Max Payne Review

Originally released by Rockstar Games in 2001, Max Payne was the title that popularized the "bullet time" mechanic. The titular Payne is a hardboiled cop who, after experiencing a family tragedy, finds himself waist-deep in a noir story full of blood, bullets and just a little bit of humor.


Max Payne Mobile is a complete port of the Xbox/PC original. The full, multiple hour game is present, alongside a robust set of control options and a reworked menu interface. You can play through the entirety of Max's first adventure with enhanced stat-tracking courtesy of Rockstar Social Club. A built-in cheats option lets players skip around the game's stages at will.

The controls in particular deserve special attention. To help make up for the limits of the touchscreen, Rockstar has smartly offered the ability to move the virtual buttons anywhere on the screen, and included a number of aim-assist options. Spending a substantial amount of time with the control options and fine-tuning them to your needs makes the touch-controlled experience a little less frustrating.


While over a decade old, seeing Max Payne running on a cellphone is nonetheless exciting -- at least initially. The flexible touch control options are welcome, but no amount of tweaking changes the fact that the clumsy controls diminish the fun of precisely aim Max's guns while diving into a room in slow-motion. Instead of feeling like a badass as you enter bullet-time and fire a few well-timed shots, Max flops through the air, spraying bullets and relying on auto-aim. You can turn off all aim-assists, but good luck hitting anything with regularity. The virtual sticks might have been Rockstar's best option, but they end up making combat uninteresting and frustrating.


Max Payne purportedly supports the iPhone 3GS and up, but on an iPhone 4 the framerate suffers significantly any time more than a couple enemies are on screen, On an iPad 2 (or newer) device, the action runs just fine. It's already hard enough to control Max as it is without fighting the game's optimization.

Even with its technical issues, Max Payne's narrative remains entertaining. The writing deftly mixes humor with the bizarre, crafting a yarn that still engages after all these years. It isn't enough to warrant playing through the multiple-hour campaign on its own, but it certainly helps lessen the blow of the clunky controls.


If you're looking to jump into the Max Payne saga before the third game releases later this year, then Max Payne iOS isn't a bad option. The controls are a letdown, and you should be aware that your experience might vary depending on your device, but it's a decent way to check out the game that started the series. The game's aggressive $3 price tag also helps push it into "impulse buy" territory.

• More Wireless Reviews
• Latest Wireless News, Reviews, and Videos