Max Payne 2 The Fall of Max Payne
Max Payne is a third-person shooter computer game developed by Finnish company Remedy Entertainment and published by 3D Realms in July, 2001. A sequel to the highly popular shooter quickly followed entitled Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, produced by Rockstar Games and published on October 15, 2003 by Take-Two Interactive.
The Max Payne series lends the stylish cinematography and choreography of the Hong Kong action movie genre, particularly the work of director John Woo, with heavy film noir and pulp fiction influences for its characters and dialogue. Like many of Woo's films, Max Payne is rife with artistically orchestrated, often strangely graceful gunplay. The games are dark, noir-style game following Max Payne, a troubled cop with internal and external conflicts in a dark, sinister New York City.
"A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, and now hunted by the cops and the mob. Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for a new breed of deep action game. Prepare for pain..."
Bullet Time
When triggered, bullet-time slows down the passage of time to such an extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye - it is a form of slow motion. The player is still able to aim in real time, providing a unique advantage over enemies. This makes avoiding being shot easier and enables Max to perform special moves.
The Series
Max Payne
It started three years ago, Max came home after a long day at work, no-one answered when he came in the door of his home. Upstairs he found his wife and daughter murdered at the hands of junkies high on a drug called Valkyr. He swore revenge against the drug that drove people to this. He joined the DEA as an undercover cop, infiltrating the Mafia and the underground world of New York. But he was framed, accused of killing his partner. He goes on a thrill-ride through New York from lesser thugs to the bigger crime bosses to get to the top, to get to those responsible for the induced hell that is Valkyr. Most of the major characters in the game (except for Max) are named for figures from Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology.
Norse names
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Against all odds Max Payne is cleared from the charges after the first game (in which the player could kill upwards of 600 people in two nights, even though they all had criminal records), with some help from Alfred Woden. Now he's once again hunted for murder. This time, however, he's guilty, and yet again he loses a loved one. Mona is back, this time as his love interest. Max and Mona face the New York underground, full of scum and murderous thugs, this time with an improved look for Max.
Max Payne 3
The ending to The Fall of Max Payne teases with a message at the end of the credits proclaiming "Max Payne's journey into the night will continue", but the story itself seems to be over. Perhaps the reason to this is that the original development crew, Remedy Entertainment is not going to continue working on with the Max Payne franchise. The current owner of the copyrights is Take-Two Interactive.
Within the games, there are mini-plots in the form of television shows that the player can follow. Several of the shows are based on other, real-life shows.
