Remedy: Rockstar’s Max Payne 3 is ‘brilliant’

Posted January 16, 2012 by Luke Stratford in News.

Discussing Rockstar’s direction for Max Payne 3, Remedy shows great confidence in the studio.

In a chat with Kotaku, Remedy‘s head of franchise development, ‘Ozz’ Hakkinen, gave a glowing report of Rockstar‘s take on the cult action franchise, Max Payne. With Max Payne 3 heading into a new arena (the seedy, sunny favelas of Brazil), and sporting a Bruce Willis-style slaphead look, many fans were concerned that Rockstar was attempting to ‘sell out’ a franchise which had championed dark, albiet comic, noir sensibilities over brutal, brainless machismo.

Hakkinen, in his own words, claimed that what he’d seen of the game was ‘brilliant’, with Rockstar becoming a de facto ‘seal of quality’ in terms of gaming. As he put it simply;

‘I mean, they don’t really make shitty games, do they?’

Despite many being concerned that Remedy were selling a prized franchise down the river, their follow-up project, Alan Wake, has managed to sate the appetites of those who wanted more dark storytelling in the studio’s intimitable style. With Rockstar at the helm, the franchise will at least benefit from the studio’s solid history in storytelling and action. Once more, Hakkinen commented, ‘We absolutely love what they’ve done and couldn’t be more proud of where the series is headed.’

There’s no doubt that Rockstar is bringing more content to the table via the addition of a narrative-driven multiplayer, not to mention more sophisticated action and gunplay, but it’s up for discussion just how far Max Payne 3 is willing to depart from the tone of the original.

Tagged as development, Max Payne 3, Remedy, Rockstar