Max Payne Mobile

Review by eFreeware

Plenty of Android shooters are built for short bursts: a few minutes of tapping, a level cleared, the phone back in a pocket. Anyone who wants a proper story campaign with a beginning, a middle and an ending has a much narrower set of options. Max Payne Mobile exists to fill exactly that gap.

The premise is pure noir. You play a fugitive undercover cop who has been framed for murder and is being hunted by both the police and the mob, fighting a battle he has little hope of winning. The story follows his attempt to clear his name while digging into what happened to his family, and it is told through a plot that keeps turning on itself. That framing matters, because it explains why the shooting feels the way it does.

This is a paid download at $2.99, with no advertising and in-app purchases. It carries a Mature 17+ rating, and the install needs 1.33 GB of free storage before it will go on your device. The mobile version was handled by War Drum Studios, and the game has been on Android since June 2012.

Slow motion as the whole idea

The feature everything else hangs on is Bullet Time, the slow-motion gunplay the original game introduced to the genre. Rather than being a novelty you trigger for a set piece, it is the core of how combat is meant to be played: you slow the action down, line up your shots and come out of it before the room fills with return fire. It is the reason the game still gets talked about.

Around that sits a third-person shooter with a dark, twisted tone. The game offers an HD presentation with sharp textures, and you can adjust graphic settings to trade visual quality against how smoothly it runs on your hardware. On Tegra 3 devices specifically, the developer promises extra texture filtering and improved lighting.

The controls are where a port like this lives or dies. Max Payne Mobile offers touch controls tailored to phones, a high degree of customization and more than one aiming mode, so you can settle on a scheme that suits how you hold the device. It also supports the GameStop Wireless Game Controller and selected USB gamepads, and includes haptic vibration feedback. If you already own a controller, that is likely to be the more comfortable way to play.

A campaign, cheats and stat tracking

Structurally this is a story-driven single-player game rather than a set of endless modes. The draw is the campaign and the plot revelations along the way, with the shooting sequences carrying you between them. That shape suits playing in longer sittings, following the story rather than fitting rounds into spare minutes.

Rockstar Games Social Club integration adds a layer on top: you can unlock cheats and track your stats through it. One of those cheats lets you skip to a level, and the developer advises having weapons in your inventory before using it, because you begin the new level carrying whatever you currently have. That is a small detail, but it saves an awkward opening.

The game ships with support for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. The most recent update is described only as general bug fixes and improvements, so there is no new content to expect from it. It holds a 3.6 average from roughly 44,953 ratings, which is a middling score for a title with this reputation elsewhere.

What the $2.99 covers

That is a straightforward arrangement compared with the free-to-play shooters that dominate the category.

In-app purchases are present, so the initial price is not necessarily the whole picture.

The other costs are practical rather than financial. You need at least 1.33 GB free before installing, which is worth checking on a phone that is already full. And if you want to play with a physical controller rather than on-screen controls, that is hardware you supply yourself.

Who this fits

The clearest audience is players who remember the original and want it on a phone or tablet, particularly if they have a controller to pair with it. The slow-motion gunplay and the noir story are the reasons the game is remembered, and both are present here. Anyone who enjoys third-person shooters with a strong narrative pull and does not mind a dark, violent tone should find plenty to work through.

It also suits players who prefer a straightforward purchase. The absence of ads and the fixed price point make it a simpler proposition than most of what sits around it in the arcade category.

The touch controls are the part I would think about hardest. Customizable layouts and multiple aiming modes are a genuine effort to make the game work without a controller, but shooters of this type demand precision, and a physical gamepad is likely to feel better for anyone who has one. If you are choosing between this and a lighter mobile shooter for short sessions, the story-driven structure here points to longer, more committed play.

The device list and the rating

A long compatibility list still names specific phones and tablets from the early 2010s, including Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Sony models. That list reads as a snapshot of the hardware available when the game launched. The adjustable graphic settings are the more practical lever, letting you dial the presentation to suit the device in your hand.

A score in that range on a re-release of a well-regarded title is worth noting. It is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to go in with realistic expectations about the controls.

With half a million installs, there is a reasonable body of players who have taken the plunge. The game has been available since June 2012, so it has not been left to rot.

A purchase for noir fans with a controller

Max Payne Mobile is a $2.99 purchase that puts a story-driven, slow-motion shooter on Android without ads interrupting it. The Bullet Time mechanic remains the centerpiece, the campaign is built around a revenge plot with plenty of twists, and the port offers adjustable graphics, customizable touch controls, multiple aiming modes and support for a physical controller.

I would point it at players who want a complete single-player shooter with a strong atmosphere and are happy to pay once for it. If you own a compatible gamepad, the case is stronger still, because that is likely to be the most comfortable way to play. The 1.33 GB install requirement and the presence of in-app purchases are the two things to check before buying.

For anyone who values the noir mood and the slow-motion gunplay over a quick pick-up-and-play loop, this is an easy recommendation. For players who mostly want short, casual sessions on a phone, the structure and the precision the shooting demands make it a harder sell.

What's new in version 2.1.131

General bug fixes and improvements