The city of Grant City has become overly populated with criminals leaving those who adhere to the law afraid and victimized. Jack Slate alongside his faithful companion Shadow, a K-9 Unit fight against the criminal plague as best as they can. However, one night Jack is left speechless when called to a construction site seeing his father has been murdered. Chasing down those who are most likely the ones to have committed the crime, Jack is framed and now finds himself a fugitive trying to clear his name all while taking down those who killed his father. What awaits Jack is a long fight against various big wig criminal bosses and he will find this battle far from easy.

Dead to Rights is easily one of the coolest third person shooters we here at Honey’s Anime have ever played. The unique concepts of using Shadow as a means to take down enemies as well as implying the Max Payne staple of bullet time, allows players to have fun taking down hundreds of criminals during the course of the game. The story seems very akin to cop like movies but that allows the game to play out like one all at the same time. If you need a fun game that has definitely stood the test of time, we highly recommend Dead to Rights. Now if you’ll excuse us we need to dust off our PS2s and start playing Dead to Rights again ourselves.

John Marston has tried to escape his gang lifestyle from the past. Now a family man who lives a simple life, it seems finally John can find some peace and put a close on his past. One day though John is pulled back into his gunslinger days when he is visited by the Bureau of Investigation who claim they have a proposition for John. If John can take down his old gang all of his previous crimes will be wiped clean allowing John to finally be free. Leaving his family, John begins his journey to find those who he once called friends and allies.

Red Dead Redemption has gained many accolades and even has a sequel being released in 2018 for a reason. Rockstar Games, known for their Grand Theft Auto series, knows how to do open world games and make sure the gunplay and action are amazing. Players who love Max Payne will find the cleverly written story and bullet time concepts to be well imbedded in Red Dead Redemption. If you get tired of single player, you can always hop online to play with others doing various cooperative missions and or just enjoy the freedom of the Wild West. Red Dead Redemption even has a DLC that allows players to fight zombified cowboys and enemies. Seriously, we love everything about Red Dead Redemption and we’re sure you will to. If you haven’t already played it, go change that now.

Alan Wake is a writer who has been struggling to find inspiration for his next work. His loving wife, Alice, feels that maybe a trip to a quiet closed off area could help restart his creative mind. Going on a ferry, Alan and Alice head to the quiet mountain town of Bright Falls and head to a small cabin they rented. However, their peaceful trip derails when at the Cabin Alice is taken in by something in the water and trying to save her ends up passing out himself. When Alan awakens he is in an unfamiliar area and notices odd shadow like humans who immediately attack him. Alan’s only way to fight back is to use the light and if he hopes to find Alice he will have to survive against things straight from his nightmares.

Being a writer is indeed tough, but we here at Honey’s Anime think Alan may have it a bit harder. In Alan Wake players control Alan and fight against shadow like human enemies using a flashlight and various guns. Similar in theory to Max Payne’s bullet time, players can dodge enemies with clever timing allowing a slowed down reaction time similar to bullet time. The game mixes a nice mix of horror like elements and gun play for truly a refreshing experience. Alan Wake nightmare is fortunately our enjoyment and will be yours as well.

The future is facing a major series of problems. Thanks to overpopulation and lack of resources on Earth, the United States of America has decided to launch a space shuttle that can allow a new energy source to be created helping humanity. Russia meanwhile has a coup occur allowing a new group to rise by the name of the Order of the Russian Star. The new group takes over the space station and transforms the new energy source into a deadly beam that nearly destroy San Fransisco. The President of the United States decides her best course of action is to send in a newly created force called Bravo Company that consists of several members including Sam Gideon who is armed with a new suit called the ARS. Sam and his group must now fight back to stop the world from being destroyed by this new group.

Vanquish by Sega and Platinum Games has some incredibly cool concepts that break the mold of the traditional third person shooting genre. Players control Sam and his powered suit as you power slide and maneuver with incredible speed all while shooting and using bullet time concepts for more precise shots. Like Max Payne, players will be shooting, dodging and enjoying tight controls and amazing graphics in Vanquish. Vanquish, we feel, has indeed earned a spot on our list because no matter what you’re shooting at, bosses and smaller enemies alike, you’ll be having fun. The future seems bleak, but honestly having a powered suit that can enhance reflexes making time seem to slow down seems like a cool compromise…just being honest.

Wei Shen is an undercover agent that has his hands deep in the world of the Asian Triad. When a drug deal goes wrong and Wei is captured by the police he is given a new assignment that will have him being sent even deeper into the Triad dealing with a war going on between two factions. While Wei is still a police officer, his handler is fearful that Wei is allowing his old roots in China to diminish his sense of justice and are causing Wei to head into the Triad willingly. Wei will now find himself juggling his own internal battles and those of the Triad and Police Force.

Max Payne’s story deals heavily with Max falling apart due to his family’s brutal murder and connection with drugs. In many ways, Wei’s story is similar in Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition where Wei finds himself in his own internal crisis thanks to his situation. Players who enter Wei’s world in Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition will find an open world setting taking place in Hong Kong. Players can either take missions for the police or for the Triad unlocking new skills and perks for each one. We recommend picking up Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition because it acts an enhanced version of the original title and comes with several DLC missions and events adding many hours of gameplay. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Editions will give players plenty of reasons to play even after the credits roll so we feel there is a lot of reasons to try it out.

Let’s wrap up this list with what we feel is the closest game to Max Payne in style and gameplay but with an Asian inspired narrative. The Hong Kong Police have had one of their police officers disappear during an assignment and feel most likely the Triad is involved. While the chief of police wishes to find his missing member, he knows that--most likely--it’s a trap to get more police officers taken out. Regardless of the warning, Inspector Tequila decides to go to Kowloon by himself to see if he can find out what happened. It doesn’t take long for the chief’s theory to be validated when Tequila is attacked by several members of the Triad in a marketplace. Inspector Tequila finds himself alone and outnumbered, but that doesn’t mean he’s not ready to take the challenge.

Acting as a sequel to the movie Hard Boiled, in Stranglehold players assume Chow Yun-fat’s character Inspector Tequila. Stranglehold’s gameplay mirrors Max Payne as players will find themselves shooting at Triad enemies with a wide assortment of guns and using plenty of bullet time maneuvers. What’s really cool is the bullet time moves are able to be linked to environmental elements like tables to allow cool action movie like moves for better ways to take down large groups of enemies. Boasting a fun action movie like story and tight gameplay, Stranglehold deserves to wrap up our list of 6 games like Max Payne. If you have ever wondered what playing a movie in a game would be like, then your answer comes in the form of Stranglehold.