Max Payne

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Max Payne
Developer(s)	Remedy Entertainment (WIN) Rockstar Toronto (PS2) Rockstar Vienna (Xbox) Rockstar Leeds (GBA) MacSoft (MAC)
Publisher(s)	Gathering of Developers (WIN) Rockstar Games (PS2, Xbox, GBA) Feral (MAC) NA MacSoft (MAC)
Engine	Remedy MaxFX
Release date(s)	July 25, 2001
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) BBFC: 15 OFLC: MA15+ CERO: Z (Adults only)
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Mac OS
Media	1 CD-ROM (WIN) 1 DVD (PS2), (Xbox) 1 cartridge (GBA)
System requirements	450 MHz CPU, 96 MB RAM, 16 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.0, Windows 95 (WIN)
Input	Keyboard and mouse (WIN) or gamepad (PS2, Xbox)

Max Payne is a third-person shooter computer game developed by the Finnish company Remedy Entertainment, produced by 3D Realms and published by Gathering of Developers in July, 2001. Ports later in the year for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 were published by Rockstar Games. A Macintosh port was published in 2002 by MacSoft in North America and Feral Interactive in the rest of the World. There were plans for a Dreamcast version of Max Payne, but it was cancelled.

A sequel to the highly popular shooter quickly followed in 2003 entitled Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Gameplay 2.1 Bullet-time 2.2 Max Payne (Game Boy Advance) 3 Creation of Max Payne, the Character 4 Plot 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Main Story 4.3 Prologue I 4.4 Main Story Continued 4.5 Prologue II 4.6 Main Story Continued 4.7 Main Story Ending 5 Max Payne as a character 6 Sequels and spin-off 6.1 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 6.1.1 Gameplay 6.2 Max Payne 3 6.3 Max Payne: The Movie 6.4 Max Payne: Payne & Redemption - The Independent Film 7 Mythological references 7.1 Norse mythology 7.2 Other mythology 8 Weapons 9 Trivia 10 External links

[edit] Overview

The Max Payne series has a major cinematic influence: the Hong Kong action movie genre, particularly the work of director John Woo, which features a great deal of slow-motion violence and gunfights, almost resembling ballet. The series is also often perceived to have been greatly influenced by The Matrix, but in actuality, this is not the case. Although the first game was released two years after The Matrix came out, this is a coincidence; Max Payne was already in development long before The Matrix became a household name, and slow-motion was a major gameplay element from the beginning. While the movie certainly influenced public perception of the game, it did not have a great impact on the game itself, although calling the slow-motion effect "bullet time" was probably inspired by the term being used to describe the similar effect in The Matrix.

As a result of the popularity of The Matrix, the game designers added many references to pay homage to the movie. The detonation of the subway/bank door is similar to the cartwheeling elevator door in the movie. The "Killer Suits" (Aesir Corporation operatives) resemble the Agents; there is even a scene where they fire their pistols like Agent Smith. The start of the "Nothing to Lose" level is similar to the famous lobby shootout scene in the film.

The games' stylish cinematography and choreography is combined with heavy film noir, pulp noir, and pulp fiction influences in characters and dialogue. Rather than rendered or digitized cinematic movies for cutscenes, the story is told instead with "graphic novels" which are similar to comics and pulp fiction. Accordingly, Max Payne is rife with artistically orchestrated, often strangely graceful gunplay. The games are dark and noir-style, following Max Payne, a troubled cop with internal and external conflicts in a dark, sinister New York City.

Within the games, there are mini-plots in the form of television shows that the player can follow. Several of the shows are based on other, real-life shows.

Max Payne focuses exclusively on the story and single-player experience, so it lacks multiplayer in contrast to other contemporary shooters. As a result, Max Payne ranks low on replayability with some reviewers suggesting that there are only 10-20 hours of gameplay from it.

A MAX-FX level editor was also included.

End-user modifications are very popular within Max Payne franchise due to the extensibility of the gameplay system. The most well-known are The Family, and several Kung-Fu modifications.

[edit] Gameplay

The prime emphasis of the series is on shooting. Almost all of the gameplay involves utilizing bullet-time to gun down foe after foe. Levels are generally straightforward, with almost no key-hunting. However, some levels do incorporate platforming elements and puzzle solving. Ammo is in constant supply, as all enemies drop some ammo when killed.

Survival is highly dependent on the use of bullet-time, but bullet-time is limited and can run out if over-used (although every enemy killed by the player earns a little more bullet-time). It can be difficult for many gamers to get through the later levels without quicksaving and quickloading multiple times. This problem was often compounded by the extremely long load times for each level.

The game's A.I. is heavily dependent on pre-scripted commands. Most of the apparently intelligent behavior exhibited by enemies, such as taking cover behind obstacles, retreating from the player, or throwing grenades, is 100% pre-scripted. Thus, when replaying a level, enemies perform exactly the same behaviors each time. The only enemies that would dodge and roll were the Mercenaries (operatives in black ski-masks) and Killer Suits.

Higher difficulty levels were extremely challenging, especially the time-limited "New York Minute" where the player had to reach checkpoints before time went out (killing enemies replenishes time). Upon completing the game on "Dead on Arrival", Max is transported to the "Final Battle" where the player then fights with 20 enemies in permanent bullet time. Upon completion of this task, the player could view a secret room with various photographs of New York locations used by the developer, Remedy, as well as a picture of the development team.

The original Max Payne at times can be a highly difficult game. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, Max is extremely fragile and dies after only 5 pistol bullets, 3 assault rifle bullets, or 1 dead-on shotgun blast. Contrary to most FPS games, most enemies are actually more durable than the player character, with later enemies being able to survive 2 or 3 times as much damage as Max.

[edit] Bullet-time

The gameplay of Max Payne revolves heavily around bullet-time. When triggered, bullet-time slows down the passage of time to such an extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye - it is a form of slow motion. The player, although his movement is also slowed, is still able to aim and react in real time, providing a unique advantage over enemies. This makes avoiding being shot easier and enables Max to perform special moves, such as shootdodges where Max leaps sideways through the air while continuing to fire his weapon.

Occasionally, when the last character of a group is killed, the viewpoint switches to a third-person view of his falling body with the camera circling around it.

[edit] Max Payne (Game Boy Advance)

The Game Boy Advance version of the game was developed by Mobius Entertainment Ltd, now known as Rockstar Leeds. Since it was developed on a far less powerful platform, the GBA version differs greatly from the PC version and its Xbox and PlayStation 2 ports: instead of a 3D shooter, the game is based on sprite graphics and is shown from an isometric perspective. The gameplay features have remained mostly the same, however, and is actually almost exactly like the original, aside of the perspective change. The story also remained the same as in PC and console versions, though some levels from the original are omitted. The game even includes quite a large part of the original's graphic novel sections, complete with voice-overs.

[edit] Creation of Max Payne, the Character

For Max Payne, the title character was modeled after Sam Lake, the writer of Max Payne. It is often joked that Max had a constipated expression with his uncomfortable half grin/sneer; this joke is even mentioned in the sequel. For Max Payne 2, however, Lake declined the honor, and after extensive casting, Remedy chose the actor Timothy Gibbs to be the model for Max Payne. The voice of Max Payne was played by actor James McCaffrey in both games. McCaffrey is probably best known for playing the character Jimmy Keefe in the TV show Rescue Me. Max Payne is comparable to film-noir characters such as Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade (both of whom are mentioned in the game).

[edit] Plot

"A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, and now hunted by the police and the mob. Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for a new breed of action game. Prepare for pain..."

After his wife and infant daughter are murdered by a group of crazed junkies, Max Payne goes undercover swearing revenge against the drug that drove people to this. But he was framed, accused of killing his long time best friend and partner, Alex Balder. Wanted by the cops and with no other options available, Payne goes on a blood-soaked revenge-fueled thrill-ride through New York, working his way from lesser thugs to the bigger crime bosses to get to the top, and expose the true identity of those responsible for the viridian induced hell that is Valkyr.

[edit] Introduction

"They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over..."

The story opens at the end, with a cutscene showing Max being spotted at the top of a skyscraper by an NYPD helicopter. However, no further details are revealed, as there is only a closeup on Max, holding a sniper rifle, and he muses about how he has "to go back three years. Back to the night the pain started..."

[edit] Main Story

The story begins 3 years in the past with Max working as a cop in Hell's Kitchen. Max came home after a long day at work, in which he declined an offer to join the DEA, offered to him by his best friend Alex Balder. Nobody answered when he entered his home and he soon found evidence that it had been broken into. Max then receives a phone call from an unknown woman who asks if she has reached the Payne's residence. Max confirms this and asks her to call the police, but she just replies: "Good, I'm afraid I can not help you." Upstairs he finds his wife and daughter murdered at the hands of junkies high on a new designer drug called Valkyr.

Max eventually joins the DEA as an undercover agent to infiltrate the Mafia and the underground world of New York. While undercover, B.B., an agent who is friends with both Max and Alex, calls Max and tells him Alex wants to meet at the Roscoe Street Station. Once arriving there by train, Max gets off and checks around, only to discover a worker killed in the locker room and Alex nowhere to be seen. As he continues on he learns that mobsters under Jack Lupino, a Mafia boss in the Punchinello Crime Family, are attempting a bank robbery under the Roscoe Street bank through the station. While investigating the robbery, Max discovers they were after Aesir Corporation bonds. Working his way back to the surface, Max encounters Alex. The short lived reunion is disrupted when an unknown shooter kills Alex, leaving Max at the scene to take the fall. After leaving the station, Max decides to look for Lupino at his hotel.

Once at Lupino's hotel, Max finds the Finito brothers - Joey and Virgilio, but no Lupino. With his cover blown, Max Payne engages in a shoot-out with the Finito brothers. Max kills them and finds out through a letter addressed to them by Vinnie Gognitti (a Mafia captain and Jack Lupino's right hand man) that Rico Muerte, a Chicago mobster (who Max refers to as "... a regular Keyser Soze...") who owes the Punchinello Family is coming to New York to oversee a major Valkyr drug deal. While he searches for Muerte's room, he finds the diary of a hooker named Candy Dawn. She writes about how she has been selling tapes of her having sex with a "One Eyed Alfred" to a mysterious woman. Max guns his way to Muerte's room, only to find him not there. Continuing on, Max breaks up the drug deal and finds Muerte and Dawn not too far away. He kills them both and near the front of the hotel, Max finds a switchboard not far from the counter, and he overhears Vinnie Gognitti talking to a dying mobster. Max sets off for a set of tenements near the hotel searching for Vinnie, hoping to find the whereabouts of Lupino.

Once outside, a set of explosions detonates inside one of Lupino's buildings. Vladimir Lem, the head of the Russian Mafia and responsible for the bombings, is seen leaving the scene of the crime in his car. While trying to find a way in the building, a newspaper headlines Max's framed murder of Alex. Once inside, Max needs to shoot mobster after mobster to get to Lupino's office. A payphone rings in the hallway, and the caller mentions the police are on the way. He also mentions he'll contact Max soon. Later, while searching for a key to a locked door, Max finds a letter by Gognitti detailing a recent hit on Vlad's illegal guns, explaining the bombings. Max eventually makes it to Lupino's office to find Vinnie, resulting in a gunfight breaking out with Gognitti's men, whilst Vinnie himself escapes with a gunshot wound to his gut. Max also finds a letter addressed to Punchinello that Vinnie didn't have the courage to mail, telling Punchinello that Jack Lupino has gone crazy. Max then backtracks through all the prior buildings attempting to catch Gognitti. They eventually meet up in a deadend alley. Using force, Max is told by Vinnie that Lupino is at Ragna Rock, a gothic nightclub Lupino owns. Payne then leaves Vinnie to die, but he survives and makes a reappearance in Max Payne 2.

Once at Ragna Rock, Max has to gun his way to Lupino finding Satanic and occult books and a V deal. Backstage and close to Lupino, Max finds a torn, bloody piece of paper on a couch, addressed by Don Punchinello himself, telling Lupino to shape up. Near the letter are sacrificied bodies and a list of demons written in blood by Lupino, Max assumes he is trying for the Faust deal; your soul for eternal wealth and power. Max has to kill dozens of Lupino's men before Lupino emerges, high on V exhibiting all the homicidal dementia that entails. Lupino seems to believe that he is a mythic wolf from a Norse myth who will bring the Ragnarok (the Norse apocalypse). Max finally kills him, only to find Mona Sax, Lisa Punchinello's "evil twin", an assassin telling Max he needs to go higher up, to Angelo Punchinello himself. She discloses this since she views him as a sadistic wife beater. The two share a drink, but Mona spikes his drink and Max falls unconscious, only out of fear he might kill her sister.

[edit] Prologue I

While knocked out, Max experiences a nightmare about the death of his family. He wakes up only to find himself tied to a chair in the basement of Jack Lupino's hotel. Frankie "the Bat" Niagara, a mob hitman, beats Max around with a baseball bat. Leaving Max bruised and bloody, he comments he's going to go have a drink at the bar and when he returns, its "check out time."

[edit] Main Story Continued

Max breaks free of the chair (saying "I felt like the chair I had broken to get free") and ponders about the recent choices he's made. He realizes what Mona said is true, that he needs to aim higher up the organized crime ladder, straight to Don Angelo Punchinello. Armed with only Niagara's bat he left behind, Max decides to play "hide and seek" with the armed mobsters guarding the hall to acquire their guns. While searching the basement, Max discovers a sewage pipe lined with all of Niagara's murders. Eventually, Max works his way around to the entrance of the hotel. The hotel had been a crime scene from Max's prior battle, but the mobsters had reclaimed it, murdering the cops on duty. Max finds Niagara at the bar like he said, and kills him. Leaving the hotel, it's not long before Vlad shows up, making him an offer he can't refuse. Boris Dime, a traitor of the Russians over to the Puchinello Family, has control over an incoming gun shipment on his cargo ship, the Charon. With Punchinello in control of the shipment, it tips the odds in his favor, making things more difficult for both Vlad and Max. Vlad promises if he can overturn the shipment and kill Dime for him, he could have some of the weapons for himself and a new ally. Max agrees and heads off for the Charon at the Brooklyn riverfront. Exploring the riverfront, Max stumbles upon a political assassination plot involving Rico Muerte, a suitcase full of cash, a sniper rifle, and an expensive piece of paper with only one word on it stating the target: "Mayor." Gunning his way past dozens of mobsters, Max boards the Charon. Killing Dime, Max is allowed access to ammo and guns. Max calls Punchinello, wanting to meet. Punchinello agrees and Vlad drops Max off at Casa di Angelo, the Don's restaurant. Once there, Max enters only to find a dark and empty restaurant. Within seconds, explosions start going off. Max narrowly escapes each one, making his way to the back of the restaurant, only to be met with more armed men. Escaping through a sewage tunnel, Max meets up with Vlad again, where they agree to go to see Punchinello at his mansion.

Max enters through the basement, knowing that once on the main floors he'll engage with three murderous hitmen under Punchinello's command, the Trio: Vince Mugnaio, Pilate Providence AKA Big Brother, and Joe "Deadpan" Salem; three notorious gangsters working directly for the Don with "rap sheets thick as phonebooks." Mysteriously, the basement was unlocked and the guards were shot dead. Max speculates Mona. Once making it to the kitchen, Max finds three tarot cards laid out on the counter. In order the cards were The Tower, representing the Punchinello Manor, The Devil, representing the Don, and Death, personified in Max. Close to Punchinello, Max finds Lisa Punchinello's body spread on bloody sheets of the bed. The phone rings in the next room. It was the same voice as before, the one heard on the payphone in the tenements. He warns Max that a helicopter has landed on manor grounds. Killing the Trio and every mobster standing in his way, Max ends up standing outside of the Don's office, listening to him plead for help to someone over the phone. Max breaks down the door, points his beretta at Punchinello's face point blank, and immediately the Don reveals he is merely a pawn in a government conspiracy. With the truth revealed, a group of men in black suits armed with Colt Commandos storm the office and shoot Punchinello dead on sight. Max kills them, only to find himself outgunned and outmanned, lead by a mysterious woman, attempting to leave the manor. She injects Max with a triple-overdose of V, leaving him for dead. Just before Max slips away, he hears her say, "Take me to Cold Steel."

"The shadows rushed me, bruised mug-shot faces hungry for revenge. They knew my weak points and closed in for the kill. The floor turned into a vortex of green blood. I fell... "

[edit] Prologue II

Another nightmare engages a drugged Max before he wakes up lying in a pool of his own vomit. During this nightmare, the storyline (excluding the narration) breaks the fourth wall twice when Max reads notes on the table in a nightmarish rendition of Punchinello's office that tell him he's "in a graphic novel" and later that he's "in a video game". He then remarks after each note that it is "funny as hell, it was the most horrible thing I could think of."

[edit] Main Story Continued

With only one lead, Cold Steel, Max sets off. At Cold Steel Foundry, an entire illegal operation had the place occupied, with dozens of trucks and armed personnel on location. Once deeper into the foundry, the walkie talkie of a mecenary killed by Max mentions that an intruder has infiltrated, the operation has been compromised, and to commence Operation Dead Eyes. Max finds an elevator which takes him down to an old military bunker beneath the foundry. Max witnesses Operation Dead Eyes being carried out with killer suits killing off a pair of mercenaries. Killing the two suits, Max recognizes the insignia on the floor. Reading Project Valhalla, with a sword over a capital V, Max notices it's similar to tags around the city with a syringe replacing the sword, representing Valkyr. The conspiracy becomes more apparent as Max goes deeper into the base. Machines processing V, data files, test subjects and lab researchers. Max finds a computer with a file on the Project Valhalla history. Valkyr started out as a drug to improve morale and stamina for soldiers in 1991. After four years of failed research, the government ended funding in 1995. Reading more, Max finds out about a data leak: a "Mrs. Payne", Max's wife, working at a front company for Project Valhalla, became privy to a small scrap of information. While inconsequential by itself, if revealed to or discovered by certain troublesome individuals, the project would be doomed. Max learns that psychotic V test subjects were sent to the Payne address in New Jersey; these are the junkies who killed his wife and infant child. This evidence removes the last shadow of doubt from Max's mind about how his vengeance is possibly justifiable. Eventually, all evidence is lost as Max narrowly escapes the self-detonation of the army bunker.

With nowhere to go from there, Max decides to take a break at an all night diner. He then receives a call from B.B. to meet him at the Choir Communications garage. It then becomes evident to Max that B.B. set him up with the murder of Alex Balder. When they meet up, B.B. tries to talk himself out of it. With no success, a speeding car almost hits Max as he barely dodges it. B.B. escapes in a van and Max pursues him. Max runs down each level of the garage, taking out every thug that gets in his way. B.B. gets out of the van on the first level of the garage and the two have a shootout. Max is victorious, and also receives another call from his mysterious "benefactor", this time identifying himself as Alfred Woden, telling Max to meet him at the Asgard Building where he will explain everything.

Once Max was at the meeting place, Woden introduced the other members of a secret society he was part of called, "The Inner Circle." Nicole Horne (the mystery woman), who headed Project Valhalla, was responsible for Valkyr. After the government funding was disconnected, Horne continued the project unauthorized. Now, she is the President of Aesir Corporation and "has more than half the city in her pocket". She had blackmailed the Inner Circle, explaining why she hadn't been stopped. Woden proposed if Max killed Horne, the charges against him, including the death of Alex, the damaging and destruction of the many public and private vehicles and buildings, along with his subsequent killings would all go away.

Horne's men then find the meeting place and shoot the Inner Circle members. Jumping out the first story window into the courtyard, Max has to shoot his way out to escape the building. On a security camera monitor, Max sees Woden stand up, making him the sole surviving member of the Inner Circle. In an office, Max finds what Horne had used to keep the Inner Circle silent: the homemade porn video of Alfred Woden and Candy Dawn. Horne was evidently blackmailing Woden with the threat of releasing it, perhaps controlling the Inner Circle through him. Max takes the video to blackmail Woden should he decide to renege on their deal. He also finds blueprints to the Aesir Corp. Plaza, detailing the suite and President's office, with critical areas in red. Max escapes Asgard, and spends some time mentally preparing for his final showdown before arriving at Aesir Plaza.

Security guards rush Max as soon as he passes the metal detectors of the Aesir Plaza entrance. Max kills his way to the fourth floor, where he reunites with Mona getting off an elevator. Horne gets on the intercom and tells Mona to kill Max, revealing Mona was working for Horne. Mona explains that Max is "a nice guy" and she doesn't kill nice guys. Her compassion rewards her with a bullet in the head as more security suits rush in. Mona's apparent corpse disappears behind the elevator doors, leaving Max to fend for himself. Having dealt with the threat, Max tries to get on the elevator, only to find Mona's body gone. He makes his way to the mainframe security system and disables it to allow himself access to where Horne is.

[edit] Main Story Ending

Max comes face to face with Horne, only for her to escape and send her guards. Max chases after her all the way to the top of the building, where her helicopter is attempting to make a permanent get away. (In the bad ending, Max attempts to shoot the helicopter which promptly cuts him down in return with its minigun.) Max shoots the cables to a weather mast, snapping them and allowing the strong storm winds surging about them to topple the otherwise fragile tower onto Horne's helicopter even as it lifts off the helipad. Max stands at the top of the building (recall the Introduction), holding the sniper rifle, as the NYPD run out to arrest him.

"They were all dead. The final gunshot was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the trigger. And then it was all over. The storm seemed to lose its frenzy. The ragged clouds gave way to the stars above...a bit closer to heaven."

Being put into a squadcar in handcuffs, Max sees Woden in the crowd of spectators, with the "grin of a winner." Max smiles...

"...That made two of us"

[edit] Max Payne as a character

Max Payne is a film noir's definition of a fall guy; a man who has been put into a fatalist situation beyond his will. Max Payne is an introvert; and he takes this quality of himself to the extremes - often using half-metaphorical soliloquies to describe his feelings about his situation, his surroundings, or his actions. While extroverted before the murder of his wife and daughter, Max became a shell of himself, and he blindly works toward his only remaining purpose: revenge.

All the while, Max Payne shows signs of survivor's guilt, and makes his situation a paradox - though he considers (perhaps rightfully) his life to have ended "in a New York minute", he exhibits a strong desire to live, despite his inner monologue which describes his dark and utterly somber view of the world and his desire to actually be dead. While desperately wanting to die in order to see his family again, he also wishes to live in order to claim his revenge.

On the other hand Max Payne is not a morally ambiguous protagonist. He did not kill Vinnie Gognitti (while he very well could have), tried to get information from The Finito Brothers by "playing it Bogart" and not bursting through the door with guns in hand. Max Payne clearly is distinguished from "them" as he says ("I was not one of them, I was no hero"), and from regular heroes. He is, more or less, just a man trying to claim one thing that is right (in his eyes), revenge.

However, he has not nullified his feelings - he is taken with Mona Sax from the moment they meet, does not object to Jim Bravura (this being shown more clearly in the sequel), and even though he is one of the mafia, befriends Vladimir Lem (although only on a beneficial level - a blessing for a man who has nobody to trust or to ask help for). On the other hand, all these can be judged otherwise as well - Max may have been hanging onto Mona Sax because she was not there to kill him and sought a companion despite his wife; Jim Bravura, to Max, was only a man doing his job; and Vladimir Lem was only the enemy of his enemies - naturally, his friend.

Max Payne's character also seems to have some basis on the Marvel comic book character * The Punisher, a former soldier whose family is murdered in a mob hit gone awry and goes on a one man killing spree against the criminals who were involved with the hit (and later ALL criminals)(though any connection should be considered arbitrary- unlike Punisher, Max Payne is not amoral or insane. In addition, Max chose to remain a police officer while Punisher became a vigilante who ignored the law).

[edit] Sequels and spin-off

[edit] Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Main article: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.

When we last saw Max Payne, he was being led away in the back of a police car, about to face charges for his two night killing spree in which he killed upwards of 600 people, even though they all had criminal records. However, Max was eventually cleared of all charges, thanks to his relationship with a very influential member of society, Senator Alfred Woden. A few years have passed, and Max has returned to work for the NYPD as a homicide detective. However, during a routine murder investigation he finds himself face-to-face with the fugitive Mona Sax, a woman he thought dead. Max and Mona team up to solve the answers to Max's past that left his wife and child dead. Between them and the answers they seek rests an army of scum and murderous thugs in New York City's underground.

[edit] Gameplay

The second game again revolves around the bullet time, but the concept is more worked out. When Max shoots his enemies, his slow motion bar becomes a pale yellow. The darker the yellow, the slower time flows, with the exception of Max, who is in "normal" slow motion. Max is more durable now, and except for bosses, the enemies tend to be weaker. Shootdodging becomes more and more important, although it is both a gift and a curse.

The A.I. is improved, and enemies will team up, or stay behind a door, waiting for you to jump through. If a grenade is thrown, the enemies will run away rather than stand around and wait for it to explode. Also, the ragdoll system is a major improvement. A dead enemy never dies the same way twice. Shots to the body affect the way the body falls. Headshots now instantly kill an enemy, making the Desert Eagle a more effective weapon. As it is, the Desert Eagle can now be dual-wielded, when previously it could not. The game is grittier than the previous, but sometimes the opposite is the case. Since Max now has someone to talk to (Mona), the conversations are deeper than the one-liners he previously uttered.

Max's arsenal is also expanded. Some of the weapons from the predecessor are removed as new ones are added. A secondary weapon menu is also added, giving the player the option to use a melee attack, grenades, or molotov cocktails in addition to their firearm. In the predecessor, grenades and molotov cocktails were primary weapons, making them more dangerous and less effective for use. However, the addition of a secondary weapon option made these more viable choices.

[edit] Max Payne 3

The ending to Max Payne 2 teases with a message at the end of the credits proclaiming, "Max Payne's journey into the night will continue", but the story itself seems to be over. While a third game in the series was announced by Jeffrey L. Lapin, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, in 2004, there have been no further announcements regarding the matter – even a developer for the third game has not been named. Remedy Entertainment's name was not mentioned in the announcement, and as the company is currently working on Alan Wake, they are not likely to be working on the Max Payne franchise. At the same time, a post on Shacknews, apparently from Mikael Kasurinen, a level designer for Max Payne 2, read "FYI: We are not making Max Payne 3."

[edit] Max Payne: The Movie

It has also been confirmed through The Hollywood Reporter that 20th Century Fox has bought the rights to bring the game to film. There are several rumours that Erwin Zagura or Dean Winters will play Max Payne. The Max Payne movie is currently slated for release in 2007, and the writing credits include Sam Lake (the writer and actor for the original Max Payne series) and Shawn Ryan, whose credits include writing for The Shield and The Unit. More information is available on IMDb and ShackNews. Shooting locations include the Downtown East side of Vancouver, Hells Kitchen, and the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

[edit] Max Payne: Payne & Redemption - The Independent Film

Although not affiliated with the official Max Payne movie, there is a new short Max Payne film on the horizon which is due to be released in 2006. Payne & Redemption promises to be faithful to the style of the videogames as well as introducing a new storyline. Official Max Payne: Payne & Redemption website

"Payne & Redemption is Part III of a series of collective shorts surrounding an original foreboding tale of love, betrayal, vengeance... and a whole lotta painkillers. The story focuses on the development of Max Payne's character, exploring his psyche and what drives his incessant behaviour towards pursuing what's most important to him - Justice. But for those of you who couldn't give a flying f**k about all that psychobabble, there will be plenty of over-the-top murder and mayhem to satisfy all your masochistic needs!

Fergle Gibson,
Writer & Director."

Original article can be seen at Deep Six.

Max Payne: Payne & Redemption is directed by Fergle Gibson and stars Nigel Billing as Max Payne, John Mangan and Kylie Cushman.

[edit] Mythological references

The story of Max Payne makes references to various mythologies, many from Norse mythology.

[edit] Norse mythology

Most of the elements in the game are named for figures from Norse mythology. Although this is often seen as a nod to the Scandinavian heritage of the game's Finnish development company, Remedy Entertainment, this is something of a misconception; although Finland is often lumped together with the other Nordic countries, Finnish mythology actually differs considerably from its Norse counterpart. It's more likely that these themes were simply incorporated into the game out of appreciation for their iconic status.

• The Valkyr drug turns its users into adrenaline-charged killers who experience hallucinatory images of death. The Valkyries of Norse mythology were warrior-women and heralds of death.
• Project Valhalla is the government-funded conspiracy that created Valkyr. In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the festhall in the afterlife to which some of those who died in honorable battle are assigned after death.
• The computer network in the military base is named Yggdrasil, referring to the tree that connected the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.
• The Aesir Corporation, mentioned frequently in the game, is named for the primary pantheon of Norse gods. Aesir is the English plural for the Norse Gods. Also, the way the word is pronounced may resemble "Hersir".
• The nightclub Ragna Rock is a play on the word Ragnarök, the Norse battle between the Aesir and the giants that results in the death of many deities and the rebirth of the world.
• The great snowstorm that takes place during the events of the first Max Payne is a reference to the Fimbulwinter, the epic winter that precedes Ragnarok.
• The head of the Aesir Corporation is Nicole Horne; In the Ragnarok myth, the Giallar horn was sounded to announce the start of Ragnarok.
• DEA agent Alex Balder, Max's partner, was shot by an assassin. In Norse mythology, Balder (or Baldur) was killed when a sprig or arrow of mistletoe was shot or thrown into his chest.
• Alex is killed by his partner BB. Baldur's death is step-up by Loki, god of chaos and deception, just as BB deceived Alex and Max.
• Alfred Woden's surname refers to Woden, the Anglo-Saxon version of Odin, a major god of the Norse pantheon. Woden's eyepatch also references Odin, who sacrificed his eye for wisdom and knowledge.
• Max meets Woden and the Inner Circle in the Asgard Building. Asgard is the Norse realm in which the gods lived.
• The image on Max's necklace is a Viking longboat.

[edit] Other mythology

• The name of the ship Max Payne infiltrates on Vladimir's request is Charon. Charon is the name of the ferryman of the Acheron in Greek mythology.
• Jack Lupino, the apocalypse-obsessed Satanist club owner, surname is derived from lupus ("wolf").
• Jack Lupino also screams out the name 'Loki' among a list of Demons during the rant on the stage. Among others mentioned were Lilith, Adam's first wife in the Talmud and Midrash, Asmodeus, a demon who appears in the Book of Tobit and Cthulhu, the ancient evil god of H.P. Lovecraft fame.

[edit] Weapons

Note that some weapons in the game (namely, Berettas and Ingrams) can be dual-wielded to double the firepower at the expense of double ammo cost. Many mods for the game also include the possibility of dual-wielding other weapons, such as sawed-off shotguns and Desert Eagles.

• Lead pipe
• Baseball bat
• Beretta 92FS
• IMI Desert Eagle
• Pump-action shotgun
• Sawed-off shotgun
• Pancor Jackhammer
• Ingram (MAC-10)
• Colt Commando
• Hand grenade
• Molotov cocktail
• M79 Grenade launcher
• Sniper Rifle

[edit] Trivia

• The twin sisters Mona Sax and Lisa Punchinello (née Sax) were named after the Mona Lisa. Punchinello is the Anglicized form of Pulcinella, the original Italian name for the famous wife-beating puppet known today as Mr. Punch.

• In 2003, retired professional wrestler Maxx Payne sued the developers of the game for $10 million USD. The wrestler claimed the developers stole his stage name and the majority of his character's traits. The suit was settled out of court in 2005 for an undisclosed sum[1].

• Once the game is completed on the "Dead on Arrival" difficulty level, Max enters a hidden stage called "The Final Challenge" which is set in the Aesir building, and has to go up against 20+ agents all armed with the Pancor Jackhammer. Once all the enemies are killed, Max finds a room with pictures on the walls of the development team and the developers logo.

• Though the game is advertised as a dark, noir-filled journey to the bowels of civilization, there is a growing crowd of players who believe that the gloomy dialogue with its over-the-top analogies is meant to be taken tongue in cheek.

• When in an elevator, if the player shoots out the speakers (ending the stereotypical elevator music), there is a sound bite of Max saying "Thank you." When trying to use a grand piano in Punchinello Manor, Max plays the game's theme; when using the stage microphones in Ragna Rock, Max says "Karaoke was never my scene".

• You can also hear a joke at Microsoft during the news report on the Aesir corporation's success story on the TV. It says "The Aesir corporation might become a bigger monopoly than M*****oft was", with the majority of the name blocked by static. This was removed from the Xbox version of the game.

• The license plate on Vladimir's car is VODKA. This is the same name given to Vlad's club in the sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne.

• Max Payne was modeled after the writer of the game Sam Lake. Sam Lake also dressed up and played the part of Max Payne for the graphic novel cut scenes that are shown through out the game.

• As Max fights his way up the stairs in the lobby of Punchinello's manor, he encounters a locked door. One should be able to hear the panicked conversation of the mobsters on the other side. One of them says: "This will stop him", and proceeds to blow the door open with an M79 grenade launcher. This is a reference to Scarface, particularly to that climatic scene in which Tony Montana blew the door open with an M203 (both M79 and M203 fire 40mm grenades) following the famous line "Say hello to my little friend!" If Max fails to get away from the door quickly enough, he will be killed in the similar manner as the assassins who fell foul to Tony's M203.

• The ending credits conclude with the line "Max Payne's journey into the night will continue", which is very similar to the phrase appearing at the conclusion of ending credits for James Bond films, "James Bond will return".

• When commenting on a dead scientist in part 3, Max refers to the scientist's "half-life" and how his last moments were spent online, possibly a passing reference to the popular game Half-Life and its online counterpart, Counter-Strike.

• A hidden room in the Asgard building houses, among a bed with chains above it, a television. When turned on this television set shows a sci-fi parody which makes reference to Duke Nukem Forever.

• The song The Wolf by Jedi Mind Tricks from their album Visions of Gandhi takes samples from the game. (Specifically the Ragnarock scenes) [2]

[edit] External links

• Max Payne Mods on Levels4You
• Max Payne Mods and Tutorials on Mod DB
• Unoffical Max Payne Mod Site
• Max Payne - Official Web site
• Max Payne at MobyGames
• Max Payne editor tutorials - Official Web site
• Max Payne 2 - Official Web site
• Max Payne Fan Forums
• Max Payne Walkthrough on 3D Realms Website
• Max Payne (game) at the Internet Movie Database
• Max Payne (movie) at the Internet Movie Database
• Max Payne: Payne & Redemption - The Independent Film - Official Website
• Max Payne - British Fansite
• Take Two Confirms Max Payne 3 at GameSpot
• http://maxpaynecheatsonly.jodi.org/ an artistic hack of the game by Jodi
• love hurts // a max + mona fansite/listing