The original two Max Payne games are lovely and a favorite of mine to replay every few years or so, personally. They are very straight forward shooters though and can be a little hard at times, but extremely fun.
If you enjoy Sam's writing, you'd very much enjoy Max Payne 1+2. Experience where it started, as it were.
Just a minor correction as I live in the area as well, Spring is the closest direct suburb of Houston which is anything but small town. Not excusing it of associated problems of being a relatively affluent/gentrified area in Texas, of course.
Reading through this thread, this guy is nuts though. That's a special brand of crazy.
Absolutely loved this show, I watched it religiously in the morning before going to school as a kid. So yeah, I would say pretty formative!