PlayStation 2

Max Payne

Trivia

Max Payne was initially in development for the Dreamcast up to the point that Remedy demoed the game at E3 in 1998. Despite some more refined character models, the game looks and plays almost identically to the PS2 and XBox versions of the game.

Cultural reference:

In the Ragnarock club there are references to the supernatural horror literature of H. P. Lovecraft - the so called Cthulhu Mythos. One of Jack Lupino's books is titled Necronomicon, and one of his personal "spells" mention the name "Cthulhu" as one of the dark gods that he invokes.

Another cultural reference:

In Part I, Chapter Six, Max Payne enters a small flat. There is a gun lying on the counter, and a gangster can be heard whistling in the toilet. The toilet doors are locked tight, unless the player picks up the gun, which makes the adversary flush the toilet and come out. This is a reference to Quentin Tarantino's cult movie Pulp Fiction:

[!Pulp Fiction spoiler below!]

This area closely resembles the scene of Vincent Vega's death, when Butch sneaks into his apartment and shoots Vic with his own gun which he left on the counter in the kitchen.

Of all the various pop culture references found throughout the game, there is one that probably escapes the notice of most players. In the Tutorial level, take a look at the Tar Cafe signs. Their address is listed as "604 All Your Base Are", a reference to the poorly-translated intro of Zero Wing.

The origins of bullet time, made famous in the movie The Matrix and as a playable effect in Max Payne, are attributed to Eadweard Muybridge (April 9, 1830 – May 8, 1904), who used still cameras placed along a racetrack to take pictures of a galloping horse.

The PS2 version doesn't allow you to quick save during a level unlike the PC and XBOX versions.

Contributed by festershinetop (8823) on Sep 11, 2005.

Max Payne was ranked # 41 in the 50 Best Games of All Time list published by PC Gamer Magazine in its April 2005 issue.

Contributed by PCGamer77 (3025) on Mar 19, 2005.

Early on the V drug was not only a mind-warping drug, but also body-warping. It fact it made its users grow into hulking giants with glowing green eyes. In fact, early script drafts deal with super soldiers. There were even work in progress screenshots which shows Max fighting these super soldiers. All this was scrapped as it looked silly and was too similar to Sin.

In Part 1, Chapter 6, when you're chasing Vinnie, there is a billboard for Captain Baseball-Bat Boy, the comics you see throughout the game.

Max Payne features a lot of Remedy employees as characters in the game, including screenwriter Sam Lake as Max Payne himself.

This led to a very weird E3 2001 showing of the game, since Sam Lake was at GOD Games´ Promised Lot along other members of Remedy with a demo. Everybody was a bit disoriented by seeing Max Payne on screen and his real-life counterpart talking about the title right next to it.

During the Twin Peaks parody (see previous Trivia entries) portion, the flamingo’s speech is distorted and it is impossible to understand what it’s saying except its final line: “The Flesh of Fallen Angels”, a sort of recurrent motif along the game.

In the mission where you must chase down Cognitti and get into the laundry room, you find this guy among the addicts, and you brought him back to open the room. Turns out the room has a password... "John Woo" John Woo is the famous movie director from Hong Kong, best known for Hard-boiled, MI:2, and Windtalkers, all of which included his slo-mo diving and shooting sequences.

At one point in the hotel, you must ride an elevator playing some cheesy elevator music. Shoot out the speaker and Max will thank you.

Contributed by Erik Niklas (14) on Aug 14, 2003.

In the room immediately after Alfred Woden's office, if you shoot a picture off the wall, you'll find a switch. Pressing it will open a secret passage to a room with a Star Trek parody.

Contributed by Erik Niklas (14) on Aug 14, 2003.

I've got to see a very cool idea to promote Max Payne on my last visit to England: I've seen a hydrant covered with actual yellow police lines with the game's name and slogan on it ("Max Payne - A Man With Nothing to Lose" etc...), just like the game box's cover art.

This one I found on a Twin Peaks related web page. Alas, can't find the URL right now.

At some point you will pass by a TV in which the images show a familiar red-curtained room and a flamingo, and the accompanying dialog is all in Twin Peaks style. The music has that hip TP jazzy sound. A man's voice talks about his "evil twin," which of course ties in with the dopplegangers of Twin Peaks. The flamingo's speaking style sounds much like the Little Man in Twin Peaks dream sequences. The flamingo may be a reference to Wild Palms, which included flamingos and is sometimes compared to TP.

Elsewhere, another TV shows a soap opera with events that closely parallel events in the game; this 'soap opera device' was used often on Twin Peaks.

Contributed by Schadenfreude (578) on Dec 29, 2002.

A short time after the game was banned in Germany, a Take2 salesman told me that they would publish a "toned down" version of Max Payne. It would be cut so it could get a "12+" rating and they wanted to do a german translation including voiceovers. This would allow them to sell it again since it isn't the same as the banned game and even more, it's localized so more people could enjoy it (or not - I for instance hate German voiceovers).

I think he even showed me a sales sheet with the new box art (it had a yellow "police line" over or under the MAX PAYNE title on the box which stated it was a toned down version).

Needless to say that this version got canned - if you cut down Max Payne to 12+, all whats left would be the menu screens.

Contributed by phlux (4157) on Dec 09, 2002.

The music for the game was made by Kärtsy Hatakka, who is also the singer and bass player for a band called Waltari.

In the tutorial, there's a secret area. Jump on top of the garbage bin next to the van, then top of the van, and make your way onto the balcony. Climb up to top floor, break the window, and you'll find an Ingram submachine gun inside along with ammo and pain killers.

Another humorous moment... In Part 1, Chapter 2 "Live from the Crime Scene", you finally made your way into the bank vault, and the alarm is blaring. If you shoot the alarm (thus silencing it), Max will thank you. :-)

This game is banned in Germany. The ban occurred on 29.09.2001.

Contributed by phlux (4157) on Oct 14, 2001.

Despite all the "realism" put into the game... The "code numbers" given by NYPD officers are completely wrong, according to an ex-NYPD officer (Rich Laporte of gonegold.com)

The D o p e f i s h (an enemy from Commander Keen 4, the D o p e f i s h is usually put into games as an easter egg) appears in Max Payne.

In one part of Max Payne, the graphic novel jokes about Max being a game (this happens in one of the nightmare sequences).

In the skyscraper mission, in one of the elevators, if you stay and listen, you will hear some guards talking about how it would be cool if you could see your moves in slow motion. The guard concludes by saying that he will name this effect Bullet-Time.

OK, on the last skyscraper mission, jump off the building. Instead of shrinking down to give the effect of falling, you actually fall for about 4 seconds. Pretty neat, huh?

The game was enthusiastically acclaimed by PC Gaming magazines in 2001. PC Gamer UK awarded the game 95% and regards it as "the most important action game ever made for the PC". PC Games Germany rated Max Payne with 90%, Gamestar Germany awarded the "Gamestar" and 88%. In its last ever published issue the magazine "Game On!" gave out 1.6 points (with one being the best possible result and six being the worst)

Contributed by Isdaron (695) on Aug 05, 2001.

At one point in the game, Max comes across a television show speaking about the Aesir Corporation, and how they are becoming another monopoly like Microsoft. However, because Microsoft is a copyrighted name, the television gives a bit of static when Microsoft is spoken, and the graphic novel displays "*static*" instead of Microsoft.

Contributed by JPaterson (9127) on Aug 02, 2001.

The game features some humourous moments. In one of the earlier levels, there is a room off one of the ledges outside a building. Inside is a guy lying on the ground with a stake in his back, and the letters "BUFF" (with obvious reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer) scrawled in blood next to him. Max passes a comment along the lines off "I don't even want to know what happened here."

In another level, you need a password to get into a laundry room. After finding a low-life to help you out, stand off to the side while he tries to get you in. He's given a first name and asked to give the full name before they'll open the door. The name he has to give is "John Woo", director and king of slow-motion action sequences in movies, an obvious inspiration for the developers of Max Payne.

Contributed by Macintrash (2535) on Jul 30, 2001.