New Max Payne 3 Trailer Sets the Scene

[Woodsey]

That was my concern too, but this trailer really "feels" like Max Payne. That's a very vague assertion, I know, and it's easy to craft specific impressions with promotional trailers, but I watch this and think, yup. That's Max Payne. He's older, he's in Brazil, but he's still Max.

Very few trailers get me legitimately excited for a game, but this one has definitely done it.

I dunno, I'd say mechanically it looks like a Max Payne game, but that its actually missing the same thing that you can't put your finger on.

Certainly, I can also believe that guy is Max Payne, but there's just something about the overall feel. It's Max, but not in Max's world. For starters, it doesn't sound right; replaying Max Payne 2, its a surprisingly quiet game. I know its a marketing trailer, but if that's what they're giving me to go on then that's what I'm going to criticise.

Perhaps it just seems too conventional to me.

And I'm really not convinced about the setting change. Like, at all. I don't think Noir needs New York, but I think Max Payne Noir needs New York. He at least needs to be in the dark.

Having watched it a few times, its growing on me, but there's still something not quite right.

I do like the bit where he yells "goddamn it!" though, its always cool when angry old male protagonists lose their shit (see: Sam Fisher in Conviction).

All I can think of about Max Payne 3 is how Remedy didn't have the balls to keep it, but sold it to Rockstar. They neither ever held their PC promises with Alan Wake after a quickie on the backseat with Microsoft.

Contractual obligations. Its on PC now, at least.

 

[Ninedeus]

Like many, I also had serious doubts about part 3 being a real Max Payne game. But the new trailers shows it may live up to its name as the noir game with a cinematic feel of earlier titles.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

I'm worried this is just a cash in,

Can people please stop saying this? All it does is show how little you know about the industry. A developer like Rockstar makes what they want to make when they want to make it because they want to make it, you don't put millions of dollars and your development team into a project just for some quick cash.

Games wouldn't be sold on the public market and given trailers to promote it if they didn't want people to go out and buy it. Video games are first and foremost a business, RockStar's bosses only would have green-lighted Max Payne 3 if they felt that it could reasonably make a decent profit just like any other video game company would.

However RockStar is special in the sense that they always put a great deal of detail into their game worlds, characters and gameplay that has a way of complementing the story rather than clashing with it. They focus on artistic achievements and take risky business moves because they like to challenge themselves; for example when they first made Red Dead Redemption they were told that a Western/cowboy video game would never make a profit and would bomb on the open market, this was revealed to us during one of the game's various award ceremonies.

Rockstar is obviously in the business of making money from video games but they care about making the kind of games that they love and that their customers will appreciate the effort they put into making.

 

[The Random One]

Wow, 'the character that seems to help you will in fact betray you' is so cliché they're even showing it in the trailers now.

Every American character speaks Portuguese as if it was leaking off the side of their mouths, so they certainly did their research.

 

[Waaghpowa]

May 29 [June 1 in Europe] for the PC.

Is there a reason why PC version is being delayed aside from the trying to be dicks and entice people to get the console version first in hopes of a second future sale? I'll be damned if I get a sequel to a PC classic on consoles.

 

[RagTagBand]

That has to be the most somber pan flute music I've ever heard.

I still struggle to understand what's Max's motivation in all this. There doesn't seem to any reason other than a female is involved. why does Max care?

Uh, maybe because the trailer made it QUITE clear that this particular female was abducted and that she just happens to be his boss's wife?

I think he's looking for a deeper motivation than "It's in his job description to save her".

He's a hired gun so either Max needs a shit ton of cash, there's a currently unknown link between them and him (he wouldn't give a fuck otherwise) or Max has lost all his will to live and his happy throwing his life away for strangers.

His true, personal motivation for risking his life for the wife of a professional acquaintance has yet to be revealed.

 

[redisforever]

Ok, seriously, why is this the only game I'm excited for at the moment. I really want to play this. It looks really impressive, visually, with the great tech behind it. It looks great from a story standpoint, so far. Voice acting sounds really great. Music sounds cool. Gameplay looks like fun. Having just played Red Dead Redemption, I trust Rockstar entirely. Guys, make an awesome game, and I shall support you with my money.

 

[Metalrocks]

weird, no sound when i watch the video. not even on youtube it self. but every where i have sound. anyone having the same problem?

anyway, looking forward to it. first i was really skeptical, but no, i have more confident. still has a dark story, even when it plays in sunny brazil.

 

[PoweD]

Snip

I found out what was really bugging me and it was this.

Certainly, I can also believe that guy is Max Payne, but there's just something about the overall feel. It's Max, but not in Max's world. For starters, it doesn't sound right; replaying Max Payne 2, its a surprisingly quiet game. I know its a marketing trailer, but if that's what they're giving me to go on then that's what I'm going to criticise.

And I'm really not convinced about the setting change. Like, at all. I don't think Noir needs New York, but I think Max Payne Noir needs New York. He at least needs to be in the dark.

Having watched it a few times, its growing on me, but there's still something not quite right.

Trailers and the game itself were incredibly quiet.Max didn't even give a single dialogue line thoughout the trailers.It was something to set the scene, the quietness really increased tension and atmosphere.
I completely agree with Woodsey's other points.

 

[mad825]

I still struggle to understand what's Max's motivation in all this. There doesn't seem to any reason other than a female is involved. why does Max care?

I think he explains in previous trailers.

No, the only reason given was because it's a women. Worst things have happened to Max, no?

 

[Saxnot]

i don't think this game will be a cash-in, or that it won't try to set a similar tone to the previous games.

it's just that to me, new york at night has always been a character in itself for this series. this might turn out to be a good game, even an amazing game. but it won't be max payne because it's missing one of the most important parts of the series: the setting.

more than almost any other game series, max payne has managed to make the game world part of the story. especially in the second game, no part of these environments is coincidental. from max's apartment, tot vlad's club to the funhouse, almost every place you go has meaning with regards to the story and max's character arc. the people you meet, the enemies you fight, the tv - shows that play in the background. all of it is important.

this is why max payne 3 won't be a max payne game. changing the setting means changing a vital part of the storytelling in these games. im not saying this game will be bad or poorly made, but that it would have been better for both this game and the series as a whole if the main character's name wasn't max payne.

 

[CoL0sS]

It's Max, but not in Max's world.

I think you're on to something there.
I thought that putting Max Payne in the new city, especially one like Sao Paolo is a bad design choice. But after thinking about it, I came to realize it's not a bad move story-wise. Throwing Max in a new place, he knows nothing about, with his preconceptions and (same) motivations, than having him adapt to it is not a bad way to build a story. New York is Max's city, he understands it, he breathes with it. Put him in Sao Paolo and he's lost. This could just be wishful thinking; trying to justify a developer choice that can potentially bacfire. I'll wait till the game is out.

 

[The Human Torch]

Look, it's a woman! And her only plot point is being smoking hot!
A quote from the trailer: "you are in the jungle now...". Wow, this movie is just blowing me away with it's original content.

Christ on a stick, someone get Rockstar some decent writers.

 

[MBergman]

Does Remedy have anything to do with this one?

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of the cut out style cutscenes from 1 and 2, but I hope the keep the narration.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Am I the only one who watched this trailer and thought "Jason Statham in Max Payne?" It looks like another one of his movies that he puts out every three months.

Not saying it's a bad thing. Hell, The Mechanic would have been a great spiritual successor to Hitman if it was made into a game. Just saying it's there.

 

[ivc392]

Its weird how Brazilian characters have Mexican accent...