I'd say the difference between the old "what have I become" and modern is (Spoilers ahead)
"what have I become, killing my own family by accident because I got goaded into by deception and my pride by the God of War, after selling my soul to him to win in battle, and now I'm sad I killed my family, but I'm going to make him pay even if I get cast into hell itself (hades) and have to crawl back out and take him out dethroning him"
and "what have I become....a violent and unapologetically masculine man that is at odds with modern liberal values...the horror!"
Max Payne had a bit of self-loathing in his original game[s], things tinged with tragedy, his family getting killed, and reflections on if he's more of a cop or a criminal in the second game with choices he makes in terms of murder if I remember the plot, but it's a far cry from mopeyness. That key word there is "bit". It's not the predominant defining characteristic. There's a line between intentional tragedy in writing and feminine "critique on masculinity" and Max Payne and original God of War games fall squarely in the former category and things like Max Payne 3, God of War reboot, Star Wars reboots, etc fall squarely in the latter category.
It's worse because it's the most technically advanced third-person shooter ever made. The fact that every 3D actor could interact with the environment and had their locomotion impacted by the physical reactions when jumping or running or colliding into objects, and bullets were physicalised, it really added a lot of intensity and tension to the shootouts that we simply do not get in ANY newer games.
But as people rightly pointed out here, those spiffy physics systems were attached to a game that not-so-subtly proliferated the "dumpy pathetic straight White male" trope that has become so much more prevalent in modern media.
Most normies now just accept it as "normal", as evident with the popularity of the nu-God of War games.
Old Kratos and any Real Man and Father would have stomped Freyas head in the first time she threatened violence on him and his son.
This pussy shit of continuously allowing her to ravage you and threaten your only child is pathetic and spineless. Who gives a fuck if she was abused? Hardship isn't a license to be an evil bitch.
Kratos has never been a real man. He's always been a lapdog who mindlessly follows what others tell him, and then does the Surprised Pikachu face when they betray him. Then he takes it out on a bunch of mortals who did nothing to him.
I'd say the difference between the old "what have I become" and modern is (Spoilers ahead)
"what have I become, killing my own family by accident because I got goaded into by deception and my pride by the God of War, after selling my soul to him to win in battle, and now I'm sad I killed my family, but I'm going to make him pay even if I get cast into hell itself (hades) and have to crawl back out and take him out dethroning him"
and "what have I become....a violent and unapologetically masculine man that is at odds with modern liberal values...the horror!"
Max Payne had a bit of self-loathing in his original game[s], things tinged with tragedy, his family getting killed, and reflections on if he's more of a cop or a criminal in the second game with choices he makes in terms of murder if I remember the plot, but it's a far cry from mopeyness. That key word there is "bit". It's not the predominant defining characteristic. There's a line between intentional tragedy in writing and feminine "critique on masculinity" and Max Payne and original God of War games fall squarely in the former category and things like Max Payne 3, God of War reboot, Star Wars reboots, etc fall squarely in the latter category.
For all the crap Max Payne 3 gets, it's actually a pretty good wrapup to the series.
It's worse because it's the most technically advanced third-person shooter ever made. The fact that every 3D actor could interact with the environment and had their locomotion impacted by the physical reactions when jumping or running or colliding into objects, and bullets were physicalised, it really added a lot of intensity and tension to the shootouts that we simply do not get in ANY newer games.
But as people rightly pointed out here, those spiffy physics systems were attached to a game that not-so-subtly proliferated the "dumpy pathetic straight White male" trope that has become so much more prevalent in modern media.
Most normies now just accept it as "normal", as evident with the popularity of the nu-God of War games.
Old Kratos and any Real Man and Father would have stomped Freyas head in the first time she threatened violence on him and his son.
This pussy shit of continuously allowing her to ravage you and threaten your only child is pathetic and spineless. Who gives a fuck if she was abused? Hardship isn't a license to be an evil bitch.
Kratos has never been a real man. He's always been a lapdog who mindlessly follows what others tell him, and then does the Surprised Pikachu face when they betray him. Then he takes it out on a bunch of mortals who did nothing to him.
No wonder he became such a cuck.