As promised, today we present part 2 of this week’s Asked & Answered session, with even more of your questions taken from the Newswire comments, Twitter replies, Facebook messages and emails to our Mouthoff inquiry inbox… If you missed it earlier, you can find a link to our previous official responses to questions about Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto V and more right here.
“I’ve waited nearly 10 years for this. Will Max Payne 3 feature any driving this time around? I know you guys avoided it so it doesn’t seem like a version of a Grand Theft Auto game but since Max is 10 years in and established as its own, will you add that in?” – Dymez510 “Max is there more in-depth hand-to-hand combat with interaction of environment?” – zell92i75
As we’ve stated in the past, we’re working very hard to ensure that we’re being faithful and true to the heritage of Max Payne – and the heart and soul of Max Payne gameplay has always been as a pure shooter. Apart from some pretty cool melee kills that can be triggered when in close quarters with an enemy (check out the very end of the latest Design and Technology video for an exemplary pistol-whipping), we have no intention of betraying that to introduce driving/racing or brawling elements. Just get ready for some of the most cutting-edge, advanced and insane shooting gameplay you’ve ever experienced. If you want driving, we do make some other games. This game is all about story driven gun play.
“With the trend of video games becoming ‘easier’ to complete to cater to the casual market in the hope of everybody completing the game, can we expect a challenging hardcore Max Payne game? I remember from previous Max Payne games, there being tough levels with intense shoot-outs. Can we expect the same with MP3?” – ILikeVideo-Games
Yes – while we’re not going to go into too much detail about the specifics of it just yet, we can answer that there will indeed be varying optional difficulty levels for players to play through the single-player story with – so that the game can be a challenging, satisfying and fun experience for players of all skill levels, and special rewards for completing on harder difficulty levels – we will have more details soon.
“Thanks for answering my Max Payne 3 question! Ok… I know I’m making a stupid request but… somehow, in Max Payne 3, could you please put some producers and writers commentaries? I wanna know everything you got inspired with, how you did it and why you did it. Some fans would appreciate this idea too!” – received via Mouthoff
Not a stupid request at all! Although we most likely won’t be including development chronicles or commentaries within the game itself, if for no other reason than we rarely have much spare room on our game discs, we’d definitely recommend you pay close attention to some of the content online that will continue to hit in the lead-up to game release – including our behind-the-scenes Research posts and Rockstar Recommends series here at the Rockstar Newswire, the continuing Design and Technology Series of videos, and exclusive interviews we’re giving with gaming sites discussing the development of Max Payne 3.
“@rockstargames Wow, I have a lot of questions. Are you going to be divulging the full list of classic characters for Max Payne 3’s Special Edition?” – DrDeanDarko (via Twitter)
Yes, we will be confirming the full list of characters in Max Payne 3 Special Edition’s Classic Character Multiplayer Pack soon.
“R* are you planning to make DLCs for mp3 in the future ? I’m looking forward to this game, because Max Payne 1 and 2 are one of the greatest games and game experiences for me 😀 this game will be awesome !!!!! :D” – Maxx-Paiin
Thank you. It’s great to see hardcore Max Payne fans such as yourself getting excited for the game’s release – as we’ve said before, we’re working very hard to ensure a faithful but still fresh and new Max Payne title for you all. As for future looking downloadable content, it’s a bit early yet for us to confirm exactly what shape Max Payne 3 DLC might take as we’re still in the planning stages for that, but yes we do plan to support Max Payne 3 with content post-release to properly extend the game experience for fans.
“Okay, question time! Will we see the nifty TV shows from the previous two in Max Payne 3?” – ABoyandHisX
Very possibly…
“In footage of the game, we see Max in both São Paulo and back in New York City. Are the New York city parts solely at the beginning of the game, or are they perhaps a part of flashback missions throughout the story?” – received via Mouthoff
We don’t want to give too much away about the game’s narrative structure, but the game is about Max coming to terms with his experience in São Paulo and the events that took him there, so they are spread throughout the game, like memories triggered by events in São Paulo.
“Any news about Max Payne on iOS?” – avbros
Yes – following the release of Grand Theft Auto III for iOS (and Android devices) late last year, the original Max Payne will be our next release for mobile devices. We will have an official announcement soon confirming the release date, but you can expect it to finally be released sometime in the next couple months.
“Rockstar, if I may ask, what is the relationship like between you and Remedy?” – received via Mouthoff
Remedy are great long-time friends of ours – they may be an external development studio not part of the internal Rockstar system, but we’ve always loved what they create, and their passion for games, and feel a certain kinship in that they are a studio not afraid of creating original and unique story-driven game experiences very different from the norm. We admire and respect all game makers who stick to their guns and make interesting and original games, and in particular ones like Remedy that we’ve had the pleasure to work with ourselves and know to be good guys as well. As creators of the Max Payne series, we’ve been honored to have them directly involved with us in the making of Max Payne 3 and at the same time, it’s been a thrill to be in the loop along the way seeing what they’re up to with Alan Wake and the new American Nightmare release coming out. If you’ve never checked that game out, we definitely recommend having a look.
“Are there any hopes of us getting a Bully 2? I loved the original and it’s been, what, 5 years? Please make another one.” – siim2200 “Hey, and Bully 2? It’s Real? Please make Bully 2! The world needs a Bully 2” – Julio Cësar (via Facebook)
We absolutely love that over 5 years later, we’re still seeing so much enthusiasm for Bully – all we can say is to see the answer from Monday’s Asked & Answered about L.A. Noire! We really love Bully ourselves and may also make a sequel at some point.