Max Payne 3 release date March 2012; plot, multiplayer hints from Rockstar

Written by Alex Roth on September 08, 2011

Max Payne 3 news: Rockstar's original noire detective returns March 2012

Max Payne, gaming's favorite renegade cop who plays by his own rules, will return in March of next year. This is according to Rockstar games' latest announcement, which comes with two new screenshots and details on a series first: multiplayer.

For the uninitiated, Max Payne is the titular hero of Rockstar's first noire inspired game. A perpetually disgraced and double-crossed NYPD detective, this third installment finds him on the run from his past, working as a bodyguard for a wealthy family in Brazil.

So far, Rockstar has offered no explanation for the two very different looks of the protagonist. The latest screenshots feature both the suit-wearing detective Max (looking just as he did in the last game), and the bald, paunchy but muscular Max.

The two Maxs, combined with Rockstar's statement that the game Уpicks up from where series creator Remedy Entertainment's Max Payne 2 left offФ suggests Max Payne 3 will have either an extensive prologue, or a series of flashbacks to Max's slightly more clean-cut days.

Or maybe the original Max is simply playable in the newly announced multiplayer mode? Rockstar describes it as an Уexperience that dynamically alters maps and mode progression for all players in a match,Ф and also mentions leveling and customizable load-outs. Sounds a bit like Modern Warfare mixed with Left 4 Dead's AI director. What a combination!

We haven't seen a Max Payne game since 2008's The Fall of Max Payne, and while that was a solid action title, its story was a bit of a retread. This bold, new direction could be a real shot in the arm for the series that introduced Уbullet timeФ to gaming. Will Max break ground again and become the first to feature slow-motion gunplay in multiplayer? We'll know soon, Rockstar has promised that more details are on the way.

source: Rockstar newswire