The Fall Of Max Payne Announced

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out Rockstar Games have announced Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne, the sequel to the third-person action title from Remedy Entertainment. The press release indicates the game will ship for PC this fall, but doesn't mention when the console versions will come out. This follows last year's announcement that 3D Realms/Apogee and Remedy had sold the intellectual property for Max Payne to Rockstar for around 35 million dollars in cash and shares, for those wondering which bottomless pit Duke Nukem Forever's development budget is coming from.

Comments

Out of the ashes a phoenix rises

[Drakon]

Out of the ashes of Max Paine, hopefully we will see a beautiful phoenix in the form of Duke Nukem

I think the odds against this are staggering, since a game with 5 years of development is going to have higher expectations than anything up to but excluding Master of Orion 3.

Re:Out of the ashes a phoenix rises

[Lao-Tzu]

I think the odds against this are staggering, since a game with 5 years of development is going to have higher expectations than anything up to but excluding Master of Orion 3.

Why did you have to bring up the painful memory of that horrendous failure of a computer game? I drove across the city at way illegal speeds to pick it up the second I found out a copy had hit the shelves. My disappointment still makes me growl at the box sitting on my shelf. I hate you. I hate all of you. Especially you, MOO3! I'll kill you! Gaaarg!

bad name

[Joe the Lesser]

It should either have just been called Fall of Max Payne or Max Payne II: The Downfall. The redundancy looks horrible...

I hope they keep the Paynefull noir writing

[saladpuncher]

It was raining pitchforks and cats the night I learned that Max Payne 2 was being developed. Outside the wind was howling to beat the banshee, a rising crescendo of tortured screaming like the kind that came from me when I found out that Duke Nukem Forever was delayed again. I smoked my cigarette (my "last one" I told myself) and loaded up slashdot. If Rockstar Games wants to bring the Payne then bring it on.

Re:Big deal

[Dot.Com.CEO]

You know, I quite enjoyed the game. I thought that, at points, it got ridiculously hard and it overplayed that bullet time gimmic to the point that you had to play the game in slow motion to get anywhere. I thought the best parts of MP were the cut-scenes and voice acting. Yes, they were over the top but they really appropriate to the story. The dream sequences, on the other hand, were some of the worst gaming experiences I can describe, and I've seen them all. As to the werehouse, well, ok, what did you expect to find in a warehouse? Crates are appropriate.

Since you plug your site, I'll bite and give you my two cents. Why oh why do you focus on the negative aspects of everything you review? I mean, I understand the point of your site, but, frankly, after reading your comments on Ape Escape, Zelda and Max Payne, I am beginning to wonder if there is any game you do enjoy. Not meaning to offend there, just think you are far too unforgiving and that your levels are too high for what is, essentially, entertainment.

Play it again for the first time

[Darthnice]

Do yourself a favor and download the mod Max Payne: Kung Fu Edition. It's a whole new game experience. The story is the same, no changes there, but the gameplay takes on a great new flavor. While I doubt you could really finish the game without firing a shot, I sure did feel like I had cheated when I had to lower myself to using a gun.

If only Oni had been this much fun...

Re:Big deal

[jvmatthe]

Since you plug your site, I'll bite and give you my two cents. Why oh why do you focus on the negative aspects of everything you review? I mean, I understand the point of your site, but, frankly, after reading your comments on Ape Escape, Zelda and Max Payne, I am beginning to wonder if there is any game you do enjoy.

Simple, really. There is far too much positive, childish, gushing praise for games already.

Since you now understand the tone of the site, you should read the writing there in that context. Just like when I read IGN or GameSpot...they give a game an 8.5, then I'm thinking to myself "Hm, good chance that that's an inflated score." See, for example, Tony Hawk 3 which got a 10 out of 10 on Gamespot. (As a counter argument, you could point out Ico, which earned an 8.5, a score that's far too low, really. See my Ico review for the biggest example of positive, childish, gushing praise on Curmudgeon.) So, knowing that we're going into a game with a critical eye, you should take that approach into account.

Besides, look at the positive comments that are in some of those reviews you point out. Ape Escape is most inventive platformer I've seen and I characterize it as "fun" and "cute". Does that mean it doesn't have flaws or that I should ignore them? No. Was I disappointed with the approach they took in the end to ramp up the difficulty? Yes. Shouldn't I mention that? Of course.

Same goes for Zelda, which makes me forget that I'm playing a game because it's so cleanly rendered. I also enjoyed the three main characters (Link, Aryll, Tetra) a good bit, and said so. In my update (forthcoming) I'll probably ramble on a good bit about just how Link is probably the cutest, most expressive character I've ever met in a game. Should I just forget the technical failings of the game, just because I like other parts? No, I shouldn't, and I won't. They're there just like the positive bits.

Finally, I can't think of anything redeeming to say about Max Payne other than "bullet time was fun". Sorry, but I feel it was a failure for a game, and enjoyed success simply because most people have low standards for story telling and FPS games.