Max Payne is back, and he's in more pain than ever. Max Payne 3 will launch on 18 May, dropping us nine years after the events of the last game.
Max seems doomed by his surname to lead a pun-based life of insufferable woe. His wife and child died, that's not a wound that heals easily.
But without pain, Payne is nothing, and so it festers in the third edition of the game.
Fortunately for his delicate state of mind, the game's designers take Payne into a whole new narrative, which briefly distract him from the horrors of his own story arc.
The tale goes, Max is down Brazil way, working the private security beat in São Paulo. Max's new boss is Rodrigo Branco, local fat cat businessman. Naturally for Payne, it's not all roses and cupcakes. Fabiana, Branco's babe of a wife is kidnapped on Max’s watch - bad news for his employment prospects, good news for gameplay. Based on that crime, our protagonist gets stuck into some good ol' sticky situations, otherwise known as his ideal operating conditions.
Max Payne 3 may divide players much like the last, offensive, iteration. But is is fascinating, and if you want to see this unfortunate character develop, and possibly better himself, this is your chance.