.jpg/BROK/thumbnail/1600x900/format/jpg/quality/80/Bridget---Guilty-Gear-Strive-Season-2-(1).jpg)
Wow, Remedy is remaking Max Payne 1 and 2
Here’s the news that really caught us off guard today: Remedy is remastering third-person shooter masterpieces Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.
The remastered Paynes will be distributed as a package and is unlikely to be released any time soon. Remedy said the project is in the “concept development stage.”
At the moment, the news is just that Remedy was able to get approval on the project, which is not a given. Remedy created the two original Max Payne games, but Rockstar released them and still controls the rights to Max Payne. (Rockstar developed Max Payne 3 itself.)
According to Remedy’s announcement, it approached Rockstar with the idea of remaking the game, and Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser was “excited” about the idea. Rockstar is funding the development of the remake, and its budget will be “consistent with typical Remedy AAA game production,” Remedy said. No surprise: Remedy plans to use the Northlight game engine, which recently appeared in Control.
The first Max Payne game was released a few years after The Matrix, and was the first to truly determine the slow-motion shootout that popularized the movie; this influence can also be seen in Max Payne’s Dirty New York level, Especially the subway station where it starts.
The similarities with The Matrix mostly end there. Max Payne is a hyper-dramatic noir thriller about an ex-cop seeking revenge. Its story takes the form of a comic book-style episode, and it remains the best VO production of any video game. Think real detectives, but not so subtle.
I don’t know about angels, but it’s fear that gives men wings.
Max Payne 2 is also known for its Havok physics, which was pretty groundbreaking at the time – I spent hours shooting and running into buckets just to make them fly around like I did As in Half-Life 2.
And, perhaps most importantly, no one who’s played Max Payne 1 will ever forget Max’s face: a grimacing photo of Remedy creative director Sam Lake affixed to a low-poly head. I think we all want the Lake model to be available for remakes as well. (He hasn’t changed much!)
One concern is that Rockstar could pull the original Max Paynes off the shelves when the remake is released, which would be disappointing. There’s precedent: Rockstar removed the original from sales after the release of Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy, which is especially frustrating considering the quality of the remake is so poor. Hopefully after the remake is released it’s still possible to get Max Payne in his original lake form – if not, write it down and I’ll lend you my disc.
I’d also like to keep console commands in the remake and they can be modified like the original, but I’m not holding my breath. Still, exciting time.
Remedy has a lot going for it: Epic Games is publishing Alan Wake 2 and another upcoming game from the studio, and it has a deal with 505 Games to make a multiplayer spin-off.