Max Payne 3 was seemingly confirmed in the last moments of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne with the words ” Max’s Journey into the Night Will Continue.” But it took nearly six years before the sequel was finally announced. Originally announced for release in 2009, the game has since been postponed several times. It was initially expected to release in 2011, though Rockstar in September 2011 announced that Max Payne 3 will be released in March, 2012. It was again postponed to May 15 2012 in January 2012.
Rockstar’s Vancouver studio is taking the lead on development, breaking the series away from its previous developer, Remedy Entertainment. Since its announcement, the game has undergone some significant stylistic changes. Early screenshots depicted Max as an older, bald man although more further screenshots have since been released of Max with hair. Rockstar has confirmed that the Max will be playable before and after his visual changes in Max Payne 3.
Max Payne will no longer be a cop in the new sequel. Set eight years after the previous game, Max is still addicted to booze and painkillers. Without the badge weighing him down, Payne leaves New York for Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he gets into the private security industry. His task, at least at the game’s outset, is to protect a wealthy real estate man named Rodrigo Branco and his family. However, things drift from bad to worse as he gets double-crossed in the new city.
Remedy’s Sam Lake provided his face for previous Max Payne games. The new developers are redesigning Payne to look more like James McCaffrey, the man who has voiced Max Payne in all of his previous outings. McCaffrey will also reprise his role as the voice of Max Payne.