Max Payne

For related articles, see Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Max Payne 3, and Max Payne (film).

Max Payne
Developer(s)	Remedy Entertainment (WIN) 3D Realms (producer) Rockstar Toronto (PS2) Rockstar Vienna (Xbox) Rockstar Leeds (GBA) MacSoft (Mac)
Publisher(s)	Gathering of Developers (WIN) Rockstar Games (PS2, Xbox, GBA) Feral (Mac) Tec Toy (BR) Capcom (JP) Valve Corporation (Steam) MacSoft (Mac)
Director(s)	Petri Järvilehto
Producer(s)	George Broussard Scott Miller
Artist(s)	Sami Vanhatalo
Writer(s)	Sami Järvi
Composer(s)	Kärtsy Hatakka Kimmo Kajasto
Series	Max Payne
Version	1.05
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox Mac OS Game Boy Advance Xbox 360
Release date(s)	July 23, 2001 Windows NA July 23, 2001 EU July 27, 2001 STM January 4, 2008 PlayStation 2 NA December 6, 2001 EU January 11, 2002 Xbox NA December 12, 2001 EU March 14, 2002 Macintosh NA April 21, 2003 Game Boy Advance NA December 18, 2003 EU March 19, 2004 Xbox Originals April 27, 2009
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	BBFC: 15 ESRB: M OFLC: MA15+
Media/distribution	1 CD-ROM (WIN) 1 DVD (PS2), (Xbox) 1 cartridge (GBA)
System requirements Windows 450 MHz CPU, 96 MB RAM, 16 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.0, Windows 95 (WIN) Mac Mac OS 9.1 or later or, Mac OS X v10.1.4 or later 450 MHz PowerPC G3 processor 900 MB free hard disk space 128 MB RAM (with virtual memory set to 200 MB) (256 MB RAM required for OSX version) 16 MB Open GL compatible graphics card Open GL 1.2 CarbonLib 1.4

Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning^[1] third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment, produced by 3D Realms and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by Rockstar Games. A Macintosh port was published in July 2002 by MacSoft in North America^[2] and by Feral Interactive in the rest of the world. There were plans for a Dreamcast version of Max Payne, but they were canceled due to the discontinuation of the console.^[3] The game was re-released on April 29, 2009 as a downloadable game in the Xbox Originals program for the Xbox 360.^[4]

The game features a gritty neo-noir style and uses graphic novel panels (with voice-overs) in place of cutscenes to narrate the game. Max Payne is heavily influenced by the Hong Kong action cinema genre, particularly the work of director John Woo,^[5][6] as well as hard-boiled detective novels by authors like Mickey Spillane.^[7] The game contains many allusions to Norse mythology, particularly the myth of Ragnarök, and several of the names used in the game are those of the Norse gods and mythos. Max Payne received very positive reviews from critics and was praised for its exciting gunplay and use of noir storytelling devices. As of 2008,^[8] the Max Payne franchise has sold over 7 million copies according to Take-Two Interactive.^[9]

Gameplay

Max Payne is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Almost all the gameplay involves bullet time-based gun-fights and levels are generally straightforward, occasionally incorporating platforming and puzzle-solving elements. The game's storyline is advanced by the player following Max's internal monologue as he iterates what his next steps should be. Several of the game's levels involve surrealistic-symbolic nightmares and drug-related hallucinations of Payne.

Initially, the player's only weapon is a semi-automatic pistol. As the player progresses, access to other firearms is given, including melee and hand-thrown weapons. Some of the game's weapons can be dual wielded. Max regains health by taking painkillers, which the player collects. The game's AI is heavily dependent on pre-scripted commands: most of the apparently intelligent behavior exhibited by enemies (such as taking cover, retreating from the player, or throwing grenades) is pre-scripted.

The gameplay of Max Payne revolves around bullet time, a form of slow motion — when triggered, the passage of time is slowed down to such extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye and enables Max to perform special moves. Although Payne's movement is also slowed, the player is still able to position the aiming reticle and react in real time, providing an advantage over enemies. Occasionally, when the last character of an enemy group is killed, the viewpoint switches to a third-person view circling his falling body. Likewise, the camera may follow the path of a bullet fired from a sniper rifle.

The "Dead on Arrival" game mode limits the player to only seven saves per chapter, and the "New York Minute" mode forces the player to complete each chapter before the allotted time — replenished by killing enemies — is exhausted. Upon completing the game on "Dead on Arrival", the player unlocks "The Last Challenge" ("End Combat" or "Final Battle" in the different versions), featuring a fight in perpetual bullet time against 20 "Killer Suit" hitmen.

Plot

Graphic novel panels are used in place of cutscenes as narration, an element common to neo-noir.

The story is told in medias res and consists of three volumes: "The American Dream", "A Cold Day in Hell", and "A Bit Closer to Heaven". The game begins in January 2001, as New York City finishes experiencing the worst blizzard in the history of the city. The intro sequence shows Max Payne, a renegade DEA agent and former NYPD officer, standing at the top of a skyscraper building as police units arrive. He then experiences a flashback from three years ago. Back in 1998, Max returned home to find that a trio of apparent junkies had broken into his house while high on a new designer drug called Valkyr. Max rushed to the aid his family, but was too late and his wife and their newborn daughter had already been brutally murdered. After his family's funeral, Payne transferred to the DEA.

Three years later, Max Payne is employed as an undercover operative inside the Punchinello Mafia family responsible for the trafficking of Valkyr. His DEA colleague B.B. gives Max a message asking him to meet another DEA agent, who is also Max's best friend, Alex Balder, in the NYC Subway station. Max's arrival at the subway results in a shoot-out after he encounters mobsters working for Jack Lupino, a Mafia underboss in the Punchinello crime family, attempting a bank robbery by breaking through from the station. Working his way back to the surface, Max encounters Alex, who is then killed by an unknown assassin and Payne becomes the prime suspect in the murder because he is still under cover to the media and the fact that he fled the crime scene. Additionally, the Mafia find out that he is a cop and now want him dead.

While searching for Lupino in "businesses" owned by him, Max busts a Valkyr drug deal and discovers that the Russian mobster Vladimir Lem is engaged in a fierce turf war against Punchinello's men. Max eventually finds Vinnie Gognitti, Lupino's right-hand man; he wounds and chases Gognitti through the city and finally learns the location of Lupino's hideout, a nightclub named Ragna Rock. After gunning down the insane Lupino, Payne meets Mona Sax, a female contract assassin, who pours him a drink which turns out to be laced with a sedative. In this state Max is found by the Mafia and is dragged away to be tortured.

Max manages to escape from the Mafia-owned slaughterhouse and enters a brief alliance with Vladimir Lem. He agrees to kill one of Vladimir's traitors, Boris Dime, and his men aboard the cargo ship Charon at the Brooklyn riverfront, which contains a shipment of high-powered firearms belonging to the Russian mob, which Max keeps in exchange for the favor. After surviving a bomb ambush at the Mafia restaurant Casa di Angelo, Max uses the new-found Russian mob's weapons to storm the residence of Don Angelo Punchinello. There he finds the body of Lisa Punchinello, Mona's sister, and discovers that the Don is only a puppet in the Valkyr market when the mafioso is killed in front of Payne by agents of Nicole Horne, a ruthless CEO of the Aesir Corporation. Horne then injects Max with an overdose of Valkyr and leaves him for dead, as he experiences a drug-induced nightmare and suffers his internal torment and guilt for not being able to save his family (as well as strange letters allegedly written by his deceased wife telling him that he is a character in a video game).

After surviving the overdose and awakening, Payne pursues his only lead to a steel foundry located over a hidden underground military research complex. Inside he discovers that Valkyr is the result of Valhalla Project, an early 1990s U.S. military attempt to improve soldiers’ stamina and morale following earlier The Ladder experiments; the project that was sharply halted due to poor results, but was later restarted by Horne and Aesir. He also discovers that his wife accidentally found out about the project, and Horne let loose the crazed Valkyr test subjects into his house. Aesir initiates "Operation Dead Eyes" to get rid of evidence and witnesses, including their own scientists. Max escapes the bunker at the last moment just as it self-destructs.

Max then gets a call from B.B., who arranges a meeting at an underground parking lot. B.B. reveals he shot Alex and framed Max for his murder; a running gun-fight then commences as Max chases him through the garage. After killing the traitor, Max gets a phone call from a man named Alfred Woden asking him to come to the Asgard Building. Alfred reveals himself to be part of a powerful secret society called the Inner Circle, which has strong ties to the U.S. government. The Inner Circle members inform Max about Nicole Horne's identity but cannot pursue her themselves because "their hands are tied". They ask Max to kill Horne in exchange for dropping any criminal charges against him. Suddenly, Asgard is overrun by Aesir gunmen who kill everyone in the meeting room except for Max, who escapes, and Woden, who pretends to be shot. Max has to fight his way out of the building.

Max arrives at the main office of Aesir Corporation and makes his way through this high-tech security building while avoiding strafing runs by a minigun-armed helicopter. Along the way he runs into Mona Sax again in an elevator, but she is shot in the head by Horne's men after she refuses to shoot Max; her body vanishes when Max goes back to the elevator. At the top Max finally confronts Nicole, who escapes to the roof and boards the helicopter. Max shoots the guy wires of the building's antenna, which snaps off and crashes into the helicopter, killing Horne. The game's storyline arrives at the very point where it first started. The NYPD ESU arrives at the scene, arresting Max and leading him out of the Aesir building, where he sees Alfred Woden. Knowing that Woden will ensure his safe passage through the judicial system, Max smiles genuinely.

Norse mythology references

Most of the elements in the game are named for figures from Norse mythology.

In Max Payne, the Valkyr drug is a fictional military performance enhancer that turns its users into adrenaline-charged killers who experience hallucinatory images of death. The valkyries of Norse mythology were warrior-women who watched over battlefields, the "choosers of the slain" who took those who died with valor. In the game, Project Valhalla is the government conspiracy that developed Valkyr to enhance the combat effectiveness of U.S. soldiers and secretly tested it during the Gulf War of 1991. In Norse mythology, Valhalla was the afterlife of those selected by the valkyries: those who populated Valhalla would fight for the Norse gods in their wars. The computer network in the Valhalla base is named Yggdrasil, referring to the tree that connected the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.

The Aesir Corporation, mentioned frequently in the game and the primary source of the Valkyr drug, is named for the primary pantheon of Norse gods, the Æsir. The head of the Aesir Corporation is named Nicole Horne; in the myths, the Gjallarhorn was sounded to announce the start of Ragnarök, the Norse apocalypse, a battle between the Æsir and the giants that results in the death of many deities and the rebirth of the world (Jack Lupino's gothic nightclub named Ragna Rock is a play on the word "Ragnarök"). The great snowstorm that takes place during the events of the game is a reference to the Fimbulvetr, an epic winter that precedes Ragnarök.^[5]

Alfred Woden's surname refers to Wōden, the Anglo-Saxon version of Odin, a major god of the Norse pantheon (his eyepatch also references Odin, who sacrificed his eye for wisdom and knowledge). Max meets him and the Inner Circle in the Asgard Building: Asgard is the Norse realm in which the gods live. In the game, DEA agent Alex Balder was shot by his partner B.B. In Norse mythology, Balder was killed when a sprig or arrow of mistletoe was shot or thrown into his chest, and his death was set up by Loki, god of chaos and deception, just as B.B. deceived Alex and Max. Max's own bullet time abilities seem to mirror these of the berserkers, Norse Viking warriors who drove themselves into such a frenzy when they entered battle that they seemed superhuman-strong, fast, untiring, and unable to feel pain (theme of Payne's necklace is a Viking longship).

Characters

Max Payne

Main article: Max Payne (character)

Max Payne (voiced by James McCaffrey) is a fugitive DEA agent and former NYPD detective whose wife Michelle and newborn daughter were killed in connection with the Valkyr drug case. Max then goes undercover in the mob, and eventually becomes a one-man-army vigilante waging a personal war on crime (and in particular, those criminals responsible for his family's death), in a manner reminiscent of the Marvel Comics character Frank Castle (the Punisher). Max ends up killing hundreds of gangsters and conspiracy enforcers while on the run from the police determined on stopping his vendetta against all those responsible for his family's death. He uses metaphors and wordplay to describe the world around him within his inner monologues, which often contradict his external responses to characters he speaks with. The first game presents the story as retold by Max from his point of view.

Other characters

• Mona Sax (voiced by Julia Murney): The twin sister of Lisa Punchinello and a contract killer, Mona is the femme fatale of the game. She has a grudge against her sister Lisa's abusive husband, Mafia boss Angelo Punchinello, whom she desires to kill. After Puchinello is killed, she sides with Nicole Horne who hires her to kill Max. Finding herself unable to do so, she is shot in the head by Horne's henchmen and collapses into an elevator. She reappears in the sequel as a playable character.
• Nicole Horne (voiced by Jane Gennaro): The game's main antagonist who led a secret military program code-named Valhalla. She had Michelle Payne killed after she viewed a document that shows that Horne is still producing the Valkyr drug despite the fact that the project was suspended. Horne commands a well-armed private army of hitmen and mercenaries. She is killed by Max at the end of the game.
• Alfred Woden (voiced by John Randolph Jones): For most of the game he remains a mysterious unseen character, only interacting with Max through phone calls where he either warns him of a coming threat or provides information. Towards the end of the game he meets Max face-to-face and introduces him to an Illuminati-like society known as the Inner Circle. Woden tells Payne that Horne is his real enemy and expresses his wishes for Payne to get rid of her. He is seemingly gunned down by Horne's men while in a meeting with Max, but is later seen on a security terminal getting up off the ground and leaving his dead comrades. He reappears in the sequel as a U.S. senator.
• Don Angelo Punchinello (voiced by Joe Ragno): An Italian mob boss who distributes Valkyr and become involved in a gang war against the Russians. He remains the main villain throughout most of the game until it was discovered that he was being controlled by Horne. He is later killed by her before he can give Max too much information.
• Vinnie Gognitti (voiced by Joe Dallo): A high-strung mobster working for Lupino who is terrified that his boss will kill him due to Lupino's Valkyr-induced psychosis. Max confronts him to discover where he can find Lupino, but this encounter results in Payne shooting Gognitti in the gut and then pursuing him through the city's buildings and rooftops. When Max catches up with him he forces the information out of Gognitti and leaves him bleeding in an alley (in the 1998 trailer Vinnie was shown being summarily executed by Payne in a cut scene, but this was changed later along with an other tweaks to the story). He reappears in the sequel as a Mafia underboss.
• Vladimir Lem (voiced by Dominic Hawksley): A Russian mob boss and prominent gunrunner currently in a war against Angelo Punchinello. He teams up with Max providing him with weapons in one part of the game and occasionally chauffering him around to key locations. He reappears in the sequel as a charismatic restauranteer who maintains his shady connections in organized crime. He is portrayed by Marko Saaresto of Poets of the Fall (a friend of the game's writer Sam Lake). The band also wrote the main theme, "Late Goodbye", for Max Payne 2.
• Jack Lupino (voiced by Jeff Gurner): A Mafia underboss and an occultist, who oversees Valkyr distribution for the Punchinello crime syndicate. He has been driven crazy by his Valkyr addiction and has become a Satanist, obsessed with making a Faustian pact with the Devil (he also owns Necronomicon, a fictional book from the Cthulhu Mythos and Cthulhu is one of the deities he worships). When Max confronts him he is the middle of a Satanic prayer; a gun fight ensues and Lupino is killed by Payne.
• B.B. Hensley (voiced by Adam Grupper): A corrupt DEA agent and a supposed friend of Max. Receiving pay outs from Horne, he radios Max telling him to meet agent Alex Balder at the train station and then shoots Balder dead, framing Max for his murder. Towards the end of the game he meets Max and is revealed as a traitor working for Horne. Payne kills him in a gun fight.
• Deputy Chief Jim Bravura (voiced by Peter Appel): A high-ranking NYPD officer who is pursuing Max for most of the game and is not deterred in arresting him, even though the TV commentators don't see the violence as a bad thing because mobsters are the only victims. At the end he finally arrests Max, but in the game's sequel he becomes Max's boss.
• Michelle Payne (voiced by Haviland Morris): Working for the district attorney’s office, Michelle came across a file that incriminated Horne, which later led to her murder and the killing of her child by Valkyr junkies sent to her home. She repeatedly appears through the game in flashback and nightmare sequences.

Game Boy Advance version

The GBA version of the game was developed in 2003 by Mobius Entertainment Ltd (now known as Rockstar Leeds). Since it was developed on a far less powerful platform, this version differs greatly from the PC versions and its Xbox and PS2 ports: instead of a 3D shooter, the game is based on sprite graphics and is shown from an isometric perspective. However, the gameplay features have remained very similar to the original, aside of the perspective change, including the use of polygonal graphics for the characters. The story also remained the same as in PC and console versions, though some levels from the original are omitted, and the game still features quite a large part of the original's graphic novel sections, complete with some of the voice-overs.

Development

Remedy Entertainment developed an idea of a "3rd person action game" in late 1996, after completing Death Rally (their first game), inspired first by Loaded and then by the success of Tomb Raider (although determined to avoid its "horrid camera system").^[10] According to the game's story and script writer Sam Lake, for him "the starting point was this archetype of the private eye, the hard-boiled cop" that would be used in a game with a "deeper, more psychological" story.^[5] A game prototype and design document of the project, with the working titles Dark Justice and Max Heat (a wordplay on this is a TV show called Dick Justice and a porn film Max Heat, both featured in Max Payne 2), were soon created and shown to 3D Realms, who signed a development deal and production began.^[11] In 1999 the designers traveled from Finland to New York to research the city, accompanied by two ex-NYPD bodyguards, to get ideas for environments and take thousands of photographs for mapping.^[12] The music for the game was composed by Kärtsy Hatakka.

Remedy used their own game engine, which they dubbed MaxFX^[13] (or MAX-FX, in development since early 1997). The only games that this engine was used in was Max Payne and its sequel, while a MaxFX level editor was also included in the release, and it was licensed to Futuremark.^[14][15] The first trailer showcasing an early version of the game's story and gameplay was shown at 1998 E3, gaining great interest due to its innovative content and effects (especially the MaxFX's 3D particle-based system for smoke and muzzle flashes), although 3D Realms producers later claimed they deliberately avoided overhyping the game.^[16] Max Payne was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 1999, however it was repeatedly delayed and got heavily revamped in 2000 (in particular the game's graphics were improved to feature much more realistic textures and lighting, while the multiplayer mode was dropped). The game was eventually released for Windows on July 23, 2001.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	89.24%[17]
Review scores
Publication	Score
GamePro	[18]
GameSpot	9.2[19]
GameZone	9.2[20]
IGN	9.5[21]
Awards Entity Award BAFTA Best PC Game of 2001[1]\ IGN Readers Choice Action Game of the Year,[22] 2001 Readers' Choice Best Story,[23] Best Graphics,[24] Best Sound[25] GameSpot Readers' Choice Game of 2001,[26] Readers' Choice Single-Player Action Game of 2001[27]

Max Payne was well-received by critics with the PC and Xbox versions both currently scoring 89% on Metacritic (one point short of 90%, or "Universal Acclaim").^[28][29] A BBC review said the game "is an atmospheric third-person shooter, clearly inspired by the cinematography of John Woo films and The Matrix, with captivating graphics and edgy, action sequences," and praised the graphics, gameplay and detail in the game.^[30]

The game won many annual awards for the year 2001, including Best PC Game by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts; Golden Joystick Award by Dennis Publishing; Visitors Award Best PC Game at the European Computer Trade Show; Best Game of 2001, Best Graphics in a PC Game, and Best PC Action Game by The Electric Playground; Readers Choice Best Game and Best PC Game by Pelit; Computer Game of the Year by The Augusta Chronicle; Best PC Game of 2001 by Amazon.com; PC Game of the Year by Shacknews and by Gamezone; The Best of 2001 - PC by Game Revolution; Reader's Choice Game, Best Single Player Action Game, and Best Xbox Game by Gamespot; Readers' Choice Game of the Year, Best Storyline, Best Graphics and Best of Use of Sound, and Best Adventure Game (Xbox) and Editor's Choice by IGN; Gamers Choice Award (Xbox) by Games Domain; Best Game Character and Best Game Cinematography by Eurogamer; Best Gimmick by GameSpy (runner-up in the Best Ingame Cinematics and Best Movie Trailer categories); Editor's Choice and Best Innovation Destined for Overuse by Computer Gaming World; and Editor's Choice by Game Revolution.^[31] The staff of IGN wrote: "This game garnered so many votes from the readers that we almost decided to create a new Best Max Payne Game of 2001 category."^[22]

An early version of Max Payne was also a runner-up for the Best of Show award at the E3 in 1998. The finished game received several Game of the Month-type awards in various video game outlets (and a Seal of Excellence at Adrenaline Vault), and in April 2005 has been ranked #41 in the list of 50 Best Games of All Time (also ranked 97th on the list of top PC games of all time in 2011^[32]). In 2007, bit-tech ranked the game and its sequel as fifth on the list of The Top 5 Most Moddable Games.^[33]

Legacy

Main article: Max Payne (series)

A sequel called Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne was released in 2003.^[34] In 2009, Rockstar Games announced that Max Payne 3 was in the development. Max Payne, a film loosely based on the video game, was released in 2008, starring Mark Wahlberg as Max and Mila Kunis as Mona.

See also

• Alan Wake
• Conspiracy fiction
• Gulf War syndrome

References

1. ^ ^{a b} 3D Realms (October 28, 2001). "Max Payne wins prestigious BAFTA Award!". http://www.3drealms.com/press/maxwinsbafta.html. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
2. ^ Rick Sanchez (June 14, 2002). "Max Payne Ships to Stores July 16th". http://uk.mac.ign.com/articles/362/362274p1.html. Retrieved 2007-06-07. 
3. ^ IGN (July 27, 1999). "Max Payne Dreamcast details". http://uk.dreamcast.ign.com/articles/132/132175p1.html. Retrieved 2007-06-07. 
4. ^ Treit, Ryan (2009-04-24). "Max Payne is an Xbox Original". Xbox.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20090601181648/http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/m/maxpayne2/20090424-payneoriginal.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} The Making of Max Payne, Edge, November 2, 2008
6. ^ Max Payne – Hard Boiled - UGO.com
7. ^ "The noir of Max Payne". Examiner.com. http://www.examiner.com/x-1039-Los-Angeles-Game-Culture-Examiner~y2008m10d16-The-noir-of-Max-Payne. Retrieved 2008-12-10. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Matt Martin (2008-03-12). "Grand Theft Auto series has sold 66 million units to date". GamesIndustry.biz. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/grand-theft-auto-series-has-sold-66-million-units-to-date. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
9. ^ "Recommendation of the Board of Directors to Reject Electronic Arts Inc.'s Tender Offer" (PDF). Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.. 2008-03-26. p. 15. Archived from the original on April 8, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080408234728/http://taketwovalue.com/documents/TTWO_Value.pdf#page=15. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
10. ^ The Apogee FAQ: Max Payne and Max Payne 2
11. ^ Remedy Entertainment - Company History
12. ^ 3D Realms: Remedy Designers Visit New York!
13. ^ MaxFX
14. ^ 3DMark 2000 HD
15. ^ 3DMark 2001 - Lobby Sequence
16. ^ Game Matters: Max Payne: The Making of a Franchise
17. ^ "Max Payne". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/913964-max-payne/index.html. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
18. ^ "Max Payne Review". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/games/pc/105295/max-payne/. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
19. ^ Kasavin, Greg (July 28, 2001). "Max Payne Review". GameSpot. http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/maxpayne/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
20. ^ "Max Payne Review". GameZone. December 16, 2003. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20090502190356/http://gameboy.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r12089.htm. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
21. ^ "Max Payne - PC Review". IGN. July 27, 2001. http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/161/161645p1.html. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 
22. ^ ^{a b} Action Game of 2001 - PC News at IGN
23. ^ Best Story of 2001- PC News at IGN
24. ^ Best Graphics of 2001 - PC News at IGN
25. ^ Best Sound of 2001 - PC News at IGN
26. ^ 2001 GameSpot Readers' Choice Awards: Game of 2001
27. ^ 2001 GameSpot Readers' Choice Awards: Single-Player Action Game of 2001
28. ^ "Max Payne (PC) on Metacritic". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/max-payne. Retrieved 2007-10-12. 
29. ^ "Max Payne (Xbox) on Metacritic". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/maxpayne. Retrieved 2007-10-12. ^{[dead link]}
30. ^ Hermida, Alfred (2001-09-21). "Dark, gritty world of Max Payne". BBC News (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1554350.stm. Retrieved 2007-10-12. 
31. ^ 3D Realms: Max Payne Game Awards
32. ^ The 100 best PC games of all time | PC Gamer
33. ^ The Top 5 Most Moddable Games, bit-tech, 12 June 2007
34. ^ Ivan Sulic (May 22, 2002). "E3 2002: Max Payne 2 announced". http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/360/360460p1.html. Retrieved 2007-06-07. 

External links

• Max Payne
• Max Payne archives at 3D Realms
• Max Payne at MobyGames
• Max Payne (PC) at GameFAQs
• Max Payne at TV Tropes
• Max Payne at the Internet Movie Database
• Max Payne: Hero at the Internet Movie Database