Links

• Remedy (The game's makers)
• The Official Max Payne Web site
• The Xbox Max Payne page (from Microsoft)
• Remedy & 3DR Support Pages for Max Payne
• Yahoo's Listing of Max Payne Pages

Fan sites (in alphabetical order):

• Absolute Max Payne (UK)
• Maximal Edit (German Editing site)
• Max Payne Mapping (in German)
• Max Payne Zone (in German)
• Max Payne 2 France (French)
• Payne Reactor

What people are saying

The game is out, and the vast majority of players seem to really like it. So, because we're not above self-promotion, here's a few comments we copied off various gaming message boards today:

"I give the game a MAJOR A+ . . it rocks. Period."

"The game flat out rocks. No if's and's or but's. I've been following it since it was first announced and I am happy to say that it definitely lives up to it's hype."

"Jeez this game is amazing.. I played the game straight for 5 hours last night...I am NOT disappointed. :)"

"The story it quite atmospheric, the bullet time stuff isn't gimmicky and is very necessary if you want to survive at all. Player models are beautiful, the game just oozes class :)"

"I'm really enjoying it... good stuff. The story is quite engaging, too."

"Whoa, this game rocks. I haven't finished the first 'episode..?' I guess and I have played about 4-5 hours of game play. Really solid game play, the bullet-time is satisfying and addictive."

"Max Payne is a surefire winner of Best Action Game 2001"

"This game is so f**king cool."

"Just bought Max Payne and to my delight (I haven't even played the game yet) when I opened the box, out slides a DVD "snapper" case, ala PS2 games! The front and back of the snapper case exactly resembles the front and back of the retail box. Ultra Cool! The instructions are inside the DVD case just as they are in the PS2 cases. I can only hope that this is the first of many games/companies that utilize the DVD snapper cases. Let's do away with the HUGE retail boxes that take up tons of wall space and just end up in landfills! Looking forward to Duke Forever in a snapper case as well! Kudos!!"

"Guess what, the game is BADASS!!"

"This game is living up to the hype from the 2 hours I've played."

"As for the game, well, I don't usually play 3D shooters at all, but this time I fell for the hype and patriotism and bought it. And it is good. It's just so great to jump through a door in slow motion and blast everyone in the room. Bullet time and shootdodging work very well and the cinematic bad guy death sequences are nice, too."

"Anyway, wow! I am really early on in this game, but I am really glad I took the chance and bought it. I was quite hesitant when it was third person only, but man its cool. The bullet movement, shootdodging etc are really NOT gimmicks. they are extremely well implemented tools that are needed to take down groups of baddies. I expect imitators to start rolling out any second now. Its got a good story line, so far, and great graphics, and sound. Controls are bueno. Anyway, if this game continues to the end with this caliber of quality, it will enter into an elite cadre of titles, like Half Life, Deus Ex and NOLF."

"While I'm stuck on the 4th Chapter, the game is literally awesome. The whole control system is solid, and the game play varies. It's fun, the story, script and plot is pretty well done, and the comic cut scenes really add to the entirety of the game."

"This game is a definite must buy."

"The game is awesome, it brings back the single player memories of Half-Life. The matrix effects were implemented very well."

"It F**KING ROCKS. this is more fun than ...well, lots of things. oh, and at 1:30, best buy had only 2 left on the shelf. out of 86 ordered. the controls are mostly intuitive and easy to use. the bullet time is freaking awesome."

"I'm really enjoying it ... the slow mo rocks, and the story has been cool."

"Wow. I repeat. Wow. I'm impressed. I've only played for a short period, but damn. There's just something immensely satisfying about shootdodging to the left, and spraying a host of enemies with the Ingram in the tutorial level. Rock. Thank you, Remedy. Thank you, 3D Realms."

"Finally got to play Max, and damn, it's slick. The photorealism of everything is very refreshing."

"Best shooter in a long time. Very polished. Good UI...GREAT quit screen...fun cut scenes...good load time...and I have learned not to smash some items with a pipe because I'm trying to save ammo. Ok gotta go...must inflict some Hong Kong ass beating Payne."

"If anyone who hasn't picked it up yet has any interest in the game, GO GET IT. Very polished, fun as hell, and no bugs so far."

"Bullet time is really awesome. I don't generally like 3rd person shooters, but done right...and max payne has everything right...its awesome. good job remedy and good job 3d realms for doing whatever you guys did for them, and the mouse pad and DVD case are great additions."

"Guys this is the game of the year no doubt. I have played for a few hours now and just got to level 10 (for those who got that far its last level before chapter 2) level 10 was the freakiest experience for me ever in any game. I wont spoil it but ones you get there you ll see what I mean. sound effects and camera angles in that level will just fuck you up and spit you out. (I still cant close my mouth all the way) anyways I am not sure how other games will do this year but at this point, GAME OF THE YEAR"

"I think the game lived up to all the hype, easily. The visuals, sound, atmosphere, story, and game play are all top notch. The feeling of walking into a room full of thugs and deftly gunning them all down while dodging about in action movie style, all without taking a single scratch, is unparalleled. The voice acting is pretty damn good for a game, the only games I've heard with better are some RPGs and Giants. Bullet time has to be seen to appreciated."

"I love the game. Very easy learning curve. I'm only about an hour into, but so far so good."

"I've been playing the game for about 6-8 hours now and its got an AWESOME story line. Its very in-depth and the textures just look amazing. Overall this game rocks."

"Hell this game is AMAZING! I have to say its better than I first thought. The graphics are a DREAM. The game controls are soooo easy, plus at first when I was reading about the game I thought 'third person!!!! no way that sux', but hell I would not want to play this game in first person. You wouldn't be able to see as much. the developers have created this masterpiece."

"OH MY F**KING GOD! I just played through a hour of this game. AWESOME."

"This game rocks, being a big fan of Matrix and John Woo movies, the bullet time feature is a gift from god."
 

Max Payne FAQ

Here are some of the answers to frequently asked questions about Max Payne...

Q: Why did it take so damn long?
A: Developing a game and the game's technology takes a long time. Also, content-rich, detailed, interactive, story-filled games cannot be made in less than two years, no way, no how. So taking three years to make a triple-A title isn't surprising. What is surprising is why any developer would want to make anything less than a triple-A game ;)

Q: Are you going to release a demo?
A: Yes, it's out.  Go get it.  You can download the demo by checking out the list of download locations here.

Q: Does Max Payne require a 3D accelerator?
A: MAX-FX engine is built from the ground up to take full advantage of 3D acceleration. There is no software renderer in the game.

Q: What about OpenGL?
A: We're supporting DirectX only, because of its much broader support, which will greatly lessen compatibility issues for players. And DirectX's current state allows for all the speed and functionality of OpenGL.

Q: What are the system requirements?
A:

Minimum Requirements:

450MHz AMD / Intel Processor
96 MB RAM
16MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card

Recommended System:

700 MHz AMD / Intel Processor
128 MB RAM
32 MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card

Generic requirements:

DirectX 8.0
DirectSound compatible sound card

Q: What about consoles?
A: Max Payne for the Xbox & Playstation 2 are released - no other ports are planned.

Q: Is there going to be a Linux version of the game?
A: No.

Q: Is there going to be a Mac version of the game?
A: Yes, it's out now.  See above for links to purchase.

Q: Does Max Payne take full advantage of Athlon processors?
A: Yes, and the performance is great.

Q: What about Pentium III?
A: MAX-FX is fully optimized for PIII's SSE instruction set.

Q: Can I customize Max Payne, what about Total Conversions etc.?
A: We've released 3 editors with the game. You'll get your hands on MaxED, ActorFX and ParticleFX. In addition editing the game will be easy as it's 100% based on a messaging system that can be opened to players.

Q: Is the storyline linear or dynamic?
A: Linear. Quality before quantity. We feel that one strong plotline is better than, say, three weak ones.

Q: Will Max Payne have a multiplayer mode?
A: There will not be a multiplayer. Originally we planned out full multiplayer functionality, but as we went further into the project we started to have so much cool stuff that work great in single player but wouldn't work in a multiplayer game that we changed the focus to single player only. There's plenty enough good multiplayer games out there, but the single player genre needs great games as well.

Q: What about environment interactivity? Real world environment requires interactivity, right?
A: The environments are extremely interactive. The our tools let us create interactive content very easily, and we're going for really high level of interacting with the environment.

Q: So let me get this straight, I've read articles on Max that mention Remedy, 3DRealms and The Gathering of Developers. Who's doing what?
A: Remedy is developing the game, all technology, editors, art, sounds, the story, etc. have been done at Remedy office. 3DRealms is taking part in that development by helping out on content and gameplay matters, Scott, George and everyone at 3DR are outstanding hardcore game developers and we really dig working with them. The Gathering is our publisher and will eventually ship all those Max Payne boxes to the shelves with Take2 handling European distribution.