By Nathan Grayson on April 12th, 2012 at 9:00 pm.
Oh to be a bullet. To exist in a momentary, frequently black-and-white world free of complications or petty concerns. Point A to point B. That’d be my entire lightning-quick existence, but I’d get to savor ever slow-mo second – probably while shouting “wheeeeeeeeeeeee!” Max Payne 3, at least, offers a glimpse into this hot leaden utopia, but at what cost? Pretty much none, as it turns out. The gore-spattered kill cam, especially, looks like a barrel of kitten giggles – which is to say, it’s a mix between Fallout 3′s VATS meets Arkham City’s end-of-brawl slobber-knockers, except you have full control over speed. Those are the things I think of when kittens giggle. Is that weird? Anyway, the excruciatingly painful wonderful trailer is after the break.
Max Payne 3′s shooting up PC on June 1 – two weeks after consoles – but making up for it by giving us 37.43 percent more graphics. Speaking personally, though, I’d prefer 200 percent less graphics. I miss Max’s old, awkwardly agonized face. It was like the Mona Lisa, but with 27 percent more art.
12/04/2012 at 21:12 PJMendes says:
Hey, stop making fun of Sam Lake’s face, it’s the only one he has!
Hopefully Max Payne 3 will fulfill my life long dream of non-lethally gunning entire mobs of enemies in the shoulder.
12/04/2012 at 21:14 Echo Black says:
Get the drop on a bunch of bad guys, grab onto a crane and slowly swing towards them while shooting
Max seems to have stopped giving much of a fuck in his old age.
12/04/2012 at 21:15 Unaco says:
At least he can now consider reloading in cover, rather than as he runs towards the bad guys.
12/04/2012 at 22:16 LionsPhil says:
Hey now, Max Payne 2 taught us that the best way to reload is to go slow-motion and spin your gun around you, thus pressuring new bullets into it by centrifugal force and pixie dust.
13/04/2012 at 02:35 kiaysds444 says:
L621 quad band dual sim Android 2.3 smartphone!$ 85.99!Free Shipping! New! New listing! Promotions! http://tnij.com/6455
12/04/2012 at 21:14 jaronimoe says:
that’s a lot of fancy talk for the basically the same old thing.
but don’t get me wrong, I do like me some bullet time.
12/04/2012 at 22:13 woodsey says:
I have chuckled at a couple of the things they’ve ‘revolutionised’ which were already in Max Payne 2. A couple of videos ago they kept banging on about him being able to rotate 360 whilst on the floor.
13/04/2012 at 01:25 Shooop says:
What they meant was him moving on the ground is now fully animated instead of him just spinning there there’s a pole through his midsection.
13/04/2012 at 07:07 jennyddy says:
Tablet PC 7-inch capacitive Android 4.0 External 3g wifi lan external
http://sm1.kr/1Kzm
13/04/2012 at 10:32 Dozer says:
I thought this stuff was all in the original Max Payne. I might be confusing the sniper-bullet camera with the final kill camera though.
12/04/2012 at 21:15 Tyrone Slothrop. says:
Totally peerless animation aside, I’m so sold on this I pre-ordered it retail… wait for it… Australian price. Surprisingly cheaper than on Steam.
12/04/2012 at 21:17 Average Ninja says:
Whoa, that is some commitment to the Max there.
12/04/2012 at 21:19 Tyrone Slothrop. says:
You have to be committed to gaming when you’re dealing with Australian prices.
12/04/2012 at 21:25 Average Ninja says:
You got to suck up the payne right?
12/04/2012 at 21:42 Tyrone Slothrop. says:
Vlad was right. There are no choices. Nothing but a tendered receipt. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask ‘Why now?’ and ‘What if?’. When you look back and see the options, like importing, or steam key outfits. If you had done something differently, it wouldn’t be you. It would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions… not remembering postage and handling isn’t factored into the import price.
12/04/2012 at 22:21 Average Ninja says:
They were all ordered. The final mouse click was an exclamation mark to everything that had led to this point. I released my finger from the mouse. And then it was over. To make any kind of sense of it, I need to explain Aussie prices are ridiculous. Back to drawing board with this noir stuff.
13/04/2012 at 10:50 DarkFenix says:
Tyrone, you sir win the internet.
12/04/2012 at 21:17 Quatlo says:
That guy’s voice. Wasn’t he in the Total Annihilation intro?
12/04/2012 at 23:23 Monkey says:
He also did the voice in Mass Effect’s codex
13/04/2012 at 05:05 soldant says:
What, really? Because if so then mind = blown.
13/04/2012 at 07:36 WHS says:
I don’t know if it’s the TA guy, but get this: I just looked it up and the TA guy is actually married to Ellen McLain; a.k.a GLadOS.
13/04/2012 at 08:57 Drayk says:
There is a version of “Still alive” by the two of them… He plays a banjo and she forgets the lyrics…
13/04/2012 at 20:50 exenter says:
Also in L.A. Noire
12/04/2012 at 21:19 SirKicksalot says:
I’m slightly annoyed by the bullet trails. I like them transparent and fluid, like in The Matrix or the original FEAR, not boring white lines.
12/04/2012 at 21:23 Jesse L says:
Calling for a Nyan cat bullet trail mod. Internet, don’t fail me!
12/04/2012 at 22:34 Bhazor says:
There’ll be a rainbow dash mod first.
12/04/2012 at 22:37 TCM says:
Sonic Rainbullet?
12/04/2012 at 21:23 Gormongous says:
The bomb lives only as it is falling.
12/04/2012 at 21:26 engion3 says:
Not “modern” or “realistic” enough.
12/04/2012 at 22:12 dsi1 says:
Bahahah what? The only unrealistic things are the health system (like every other game) and bullet time.
Reality is unrealistic I guess.
12/04/2012 at 23:10 Dervish says:
The bullets are unrealistically slow, but I suppose you can file that under “bullet time.”
12/04/2012 at 23:49 emorium says:
just as the bad guy presses the trigger, the bullet ready to exit the weapon max goes “STOP!….It’s Bullet Time!”…
at least that’s how i explain slow-moving bullets.
12/04/2012 at 21:28 Khemm says:
I’m getting worried about proper mouse support. With the latest patch applied, Alan Wake’s mouse movement feels so precise and responsive.
I don’t have much faith in R* delivering something equally good. In many third person games, mouse feels so “floaty”.
12/04/2012 at 23:47 Jad says:
I got to play the PC demo at PAX East and the mouse controls felt pretty good. I didn’t get to play for very long, but it really did feel close to what I remember from the original games, which is fine by me.
—
(Also can I just say how awesome it was that Rockstar actually had multiple platforms available for the demo at that convention? At PAX, as far as controls went, there basically were two scenarios:
1) mouse and keyboard for PC-exclusive games, or
2) Xbox controllers
After mangling my way through both Borderlands 2 and Farcry 3 on a gamepad, it was an absolute joy to be able to quickly and accurately line up headshots with the correct input device for a shooter at the Max Payne 3 booth.)
13/04/2012 at 13:04 Khemm says:
That’s good to read, thanks!
13/04/2012 at 13:01 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
I’ve not heard any other hands-on reports, but in one of the earlier videos they explained how they had ‘innovated’ with the controls giving you the full aiming capabiliy of FPS controls in a third-person game. (Which was exactly what MP and MP2 did, of course).
12/04/2012 at 21:36 CaspianRoach says:
I’m in love with this animation engine.
12/04/2012 at 21:55 Maldomel says:
And what if he drops in slo mo all the way down?
12/04/2012 at 22:02 povu says:
The new Max face has this really strange similarity to Left4Dead 2′s Nick.
12/04/2012 at 22:06 rockman29 says:
The only thing left is the release… can’t wait :-)
12/04/2012 at 22:09 sephiroth says:
nice
that is all
12/04/2012 at 22:18 Unaco says:
Looking forward to this. And that trailer is only adding to the enthusiasm.
12/04/2012 at 22:28 DiamondDog says:
Call now and get this unbelievable offer for just $29.95!
13/04/2012 at 01:24 Shooop says:
Finally the first game of the year that probably won’t be a let down.
13/04/2012 at 02:17 quintesse says:
Couldn’t stand watching the video to the end. An FPS played with a controller… brrrrr :(
13/04/2012 at 06:52 Gnoupi says:
Yes,exactly. I mean, I understand that playing with a controller allows for more fluid camera movements, less “twitchy”, so it goes better for videos…
But if you’re showing Max Payne’s “elegant” killing, with bullet time, and impressive moves… it just looks a bit ridiculous to see the pointer moving that slowly towards the next target. Or worse, to see that most of the time they don’t actually point to the target, they wait for the moment in which the crosshair is on the enemy, with the jump momentum.
Don’t get me wrong, it looks great (well, mostly the animation, because the bullet time itself doesn’t feel particularly new). But seeing it played with a controller, it kinda sucks the awesomeness out of it.
13/04/2012 at 07:16 noom says:
I did laugh at the bit where it says the player has “near-complete control”.
Alternitavely, if using a mouse and keyboard, “complete control”.
13/04/2012 at 04:11 hypercrisis says:
wow the same thing as in the other games! my mind is blown, then i realise there are people who never played them and i pity them
13/04/2012 at 07:51 ScottHarrigan says:
The original Max Payne is one of my favorite games of all time. It has excellent game play, even despite its age it still holds up. The story telling was phenomenal without losing the Rockstar sense of humor. Even after all these years, the character and world have much more to offer. A revisit to Max Payne seems quite warranted as it looks like it kept all its style and substance. The amazing stunts, bullet time, graphics and animations don’t hurt either. Even today, the trailer for the first game still packs quite a punch, 2001 graphics and all.
http://www.videodetective.com/games/max-payne/157524
13/04/2012 at 13:50 Bork Titflopsen says:
I don’t like that trailer very much. Where is the extremely civilized, monotenous voice narrating Max’s every move?
13/04/2012 at 21:14 DOLBYdigital says:
I have to agree that the original was truly amazing for me. I played it through many times and then played all the great mods millions of times. I especially like the matrix mod and another mod that added melee combat. Honestly bullet time and flying jump kicks and wall mounts are a concept that should be used more often.
However for some reason this new Max Payne video did nothing for me. Sure the animation looks sweet but something seemed lacking… Maybe its the lack of a crazy noir narrator or maybe I’m just not looking for what it offers… However if they have modding support and someone adds crazy kung-fu… I’m sold!!
13/04/2012 at 08:38 Renfield says:
I have tried extremely hard to snub this one, due to Remedy not being involved. At this point, I just can’t.
13/04/2012 at 10:01 Narretz says:
I hope you can turn off the final kill-cam thing. One, it takes me out of being Max, second, where is the suspense, if I know that I just killed the last dude? Maybe there is someone hiding (ok, unlikely).
Forced bullet time is also meh, but if they don’t overdo it, it might be fine.
13/04/2012 at 13:03 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Doubtful. You couldn’t turn it off in Max Payne or Max Payne 2, so why would they add that option here?
13/04/2012 at 10:53 DarkFenix says:
I’d been really doubtful of this game, what with Max being replaced by Homeless Bruce Willis and all that, but seeing that trailer really makes me want the game. The animation is flawless and the wonderfully absurd gunfights are perfectly intact. I’m sold.
13/04/2012 at 11:47 Iskariot says:
I really liked what I saw,.
It might seem inconsequential to some, but I think the way the AI reacts to getting wounded will add a lot to the experience.
I can only hope the levels are large, not too linear and offer some interesting choice to the player.
And I can only hope the game lasts longer than 8 hours.
I want at least a bare minimum of 12 hours single player gaming.
If I get that I will buy it on the first day of release.
13/04/2012 at 12:01 torchedEARTH says:
I can’t really comment on Max Payne 3 without gushing like a giddy school girl but when I get it I know the rest of my games will be spending a lot of time in the dark place.
13/04/2012 at 12:24 Arbodnangle Scrulp says:
I just accidentally duct-taped a hamster to my genitals.