I have diverted my attention from all other games the last week playing nothing but Max Payne 3. I find it quite exhilarating and dynamic in everything from the many ways you can dispatch enemies to the oft times unpredictable AI to honing your skills with each replay. I have beaten the singleplayer campaign on each difficulty level and it felt fresh each play through as I was able to come up with better tactics each time.

I'm currently playing arcade mode via Score Attack having completed 3 chapters thus far and have gotten Platinum on each one. I'm looking forward to New York Minute and especially New York Minute Hardcore. So far this game is my pick for game of the Year 2012. I do find the onscreen effects they use a bit annoying, and Last Stand is a little glitchy, but it's not enough to ruin the experience.

Below is a little YouTube clip on Hardcore showing the last half of the first favela chapter. I made it because some were indicating they were finding Hard mode too difficult, but it's all in how you make use of the many tactics possible. It only reveals about 5 min of gameplay, there are no story details because I omitted the cutscene at the end to avoid spoilers.

On Old School I improved the last part by taking cover just before the last Molotov was thrown and shoot dodging left and right, snapping to cover, etc to finish off the last ones. I survived that last part with the health icon showing blood only up to the shins and no painkillers used. If you feel intimidated by this game at first, try bold but conservative tactics. Shoot dodging, esp if you can land near cover to snap to, is very effective.