"Birthdays are like regrets. They just keep coming." MAX PAYNE turns 20!

[TheMoon]

Fantastic little video. James McCaffrey is so iconic in this VO role.



The original game has definitely aged in every regard and yet it's timeless in how perfectly playable and atmospheric it remains to this day. The comic book panel sequences are a result of budget restraints and yet they too are incredibly iconic and effective. The vibe of the snowed-in New York night full of revenge and tragedy continues to be an unmatched experience.

All time classic video game. It may not have been Remedy's first game but it's the one that defined them and their work.

Here's to Max Payne.

I secretly wish that one day Rockstar would call them up with a carte blanche offer to either make a Max Payne 4 or produce some sort of reimagining.


Courtesy of archive.org

The non-Flash website at 3DRealms even had their ESRB rating fax (!) available. Amazing.
Go nuts, if you're curious: https://web.archive.org/web/20041101000000*/maxpayne.com

 

[OneThirtyEight]

Never played it but saw the commercial countless times since it was featured in several issues of skateboarding videos from 411.

 

[Rickenslacker]

What an excellent duology. I'm not going to shit on Rockstar's attempt, but it's clearly its own thing and things wrap up well enough at the end of 2 that I don't really want to think of 3 as part of it. Here's to you, Max. Dearest of all my friends.

 

[Guaraná]

shame the steam version is unpayable on my pc.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

I'd love to see Rockstar do HD remasters of these games on new consoles.

 

[Thera]

Awesome game and sequel.
I played this game to death with cheat codes and Matrix mods.

 

[shinobi602]

My friend and I played the original game all night at launch into the morning. Such an amazing experience. It was one of those growing up that showed me good video game storytelling could be. I honestly miss that world, as dirty and sinister as it was.

 

[Perzeval]

Only 20? He looked much older in 3 to be quite honest.

 

[Linus815]

All 3 games are excellent. 1 is a bit rough to play today, but 2 still plays really well, and I replayed 3 once every year since release. I

 

[StreamedHams]

Brilliant video, and very iconic voice actor.

I loved all three Max Payne games. I was so hyped for MP2 when I got it in the mail, I lied to a girl about feeling ill and cancelled a dinner date. 😅

Max is once of the most tragic characters in gaming, whose self doubt, addiction, and remorse continues to force himself down a path of destruction, of his enemies, and himself.

 

[TheMoon]

shame the steam version is unpayable on my pc.

Click to shrink...

you've tried stuff like this for example?

Steam Community :: Guide :: Max Payne 1, Complete FixPack - 2023 Edition

Max Payne 1 Fix Pack, v1.2023.1 The purpose of this Fix Pack is to try and and correct the many known issues with this game in a single install. Compiled by Darkje, 29-January-2023 The 2023 ver

steamcommunity.com

 

[JLP101]

Fantastic games. I remember when the first one was released, how much hype was behind it.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Feel like listening to "Late Goodbye" again now

 

[Kinthey]

It's kind of amazing how Sam Lake's face became so iconic because he simply put himself into his own game. Afaik wasn't this out of vanity either but simply out of budget reasons.

 

[Razilez]

That video put a huge smile on my face, Sam Lake for me is the iconic Max Payne model and seeing him dressed in the original costume with James McCaffrey doing the voice over just makes me long for another game in the series (yes with Sam Lakes model 👀). Also that guy has aged incredibly well, looks like he did in 2001!!

As for the game, it's one of my favourite games ever. At the time it released my PC wasn't capable of playing it so I opted for the PlayStation 2 version. Despite the compromises I absolutely loved it, and when I finally did get the PC version I loved it even more! Such an incredible experience from start to finish. The atmosphere of a snowy nighttime New York was perfection, along with fantastic writing, acting and amazing gameplay that I hadn't experienced before. I plan to replay it sometime soon, looking forward to it.

Here's to you Max Payne!

 

[Yossarian]

My favourite franchise.

I remember the first time I played it around my friend's house. I didn't know you could dive or activate slow motion until the Finito Brothers boss fight… when my friend decided to tell me. Blew my fucking mind 😂

Once I'd completed it, I would just get stoned, find a combat set-piece, chuck on some trip-hop and choreograph increasingly elaborate and stylish ways of taking down the mooks. Just an absolute joy of a game.

This game is even better with Kenneth Yeung's Kung-Fu mod.

 

[Guaraná]

you've tried stuff like this for example?

Steam Community :: Guide :: Max Payne 1, Complete FixPack - 2023 Edition

Max Payne 1 Fix Pack, v1.2023.1 The purpose of this Fix Pack is to try and and correct the many known issues with this game in a single install. Compiled by Darkje, 29-January-2023 The 2023 ver

steamcommunity.com

Click to shrink...

yep, the game freezes during the loading screen right after the tutorial

 

[SuperKlonoa'sArk3D]

Birthdays are like Max Payne games. I wish for a lot of them in Sam Lake's life.

 

[Deleted member 56065]

"He was trying to buy more sand for his hour glass. I wasn't selling any."

Love you, Max.

 

[VAD]

I raise my glass to the saddest and angriest man ever. May he never finds peace and keeps starring in awesome games.

 

[SquirrelSaysNuts]

Still my favorite game trailer ever.
It was like nothing I had seen before.

 

[Deleted member 13798]

Amazing tribute. Sam Lake and James McCaffery teaming up for this actually made me a little emotional.

Max Payne was so influential for me, the first major game I played that had both gritty noir violence that felt genuinely seedy and dirty, and a layered narrative with lots of John Woo inspired action. It was grim, and created a complex character in Max who is incredibly troubled as a protagonist and has experienced some truly horrific things. It was one of my first M rated games too- I had to find a way to sneakily buy it and hide it from my parents. It inspired me to write (very badly) in middle school when I first played it. It got me into hard boiled detective noir. It made me appreciate how even action gaming could have layers of symbolism in it's story and how even old tropes could be made fresh with the right talent behind it. Hearing James McCaffrey's performance evolve from kind of awkward (but amazing) in the first to the sublime performance in 3 has been a treat.

It was and still is one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

It's one of these rare games I play from start to finish every year. Great narration by James and dense atmosphere. I wish we had more games like Max Payne, QB, and Control. Remedy's approach to narrative TPS is exactly what I want from shooters.
It feels like they make game specifically for me.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Amazing game and one of the games I played a lot with friends back in the day. Using the Matrix and kung fu mods on PC are some great memories. Nice video.

 

[Deleted member 17184]

To this day, it's the franchise that best captured a noir feeling. Happy birthday, Max.

 

[Chopchop]

One of the games that got me into shooters.

The Kung Fu 3.0 mod for this game was fucking amazing.

It's kind of amazing how Sam Lake's face became so iconic because he simply put himself into his own game. Afaik wasn't this out of vanity either but simply out of budget reasons.

Click to shrink...

That's how I remember it too. I heard a lot of the characters in the comic book scenes in the first game were just developers in costumes.

 

[Hermii]

One of my favorite games.

 

[BossAttack]

Just a great game with some great writing.

New York sped by on fast forward,
dark rooftop water towers and a dead forest of antennas
and chimneys, all a blur. When the train he was riding
slowed down, Cognitti made his move.

...

Mine wasn't the most original approach to the problem.
It wasn't as if it hadn't been all done before. An eye
for an eye, the first principal of revenge. Old as dirt,
still going strong. The cardinal rule in going after
someone with an intention to kill was not to make it
personal... Which it almost always ended up being anyway.
It did with me.

 

[Denghiu]

Absolute classic!

 

[phant0m]

Max Payne 2 is a top 10 game for me. Absolutely loved everything about it, mechanics, writing, pacing, soundtrack all superb. I used to play it every winter but have fallen off the past few years

 

[eso76]

Is Sam Lake really tall or are those doors really small ?

Loved the video.
And loved every game in the series.

 

[BBboy20]

Never played it but saw the commercial countless times since it was featured in several issues of skateboarding videos from 411.

Click to shrink...

Still my favorite game trailer ever.
It was like nothing I had seen before.

Click to shrink...

Man, I wish the old official website was up. That really what helped sell it. From the intro to the usage of this song when exploring the site, it just spews a provocatively grim feeling that well represented the game itself.I still think about how the intro ends with guns shots proceeding with the "then it was over" line to this day.

-

Yeah, it's just simply one of the greatest third person shooters ever made. The total package of what you hoped for out of a video game at the time. It also was a title that helped motivate me to get into the custom gaming PC world. I still feel like this is a game that other contemporaries should strive to be (assuming they're not trying to be clones like the Dead To Rights series).

 

[TheMoon]

It's kind of amazing how Sam Lake's face became so iconic because he simply put himself into his own game. Afaik wasn't this out of vanity either but simply out of budget reasons.

Click to shrink...

all the characters in the first game are literally just all the devs and their family. one of the villains, iirc, is Sam Lake's mom?

 

[TaySan]

One of my favorite childhood classics. What a great time.

 

[Bansai]

"Happy Birthday, Max Payne" - it was nice to hear James again.

Such a cool video, I really hope MP4 will happen.

 

[Jarmel]

One of my favorite videogames. Such a classic.

 

[TheMoon]

Man, I wish the old official website was up. That really what helped sell it.

Click to shrink...

Cursed by Flash compatiblity now ...

Go nuts, if you're curious: https://web.archive.org/web/20041101000000*/maxpayne.com

Back row, left to right:
Petri Ljungberg (IT)
Tuukka Taipalvesi (IT)
Sam Lake (Story&Script)
Petteri Salo (Programming, MaxEd)
Markus Mäki (Admin, IT)
Jaakko Lehtinen (Programming, MaxEd)
Aki Määttä (Level Design)
Matti Kamula (Graphics Design)
Samuli Viikinen (back) (Level Design, lead)
Peter Hajba (front) (Animation, Particles and Sound Design)
Marko Leinonen (Graphics Design)
Anssi Hyytiäinen (Level Design)
Olli Tervo (Programming)

Front row, left to right:
Tero Tolsa (Level Design)
Sami Vanhatalo (Art Lead)
Markus Stein (Programming, lead)
Petri Järvilehto (Project Lead)
Matias Myllyrinne (Business Admin)
Mika Reini (Office Manager)

Click to shrink...

The non-Flash website at 3DRealms even had their ESRB rating fax (!) available. Amazing.

 

[White Glint]

Love all 3 games. Remedy fan for life.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

One of my all time fave game series. I played the first game like 20 times back in the day.

 

[BBboy20]

all the characters in the first game are literally just all the devs and their family. one of the villains, iirc, is Sam Lake's mom?

Click to shrink...

Hahahaha

Spoiler

*shoots down metalic tower* Sorry, mom!

Is that a 3D Realms/Duke Nukem Forever bottle?

Peter Hajba (front) (Animation, Particles and Sound Design) OMG, he did all that?

 

[dex3108]

While everyone here is posting about Max that was launched 20 years ago i really need to mention R* effort with Max Payne 3 that lacked in level design but it is to date one of the best TPS games if not the best one, with one of the best final missions

 

[Brandino]

I remember enjoying this game, and playing the hell out of the Matrix elevator scene mod

 

[Richter1887]

God damn

20 freaking years...

I gotta replay this

 

[BossAttack]

While everyone here is posting about Max that was launched 20 years ago i really need to mention R* effort with Max Payne 3 that lacked in level design but it is to date one of the best TPS games if not the best one, with one of the best final missions

Click to shrink...

Yep.

I think MP3's writing was pretty bad and the level deisgn lackluster, especially the constant "point of no return" where the doors lock behind you preventing you from backtracking for collectibles. But the actual gameplay, the shooting, it was sublime. Superb.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I can't tell you how many times I played through the original when it came out. Fucking legendary game and legendary series. Somehow, 20 years later, there aren't many things like it.

 

[Petruccis Biceps]

Amazing groundbreaking game when it came out. "YOU COULD DO MATRIX BULLET TIME?!" was my reaction when I saw it for the first time. The Matrix had only came out 2 years prior, so seeing that slow motion kind of shit in a game blew me the fuck away. I loved the comic style story telling as well and McAffrey's voice over is so good. I loved Max Payne 3 despite its problems, it was still amazing to me.

Really hope there is either a remake of the trilogy or there is a MP4 on the way. The gameplay in 3 was so godamn good.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

Max Payne was a revelation in action games and story telling. What an amazing series. Love you Sam and James, thank you and the OG team for such great memories.

 

[Sidebuster]

I really miss my mousepad. I also played the fuck out of the demo. Before I ever bought the game.

 

[Tovarisc]

I remember development saga of this game as it was first game of this scale made in Finland, Remedy and Max Payne got a lot coverage at national level. Development also seemed to be somewhat riddled with issues as they had to delay several times and if I remember right Remedy came very close to having to close down because of that.

Max Payne was extremely ambitious project for them as their previous game had been Death Rally. Top down racing game with cars that had guns, mines, armor etc.

Then Max Payne released and became big hit over night basically.

 

[AHK-Hero]

One of my all-time favorites. I adored the storytelling and the gameplay was transcendent for its time (and is still great!).

Still think about Lords & Ladies from time to time and it makes me chuckle.