17. Blood Trails (Max Payne)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swvm4FMfPk0 The nightmare levels of Max Payne are a visceral, stylistic flourish which are not only extremely memorable but which help to establish the titular characters unfathomable inner pain. The nightmares centre on the thoughts, worries and hellish memories the detective-turned-vigilante must endure in his bleak life; primarily the murder of his family. It was one of the big disappointments of Max Payne 3 that the nightmare sequences didnt return. They may be exceptional in the context of the narrative but Paynes nightmares in 2001s Max Payne are ridiculously frustrating to play perhaps this was Remedy Entertainments attempt to get all meta on us and put us in a nightmare of our own. If this is the case, well done Remedy it worked. You are forced to navigate through a network of blood trails suspended over a black emptiness which will eventually lead you to a room which will trigger a narrative-related development; the issue is that every time you deviate even slightly from the path you fall and have to start the whole frustrating process again. The nightmares are made all the more difficult by the fact that you have been used to flying through the air in bullet-time, blasting thugs away with sawn-off shotguns. WhatCulture Tip: It may be incredibly freaky and unsettling, but follow the sounds of the screaming baby.
Sam Heard
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Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
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