie and State of Emergency is developed by VIS. IIRC though, R* published the PS2 version of Oni and the console versions of State of Emergency. Personally I found both games to be rather mediocre.

I'd like to see Max Payne here, for sure.

I think the graphics are incredibly good for the time, and even today the character models look *great* keeping in mind their low poly count.

Gameplay is decent, but the game is unfortunately far too linear and predictable to have much replay value for me. It always just plays the same. And I can understand what some mean by the "lack of progression", although that sort of progression isn't imho critical for a game like this. But anyway, there's why I'd ultimately rate it way below my favorite shooters.

Still, I'd love to play the game again. I've played the first game a few times, the second game only once. I don't remember much of the second game. I don't know if I've played the third game at all.

The bullet-time gimmick was hot shit back in 2001 because people, or at least me, were still amazed by the slow-mo action sections of the Matrix movies and such. "Yeah, this is like in the Matrix movie, wow!".

I recall liking the first game, but not enough to play it through twice as IIRC there was some optional ending or an extra difficulty level after you had completed it once. It was so linear that I didn't see the point of playing it again, frankly.

I should check it again whether it looks as good as it felt back then. I recall showing the MP2 trailer to a friend of mine, and he couldn't believe it was actual game graphics. He said he was going to buy a gaming PC and that game, after seeing the trailer.

PC version of Oni was published by Gathering of Developers, just like Max Payne was.

That's the thing, a game doesn't have to be non-linear, or has 500 upgrades, or branching levels, or open world or whatever to be replayable. Just like I can watch a movie or read a book several times, I can replay a linear game. I've played Max Payne 7 times, not because its non linear, but because it's fun.

Strange opinion, since in my view the game is full of memorable moments. Set pieces, dialogue, story moments etc. And there is a story, a story of revenge.

"Strange" doesn't even begin to cover it. Max Payne is probably the most story driven action game that I know. Hell, I've played plenty adventure games and even RPGs that don't hold a candle to it in that department.

I played through both Max Payne 1 & 2 again recently, both run well in Wine (and there are no sound issues with Max Payne as there are on Windows). It would be great to see them released here, plus as Max Payne 3, at least for the sake of series completion. I've never played Max Payne 3 so I can't comment much about it, but I do have it in my Steam account from somewhere or another though... guess I'll have to acquire a crack for it at some point & see how it runs in Wine after Wine's D3D11 support has improved enough. Anyway the first two games at least would be instabuys for me if they were released here, despite my original retail copies still working fine.

Also, related comic: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/07/30

I still say he is the all time most constipated looking game character in gaming history.

Yup. In the blessed age of MSN instant messenger's handwriting tool, we used to communicate amongst friends with a lot of drawings. It was the Max Payne era, so, needless to say, Max Payne on the toilet was a recurring theme.