Growing up, there almost wasn’t a single day I spent not playing video games. I would stay up late at night, wake up early before school, or hop on one as soon as I got home day after day after day. Now if any of them had one thing in common , it would be that they almost always had me thoroughly engrossed; completely and utterly hooked. Almost literally a drug to me, I saw no end to how much I could sit around and stare at a TV screen and hold a controller. I can name off numerous titles I played and finished but there is one I can near vividly remember: Max Payne.
The game itself was extremely gloomy and had grim themes surrounding all of it. Centered around New York cop Max Payne, his wife and child are murdered in cold blood by three men high off a drug named, “valkyr,” he goes on a vendetta to find the origin if the substance and why his family was targeted. The creators of the game decided that the only way he could solve his problems was by shooting and killing near everyone in his way to the find truth. In almost every situation he is placed against insurmountable odds which he has to rise above. Aside from the endless killing, the game itself was not as mindless as it seems. It was still a cop story that included that gritty noir theme while the plot is told through game play and novel panels which are similar to comic strips. Not only based upon detective stories, the developers also incorporated Norse mythology and several names of places or things in the game are related to this.
This game was blatantly not meant for children; although at that time what did I know? Not only did I have zero clue of what was going on , nobody ever explained to me that those kind of things were supposed to be off limits for a kid my age so I put heavy levels of effort into the games themselves . The violence and vulgar language probably should have had some sort of effect on my psyche or how I acted; but I think I turned out level headed.
Years and years have passed since I played Max Payne and that nostalgic feeling I get whenever I hear the name reminds of a time when I was very much
free in mind. Today I view the world with so many constraints sometimes I find it hard to suspend disbelief for movies or even games, unlike when I was young. Back then I didn't think that much about things I just had enjoyed what I had. Nowadays it seems I hold myself back because of how often I over complicate things in my head. I wrote this blog because I wanted to remind myself of a game I used to adore, and because I knew it would help evoke memories from my childhood. Of a time for me when a game didn't ever seem to be as ridiculous or over the top as it does now.
