Rockstar Unveils Iffy Max Payne 3 Box Art

[Metalrocks]

dont care much for the box art. looks alright to me. after all, he is in a different country and so the story is different.

 

[putowtin]

Humm, it still doesn't look like a max payne game

I dunno... Everything I've been hearing about this game makes me think they should just drop the Max Payne name and make a new frikkin franchise altogether

This I agree with,

Also my Captcha is Roast beef... and I'm currently eating roast beef! Spooky Is the escapist watching me through my Webcam?

Yes, yes they are!

 

[JoesshittyOs]

The black and white look wouldn't suit the new game. Different location, different story, different tone.

Said it all right here. The setting the game is going for says it perfectly.

Plus, Noir does not require black and white. It really doesn't have anything to do with color.

Though I will say that it does seem very GTA-ish.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Hey uh...you got your Grand Theft Auto in my Max Payne. Granted it would be petty to shun a game based souly on the box art but come on...can we at least try to do Box Art better than Japan? That being said no, I don't know what Max Payne 1 & 2's Japanese box art looks like but in general...

 

[Baresark]

I am not looking forward to this game. It all feels different and the first two games were great stories with a certain feel to them. They were very solemn punctuated by awesome scenes of violence. They were about an individual who was tormented by his failure to protect his family and it occupied his every thought, even into the second game. From what I have seen, they are just throwing the name Max Payne on a new product. I'll withhold judgement for reviews and what not, but it just looks like another modern shooter, which is the last thing we need more of.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It wouldn't be that bad if it only had Max in the cover. But a generic girl and a generic thug? Christ! Just look at how awesome MP1 and MP2 covers are.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Oh god, are they even going to try to associate it with the old games? Because from what I have seen they are not trying at all... God, this game is going to suck. Now I know what the fans of X-Com felt like when XCOM was announced. Except this one does not have a happy ending like X-Com did.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

The traditional black-on-white cover wouldn't have worked, but this is just... meh. The first two games had very striking, unique boxarts, while this just feels rather generic. I mean, a huge close-up of the main protagonist's head with some generic woman and thug in the foreground? Yawn. I really think they could have kept at least some of the style of the first two while updating it for the new location.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Oh god, are they even going to try to associate it with the old games? Because from what I have seen they are not trying at all... God, this game is going to suck.

Oh please. Have you even looked at all the game footage that Rockstar has released already? Now sure, this boxart isn't exactly woopy-doo, but good heavens it's just a stupid piece of art.

The game footage paints a completely different picture. We still have that typical Max Payne narration, the music is there, the fast-paced third person combat is still there (and how!), the typical Max-style story is there, you name it.

Plus, Noir does not require black and white. It really doesn't have anything to do with color.

Thank you. Noir is so much more than the stereotypical image many people seem to have of it. And from what I've seen, Max Payne 3 is still pretty damn noir.

 

[Owlslayer]

Well yes, it doesn`t really resemble the box art of the previous two, but screw that.
I´m way too hyped for it to back down now. So as i always say when i talk about Max Payne 3: Oh gods be good, please don`t let me down...
Just be as great as the first two, okay?

 

[T3hSource]

Phahah,if I don't see Bollywood use the same cover soon I'll be disappointed.This is quite amusing.American game covers,who knew they were awful?

 

[Dr Jones]

Look if your genre is specifically defined by the colour of things being, black, then it's a really really stupid genre.

Instead we could say, our genre is focused on telling stories with a dark tone and an introspective outlook. And that should be able to happen regardless of the setting and you are actually bringing new and exciting things to the genre by changing that setting

Though film noir is often identified with a visual style, unconventional within a Hollywood context, that emphasizes low-key lighting and unbalanced compositions,[8] films commonly identified as noir evidence a variety of visual approaches, including ones that fit comfortably within the Hollywood mainstream

The yes or no is, does this game focus on an interesting story, and all the signs so far suggest they have designed the characters with something else other than 'looks cool' in mind, because most of the pictures have been weather-beaten tortured faces. Rockstar itself has a reputation for telling tales with very noir styles hampered by the way they always choose open-world games. I think a campaign game is their chance to really shine with this

Noir isn't necessarily a visual style. It can also be a mood for a film/

 

[BrotherRool]

Look if your genre is specifically defined by the colour of things being, black, then it's a really really stupid genre.

Instead we could say, our genre is focused on telling stories with a dark tone and an introspective outlook. And that should be able to happen regardless of the setting and you are actually bringing new and exciting things to the genre by changing that setting

Though film noir is often identified with a visual style, unconventional within a Hollywood context, that emphasizes low-key lighting and unbalanced compositions,[8] films commonly identified as noir evidence a variety of visual approaches, including ones that fit comfortably within the Hollywood mainstream

The yes or no is, does this game focus on an interesting story, and all the signs so far suggest they have designed the characters with something else other than 'looks cool' in mind, because most of the pictures have been weather-beaten tortured faces. Rockstar itself has a reputation for telling tales with very noir styles hampered by the way they always choose open-world games. I think a campaign game is their chance to really shine with this

Noir isn't necessarily a visual style. It can also be a mood for a film/

That's actually what I was trying to get across, Noir isn't a visual style, the important part was the second half of my quote not the first Max Payne 3 can be Noir in the sun is what I was trying to say and we should be more interested in the thematic elements than if it's black or not

 

[TitanAtlas]

....It looks like i'm going to watch a crappy american action movie, from some unknown actor who thinks he's quentin tarantino...

It's nice for a good laugh, but i would not spend all my money going crazy over it. This box art gives that exact feeling... looks like something i could get a couple good laughs, but never go too over the top for it...

Hope they change it

 

[Major_Tom]

This game is not well. It needs a remedy. A vacation by the lake would also help.

 

[Pinkamena]

Looks like box art for a GTA game...

 

[Jumplion]

Rockstar Unveils Iffy Max Payne 3 Box Art

We've got the final box art for Max Payne 3. Fans of the series might want to avert their eyes.

See that image at right? Or perhaps its embiggened cousin down below? That's the final box art for upcoming shooter Max Payne 3, as tweeted by Rockstar Games' official Twitter account yesterday.

Now before you comment on the piece, run a Google Image Search for "max payne box art." [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=max+payne+box+art&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1218&bih=713&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi] Notice anything interesting there? The art for the first two Max Payne titles -- released in 2001 and 2003, respectively -- depicts a solemn, gritty, monochromatic noir experience, all whites and blacks with striking splashes of red. That set a perfect mood for the games, which were shooters, yes, but also gripping, pulp-esque portrayals of one cop's descent into madness in search of justice for his slain family and the shambles his life had become.

This new box art, by comparison, may as well be a picture of a puppy wrestling with a basket full of balloons. The image is actively sunny, and Max looks like a slightly more haggard Gregory Peck circa 1962. It could easily double as the box art for the (momentarily) fictitious Max Payne's Ibiza Holiday -- and even if you drop the hyperbole, the game you would expect based purely on that box art is more "homogenized, heroic gunfight" than "psychologically-charged druggie cop cleanses his sins via bullet-time acrobatic death dealing."

I won't judge the final game based purely on this box art, but this is certainly not the good ol' Max I grew up with. And that's before we even mention the man's unshaven-as-charmingly-roguish style.

It's gonna take a whole lot of shrieking, dead infants to wash away the bitter taste of this thing.

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Source: Rockstar Games Twitter [https://twitter.com/#!/RockstarGames/status/177440515430686720]

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Most of this article can be removed due to personal opinion slathering up this piece. I do not care what you, as the reporter, thinks about a stupid piece of box art, especially when you load it and reinforce narrow views as to what Noir actually is (hint: it has nothing to do with the color of the box art to a game that still involves aspects of Noir). I see this way too often in The Escapist and nothing has been done to take the editorial out of the news room.

As for the actual box art, so what? It's boxart. Noir is more than just colors, especially considering it is a new setting, new story, and new aspects to work with. From what I've seen of some gameplay, it looks just fine, with bullet-time and gun slinging.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Wow, I thought this was a joke with some Uncharted spoof box.

While color isn't necessarily a bad thing, I can't help but wonder why they didn't just make a new franchise if they were aiming for something this different. Honestly, this looks like what they'd come up with for a grand theft auto game set in the middle east.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Oh god, are they even going to try to associate it with the old games? Because from what I have seen they are not trying at all... God, this game is going to suck.

Oh please. Have you even looked at all the game footage that Rockstar has released already? Now sure, this boxart isn't exactly woopy-doo, but good heavens it's just a stupid piece of art.

The game footage paints a completely different picture. We still have that typical Max Payne narration, the music is there, the fast-paced third person combat is still there (and how!), the typical Max-style story is there, you name it.

I have, and I have seen none of what you describe. Max Payne 3 looks about as much as a sequel to the first two games as Stranglehold. Sure, they have the same basic mechanics, but that seems to be it.