For months now, the internet has been buzzing with speculation about what secrets forthcoming man-shooting game Max Payne 3 might contain. So very many questions are left to be answered by this third part of the epic, twisting saga of shooting a lot of men in the face in slow motion, and we’ve had to wait long, agonising years to discover how it all ends. With Max Payne 3′s release just months away, RPS has rounded up all the rumours, speculation and script leaks to bring you the definitive guide to Max’s fate. Spoilers await. (more…)

Alright, so Max Payne 3 has a cover system, we’ve established that. But stay calm, it’s going to be alright. I played the fancy high resolution PC build for an hour across multiple fights with multiple enemies and didn’t duck once. Can we all settle down quietly now?

(more…)

Good morning! I became sick and (didn’t) almost perish but now I’m back and, my, what tumultuous events I missed in my absence. When I saw the news that Max Payne 3 had been delayed I fell backwards out of my chair in slow motion, pumping round after round of screaming lead through my monitor in anguish and fury while simultaneously having and not having a beard. In the distinctly Woo-less land of drizzle and pies, that action looks a lot more like a gray-faced man going ‘tsk’ and running his hand down his face. Delay or not, the media barrage continues with a new video that highlights animation and targeting. The last one seemed to cover a bit of that as well but here’s more.

(more…)

Can digital information really constitute a barrage? I don’t know, but I’m scared. Barrages sound nasty to me, but Rockstar have pledged to send a barrage of Max Payne 3 info at us over “the coming weeks and months.” I’ve looked at the first missive from their asset-cannon, and it’s only some screenshots rather than gunshot or a disease-riddled corpse, so I think we’re safe for now. They’ve also included some captions on these screenshots, which I shall quote verbatim* below. (more…)

How long we have waited for another date with a boy named Max. Hardly fair to call him a boy any more, of course – he’s thick of waist, hirsute of chin and, after a time, shaved of head. The New York City cop has moved to Brazil, times are hard and his body is soft. Of course, he still has his best friends by his side – his best friends being an assortment of military-grade weaponry.

This is Max Payne 3, and this is its first-ever trailer – composed entirely of in-engine footage, apparently. (more…)

Max Payne zooms back into our consciousnesses with the appearance of Alan Wake. But stupid stinky Alan Wake is only on 360, and Max Payne is still available for the PC. Does it hold up nearly a decade on? I attempt to answer that question, and also to mock the hilarious writing for as long as I can bear. It begins:

“The third-person shooter had been our first dance with Bullet Time. Sure, we’ve all been to bed with the gimmick now, but this was the first flirtation. For reasons unknown, Payne could enter a slow-motion world like a hand enters an oven glove. It doesn’t stay forever, but it can handle a lot more heat when it’s there. Able to react in real-time, it allowed Max to demonstrate his super-reflexes, filling enemies with bullets like he was making bullet pie with a human crust.”

You can read the rest here.