Down by Law

Heh, it's on an invisible walkway right underneath where you are on the photo. Dropping down the rings to make the leap of faith ain't so bad ( you can even shimmy off the main walkway, air strafe and land right on it of you're feeling confident) but getting back up is no joke. You've got to land the jump back onto the lower ring without overshooting it (tough) then bomb jump up to the 3rd ring without smashing your head or slipping off the tiny ledges and falling into space (insanely tricky) After the laser maze I thought I was in for a cakewalk but nope. I give mad respect to anyone who makes it through the laser maze though. Lobotomy weren't messing around. Using the Saturn pad I had to shoot the wall to make sure I was dead centre mass before moving sideways. Straight back to the start of the level upon death always gives that added pressure too. All that cussing then no Death Tank on the Pal version which is a shame. Still a good sense of completion mind

Did you go for all the team dolls? The one underneath where you're standing is easy enough to get, but bomb jumping back up those rings? an absolute sweaty-palmed bastard ! If you fail you gotta beat the final boss for another go as well, I think I managed it on my 12th or so attempt - definetely a few hours or pig headed stubborness. I also triggered a glitch where I fell to my death here but somehow survived, so I could freely walk around miles below the level. Was pretty cool, need to get round to uploading the video.

Excited about this project, I love GG Shinobi and this MD remake is looking and sounding very promising so far

Yep that's the one Basically as long as it's the Mega Drive Mini branded one you'll be ok. The other ones have the 9 pin receiver

I've just finished a replay too, on hardcore after a 9 year gap between achievements (well not strictly true as i played the ps3 version a few years back for good measure) It was difficult as pretty much every hit will put you in last man standing but outside of a few sticking points it wasn't too bad. Having a much bigger TV than in 2012 probably helped especially during those last stand moments where you are pixel fishing who actually shot you. I did New York Minute back in 2012 but can't remember any of it. I've done everything with the exception of New York Minute hardcore .. maybe one day https://www.trueachievements.com/game/Max-Payne-3/achievements?gamerid=2833

Got some tickets for Birmingham - they are up on 02 priority today

Yep! Nice to be back in the fold now though.

Man,what happened in 2014? Pure crack that game was.

Looks great in widescreen mind ! I just wish you could disable that sepia filter when you engage manual bullet time. It's important to remember the console versions couldn't touch the PC original, even the Xbox port was quite a way off, though it still looks really good and lightyears ahead of the PS2 version. Woof !

I've only just realised this is free to play and not just for gamepass subscribers

Max Payne 2 disc is finally working today, is a 2.2gb download

I remember being blown away by the AI in FEAR, how they would work together to flank the player . They didn't just drop into a room, take cover behind a box and pot shot you until one of you keeled over, they would split up, aggresively moving towards your location . Sometimes I didn't realise they were behind me until the screen shook as they buttwhipped me with a rifle. Really , really good stuff. Even that games own sequels couldn't capture the same sort of clever AI behaviour and it is all but forgotten about. I got a real kick of watching AI navigate the game world to get to you like that.

Diminishing returns is definetely in full effect, Uncharted 4 is over five years old but still looks absolutely top tier. I was playing Max Payne 3 on BC last night, and nobody's bettered that gunplay yet - and it isn't just the weighty feel of the guns, it's the amazing enemy reactions to getting hit, the big differences between hitting body armour and flesh, the elegant 2 handed weapons solution, the ability to fire from mid air, prone and on your back and all of it feels good to do so. The Tony Scott editing style is divisive but you know what, nearly 10 years later its given the game a unique visual identity and the soundtrack and cutscene direction are chefs kiss. Where has this type of risk taking gone in the AAA space?

I've had a PS5 since launch but mainly play PS4 games on it. I bought a cheap Xbox One X to play all the BC stuff on it. New games are just not grabbing me right now so it's great to have access to the old libraries.