Max Payne 3 launched in 2012 to positive reviews from most critics. But the game didn’t sell nearly as well as other Rockstar titles, and for some fans it wasn’t the sequel they wanted. According to former Rockstar Games vice president and lead writer Dan Houser, the game’s failure is mostly his fault.
In a new wide-ranging interview with IGN, Houser talked about his time working on franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption while at Rockstar Games. He also discussed the less successful third-person shooter, Max Payne 3. Unlike the previous two entries, which had been developed by Remedy and written by Sam Lake, Max Payne 3 was developed entirely by Rockstar and primarily written by Houser. It also moved the series to the sun-soaked favelas of Brazil and went with a more neo-noir style.
“It was a linear game, so it was a little different from writing an open-world game, a little more structured,” said Houser.
“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. So I got that completely wrong,” admitted Houser.
While I know some fans of Max Payne weren’t pleased with the tonal shift in Max Payne 3, I think it’s a fantastic game with incredibly snappy and satisfying gunplay and some of the best-looking third-person animations I’ve seen in a shooter.
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