The BAFTA award winning third-person shooter Max Payne was originally released in 2001. Developed by Remedy Entertainments, the game was first released on PC, and was followed later in the year with Xbox and Playstation 2 ports.
The game was known for a heavy focus on its ‘bullet time’ feature, which enabled players to slow the game play down to a point where bullets could actually be seen traveling through the air.
The sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of max Payne was released in 2003. Despite its generally positive reception and the high profile legacy created by the original, Max Payne 2 failed to sell well. It won a few awards, including the Outstanding Art Direction award at the Golden Satellite Awards in 2004.
Now Rockstar Games has officially announced that a third installment in the series is on its way. Max Payne 3 is being developed by Rockstar Vancouver and is set years after the events of the second game. Max Payne is now retired, but is struggling to exorcize himself from the seedy world of corruption and violence that he spent so many years of his life entangled in.
According to Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games:
“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game,”
“This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”
Unlike the previous Max Payne titles, the third instalment will not be set in New York, but we will have to wait for further details as to where the events will take place. It is currently scheduled for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2009.