Previews// Max Payne 3

Some people might find Rockstar’s development of Max Payne 3 a little bit uncomfortable. The original PC game - a focused action-shooter - was created by Alan Wake studio Remedy, and we all know the Houser brothers seem more at home with open-world scenarios than with something a little more directed. However, having played a gameplay segment of the upcoming threequel, I can say that those people have little to worry about.

For a start, it’s easy to forget that Rockstar was in fact heavily involved in the development of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. So the studio already has a clear understanding of the franchise’s foundation. And while there are some presentation effects here that slightly eschew the format of the previous two titles, Max Payne 3 is still at its core a directed run-and-gun experience.

We now know that the majority of Max’s story in this adventure takes place in Sao Paulo, with New York City stages scattered inbetween as ‘memories’ that are triggered by various events in the present day. The reason Max is in Brazil? He’s helping a long-forgotten police academy colleague, Raul Passos, on a job that involves protecting the family of industrialist tycoon Rodrigo Branco.

It all goes well, until Rodrigo’s wife, Fabiana, gets snatched away by a gang called the Comando Sombra. With a ransom of $3 million for her safety, Max and Passos are led to the Sao Paulo Galatians football stadium to deposit a bag of money. The exchange all goes tits up when a random sniper appears and wounds Max badly with a bullet. As control is handed to you, the immediate aim is to get the hell out of danger - Max is pretty messed up, and as you hobble inside the stadium James McCaffrey uses his iconic Payne voice to narrate the character’s feelings amidst this dire situation.

Rockstar is keen to show off a range of digital effects and unique presentation elements to try and convey the graphic novel style that has been integral to the Max Payne series. The result is not quite the same as past titles - instead, the in-game visuals and character models themselves seem to be heavily drawn and inspired by graphic novels. Although different, the approach is certainly interesting.

Perhaps the studio wants to show off its in-game graphics engine to present the tense cutscenes instead of taking direct inspiration from comic panelling. And it’s easy to see why it would want to do that - the motion capture and animation in Max Payne 3 is looking very impressive indeed, with fantastic fidelity on faces and bodies. I particularly want to mention the bodies here, as they don’t appear lifeless as the characters in L.A. Noire tended to be.

All reservations about the presentation comes crashing down when you get that controller in your hands though. Rockstar has taken great care and attention to ensuring that the core gameplay experience has been translated from past Max Payne games, whilst taking inspiration from some of its own games. First impressions are very positive.

From the first scene to the last, you will always be outnumbered in some ridiculous way, and in the stadium level in particular Max needs to power through rooms that have some equally fun set-pieces to play with. Although there is a pretty decent cover system, Max Payne wasn’t made to be anything but a balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face shooter. Rockstar tells me that enemy AI is clever enough to smoke you out of hiding places pretty quickly, so you’re pretty much left to your run-and-gun devices.

Max can carry either one large weapon or two smaller ones at the same time - guns can be pulled up from a HUD wheel lifted straight from Red Dead Redemption. Aiming and shooting is executed with the controller triggers, and like the aforementioned Rockstar Western you can choose to have a lock-on system that snaps to the nearest limb for an easier aiming experience. What you really want to do though is go for Free Aim, because it’s so much more fun.

Why? Because of the main selling point of Max Payne - bullet time. By engaging in combat, you can build up a meter in the corner of the screen which, when the Right Stick is clicked in, allows you to slow down everything around you and take out multiple enemies. Or make a hasty retreat. Whatever floats your boat.

Not only can you click the Right Stick for Matrix-style action, but you also have what’s called a Shoot Dodge at your disposal. Hitting the Right Bumper will have Max fling himself in whichever direction you’re holding, and automatically sinks the world around him in slow motion. Without the need for a charge meter, you can use this in times of great emergency - or if you really want to show off.

It’s important not to understate how fun hopping around like a buffoon really is, especially if you make a tasty headshot and see the camera follow your bullet towards the target in a final kill-cam moment. Better yet, when you land Max can still fire in all directions - it sounds good on paper, but feels pretty nice in practice too.

But this game won’t go easy on you. Max doesn’t have a regenerating health bar - just like the classic Max Payne games, you need to replenish your stamina using painkillers, which are found in sparse quantities throughout the level. There were moments where I died several times just because I juiced through my supply of pills in record time.

To be fair, this was largely because I was trying to cap someone in the head by leaping in front of him as close as possible, like a dickhead - but also because of the game’s Last Man Standing failsafe. This is a feature that allows you to recover from a fatal blow by giving you a few seconds to kill the enemy responsible for the shot. The process uses up one of your painkillers automatically though.

The two levels I played were a good example of the sort of Hong Kong-style action flick approach that Rockstar is clearly gunning for here. In the Stadium I was diving over bars, crashing through windows and leaping down stairs to avoid fatal bullets. I felt like a badass. I guess that’s the point isn’t it? The second stage, set in the Docks, was a bit more forgettable in terms of set-pieces and level design, but it didn’t diminish the flair of Shoot Dodging and melee attacking enemies as you try to rescue Fabiana from the Comando Sombra.

So far, I’m enjoying the movement of Max, and the feeling you get from victoriously smashing guerrilla soldiers’ heads in. The action seems fluid, and for someone like me who likes to run head-first into any gunfight, this is looking like a game that will play right to my tastes. I hope that playing more of the game will confirm these early impressions as Rockstar approaches its May release date.