Max Payne: then and now

I loved the first Max Payne, and I still appreciate Remedy's ambition today.

I loved the first Max Payne, and I still appreciate Remedy's ambition today. It's a great game. That said, after playing it again recently, I realized that some of my fond memories of realistic physics and ultra-lifelike characters might have been contaminated with just a teensy drop of nostalgia since 2001.

If you're bothered by the "new" Max Payne of Max Payne 3, with his varying amounts of hair on varying bits of his head, the series' original cast is at least a reminder of how much 11 years of technological progress can do for a guy's looks. The video above is my tribute to the smirking Max Payne who once was (who certainly looks good for the time), as remembered by the new, not-smirking-quite-as-much Max Payne.

When developing the original Max Payne, Remedy did not have a budget for actors, so writer Sam Lakeand other developers played the roles. Lake is the original face (and smirk) of Max Payne.