PS3 Xbox Xbox 360

Max Payne

Shooter

Time to beat: about 10.9 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Max Payne is a 2001 third-person shooter game developed by Remedy Entertainment. It was originally released for Windows by Gathering of Developers in July 2001. The game centers on former New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective Max Payne, who attempts to solve the murder of his family while investigating a mysterious new designer drug called "Valkyr". While doing so, Max becomes entangled in a large and complex conspiracy involving a major pharmaceutical company, organized crime, a secret society, and the United States Armed Forces. The game features a gritty neo-noir style and uses graphic novel panels with voice-overs as its primary means of storytelling, drawing inspiration from hard-boiled detective novels by authors like Mickey Spillane. It contains many allusions to Norse mythology, particularly the myth of Ragnarök and several names. The gameplay is heavily influenced by the Hong Kong action cinema genre, particularly the work of director John Woo, and it was one of the first games to feature the bullet time effect popularized by The Matrix (1999).

Max Payne was ported by Rockstar Canada to the PlayStation 2 and by Neo Software to Xbox in December 2001. The Mac OS X version was developed by Westlake Interactive and published in July 2002 by MacSoft in North America and by Feral Interactive in other regions. A version of the game for the Game Boy Advance, featuring an isometric perspective but retaining most of the original's gameplay elements, was developed by Möbius Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games in December 2003. An enhanced port for mobile devices was developed by War Drum Studios and published by Rockstar in 2012 to coincide with the release of Rockstar's Max Payne 3. A Dreamcast version of the game was also planned, but it was canceled due to the discontinuation of the console in 2001. Max Payne was released for the Xbox 360 in 2009 as part of the Xbox Originals program, the PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation 2 Classic in 2012, the PlayStation 4 in 2016, and the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in 2021, due to the consoles' backward compatibility and emulation features.

Max Payne received positive reviews from critics, and is often considered one of the greatest games ever made. Praise was directed at the game's exciting gunplay and use of noir storytelling devices, while some criticized its linear level design and short length. The game sold 4 million units. It won a large number of accolades, including a BAFTA Award for Best PC Game of 2001. Its success launched the Max Payne franchise, including the sequels Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, developed again by Remedy and published by Rockstar in October 2003, and Max Payne 3, developed solely by Rockstar and released in May 2012. A loose film adaptation of the first game was released in October 2008. In 2022, it was announced that Remedy is developing remakes of Max Payne and Max Payne 2 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, with Rockstar publishing.