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]