It was 2003 when Max Payne 2 came out, a sequel to a bloody, faul language game that had me go through its campaing at least 12 times. Bullet time was my old time favorite, and going through some of Max's darkest dreams was always a riddle on its own...Now Max Payne 3 is here..we find an older Max, boozed and high on pills, the same old demons inside his head...His old self in a brand new game...Max Payne 3 will take you for a wild ride from the minute you start until the very end. I started playing the game last night at midnight and haven't been able to put it down until now; a solid single player will keep you on your toes and the various multiplayer options will keep you occupied for many hours to come.The story begins with Max finding himself working in Brazil for a private security company looking after a real state big shot, whom puts Max in charge of his wife's security..of course, she is kidnapped..and that's as far as I will go...NO SPOILERS here. The main story is great, it will keep you intrigued from start to end, I can't go into much detail, but I can promise you this, it is a wild ride. You will be taken from Brazil to the US and back. The story will unfold in ways you won't expect and I guarantee you will like every bit of it, I can't say more without spoiling it, so I'll stop with one phrase, get ready, this is the best Payne so far. An explosive end awaits you.The game looks amazing, from face animation to environments, everything has been done with extreme detail and it truly paid off for Rock Star, this is an A++ game. From shadows, to night lights, to gun battles, you will have plenty of eye candy to enjoy; it is a gorgeous game.If you have a surround sound system, get ready to get your face melted; the deep bass and sharp bullets sounds make this an experience like no other. The voice work is top notch filled with plenty of faul language and taunts, it's the old payne we knew from before. One of my favorite aspects of the game, sound wise, is the background music, a bit slow mo samba, with a twist of drama, keeps the atmosphere in suspense, the music caliber of hollywood big budgets; the voice work, specially from the locals, is dead on, Portuguese is spoken and NOT translated, giving the game a true authenticity the reflects what you would feel in that situation when you find yourself in a foreign land not knowing the language and its slangs. A true masterpiece.I'm happy to report that the controls are solid, I had no issues popping fools left and right and best of all, BULLET TIME is back! oh yeah, fans of the series will be pleased and new comers will know what's all about. Bullet time gives Max the ability to slow down battle time and shoot your way out of tricky situations. You basically have a Bullet Time meter that gets used every time, but can be filled by killing enemies or when you're getting shot at. The covering systems is as good as always, but this time be careful, some cover can be destroyed and will leave you out in the open, so be prepared to move quickly. Rockstar added a "Final Kill Camera" which basically will let you know that you've cleared and area, you can slow the camera down for a more intense view :)The game is rated "M" for mature and for good reason, there's plenty of booze, pills and sexual themes to go abound, so make sure under age kids don't play this. Max has to actually take pain killers as means to recover health (like good old times)Targetting is has three stages, Hard Lock, which will lock whatever enemey is closer to you; Soft Lock, requires you to aim closer to targets and OFF, which basically turns targetting assistance off.Enemy AI, I was worried at first, but again, RockStar has pulled it off, there's nothing dumb about those fools. They will take cover and try their best to make you bleed.Multiplayer: The multiplayer aspect of this game is fun and addictive and it has the following modes and sub-modes:Matchmaking: Join or creat your own party/game.PlayLists:Traning modes...deathmatch and team deathmatch for players new to the whole Max Payne MP experience (basically all of us)DeathMatch: every gangster for himselfTeam DeathMatch: Work with your gang to kill your rivalsPayne Killer: a blend of co-op and competetive play. The game starts with a standoff, whoever kills first, gets to be Max Payne and Raul Passos.Large DeathMatch: up to 16 players killing each other.Large Team DeathMatch: same as above, but in teams.Gang Wars (my favorite:Key events from the single player story are used as start off points. Gang Wars has the following:Warfare... all out battle for supremacyShowdown... battle to the death, the gang's strength depends on the previous roundsSurvivor....limited team livesLast Stand... each gang member has only ONE life.TakeDown... a target based mode. Take out the target and kill everybody else.Short Fuse... arm a bomb and protect the one doing it.Delivery...both gangs must collect and deliver items to a locationGrab....gangs fight to capture two bags and delivery themTurf Grab....battle for turfTotal Turf...fight for multiple turf sectionsSiege...pinned, one gang must hold on to 3 territories.Passage... one gang runs for their life while being hunted by the other (one of my favorites)If you want sex, alcohol, drugs, psycho episodes and plenty of blood, then Max Payne 3 is for you; a complete game by all means. Great story, awesome mechanics, gore and Bullet Time...Max is defenitely back.So there you have it, another solid game from the dudes at Rock Star, these guys have been in business for a long time and they always deliver. Kudos to them.