Goodbye Noir: The New Look of Max Payne 3

[Greg Tito]

Goodbye Noir: The New Look of Max Payne 3

Rockstar Games has placed the hard-boiled cop in a sunny locale.

The first Max Payne was an homage to the classic detective story set in a drug-riddled New York City. The sequel was a lurid tale of intrigue involving the Russian Mafia and several double-crosses. Fans of the first two games were ready for new developer Rockstar (taking over the series from Finnish Remedy Entertainment) to bring a different feel to Max Payne 3, and the new posters released by the GTA-maker certainly evoke dissimilar tones. There is a lot more color, for instance.

[gallery=477]

Max Payne 3 is set in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with an older and more alcoholic titular character. Taking place 8 years after the events of the second game, Max now works for a private security firm. We're not clear on who the antagonists in this game are, but judging from the poster it appears that Max might be up against some dastardly criminals who cover up their faces with fancy scarves. Or terrorists. We're not really sure.

We will be getting more information when Rockstar debuts the first trailer next week. But for now, what do you think about Max's new look? Is he bald or does that happen sometime throughout the game?

Source: Rockstar [http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/18781/the-first-max-payne-3-trailer-is-coming-next-week-wednesday-sept.html]

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[D0WNT0WN]

The story is very similar to Man On Fire.

Im buying this.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I'm feeling very uneasy about how this will turn out. Mind you, I will still get it for PC regardless as I love Max Payne and am willing to try it. But I can't help but feel a little nervous.

 

[SouthpawFencer]

Those two pictures of Max look disturbingly like something out of a Kane and Lynch game. Rockstar is aware that Kane and Lynch isn't considered a franchise that you should look to for inspiration, right?

 

[Valagetti]

I think Payne should die peacefully... it looks alot like Kane n' Lynch, possibly one of the worst games ever made. Though I've been happily wrong before, I thought Forever was going to be a stinking pile of waste, boy I was wrong...

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

I don't think that they're getting of noir, but rather they're opting for the South American noir feel, similar to Columbiana, City of God/City of Men, and similar titles.

Think of the difference between CSI: [Las Vegas], CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York. All three have clear similarities that define them as CSI, but the feel of each series is quite different. In this case, it's the difference between the blue and gray New York and bright orange-yellow Miami.

 

[Raithnor]

I'm getting a distinct "Miami Vice"-vibe from the covers. It could still work as "Noir" it all depends on how the story is paced and shot.

Worse case scenario: It's a moronic as Kane and Lynch 2

I'll hold off judgement until the actual hands-on game reviews come out, but I'm not going to dump on Max Payne 3 because it doesn't take place in New York city at nighttime.

 

[Sartan0]

I'm feeling very uneasy about how this will turn out. Mind you, I will still get it for PC regardless as I love Max Payne and am willing to try it. But I can't help but feel a little nervous.

That is if Rockstar releases this on PC. They have yet to release LA Noire or Red Dead Redemption. (Though they have at least announced releasing LA Noire) That is a bit of a crap shoot with this company.

Also I hate the new look but they might still pull something off. I am not going to write it off.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I'm feeling very uneasy about how this will turn out. Mind you, I will still get it for PC regardless as I love Max Payne and am willing to try it. But I can't help but feel a little nervous.

That is if Rockstar releases this on PC. They have yet to release LA Noire or Red Dead Redemption. (Though they have at least announced releasing LA Noire) That is a bit of a crap shoot with this company.

Also I hate the new look but they might still pull something off. I am not going to write it off.

The PC version is already dated along with the console versions, thought it would be absolutley stupid of them to hold out on PC considering it mades it's debut AND success as a PC title. If they do exclude PC, then there's another reason for me to never buy another Rockstar game. On the other hand, most people I know who play consoles exclusively never heard of Max Payne until I mentioned it, so there might be a slight possibility that excluding PC would be a very bad idea.

 

[Johnnydillinger]

I... I don't care any more about this series honestly. I was never into the John Woo type of movies and games that paid homage to it (or just ripped off Max Payne), though this particular series is something I liked. But after playing the previous ones, for some reason I can't tell that I want to play a 3rd.

Also if they are going to deviate that much from the series (regarding style), why are they not making a whole new game instead?

 

[Arkitext]

Dunno where you guys get your information, but I read a while back in a massive feature (speaking with the Developers themselves) in Edge Magazine that this new game is going to be set over a number of years in Payne's life. He hasn't suddenly turned into a fat bald drunken loser. This is the REAL Fall of Max Payne we're getting to see, following on from the sorry state that the second game left him.

This is the kind of transition in appearance and character that happens to real people (as opposed to 1 dimensional video game characters) when they grow old and have had everything and everyone they've ever loved or cared about stomped on and kicked out of their reach for good by greater forces than themselves.

Knowing Rockstar's track record, they're playing this angle on purpose to give us a rich character driven story that's unique and unlike anything we've ever seen before *In a Video Game*. Choosing the setting of Sao Paolo looks set to be eye opening for a lot of people given the mind blowingly out of control criminal underworld in the City in real life and how the troubles there are barely known even to the people who tell us the news. I'm not sure you can even call it a Criminal "Underworld" any more come to think of it.

And Please stop mentioning Kane and Lynch 2, this is Rockstar Games we're talking about. Just because Max has the same haircut as one of those fools doesn't instantly mean he's going to be written into a game as appalling as that one.

 

[Sartan0]

I'm feeling very uneasy about how this will turn out. Mind you, I will still get it for PC regardless as I love Max Payne and am willing to try it. But I can't help but feel a little nervous.

That is if Rockstar releases this on PC. They have yet to release LA Noire or Red Dead Redemption. (Though they have at least announced releasing LA Noire) That is a bit of a crap shoot with this company.

Also I hate the new look but they might still pull something off. I am not going to write it off.

The PC version is already dated along with the console versions, thought it would be absolutley stupid of them to hold out on PC considering it mades it's debut AND success as a PC title. If they do exclude PC, then there's another reason for me to never buy another Rockstar game. On the other hand, most people I know who play consoles exclusively never heard of Max Payne until I mentioned it, so there might be a slight possibility that excluding PC would be a very bad idea.

That is good to hear. I still have not forgiven them for not releasing Red Dead but that is encouraging.

 

[BrotherRool]

It's bad box art but isn't that what American box art is famous for?

I think http://www.escapistmagazine.com/gallery/view/26/112909/477.1 this one seems to fit the themes of Max Payne pretty well.

And whilst the first game was a full on noire, the second game wasn't and actually included a parody of how bad the first games noireness was (I mean Max Payne ain't a subtle literary device as far as names go). So it makes sense that number three would elevate the theme yet again. Certainly black and white are boring by now and inserting some colour would make a lot of sense. 'sides you can only kill so many cops and mobsters before this stuff gets unbelievable