10 Things You Didn’t Know About…Max Payne

With Max Payne 3 unfortunately slipping into next year, there’s plenty of time for newcomers to the series to play through the original two games (both backwards compatible with X360) which, it must be said, are uniformly brilliant. As ever with Remedy’s games (they also did Alan Wake) Max Payne and its sequel are stuffed to the gills with film references, in-jokes and trivia. So if you’re an old hand or a newbie, step right in to delve deeper into the mind of Mr Maximum Overwrought Payne himself.

1. In the first game, Max’s face is modeled after the game’s writer, Sam Lake. Everyone knows that, but (adopts Michael Caine voice) not a lot of people know that in the sequel his face is modeled on Hollywood actor Timothy Gibbs, and in both games his voice is supplied by James McCaffrey, who, like Gibbs has appeared in the hit show Sex and the City, and also Rescue Me.

2. Alan Wake contains many references to the Max Payne series, intimating that Max was found dead in a massive population centre (like New York, where the games take place) thirteen years after the second game. This seems to be contradicted by the third game, but, as Remedy aren’t developing Max Payne 3, it could be that the character is ‘dead’ to them.

3. Mona Sax, the assassin turned love interest for Max, has a sister named Lisa. We’ll let you work it out.

4. Max Payne 2 features two distinct endings, with the best ending being reserved for players who finish the game on the punishing Dead on Arrival difficulty level. On normal or hard, Mona is shown dead in Max’s arms at the games climax. On DOA difficulty, paramedics arrive on the scene and find both of them alive.

5. The first game has many, many references to Norse mythology, too many to list here, so we’ll just select one. Shadowy series antagonist Alfred Woden shares many similarities with Norse god Wōden: both have one eye, Norse Wōden rules from the throne of Asgard and Alfred’s place of business is a building called Asgard, and both are the head of their respective domains.

6. Jonathan Davies portrays the voice of the charming, turncoat gangster Vladimir Lem. Davies also appeared in Red Dead Redemption as the Corrupt Sheriff.

7. Captain Baseball Bat Boy, the ultra violent yet childlike comic strip and show from the games is, like the rest of the in-game media (Lords and Ladies etc) self-reflexive: when Baseball Bat Boy references ‘freaking zombie demons from outer space!’ as his enemies, it is a reference to Max’s journey into the Ragnarok nightclub in the original Max Payne. Max finds a wealth of literature in the club, reading aloud the title of one being, of course: Freaking Zombie Demons From Outer Space.

8. In the (sound of spitting) Max Payne movie, duplicitous backstabber B.B is played by Jeff Bridges brother, Beau, and his name is expanded to B.B. Hensley.

9. Uber-baddie Nicole Horne’s facial model is that of writer Sam Lake’s own mother.

10. The theme song ‘The Late Goodbye’ is inspired by a poem originally written by Sam Lake. That guy gets everywhere.

And there it is, more Max facts for you to chew on and spit out in a cold New York winter’s night, or a blazing Rio summer’s day. We hope you enjoyed them.