BOSTON - Max Payne is the Matrix of video games. I'm not making a catty statement about sequels or a joke about acting, but pointing out two important things about the game series: like the Matrix, it introduced bullet time to its medium and spawned its share of copycats. Most games in the oughts had some sort of time-slowing mechanic that let the player aim at his enemies while they tried to hit him with a blizzard of bullets.
The last time Max Payne greeted computer screens was 2003, and now he's coming back. Max Payne 3 takes place several years after the events of Max Payne and Max Payne 2, moving the depressed alcoholic, sort-of detective from New York to Sao Paolo, where he's a fish out of water and neck deep in organized crime. I previewed two levels at PAX East: the docks of Sao Paolo and a dive bar in Hoboken.
Max came to the docks to look for his employer's wife, who was kidnapped by enemies of his family. I knew this was the case not just because the Rockstar Games developer showed me but because Max wouldn't stop talking about it in his signature turbo-noir style. While Max Payne 3 lacks the drug-fueled Norse mythology running through it, it still has Max's constant soliloquizing, like Sam Spade after a fistfull of horse tranquilizers. It's both fascinating and funny, keeping the tense, somber tone of the series while still holding a thread of self-aware humor from how over the top it is. Max is a man who's been through hell, and his coping mechanism is to sound like a 1920's detective.
The combat is structured exactly like the first two Max Payne games, with Max jumping from cover to cover, using bullet time to slow down time as he leaps, aiming at enemies carefully while he can. While cover is an important element, this isn't a hide-and-pop-up cover-based shooter; Max has to keep moving or his enemies will pin him down. The enemy AI is genuinely impressive, and adapted to my fast aim. In a cargo container-filled area of the docks, I shot down a half dozen thugs and ran toward the next area to be gunned down by three who were hidden behind a container. They stayed back and waited for me to expose myself instead of seeking me out. I haven't seen that behavior intentionally programmed into enemies before. The second time I tried to get through that area, I was more careful, but a thug who kept himself hidden still almost got the drop on me.
Max still runs on painkillers (that act as healing items) and bullet time, and the new Last Man Standing feature adds to his tools. If Max takes a fatal shot (like a point-black shotgun shell while climbing up the stairs of a dive bar in Hoboken), he automatically slows time by using a painkiller, giving you the chance to kill the enemy that shot you and save your life. It's similar to Borderlands' Second Wind mechanic, and very useful in a game where healing items are scarce and fatal shots are possible.
If you like over-the-top dialog and action that resembles a John Woo film, Max Payne 3 is a game to keep an eye on, just like its previous versions. Max Payne 3 comes out in May on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Earlier today, Rockstar announced that Max Payne Mobile will be headed to your iOS and Android devices later this month.
For more from PAX East, check out PCMag's Hands On and Hands Off With Lollipop Chainsaw, as well as the slideshow below.
