Viqor played Max Payne

Nearly, but didn't quite, finished Max Payne. I got through some of the most irritating sections of the game (3 guy with gernade launchers at the end of a long hallway? Thanks Remedy!). I honestly think that Max Payne is one of those games that is best played on the normal difficulty level. This is because Max Payne is not the kind of game designed to push gamers to their limits, the point of the game is to make you look like an action movie hero, while providing just enough difficulty to make you feel as cool as you look. Normal difficulty accomplishes this, while the higher settings diminish its effect by virtue of bullets doing much more damage to Max (it is not uncommon to get one shotted by a shotgun or quickly killed by a guy you didn't see on hard). It's not perfect: there are some areas that are a pain no matter what difficulty you are on (see above), and there are certainly parts that are too easy on that setting as well (although those are more difficult to discern), but overall, it does the best job of conveying the intent of the game. Because of this, I don't mind that the higher difficulty settings are locked for subsequent playthroughs.