hat sounds like a virtual train wreck on paper (bringing a cinematic PC masterpiece to the puny GBA) actually comes to life as a scrappy little-engine-that-could title for the handheld set. From the start, it’s obvious that the gang at Möbius is a talented lot (with the good sense to have umlauts in their name!). Not only has it constructed a good isometric replication of the original Max Payne – the company also included all of the game’s vaunted graphic novel cutscenes with fully recorded voiceovers.

Of course, Max Payne is not Max Payne without Bullet Time, and this port includes a serviceable approximation of the franchise’s landmark slow-motion gunplay. Of course, I’m not going to deceive you into thinking that it’s anywhere near as cool at it is with a keyboard and mouse, but it does work well, allowing you to take dives and target enemies in a 360-degree radius. I suspect that some people will not like this title because they are comparing it to the original. However, if you look at this as a handheld property, I think it stands head-and-shoulders above the bar that’s been set for GBA action games. It’s certainly one of the few recent non-Nintendo carts that I’ve actually enjoyed.  

ADAM BIESSENER   7.5 While this tries many, many new things on the GBA (especially graphically), the gameplay is very average. The control is quite good except for the confusing Bullet Time/Shootdodge functions, but that doesn’t help against getting shot from off-screen, which is something I like to think is behind us as a society. Missions are linear, involving lots of "do this so that door opens" kind of stuff, and there just isn’t a whole lot more to Max Payne than blowing away thugs. And it isn’t nearly as cool in a tiny isometric view as it was on the PC.