Max Payne and its sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, are two of the most genre-defining third-person shooters ever made. They propelled Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment into the spotlight as one of the most exciting studios making games. So, it was also going to be a challenge for another developer to pick up the third part of that trilogy. If you have the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption under your belt, though, you might just fancy your chances.
That’s what former Rockstar VP and writer of Max Payne 3, Dan Houser, thought, and while enjoying the process of making it, he now admits that it didn’t quite hit the mark. Despite being well-received critically, the 2012 game underperformed commercially, and wasn’t a huge hit with players. While Max Payne 3 is a great shooter in its own right, some questioned whether it tonally fit with its heavily noir-influenced predecessors, instead trading in the gloomy, introspective weirdness of Remedy’s New York set games for a more high-octane, colourful, all-action approach.
“It was a linear game, so it was a little different from writing an open-world game, a little more structured,” Houser told IGN as part of our IGN30 Icons Series. “I really enjoyed that as an experience. I loved what we did design-wise, the way the game didn't have loads, the way it felt like a 12-hour movie, some of the visual stuff we did with words on screen. I felt we were creating a really cool digital noir experience, and the consensus at the time was that people hated it.
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