One of my favorite games of all time!

I've played quite a few video games in my lifetime, but none have grabbed me half as much as the Max Payne games. I love the dark neo-noir vibe the series gives off. And the first of the series is no exception. This game is brilliant. This game holds up today and that is amazing. Especially considering this games age, I've tried to replay many games from my childhood and none of them seem to be close to how good I viewed them to be as a kid. But this is one game where no matter how many times I play it just keeps getting better. The story is gripping and its a shame that 20th Century Fox messed up the movie the way they did. Because I feel that if they movie even had half as much intensity and story telling ability as the game, it would've been a success. The game play in this game is its best feature. It was unrivaled back then and as far as I'm concerned it remains unrivaled now. The bullet time is fantastic, it forces you to create ways to take out your enemies using it, because if you don't use it you will be dead. The painkiller health system is also done well. You can't just use all your painkillers at once, you have to conserve them until you absolutely need them. The pain killer system is a creative way to replenish your health instead of just regenerating it when your injured, it makes you responsible for healing yourself. The gun play is stellar and compliments bullet time very well. Not enough good things can be said about this games game play. The graphics are great for 2000, I've seen games made 2-6 years later with worse graphics. That just tells you how good they were for that time. You obviously can't compare them to the kind of games that are out today. But for their time that are good. WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS, BUT ONLY IN THIS PARAGRAPH SKIP UNTIL YOU SEE MORE CAPS TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW And that brings us to the story. It is a simple but well crafted revenge plot. It's been years since Max Payne's wife and baby daughter have been killed. Max's friend Alex finds something out relating to their murder but before Alex can tell Max, he is killed. Sending Max on a violent revenge fueled rampage involving mobsters, cops, and a company called Aesir. Thats as much as I would dare to spoil about this terrific game. SPOILERS ARE DONE The story is well thought out, dark, and takes many twists and turns. Its a dark neo-noir thrill ride that puts a lot of Hollywood films to shame. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves dark stories. The game is somewhat difficult at times so I wouldn't recommend it to casual gamers (I'm using "casual gamer" in the sense that you aren't that good at games, I rarely play video games so to most people I would be considered casual, but I'm very good at them) but if you are up for a challenging game with stellar game play and a great plot this game is for you. 10/10 (There are only a handful of games I would even think about rating this high)