HearMii Max Payne 3 Preview Impressions

Not too long ago I was given the privilege to see a live demo of Max Payne 3 in action thanks to the good people over at Rockstar. Now I'm here to tell you why you should be excited for Max Payne 3 and how Rockstar has done it again; innovating while creating the great, mature, fun gameplay they're known for.

The demo began with a cut-scene between Max Payne and some officers on the outside. This opening was a great example to showcase the still-heavy emphasis on telling a compelling story. While I wont spoil what was happening for you (as the main purpose of this preview is to give you an idea of where the game is going), everything seemed as impactful as the first two games, giving you reasons to care about the characters.

The first part of the combat shown was used as a means to show off the tweaks made to the gun mechanics with a high emphasis on slow motion. The combat seemed very compelling and also very familiar to the previous games, which is a really good thing. As Max Payne began shooting across panes of windows, the game slowed down: not only showing the increased accuracy changes to the control and detail visuals, but also showing the awesome animations which is really what makes this game the Citizen Kane of Max Paynes.

This brings me on to the final part of the demo where Max Payne is fending off a bunch of goons in a gas station, which was a perfect place to really show off how the animations work in this game, as well as the level of detail in the game world itself. As bullets fire across the screen and debris whisk around the station, the game was doing an excellent job marrying the cut-scenes and the gameplay with the oh-so-pretty-looking explosions. Towards the end of the demo, I got to see how the animations were really used to create this perfect marriage of cinematic gun mechanics and excellent game design. The demo showed how Max Payne can now dive into prone in real time and also completely rotate 180 degrees dynamically, but the part that really made it for me was how fluid and detailed the movements were: all the way down to the movements of the fingers.



Max Payne 3 is shaping up to be a killer hit for 2012 and I can't wait to get my hands on the full game for myself (as I'm sure you too may now be more interested in picking up May Payne 3). Stay tuned on HearMii.com for any and all updates regarding Max Payne 3 and a big thank you to Rockstar for giving me this opportunity. Max Payne 3 is slated to be released in March 2012.