I have been dreaming of Max Payne 3 co-op since last May.  Much of the single-player campaign has Max with a partner, and since Rockstar had magically figured out how to pull off "bullet time" in multiplayer, I figured it would lend itself well to co-op play. Along with new weapons and multiplayer modes, this is what “A Deathmatch Made in Heaven” brings players, albeit in a smaller, more well-traveled sense.

The biggest addition that Deathmatch Made in Heaven brings is the co-op mode, here called “Dead Men Walking.”  In it, a news chopper broadcasts Max and partner Passos in a gang war on two, yes only two, maps: the Tiete River docks and Hoboken, both of which are fairly large maps.  Like all other horde modes, players take on waves of enemies, each increasing in number and difficulty.  Max and Passos both start with M9’s, but by the end of the match can wield grenade launchers and LMGs.  

Each player is awarded a score by stringing kills, headshots, explosive kills, and streaks.  This score is for leaderboard purposes, and “Grit.”  “Grit” is the mode’s currency, displayed in a meter on the HUD.  “Grit” is color coded.  Getting your meter to the first level, or brown, does things like enabling the rescue of a partner when he is “captured” or opening doors; whereas the higher levels of grit, like yellow, unlock chests with very powerful weapons.

When one player is killed, he is handcuffed and put across the map, awaiting the other’s rescue.  When both players are killed, the match is over.  This makes for some very pulse-pounding rescue attempts.  Once I was captured, across the map, and I spectated as my partner rolled, dodged, and shot through twenty or so bad guys, all the way to my rescue.  If you have ever played Army of Two, imagine the back to back mode, only with free-range motion.

Overall, it is one of the better horde modes, and even though there are only two maps, they are large enough to offer plenty of different strategies, and a few hours of play time.

Other multiplayer modes feature Run and Stun, which should be familiar to anyone who has played an “infected” type game.  One player starts off as Saci, Captain Baseball Bat Boy’s nemesis, wielding a stun gun. Once you are killed by this player, you become a “follower of Saci,” aka infected, and so on and so forth, until no players are left.

Marked Man and Time Attack are both variations on standard deathmatch, with Vendettas netting you extra score in Marked Man.  Time Attack, as you probably can guess, has you trying to get kills as quickly as possible.

There are also new weapons and bursts, including melee weapons like a police baton or cattle prod, and short range weapons like stun guns and pepper spray.  Yes, you can wield these in any combination.  Want to have a cattle prod in one hand and a stun gun in the other? Sure.  How about dual-wielding pepper spray?  Of course.  If you have a buddy with Max Payne 3, I definitely recommend having a one-on-one cattle prod battle.

To the single player, a challenge mode is added.  This is similar to Score Attack, only at certain points, a challenge may flash on the screen saying “No headshots” or “Kill four enemies in six seconds.”  It’s a nice mix up, and considering I have played through the Max Payne 3 campaign enough times to have memorized just about every enemy location, it adds a good mix to things.

If you love Max Payne 3, and are looking for a reason to dive back into the single-player as well as multiplayer, you could do worse than A Deathmatch Made in Heaven, but I do wish that the Dead Men Walking mode was available for all maps.  That’s a huge letdown.

Shaun Bolen is a freelance reviewer for ScrewAttack.com. After interning with the site for eight months, he left to continue his education. Shaun holds a degree in Foreign Language with an English BA on the way, and is now back with ScrewAttack to write reviews in his spare time. He can't wait for GTA V to come out, and enjoys taking emotive black-and-white self-portraits.