Max Payne

Max Payne is a gritty third-person shooter by Remedy Entertainment from 2001. Police officer Max Payne becomes the hunted himself and fights his way through New York's criminal underworld during a snowstorm.

His shootouts use Bullet Time: time slows down while you keep aiming and dodging. The story is told in comic-style panels with spoken dialogue, combining action with the mood of film noir.

Max Payne came out on July 25, 2001 for PC. The PlayStation 2 and first Xbox versions reached Europe in 2002. A standalone adaptation of the story followed on the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

In 2012 Rockstar released Max Payne Mobile for iOS and Android. In April 2016 the PS2-based classic version came out for PS4.

The original has versions for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, iOS and Android. The 2016 PS4 release is a reworked version of the PS2 edition with additional console features.

The PS4 version can also be played on PS5 without becoming a separate PS5 version. Likewise, older Xbox versions can run on newer Xbox consoles via backward compatibility. The remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2 announced for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are a separate project.

Max Payne moves from a third-person perspective through apartments, subway stations and other locations in snowy New York. Enemies often stand in groups or surprise you from adjacent rooms. Shootouts call for cover, movement and a targeted use of slow motion.

The campaign is told in a linear way. Instead of replacing gear with online progression, you work your way through fixed chapters and find weapons, ammo and painkillers for the next firefights.

According to the original details, the Windows version required an Intel or AMD processor at 450 MHz, 96 MB of RAM and a Direct3D-compatible graphics card with 16 MB of memory. A full installation needed around 830 MB of free space and DirectX 8.0.

These minimum specs date from 2001. They don't show whether the old PC version runs smoothly on a modern Windows system. Steam only lists English as the language of its PC release.

Max Payne loses his wife and daughter in an attack linked to the synthetic drug Valkyr. Years later he works undercover to expose the drug trade. After his contact is murdered, he himself comes under suspicion of murder.

Hunted by police and gangsters, Max searches for those responsible and uncovers further links between organized crime and the Valkyr trade. The snowstorm over New York runs through the entire story.

Bullet Time slows down the action in combat. You can aim more precisely during this time and watch enemy movements more closely. Since the effect is limited, it's worth saving it for difficult encounters.

The mechanic does not make shootouts automatically easy. If you run past a group without cover, you remain vulnerable even in slow motion.

With Shootdodge, Max dives to the side or forward and fires during the jump. This lets you hit enemies from unexpected angles while Max avoids a direct line of fire.

The slow-motion jumps are among the most characteristic moves in the game. They complement regular aiming and the stationary use of bullet time.

Between gameplay sections, Max Payne tells much of its story through drawn comic panels with spoken text. This presentation gives the dialogue and the main character's inner monologues a lot of room.

Together with the dark locations, the crime story and Max's dry commentary, it shapes the film noir atmosphere of the game.

The arsenal includes pistols, submachine guns and more powerful firearms. Depending on distance and number of enemies, it pays to switch between quick bursts and more precise shots.

Lost health is restored with painkillers. Ammo and healing are part of exploring the levels and must be used wisely in tough fights.

The story takes you through different districts and buildings in New York. Narrow corridors, stairwells and larger rooms change how you can use cover, bullet time and weapons.

Individual objects in the game world can be destroyed or used to get through a chapter. The order of the story remains fixed.

Max Payne is a single-player game only. The campaign tells one connected story and has no online duels or cooperative missions. On Steam, only the single-player mode is listed.

Max Payne Mobile was released for iOS on April 12, 2012 and for Android on June 14, 2012. Rockstar adapted the original story for smartphones and tablets and added, among other things, higher-resolution textures and customisable touch controls.

The Android version supports gamepads and additional graphics settings on selected devices. The original device compatibility comes from the time the mobile versions were released.

On PS4, Max Payne was released on April 21, 2016 as a port of the PS2 version. Sony lists upscaled 1080p display, trophies, Share Play and Remote Play as features.

On PS5, this PS4 version can be played via backward compatibility. The new version of the game that Remedy announced for the newer console is a separate matter.

The story of the first Max Payne was also released on the Game Boy Advance. The handheld version presents the gameplay from a different, more top-down perspective and is not a direct technical copy of the PC version.

Together with Max Payne, Remedy released tools for custom content, including the level editor MaxED as well as ActorFX and ParticleFX. They allowed modders to create new environments, characters and effects.

These tools are part of the history of the PC version and explain why an active modding scene formed around the shooter early on.

The PC version currently offered on Steam lists English for menus, voice-over and subtitles. According to the German PlayStation Store, the PS4 classic edition includes on-screen text in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

The language options therefore vary by version and sales channel.