Edge has one of the longest previews of Max Payne 3 we've seen to date. Explore why Max is so bald, so very, very bald, and why he's down in Sao Paulo, Brazil. To find out that answer, go check out the three page spread, we're going to focus on the good stuff here: Bullet time and gameplay!
Hey, these are just two paragraphs from a three page preview article. Head on over to Edge to get all of the gritty details.
Importantly, what Max Payne 3 doesn’t feel like is a standard corridor shooter with identikit bad guys spawning endlessly out of open doorways. Each encounter we experience feels specifically staged and works within the context of the environment and the story. And it turns out this might be where a big chunk of the development schedule has gone. “We’ve spent a lot of time tweaking these mechanics,” says Nelson. “It’s a linear game, so it needs to be dense. Every aspect has to be perfect. We’re shooting more motion capture than we have in the past. And the action never really stops, it never lets you go. You’re walking in and out of these cutscenes, these panel sequences; the section with the sniper rifle – we had to mo-cap all of those sequences. It’s all performance-led, so it looks believable. And it really comes alive. When you’re looking through that scope, you’re really watching your buddy – you want to take care of him. It took a lot of time to co-ordinate and get that stuff shot.”
Contrasting with all of this carefully choreographed scene creation is the fluidity and realism of the physical interactions. Fights are fraught, fast and brutal, as you’d expect. But now bullet-time – charged by killing enemies, as ever – has a layer of beauty to match its gameplay impact. As with RDR, the level of graphical detail on offer delivers astonishing action moments – glass smashes, blood spurts, furniture collapses – but here it’s fragmented and slowed to show off the fine physical elements. Bullet-cam is also back with an increased role, this time providing a bloody full-stop to every encounter, so players know they can progress. In between, it’s all rapid gunfire, some seemingly intelligent group movement from the enemies, and plenty of context-sensitive animations.
Contrasting with all of this carefully choreographed scene creation is the fluidity and realism of the physical interactions. Fights are fraught, fast and brutal, as you’d expect. But now bullet-time – charged by killing enemies, as ever – has a layer of beauty to match its gameplay impact. As with RDR, the level of graphical detail on offer delivers astonishing action moments – glass smashes, blood spurts, furniture collapses – but here it’s fragmented and slowed to show off the fine physical elements. Bullet-cam is also back with an increased role, this time providing a bloody full-stop to every encounter, so players know they can progress. In between, it’s all rapid gunfire, some seemingly intelligent group movement from the enemies, and plenty of context-sensitive animations.
Hey, these are just two paragraphs from a three page preview article. Head on over to Edge to get all of the gritty details.