More Max Payne

O M G

Well, at this point we weren't complaining, but weren't actually all that impressed either. What happened next was totally mind blowing. The developers said the next part of the game was not a cinematic and that what we would see would be part of the in game action. Imagine John Woo, and The Matrix all wrapped up into the game. Max enters a building full of long, narrow corridors and hallways. As he approaches blind corners, he hugs the wall and hides with his head back against the corner, peering around it, just like you'd see in a movie gunfight. Turning the corner, Max blasts a couple rounds into a waiting baddie. Here's where it gets interesting - just as the bullets strike the opponent (guns in this game are not hitscan - just very very high velocity projectiles), and knock him up into the air, the action goes into slow-mo and the camera rotates around the flailing body of the bad guy who just got hit. Yes, Matrix style. Then as the body hits the floor, the action speeds up again to allow you to run and fire on the next guy.

He looks so happy

Aww how cute

I Know Kung-Fu!

The action continues. For the next opponent, Max jumped sideways and fired, John Woo style into the bad guy. Again, stop action, slow mo photography as Max flies through the air, guns blazing, and kills the bad guy. You can trigger those kinds of cinematic moves with button combos - strafe strafe fire for the John Woo sideways sprawl. Other moves like flips and rolls are sure to be included. For the final act, Max pulled out a sniper rifle and aimed at a bad guy a few floors down. Upon hitting the trigger, the camera switches to "bullet cam" and follows the spiralling bullet into the target, just like the movie "Sniper." This sequence of events - Matrix + John Woo + Sniper - was the most astonishing thing we'd seen at the show save for maybe the Metal Gear Solid 2 video, but that's actually up for debate. Max Payne makes our top 3 games of the show for sure.

The bottom line is that Max Payne left us with our jaws on the ground. We are pretty sure you will be left the same way. Brandon, Bob, and I walked out of there a trio of blabbering fools. Poor Jakub was left in the sweltering heat because he didn't have his ID on him. (The GOD lot was 21 and over only)

Nice reflections

Dual gat style

The game will most likely be in the third person with a relatively linear story line. There isn't going to be a multi-player version, for reasons that are quite obvious if you watch the trailer. Having ten guys going in slow motion just isn't conducive to creating a great multi-player experience.

As of yet these guys have no ETA. Seeing as this game has been to the last three E3 conferences there is no telling when this little number could pop out. Hopefully we get a demo soon!