Rockstar Brings Payne To Retailers

Rockstar Games announced that Max Payne 3 is now available at retail stores across North America for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

“With Max Payne 3 we set out to reinterpret the modern shooter,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “By fusing great gunplay seamlessly with an incredibly dark and cinematic single-player story, and the deepest multiplayer we’ve made to date, Rockstar Studios has tried to deliver something truly unique and amazing to play.”

The latest in the groundbreaking series known for bringing Bullet Time, noir atmosphere and Hong Kong action movie aesthetics to video games, Max Payne 3combines highly sophisticated shooting mechanics and fluid movement with a dark, twisted narrative, and intensely cinematic presentation.

Early critical response to the game has been outstanding:

• The New York Times says, “Max Payne 3 is a taut and compelling action game wrapped in the sumptuous, gritty and delightful production detail that is the Rockstar hallmark.”
• The Guardian, giving the game a perfect 5/5, writes, “Max Payne 3 is, at its heart it’s a blisteringly entertaining third-person shooter… But Max Payne 3 is no mere tribute to action cinema. There’s a chance it points toward a future in which action movies aren’t merely copied by games, they are replaced.”
• G4TV also delivered a perfect score, stating “Max Payne 3 is a technological tour de force…The performances are top notch, the action plays out with unrivaled fluidity, and the multiplayer is deep and rewarding.”
• Gamesradar also gave the game a perfect score: “Between its pacing, its presentation, and its excellent gunplay, Max Payne 3 has raised the bar for other action games to follow.”
• IGN scored the game a 9/10, stating “Max Payne 3 is overall a brilliant, darkly-engrossing third outing for one of video game’s most troubled characters.”

Max Payne 3 picks up the story of fallen former New York City detective, Max Payne several years after the events of the original games. Close to washed up and addicted to painkillers, Max accepts a job offer of private security work in Sao Paulo Brazil protecting Rodrigo Branco, a wealthy businessman, and his beautiful trophy wife, Fabiana, in the hopes of an escape from his tragic past. When Fabiana is abducted while under Max’s protection, Max finds himself caught up in something much larger than a simple kidnapping, looking for answers on the streets of an unfamiliar city as his personal demons return to haunt him once again.

In a first for the franchise, Max Payne 3 brings the series’ signature combination of precise shooting, fluid movement and Bullet Time online in a range of co-operative and competitive modes that allow players to compete in free-for-all deathmatches, fight for the right to play as Max Payne in Payne Killer, or build out events from the single-player story in the dynamically branching rounds of Gang Wars.

In another first, Max Payne 3 features Crews, persistent clans of friends that can play together online, building alliances and rivalries while tracking progress and Crew Feuds through Rockstar’s online hub, the Rockstar Games Social Club. Crews extend across platforms and across game titles, with Crews created withinMax Payne 3 ready and available for players in Grand Theft Auto V and other future titles.