Developer : Rockstar Studios
Release date : May 15, 2012
Synopsis :
Max Payne 3 is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed by Rockstar Studios and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on May 15, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; a Microsoft Windows port was released on May 29, 2012, followed by an OS X port on June 20, 2013. The game is the third entry in the Max Payne series and the sequel to Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The game is also backwards compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
The game is played from a third-person perspective. Throughout the single-player mode, players control Max Payne, a former NYPD detective. Nine years after the events of the second game, Max finds work as a private security contractor in São Paulo, Brazil, but becomes entangled in a quest filled with death and betrayal. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 16 players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay in re-creations of multiple single-player settings.
As part of their research for the game’s setting, the developers conducted field research around São Paulo throughout development and captured footage for the design team. Development duties were shared between many of Rockstar’s studios worldwide. At release, Max Payne 3 received highly positive reactions from critics, with praise particularly directed at its narrative, action, and themes, though some criticism was aimed at the change in style from its predecessors, its linear design, and depiction of São Paulo. Max Payne 3 achieved high sales, shipping approximately three million units in the first week of release. It was nominated for multiple year-end accolades from several gaming publications, winning a variety of them.
According to Rockstar’s president Sam Houser, it was their intention to start a new chapter of Max Payne’s life with the game: “This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever.” The press release states that since the last game, Max has left New York City behind and “drifted from bad to worse.” The press release goes on to say Max has been double-crossed in this new city and is searching for both the truth and a way out. The game is set in São Paulo, Brazil, several years after the events of the ending of the second game. Max Payne now works in executive protection for the wealthy Rodrigo Branco and his family in the hopes of escaping the memories of his troubled past. When a street gang kidnaps Rodrigo’s wife, Fabiana, Max is pulled into a conspiracy of shadowy, warring factions threading every aspect of São Paulo society in a deadly web that threatens to engulf everyone and everything around him.
Nine years after the events of the second game, Max Payne (James McCaffrey) has retired from the NYPD and spends his days nursing his alcoholism and addiction to painkillers. After an incident in a bar in Hoboken, New Jersey forces him to leave New York, Max accepts an offer from Raul Passos (Julian Dean), whom he met during the incident, to become a private security contractor in South America. Max finds himself working for the Branco family, consisting of Rodrigo Branco (Frank Rodriguez), a wealthy real-estate mogul; Fabiana Branco (Benedita Pereira), Rodrigo’s trophy wife; Giovanna (Shirley Rumierk), Fabiana’s sister; Victor Branco (Robert Montano), a local politician; and Marcelo Branco (Dillon Porter), a hard-partying socialite. Operating in São Paulo a few months later, Max thwarts a kidnapping attempt on the Brancos by the Comando Sombra, a local street gang, during a private party. A week later, the gang manage to kidnap Fabiana at a nightclub while Max is overseeing her protection alongside Marcelo and Giovanna.
Instructed to pay $3 million for her release, Rodrigo allows Max and Passos to handle the exchange at a local football stadium. However, the meeting between them and the Comando Sombra is ambushed by the Crachá Preto, an outlaw paramilitary unit, who steal the money. Although the pair learn where the Comando Sombra took Fabiana, their attempt to rescue her is thwarted by the gang’s leader Serrano (Babs Olusanmokun). Meeting with the Branco brothers at Rodrigo’s office, Victor recommends the police handle Fabiana’s recovery. Shortly after Victor, Marcelo, and Passos leave, the Crachá Preto attack the office to kill Max. While he survives, Rodrigo is assassinated during the chaos. Blaming himself for the situation, Max swears off alcohol, shaves his head, and proceeds to seek out Serrano and Fabiana within the Nova Esperança favela, based on information from a dying Crachá Preto operative.
During his search of the favela, Max runs into Detective Wilson Da Silva (Stephen Girasuolo), who offers assistance in exchange for help in investigating the Crachá Preto, who he suspects have ties to Victor and the Unidade de Forças Especiais (UFE), São Paulo’s special police unit. Max eventually reaches Serrano’s hideout, only to witness the Comando Sombra murder Fabiana. As the UFE raid the favela, Max finds himself forced to rescue Marcelo and Giovanna, who were captured by the Comando Sombra while attempting to save Fabiana. During his search for the pair, he finds the UFE to be corrupt upon witnessing them selling prisoners to the Crachá Preto. While Max eventually finds and rescues Giovanna, Marcelo is executed by mercenaries. After a shootout at a bus station while trying to hide from the Crachá Preto, Passos arrives to help, but flees with Giovanna, who is pregnant with his child. Angered at being abandoned, Max is picked up by Da Silva, and learns that Passos was on Victor’s payroll.
Questioned about an attack on Marcelo’s private yacht in the Panama Canal a few weeks earlier, Max recalls that Marcelo and Passos tried to drive away with cargo that the attackers sought to steal. Da Silva reveals the cargo was money that Victor needed laundered in Panama, and that Max was recruited to be the fall guy for his illegal activities. At Da Silva’s request, Max investigates a rundown hotel used by the Crachá Preto. His investigation reveals that the building is the base for a black market organ theft ring, which the UFE supplies with their prisoners. After releasing a number of detainees, including Serrano, Max plants explosives around the hotel to destroy it. The Crachá Preto’s leader, Álvaro Neves (Gil Cardoso), tries to stop him, but Passos kills him and escapes with Max moments before the hotel is demolished. Although angered at Passos’ involvement in Victor’s affairs, Max forgives him for coming back for him, and allows him to leave the city with Giovanna.
To expose the involvement of Victor and the UFE with the organ thefts, Da Silva persuades Max to get arrested at the UFE’s headquarters in order to search it for incriminating evidence. His search culminates in the discovery that Victor arranged for Rodrigo’s murder to acquire his wealth, and that the sales of stolen organs were to fund his campaign in the upcoming mayoral elections. After a confrontation with Victor and the UFE’s leader, Armando Becker (Ubirajara de Castro), leads to them escaping, Max pursues them to the airport, leading to an intense fight with the UFE. Max eventually catches up to both, mortally maiming Becker in a shootout, before destroying Victor’s private jet with Da Silva’s help. Although Max opts to spare Victor’s life and leave him to be arrested by Da Silva, he breaks his leg to make him suffer. A week later in Bahia, Max overhears news in a bar that the UFE was disbanded, and Victor was found dead in prison. Choosing to move on with his life, Max takes a walk along the beach as the sun sets.
Source : Wikipedia
