http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/05/14/max-payne-retrospective "(...) Yet the most absurd aspect of the writing is that it works. Max Payne might be terribly overwritten, but because the vast majority of games at the time were terribly underwritten, Sam Lake’s overenthusiastic shootdodge in the other direction was actually rather enjoyable. There is also the Noir theme to consider. In any other game, Max’s self-indulgent brooding wouldn’t be audible due to the player’s thunderous honks of laughter, but it fits with the infinite nights and preposterously bleak locales of Max’s Noir York City."
