Max Payne 3 was first shown off in 2008 and Take Two was adamant about the fact that it would be launched one year later, before first delaying it to 2010, then the fall of 2011 and now the middle part of this year.
The developers have promised that the core of the third-person shooter game will again be linked to running and gunning, with careful aiming and good use of the slow motion mechanics crucial to progressing through the game.
But Max Payne has not escaped the rigors of modernity and Rockstar plans to include both a cover mechanics and a closer, over the shoulder perspective to allow for more careful targeting.
Another set of question signs is linked to the story, of which we only know that it sees Max as a private security contractor working out of San Paulo, Brazil.
At the moment Take Two is talking about a release date of March, but there’s a strong possibility that May might be a better month for Max Payne to get out of retirement and into slow motion once again.
Why it matters:
The first Max Payne might just be the best pure third-person shooter I have played on the PC and the game, with its noir atmosphere and very tight mechanics, was a revelation when I was young and unschooled in the ways of PC gaming.
It had a similar effect on millions of other gamers and Rockstar faces an uphill struggle with the third game in the series, which makes the move to consoles and seeks to change the tone and the mechanics pretty significantly.
I want Max Payne 3 to be a successful game that pays respect to the originals while also pushing the genre forward and Rockstar clearly has the pedigree to deliver middle of the year blockbusters. But I fear that there’s no place in today’s gaming space for the despair and depth of this series.
