Max Payne

Max Payne is a third-person shooter video game made by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Later in 2001, ports for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameBoy Advance were published by Rockstar Games. A Macintosh port was published in July 2002 by MacSoft in North America,^[1] and by Feral Interactive in the rest of the world. There were plans for a Dreamcast version of Max Payne, but they were cancelled because of the console had stopped being made.^[2] The game was again released in April 2009 as a downloadable game for the Xbox Originals program for the Xbox 360.^[3]

The game features a neo-noir type style and uses comic strips (with voice-overs) in place of animated cutscenes to narrate the game. This is because it is inspired by hard-boiled detective novels by authors like Mickey Spillane.^[4] The game contains many references to Norse mythology, particularly the myth of Ragnarök. Several of the names used in the game are those of Norse gods. The gameplay is very much influenced by the Hong Kong action cinema genre, particularly the work of director John Woo,^[5][6] and it was the first game to feature the bullet time effect made famous in The Matrix.

Max Payne got very good reviews from critics and was praised for its exciting gun play and use of noir storytelling devices. As of 2012, the Max Payne franchise has sold over 7.5 million copies.^[7] The game has also won a BAFTA Award.^[8]

The game was followed by Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, released in 2003. And Max Payne 3, released in 2012.

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• Max Payne Archived 2010-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
• Max Payne archives Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine at 3D Realms
• Max Payne at MobyGames
• Max Payne on IMDb