Tweet
Australia, July 21, 2009 - Cam: We're huge fans of the Max Payne series here at IGN AU. We love the noir aesthetic, the hard-boiled dialogue, the tales of love lost and revenge, the graphic novel cutscenes, and of course, the balls-out action. Both the Max Payne games had a very distinct feel, so it was something of a shock when Rockstar unveiled the first screenshots of Max Payne 3. It looks amazing, no doubt, but can this still be Max Payne? While we don't know a great deal about the game yet, we figured it was worth discussing the new look and the expectations of fans versus the need for developers to keep a series fresh.
Patch: "Dames. Drinks. Death. Another black night in the rotten abdomen of city life. The rain beats down on my dirty forehead, leaving streaks down my face like a drunkard's lonely tears – matching her nail scratches down my back. Coughing, I take another hit from the flask and check the rounds left in my clip. Two shots. Enough to get the job done –and put myself to bed if it comes down to—" Oh excuse me. I didn't see you come in. What? Max Payne? Sure, it's okay I guess... if you like that sort of thing. Me? I'm more of a Nancy Drew Adventures kind of guy. But I suppose these new shots look okay. Except, someone's done gone and turned on the lights. And replaced the noir city streets with jungles and slums. And Max has been taking styling tips from Nathan Drake. ...Actually, on closer inspection and more thoughtful consideration, I'm not really sure what's going on here. You?
A change of scenery for sure, but hopefully the feel of the gunplay is retained.
Cam: "Her embrace was warm, comforting; like basking in a kiss of sun on a clear spring day. Memories of a past long gone came flooding back, quickly fading to numbing cold as she turned and walked away." Wow – I can see why you went noir with your opening spiel! That's fun! Honestly, if this kind of writing was the archetype in the first two games, how could you resist doing the third in the same style? Hopefully that will still be the case to some extent – Rockstar has said that Max will have lines of internal dialogue along the same lines as in previous games - but it's hard to imagine the same hard-boiled style gelling with the screenshots we've seen so far. Hell, you can't say that kind of stuff in cargo pants. Trench coat? Yes. Cargo pants? No. From what we understand – largely thanks to the Game Informer cover story - Rockstar is shooting for a more contemporary noir than the classic style in the first two games, so fans should definitely expect a new breed of Max Payne.
So what's going on? Here's what we know. We know the setting is Sao Paolo in Brazil. We know that this is a city with some of the biggest and most dangerous slums in the world, but that it also has great wealth concentrated into the hands of very few. That's good fodder for a Max Payne game. We also know Max is 12 years older and even more grizzled than before – he's addicted to painkillers and at the bottom of a very long downward spiral; scarred both physically and psychologically. Again, good fodder. And we know that he finds work with one of the city's wealthiest families and that the dominant themes of betrayal and revenge will once again be at the fore.
Max has gone from Warren Beatty circa 1991 to Bruce Willis with a hobo beard.
Patch: "...until there was nothing left but the knotted remains of another of the city's forgotten children. I clutched my side. Ribs. Broken. Still, he was out there somewh—" Err, sorry. Where was I? Oh yes – Sao Paulo. It's an interesting setting; for a good stylistic reference, check out the first twenty minutes of The Incredible Hulk, where Ed Norton is eking out his cruddy existence in what sounds like much the same way Max is. So it's a big change of pace, by the sounds of things.
However, I can't help but wonder if long-term fans are going to feel like this is some sort of affront to their noir sensibilities. Personally, it'd be understandable. I mean, I play a Max Payne game for a certain kind of experience – one that riffs on classic James Elroy novels as much as hard-boiled thrillers and even a twist of the fantastic. By rooting it in what superficially appears to be a complete reboot of tone and style, Rockstar is risking alienating a lot of fans.
...of course, those fans weren't exactly queuing around the block to buy the second game. In fact, sales were pretty average, all told. Maybe that points toward why the game's style has been retooled – to make it more appealing to fans of 'modern' action titles – or games that are perceived to be leading the way forward.
Cam: "My heart beat out a staccato rhythm as I stumbled forward, head pounding like a gargantuan monkey fist. This city that I loved had betrayed me, left me to die in its cold, wintry embrace. Why, Adelaide, why?" Actually, I doubt sales reports came into it too much – Rockstar knows that this is still a powerful brand amongst gamers. I also really doubt the team is too concerned with what other games are doing – it will be trying to make the game it wants to make, not the game that apes current genre leaders. Still, there's definitely a danger when a new developer takes a beloved series and changes it a lot.
A few things we can say for certain though – RAGE is an incredible engine and no one builds cities/environments like Rockstar, so from an aesthetic point of view this is going to be a rich game world. We also know that Euphoria is getting ever more sophisticated in Rockstar's games (Red Dead Redemption shows it off wonderfully), which should make bullet time even more balletic than ever. Oh, and Rockstar really knows how to tell stories and create engaging characters, so that's another huge plus. Even so, it has to feel like Max Payne. It has to – on some level - feel like a continuation of what has come before. One thing's for sure though – I can't wait to see more.
You can probably bank on some night time sequences - just not the bulk of the game.
Patch: "...her strawberry-blonde locks soaking up the thick spill of red like the end of the devil's paintbrush—" Hey! Don't you knock? Aaaanyway... while I do think that Rockstar is comprised of wonderful studios creating some stellar product, don't think for a second these games and brands aren't very carefully considered for moneymaking potential. Regardless, the quality of the game is the bottom-line for us – and I still have faith that this Max Payne will end up considerably darker than we're being led to believe. Max is likely to be facing off against rich drug barons, fighting inner demons and – if the released artwork is any indication – saving a buxom brunette from some skinhead in a bandanna, so the subject matter still sounds tempting. Sure, it's not going to be a renegade cop story – but you can't expect that formula to stay fresh forever anyway.
Cam: "A shot rang out!" And you know what else? It's not like the whole game is going to be set during the day. Dark, dangerous Sao Paulo nights no doubt also await. That's all I had to say. Continue...
"The bullets made their one-way express journey through their cheap suits. Last stop: deadtown. Population: them."
Patch: "Another shot rang out!" Besides - a visual reset is sometimes just the thing a franchise needs to rekindle interest. Most recently, Splinter Cell: Conviction's presentation and setting were given an overhaul, as was Street Fighter IV and Borderlands. Of course, the gameplay in Max Payne 3 will have to be reverent to the Bullet Time gunplay of yore – and so long as the script is rock-solid and the designers are respectful to what 'noir' should and shouldn't contain, then Max Payne 3 could be set in white-picket-fence suburbia, for all that it matters. Bottom line, I guess, is that Max Payne 3 is probably going to feel just similar enough to retain the key elements the series drew praise for, while providing a unique experience too. And frankly, that's about as much as I could hope for.
Now excuse me while I pour myself a stiff one, put on my fedora and sit in the dark. Alone. Pondering life and staring longingly at the photo of the leggy blonde on my desk, next to the dusty newspaper stack and folder of missing persons cases and broken dreams.
What do you guys think of the new visual style of Max Payne 3? Do you think Rockstar can stay true to the series in the new setting? Do you think the team should even have to stay true to what has come before? Let us know in the comments.
Source:
IGN: Max Payne 3: Growing Pains
Patch: "Dames. Drinks. Death. Another black night in the rotten abdomen of city life. The rain beats down on my dirty forehead, leaving streaks down my face like a drunkard's lonely tears – matching her nail scratches down my back. Coughing, I take another hit from the flask and check the rounds left in my clip. Two shots. Enough to get the job done –and put myself to bed if it comes down to—" Oh excuse me. I didn't see you come in. What? Max Payne? Sure, it's okay I guess... if you like that sort of thing. Me? I'm more of a Nancy Drew Adventures kind of guy. But I suppose these new shots look okay. Except, someone's done gone and turned on the lights. And replaced the noir city streets with jungles and slums. And Max has been taking styling tips from Nathan Drake. ...Actually, on closer inspection and more thoughtful consideration, I'm not really sure what's going on here. You?
A change of scenery for sure, but hopefully the feel of the gunplay is retained.
Cam: "Her embrace was warm, comforting; like basking in a kiss of sun on a clear spring day. Memories of a past long gone came flooding back, quickly fading to numbing cold as she turned and walked away." Wow – I can see why you went noir with your opening spiel! That's fun! Honestly, if this kind of writing was the archetype in the first two games, how could you resist doing the third in the same style? Hopefully that will still be the case to some extent – Rockstar has said that Max will have lines of internal dialogue along the same lines as in previous games - but it's hard to imagine the same hard-boiled style gelling with the screenshots we've seen so far. Hell, you can't say that kind of stuff in cargo pants. Trench coat? Yes. Cargo pants? No. From what we understand – largely thanks to the Game Informer cover story - Rockstar is shooting for a more contemporary noir than the classic style in the first two games, so fans should definitely expect a new breed of Max Payne.
So what's going on? Here's what we know. We know the setting is Sao Paolo in Brazil. We know that this is a city with some of the biggest and most dangerous slums in the world, but that it also has great wealth concentrated into the hands of very few. That's good fodder for a Max Payne game. We also know Max is 12 years older and even more grizzled than before – he's addicted to painkillers and at the bottom of a very long downward spiral; scarred both physically and psychologically. Again, good fodder. And we know that he finds work with one of the city's wealthiest families and that the dominant themes of betrayal and revenge will once again be at the fore.
Max has gone from Warren Beatty circa 1991 to Bruce Willis with a hobo beard.
Patch: "...until there was nothing left but the knotted remains of another of the city's forgotten children. I clutched my side. Ribs. Broken. Still, he was out there somewh—" Err, sorry. Where was I? Oh yes – Sao Paulo. It's an interesting setting; for a good stylistic reference, check out the first twenty minutes of The Incredible Hulk, where Ed Norton is eking out his cruddy existence in what sounds like much the same way Max is. So it's a big change of pace, by the sounds of things.
However, I can't help but wonder if long-term fans are going to feel like this is some sort of affront to their noir sensibilities. Personally, it'd be understandable. I mean, I play a Max Payne game for a certain kind of experience – one that riffs on classic James Elroy novels as much as hard-boiled thrillers and even a twist of the fantastic. By rooting it in what superficially appears to be a complete reboot of tone and style, Rockstar is risking alienating a lot of fans.
...of course, those fans weren't exactly queuing around the block to buy the second game. In fact, sales were pretty average, all told. Maybe that points toward why the game's style has been retooled – to make it more appealing to fans of 'modern' action titles – or games that are perceived to be leading the way forward.
Cam: "My heart beat out a staccato rhythm as I stumbled forward, head pounding like a gargantuan monkey fist. This city that I loved had betrayed me, left me to die in its cold, wintry embrace. Why, Adelaide, why?" Actually, I doubt sales reports came into it too much – Rockstar knows that this is still a powerful brand amongst gamers. I also really doubt the team is too concerned with what other games are doing – it will be trying to make the game it wants to make, not the game that apes current genre leaders. Still, there's definitely a danger when a new developer takes a beloved series and changes it a lot.
A few things we can say for certain though – RAGE is an incredible engine and no one builds cities/environments like Rockstar, so from an aesthetic point of view this is going to be a rich game world. We also know that Euphoria is getting ever more sophisticated in Rockstar's games (Red Dead Redemption shows it off wonderfully), which should make bullet time even more balletic than ever. Oh, and Rockstar really knows how to tell stories and create engaging characters, so that's another huge plus. Even so, it has to feel like Max Payne. It has to – on some level - feel like a continuation of what has come before. One thing's for sure though – I can't wait to see more.
You can probably bank on some night time sequences - just not the bulk of the game.
Patch: "...her strawberry-blonde locks soaking up the thick spill of red like the end of the devil's paintbrush—" Hey! Don't you knock? Aaaanyway... while I do think that Rockstar is comprised of wonderful studios creating some stellar product, don't think for a second these games and brands aren't very carefully considered for moneymaking potential. Regardless, the quality of the game is the bottom-line for us – and I still have faith that this Max Payne will end up considerably darker than we're being led to believe. Max is likely to be facing off against rich drug barons, fighting inner demons and – if the released artwork is any indication – saving a buxom brunette from some skinhead in a bandanna, so the subject matter still sounds tempting. Sure, it's not going to be a renegade cop story – but you can't expect that formula to stay fresh forever anyway.
Cam: "A shot rang out!" And you know what else? It's not like the whole game is going to be set during the day. Dark, dangerous Sao Paulo nights no doubt also await. That's all I had to say. Continue...
"The bullets made their one-way express journey through their cheap suits. Last stop: deadtown. Population: them."
Patch: "Another shot rang out!" Besides - a visual reset is sometimes just the thing a franchise needs to rekindle interest. Most recently, Splinter Cell: Conviction's presentation and setting were given an overhaul, as was Street Fighter IV and Borderlands. Of course, the gameplay in Max Payne 3 will have to be reverent to the Bullet Time gunplay of yore – and so long as the script is rock-solid and the designers are respectful to what 'noir' should and shouldn't contain, then Max Payne 3 could be set in white-picket-fence suburbia, for all that it matters. Bottom line, I guess, is that Max Payne 3 is probably going to feel just similar enough to retain the key elements the series drew praise for, while providing a unique experience too. And frankly, that's about as much as I could hope for.
Now excuse me while I pour myself a stiff one, put on my fedora and sit in the dark. Alone. Pondering life and staring longingly at the photo of the leggy blonde on my desk, next to the dusty newspaper stack and folder of missing persons cases and broken dreams.
What do you guys think of the new visual style of Max Payne 3? Do you think Rockstar can stay true to the series in the new setting? Do you think the team should even have to stay true to what has come before? Let us know in the comments.
Source:
IGN: Max Payne 3: Growing Pains
Release it allready.
Comment