El Matador hands-on

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Max Payne 3 is coming - except it's called El Matador

Following in the proud tradition of blatant rip-off pioneers like Coming to America 's McDowell's restaurant,the Chinese DVD black market, and the phrase "copy-and-paste" comes the third-person shooter El Matador.

Let's just call this what it is: a sharp-lookingclone of Max Payne. With no word of Max Payne 3 on the horizon, this may be happy news for some. El Matador comes complete with an exact replica of every game mechanic, menu system, sound effect, weapon and bullet-time ability that the original Max Payne titles had. Except this time, instead of a dual-Uzi-wielding renegade cop jacked up on drugs, you play a dual-Uzi-wielding renegade cop fighting against drugs. See what they did there?

The main character, El Matador, is part of a paramilitary Central American anti-drug task force. However, this team-based premise is purely illusory and simply a device to prop up the thin Reagan Era plot: your teammates are stone-cold stupid and less than worthless. We essentially fought alone against scores of thugs who'd come at us in groups of 3 or 4, announcing themselves with a snarl or accented English epithet (sound familiar?).