Max Payne is a
BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a British charity that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation...
award winning
third-person shooterThird-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
video game developed by Finnish
Remedy EntertainmentRemedy Entertainment is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 1995 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company is best known for its Max Payne series of video games....
, produced by
3D Realms3D Realms is a publisher and video game developer based in Garland, Texas established in 1987. It is best known for popularizing the shareware distribution model and as the creator of franchises on the PC such as Duke Nukem, and also the publisher of other franchises such as Commander Keen and...
and published by
Gathering of DevelopersGathering of Developers was a Texas-based PC and video games publishing company, founded in January 1998 with the mission to bridge the gap between publishers and independent game developers, allowing independent developers creative control over their projects, ownership of their IP, and...
in July 2001 for
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces...
. Ports later in the year for the
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
,
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
and the GameBoy Advance were published by
Rockstar GamesRockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher owned by Take-Two Interactive. The brand is mostly known for the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne and Midnight Club series. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally...
. A Macintosh port was published in July 2002 by MacSoft in North America and
Feral InteractiveFeral Interactive is a publishing company founded in 1996 that publishes games and other software that did not fit in with the release programs of the large established publishers. It publishes Macintosh games and has relationships with publishers such as Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive,...
in the rest of the World. There were plans for a Dreamcast version of
Max Payne, but they were canceled due to the discontinuation of the console. Max Payne was re-released on April 29, 2009 as a downloadable game in the Xbox Originals program for the Xbox 360.
Max Payne is one of the first video games to incorporate "
bullet timeBullet Time refers to a digitally enhanced simulation of variable speed photography used in films, broadcast advertisements and video games...
" into its gameplay, made famous by
The Matrix trilogy, as gunplay allows for slowing down of time to dodge bullets. The game features a gritty
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
style and uses
graphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using the comics form. The term is employed in a broad manner, encompassing non-fiction works and thematically linked short stories as well as fictional stories across a number of genres.Graphic novels are typically...
panels in place of cut scenes to narrate the game.
Max Payne is heavily influenced by the
Hong Kong action cinema genreHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
, particularly the work of director
John WooJohn Woo Yu-Sen is a Chinese film director and producer from Hong Kong. Recognized for his stylized films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and...
, as well as hard-boiled detective novels by authors like
Mickey SpillaneFrank Morrison Spillane , better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally...
. Having been developed by the Finnish company Remedy, the game contains many allusions to
Norse mythologyNorse, North Germanic, or Scandinavian mythology comprises the myths of North Germanic pre-Christian religion.Most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled in medieval Iceland in Old Norse, notably as the Edda....
, particularly
RagnarokIn Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of major events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water...
, and several of the names used in the game (Alfred
WodenWōden is a god in Anglo-Saxon paganism, together with Norse Odin representing a development of a Proto-Germanic god, *Wōdanaz. Other West Germanic forms of the name include Old High German Wuotan, Low German and Dutch Wodan....
, Alex
BalderBalder is a god in Norse mythology associated with light and beauty.In the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story...
, Aesir Corporation,
AsgardIn Norse mythology, Asgard is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning...
Building, Valkyr,
YggdrasilIn Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is central in Norse cosmology, and around it exists Nine Worlds....
Network, Project
ValhallaIn Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
) are those of the Norse gods and mythos.
Max Payne received very positive reviews from critics and was praised for its exciting gunplay and use of noir storytelling devices. As of March 12, 2008, the
Max Payne franchise has sold over 7 million copies according to
Take-Two InteractiveTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. The company's headquarters are in New York City, United States, with international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Development studio locations include San...
.
Gameplay
Max Payne is a third-person shooter, in which the player assumes the role of Max Payne. Initially, the player's only weapon is a 9mm Pistol. As they progress, players access other weapons including handguns, shotguns, sub-machine guns, long-range rifles, and hand-thrown weapons. To move the game along, the player is told what the next objective is through Max's
internal monologueInternal monologue, also known as inner voice, internal speech, or stream of consciousness is thinking in words. It also refers to the semi-constant internal monologue one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level....
, in which Max iterates what his next steps should be. The prime emphasis of the series is on shooting. Almost all of the gameplay involves using bullet time to gun down foe after foe. Levels are generally straightforward, with almost no key-hunting. However, some levels do incorporate platforming elements and puzzle solving.
AmmoAmmunition, often informally referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
is in virtually constant supply, as all enemies drop some ammo when killed.
The game's
A.I.Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents,"...
is heavily dependent on pre-scripted commands. Most of the apparently intelligent behavior exhibited by enemies, such as taking cover behind obstacles, retreating from the player, or throwing grenades, is pre-scripted. Thus, when replaying a level, enemies perform exactly the same behaviors each time. Enemies who dodge and roll are typically the Mercenaries (operatives in black ski-masks), Aesir Security Guards, and Killer Suits (henchmen wearing business suits and sunglasses).
Higher difficulty levels are extremely challenging; the "Dead on Arrival" level limits the player to 7 saves per chapter, and the "New York Minute" level forces the player to complete each chapter before the allotted time — replenished by killing enemies — is exhausted. Upon completing the game on "Dead on Arrival", Max is transported to the "Final Battle", where the player then fights in perpetual bullet time against 20 Killer Suits — each armed with the
Pancor JackhammerThe Pancor Corporation Jackhammer is a 12-gauge, gas-operated automatic shotgun. It is one of very few fully automatic shotguns, and although patented in 1987, it never entered full-scale production. Only a few working prototypes of the Jackhammer were ever built; some sources state that only two...
automatic shotgun.
On the highest difficulty setting, Max is (from a game perspective) extremely fragile and dies after suffering only 5 pistol bullets, 3 assault rifle bullets, or 1 accurate shotgun blast. Most enemies have more endurance than the player character, with later enemies being able to survive 2 or 3 times as much damage as Max. The player can heal Max by consuming "painkillers", which the player collects and carries, until he/she decides to use them.
Bullet time
The game play of
Max Payne revolves heavily around
bullet timeBullet Time refers to a digitally enhanced simulation of variable speed photography used in films, broadcast advertisements and video games...
. When triggered, bullet time slows down the passage of time to such an extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye — it is a form of slow motion. Although Payne's movement is also slowed, the player is still able to position the aiming reticle and react in real time, providing a unique advantage over enemies. This makes avoiding being shot easier and enables Max to perform special moves, such as shoot dodges where Max leaps sideways through the air while continuing to fire his weapon. The player is able to combine the use of Shoot-Dodge and Bullet-Time into only one key/button, but in both games, the player can also determine separate keys for both actions, making it possible to remain in Bullet-Time after Shoot-Dodging or using Shoot-Dodge out of an active Bullet-Time.
Occasionally, when the last character of a group is killed, the
viewpointPerspective, in context of vision and visual perception, is the way in which objects appear to the eye based on their spatial attributes; or their dimensions and the position of the eye relative to the objects...
switches to a third-person view of his falling body with the camera circling around it. Likewise, the camera will often follow the path of a bullet fired from the sniper rifle.
Max Payne the character
For
Max Payne, the title character was modeled after
Sam LakeSami Järvi, also known by his artist name Sam Lake , is a Finnish writer who is mostly known for his work on the popular Max Payne video game series. Järvi is good friends with Petri Järvilehto, a founding member of Remedy Entertainment, the company behind Max Payne...
, the writer of
Max Payne. It is often joked that Max had a
constipatedConstipation, costiveness, or irregularity is a condition of the digestive system in which a person experiences hard feces that are difficult to expel. This usually happens because the colon absorbs too much water from the food...
expression with his uncomfortable half grin/sneer; this joke is even mentioned in the sequel. For
Max Payne 2, however, Lake declined the honor, and after extensive casting, Remedy chose the actor
Timothy GibbsTimothy Gibbs is an American actor who starred in soap operas such as Another World as Gary Sinclair from 1995 to 1998, One Life to Live as Kevin Buchanan from 1998 to 2001, and Santa Barbara as Dash Nichols from 1990 to 1992....
to be the model for Max Payne. Actor
James McCaffreyFor the software engineer and author, see James D. McCaffrey.James G. McCaffrey is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television series Rescue Me as Tommy Gavin's dead cousin, Jimmy Keefe, and as the voice of Max Payne....
provided the voice of Max Payne in both games.
Max Payne is mostly recognised by his complex and off the wall use of metaphor and wordplay to describe his situation and the world around him. When interacting with his colleagues and normal people, he does not use metaphor. His use of metaphor is only "internal" and never externally expressed. This shows Max is speaking from his true feelings (many times Max's internal dialog will contradict his response to a character he spoke to externally). Also, given that the story is "retold" by Max Payne, furthermore shows that Max is telling his side of the story, from his point of view (what he sees of the situation).
Max is also very isolated and has a rather "mellow" personality. At the first game's beginning, a different Max is seen. Max was happily married, smiled and had a 'bright' personality. Also there was no sign of Max having his poetic state of mind. It can be gathered that the murder of Max's family is what triggered Max's obscure view on the world. Whether this was triggered or if Max always did view the world in the poetic manner that he does has yet to be explained.
Plot
The story is told
in medias resIn medias res, also medias in res , refers to a literary and artistic technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning...
. Max Payne, a New York City police officer, is standing at the top of a building as police units and their helicopter arrive. He then has a
flashbackA flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened prior to the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
going back three years ago. Back in 1998, Max is returning home to find that a trio of drug junkies high on a new drug called Valkyr have broken into his house. Max rushes to the aid of his family, but he is too late; his wife and newborn daughter have been murdered. After his family's funeral, he transfers to the
DEAThe Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the U.S...
.
Three years later, he is an
undercoverBeing undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
operative inside the Punchinello
MafiaThe Mafia is a Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia . It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct...
family, which is responsible for the trafficking of Valkyr. B.B., a colleague in the DEA, gives Max a message asking him to meet Alex Balder, another DEA agent and Max's best friend, in the Roscoe Street
subwayA rapid transit, metro, subway, underground, or elevated railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and which is grade separated from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level...
station. When Max arrives at the subway, Alex is shot by an unknown assassin. As Alex was the only person that knew that Max was undercover, his death results in Max losing his NYPD identity. As a result, the police consider Max the prime suspect in Alex’s death. Additionally, the Punchinello family finds out that he is a cop and wants him dead.
Max goes after Jack Lupino, who oversees Valkyr distribution for the Punchinello family. After gunning him down, he meets Mona Sax, a hired killer, who laces his drink with a sedative and leaves him to be found by the Mafia, who proceed to interrogate him.
Max escapes the Mafia and gains access to a shipment of guns belonging to the
Russian mobThe Russian Mafia or Bratva — often transliterated as Mafiya — are names designating a diverse group of organized crime syndicates originating in the former Soviet Union...
after killing one of their traitors. Max uses these weapons to infiltrate the house of Don Punchinello, the head of the Mafia. Max discovers that the Don is only a puppet in the Valkyr market when the Don is killed by agents of Nicole Horne, CEO of Aesir Corp, in front of Max. Horne herself then injects Max with an overdose of Valkyr and leaves him for dead. Max has a drug-induced nightmare involving his internal torment and guilt for not being able to save his family.
When he awakens, he pursues his only lead, Horne's last words, “Take me to Cold Steel”, heard just before he passed out. It leads him to a steel foundry with an old military bunker beneath it. He discovers that Valkyr was the result of a U.S. military project to improve its soldiers’
staminaEndurance is the ability for an animal to exert itself for a long period of time. In humans, it is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise. The definition of 'long' varies according to the type of exertion - minutes for high intensity anaerobic exercise, hours or days for low intensity...
and morale; the project was halted shortly after it began due to lackluster results. He also discovers that his wife accidentally found out about the project while working at the District Attorney’s office, so Horne let Valkyr junkies loose in Max's house.
After leaving the bunker, Max gets a call from B.B., who asks Max to meet with him at a garage lot. There, Max realizes that B.B. was the one who shot Alex, framing Max for his murder. A huge running gun-fight begins with Max giving chase through the garage lot. After killing B.B., Max gets a phone call from a man named Alfred Woden asking him to come to the
AsgardIn Norse mythology, Asgard is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning...
building. Alfred is part of a secret society called the "Inner Circle". Woden informs Max about who Nicole Horne is and says the Inner Circle cannot pursue Horne because "their hands are tied." They ask Max to kill Horne in exchange for ensuring that any criminal charges against him are dropped. After the meeting, the room is stormed by Horne's agents and mercenaries. They kill every person in the room except for Max, who manages to escape, and Woden, who pretends to be shot.
Max enters the Aesir Corp. main office, where Horne is located. As he makes his way past security guards, he runs into Mona Sax again. She is shot by Horne's men after refusing to shoot Max; yet her body vanishes. Max confronts Nicole and states that this whole thing started after Max's wife found out about the Valkyr project. Horne runs to the roof of the building, boarding a helicopter. Racing up to the roof, Max shoots the guy wires of the building's antenna; the antenna snaps off the roof and comes crashing down on the helicopter.
The NYPD arrive at the scene, arresting Max. As Max is being led out of the building by the
SWATA SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in American and some international law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team, he sees Alfred Woden. Knowing that Woden will ensure his safe passage through the judicial system, Max smiles genuinely.
Reception
Max Payne was well-received by critics with the
PCThe IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
versions both scoring 89% on
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. A
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
review said the game "is an atmospheric third-person shooter, clearly inspired by the cinematography of John Woo films and
The Matrix, with captivating graphics and edgy, action sequences," and praised the graphics, gameplay and detail in the game.
Legacy
A sequel called
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max PayneMax Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a third-person shooter video game developed by the Finnish Remedy Entertainment and produced by 3D Realms. The game is a direct sequel to Max Payne and is followed by Max Payne 3. It was released by Rockstar Games for Windows on October 15, 2003, for Xbox on...
was released in 2003. In 2008,
Max Payne, a film based on the video game, was released, starring
Mark WahlbergMark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, rapper and producer of film and television. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years and became famous in his 1991 debut as a rap musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.-Early life:Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of...
and
Mila KunisMilena "Mila" Kunis is an American actress. Her television work includes the role of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show and the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy...
. In March 2009,
Rockstar GamesRockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher owned by Take-Two Interactive. The brand is mostly known for the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne and Midnight Club series. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally...
announced
Max Payne 3Max Payne 3 is an upcoming third-person shooter video game developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This is the first game in the series not to be developed by Finnish game developer Remedy Entertainment and not being written...
to be released in Q1 2010. It will be available on
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
,
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
and
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
.
External links