Max Payne is the most important game Remedy that influenced all their projects

Winter day I stood on the balcony and thought: “By what game I should make the next video?”. The view outside the window was barely sympathetic than television white noise. It is a pity that there was no remote control at hand to switch the channel. But the idea pierced my head like a bullet, and everything became clear.

Why exactly Max Payne is the most important game for Remedy, and what makes it so special? Let’s put a bold point in this matter and remove the finger from the trigger.

Atmosphere and Bullettime

On the E3 1998, the Finnish Studio Remedy, known for the Hound Arcade Death Rally, shows a third -party noir action trailer, and in 2001 submits a release version to the public, and even under the Rockstar publishing house in North America. Magazines give high grades, nominated for the titles of the best game of the year, the best action of the year and the best graphics of the year, and players sweep out the discs of the discs in large numbers. According to the Finnish company, they did not expect such a success of their first big game, but there were reasons for that.

The players were not ready for a tragic and noir story. Then, in general, a little time was devoted to a serious study of the story and heroes in the action of games, and here on you – albeit a simple but gloomy and worked out plot about the revenge of a policeman.

The central character of the history of Max Payne is a detached and reflexive, often using metaphorical statements to describe his sensations, thoughts and actions.

The chief screenwriter Sem Lake played a large role in development (this is a pseudonym, in real life his name is Antero Yarvi himself), who simultaneously came up with a special visual style of serving the plot and the main character who was remembered by many. Sam Lake, after the release of Maxpayne, will become the main screenwriter of all the main games of the studio, and later also the creative director of projects.

The musical theme leaves no one indifferent and will be recognized from the first notes even after many years, the rest of the musical works are successfully adapted to locations and the action.

Gampleno game is also quite simple: our goal, as a player, is to go through the level from point “a” to point “b” simultaneously shooting everything that will resist, however, there is one big but one.

Bullet Time – a slowdown in time to create more spectacular shootings, which allows you to enjoy the opportunity to shoot with two hands in a jump under the enemy’s fluorelide fire. Also, when killing the last opponent, a circular camera circle may start. Home Gample Patcher, without which it is difficult to imagine the game. It is still nice to play Max Payne, in addition to places where enemies have to be aimed at afar or go to the check more than 5 times.

By and large, Bullet Time is the first example of a worthy implementation of a slowdown in games. Although it is clear that in life bullets fly much faster than in the game, but it looked realistic and spectacular, and the idea of ​​introducing a slowdown of time appeared before the sensational film “Matrix”, which was released 2 years before the game. Finnish developers were inspired by John Wu films, where they spied on a reception of time with acrobatics and shootouts.

Savings and realism

Resourceful Finns did not have a large budget, so they saved as they could. Not only did this Lake wrote the script and gave appearance to the hero, but also proposed the idea to give the plot not through the intra -game video, but through the orders of the protagonist and comic inserts. By and large, these were just processed pictures. The textures in the game were made not manually, but with the help of real photos and technology of photogrammetry, so the picture in the game turned out to be quite realistic. The technology of capture of movements is also not a pleasure, so it was decided to invite a stuntman to the studio, write down on the camera of his movement and make animations on them. Not only the main character received appearance from an employee of the studio, but generally all the characters and enemies, and when Remedy did not have enough people, they invited friends to the office to digitize their faces, and their faces were transferred to the game in several emotions, which to this day you will not often meet in games. And how the enemies reacted to Max and what moans they published – I think many were imprinted in their heads. True, such a trick with persons was a success only because the developers abandoned the personal animation.

“Photorealistic” textures, real faces of people with different emotions, https://nonukcasinosites.co.uk/review/magic-win comics with living actors, all this added realism to the game, but there were many other details. For example, bullets really fly out of weapons, and the shutter of the gun really pulls out with each shot. The game takes place in New York, Vladimir Lem rides on the Mercedes, the weapon is represented by real brands like Beretta or Desert needle, Payne uses painkillers as a first-aid kit for a first-aid kit. Max himself knows how to handle weapons, since the cop is undercover, and he is never a Rimbae, literally 5 shots can easily send it to a conservation point. The environment, especially at the beginning of the game, mundane and simple (metro, bar or dysfunctional areas of the city). All these details gave cinematography.

Even after 20 years – it feels like all these seemingly trifles are combined into a unique game that clings from the first minutes.

Chips and features

I would like to note some game details and features that many probably remember so, but still:

1. Under the influence of substances, it seems to be a hero of the game

2. Max spoke a dozen, or even more, memorable phrases for the game, let’s refresh some of them in memory:

“Tell the devil that I sent you to him!”

“It became too late to collect evidence a couple more hundred rounds of ammunition”

“The law of the pit – no matter how much you climbed up – you will fly back in an instant”

3. The game has a script for automatic complexity adjustment. If the player dies too often, then the accuracy and endurance of opponents will decrease, and vice versa.

4. References to Scandinavian mythology: the drug in the game is called Valkirin, it causes irritation and anger, then leads to madness and death. Roughly speaking, the “Valkirin” wakes the war inside a person, and then Valkyrie take the mortal body of war in Valhalla. The farther the player moves through the plot of the game, the more the weather spoils on the streets of New York, Max even compares weather conditions with the end of the world, in other words, Ragnarok is nearing, this, by the way, is the name of one of the locations of the game.

5. Max Payne reached not only PC, Xbox and PS 2, but also on Game Boy Advance.

The main idea of ​​the plot of Sema Lake

The theme of revenge and losses go side by side throughout the game. Now, more and more often in films and games there is the idea of ​​forgiveness and the meaninglessness of revenge. The same Last of US Part 2 or the last person spider. Sema Lake’s gaze is closer to me personally, because after the tragic events, the life of Max is divided into before and after, it can never become the same. The main character loses the meaning of his existence within the framework of ordinary life. Left alone with revenge, it becomes the only goal and a sure companion.

Ultimately, Payne pronounces two phrases that let us understand that revenge made sense for him and he accomplished justice over the enemies who took the lives of innocent people. The first phrase: “They were all dead. The last shot put a bold point in this story. I took off my finger from the trigger – everything was over “. The history of revenge is over, only now the hero can imagine a future life. The second phrase: “And there were two winners”. This is at the same time an appeal to the player who becomes the second winner, but at the same time recognition of himself the winner, which for the second time confirms that Max brought the matter to the victorious end.

Perhaps this is also a story about the indestructibility of human will. Even if a hundred enemy bullets or every life difficulties are flying into you, then you, like Max, must, without losing concentration to go to your goal.

By the way, about the difficulty that was the way, due to the shortcom in the game itself, it could run in 5-6 hours during the first passage, but let’s take a look at this from the other side: like Max himself, the path of retaliation should be subject to difficulties. The player can even experience real hatred of enemies, through frequent death and return to the conservation point. Hard to Payne, hard and player.

How to play in 2022

In my memory, the game was captured more drivers from the point of view of action, but since it is not easy, then in order to leave the winner from many shootings you literally need to know where the enemy will come from where. The player has to die often and persist after most shootings. True, if you are well acquainted with the game, you may not feel this problem. Otherwise, it was pleasant to plunge again into this noir and depressive atmosphere for 5-6 hours.

To date, the game still suffers from optimization for modern iron. I had to put 2 patches and climb into the Ini file so that Max goes without problems. Without a patch, the hero will be completely low to break away from the ground during a jump in a slowdown.

Of course the game is outdated, let’s not forget that it is more than 20 years old. The third part of the game-mechanically feels much more responsive and fascinating, but Max Payne 1 cannot take the atmosphere and a cult hero, which really cling to an iron grip.

Conclusion

So, why exactly Max Payne is the most important game for Remedy and how it influenced the subsequent projects of the studio:

· Firstly, the Finns attracted the attention of the entire gaming industry, both players and large publishers, which led to cooperation with Rockstap And Xbox Game Studios.

· Secondly, opening Sema Lake as the main screenwriter and later creative director of the company. All the main games Remedy came out from under his pen.

Thirdly, the studio felt for the main concept of its games- The bet on the atmospheric history and action with a unique feature, Whether it is a slowdown in time, paranormal abilities or ordinary flashlight.

On this, perhaps, all. I hope you like this article and there were two winners. Separately, I say thank you to everyone who supported the last blog in GTA 4! Maybe you will see you still.