Hobbies And Interests
Character
Max Payne, the lead character in the game, is an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent with a tragic past. Max initially declined a transfer to the DEA, preferring his job as a New York police detective in order to spend time with his wife and newborn daughter. Max changes his mind and requests a transfer to the DEA after his family is killed by drug addicts. He works as an undercover agent, keeping tabs on the Mafia family that is responsible for the drugs that are flooding the streets. When his cover is blown and he is framed for the death of the only agent that knew of his undercover status, Max must evade the police and take down the Mafia family.
Setting
The game takes place in New York over the course of a couple of days, but also includes flashbacks to the murder of Max's family that took place three years earlier. In order to accurately portray the settings in the game, such as the Roscoe Street Station, abandoned buildings, hotel and drug dens, several designers from Remedy made a trip to New York to observe these types of locations first hand. The photos and videos that they took during the trip were then used to create the authentic looking locations that players explore during the game. The sounds that they recorded were also included in the game in order to create the correct atmosphere.
Game Play
The action in "Max Payne" is viewed from a third-person perspective and involves making your way through the levels while shooting all the enemies. Your enemies in the game attack in groups but Max is able to use a special ability, called Bullet Time, to his advantage. During Bullet Time, time slows down to the point where you can see bullets flying through the air. Max is still able to aim and shoot as normal during this mode, making it possible to kill multiple enemies before they are able to shoot back. Max can also perform evasive dives resulting in cinematic-style game play.
Visuals
In order to achieve the visual style that they wanted, Remedy used their own game engine called "MaxFX" to create the game. The game uses photo-realistic textures for the environment while the story scenes between levels are told via graphic novel panels instead of the pre-rendered visuals that were popular at the time. The face of the lead character was based on that of Sam Lake, who was responsible for the story and screenplay of the game. The other cast of characters in the game were rounded out by friends and relatives of the developers. While the game engine used to power the visuals were only used in "Max Payne" and its sequel, the engine was licensed to Futuremark for use in their benchmarking software.