In case you hadn't noticed the artistic direction of Max Payne has shifted a bit from the first two games. Gone are the noir like shadows and leather coats and in their place is sunny San Paulo, Brazil and a chubbier, dirtier looking Max Payne. Much of this is thanks to the fact that the game has been taken over by Rockstar in place of creators Remedy. An older Game Informer preview has been placed online that should relax some of your fears about the new direction the series is taking and new development team. That is if you had any fears. I for one like it when games try something different.
In a relentlessly interesting article, which covers subjects from what exactly noir is to the game's new engine, the dev team discusses the immense amount of effort that is going into the game. Rockstar sent down ten staffers to San Paulo not just to photograph the streets and get a feel for the city, but also to digitally scan in locals' faces sot that the NPCs in the game could look as authentic as possible. On top of the this the team is hard at work at making Max the king of bullet time again, incoporating the NatrualMotion Euphoria animation tech that was used so well in GTAIV with the RAGE engine to make what sounds like the greatest slow motion shooting ever.
There are about six different quotes I want to pull from this article that have made Max Payne 3 move from a game I was glancing at every so often to something I'm going to be paying full attention to. Here's one about how they're trying to respect the game's past and move forward at the same time: “It’s a tricky thing, because you’re taking this beloved franchise that we didn’t do originally,” Rockstar art director Rob Nelson said. “You have to maintain the elements of it that are special and that people remember, but you also have to evolve. We’re not Remedy, but we have a lot of respect for what they did. We’re definitely looking back and trying to maintain every element that clicked with people eight or nine years ago and make it have the same impact now.”
Oh, and just in case you're worried, Max isn't fat, he's just put on a lot of muscle build and sunken into a life of drugs and alcohol.
[Via Joystiq]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
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Contest:
3:30 PM on 10.04.2009
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Wait, id's Rage engine?
LOL, sunny.
Why do you keep failing Rockstar? You used to be a good at making games.
Rockstar is making us play ugly people for a change (GTA IV, totally horse-thief looking (as we say in Turkish), now this one..)
Putting on muscle while sinking into a life of drug and alcohol abuse? That doesn't even make sense. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I've ever seen a guy who is hooked on painkillers and booze working out 5 times a week. And what happened to that luxurious head of hair from the previous games?
This may turn out to be a decent action game, but it looks fuck all like Max Payne 1 & 2 at the moment. Different setting, different character, different aesthetic.
I have some serious, serious doubts about this game.
And it's not sunny - but Rockstar seems to see the city like that. As a matter of fact, the city's weather is pretty unstable, raining is a common thing here.
Just to let you guys know (:
It had better not disappoint.
FUCKING
WAIT
AUGH DO WANT THIS AND NEW RDR
While I really enjoyed Max Payne, it was annoying to have to watch how long bullet time was used for, while in Wet you could just go as crazy as you wanted as long as you were being acrobatic and shooting, which was the most fun way to do the gunfights anyway.
I know a lot of people didn't like Wet (for the record I thought it was awesome), I'm just saying the Max Payne guys could learn a lesson from one of its better features.
No problem, we call New York as NOVA IORQUE =)