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Ico HD running on a PlayStation Vita means that PS3 Remote Play is "almost ready"
Vita's game line-up received a healthy shot in the retro arm last week in the form of the roll-out of the PSOne Classics range . But it looks like Sony is about to follow that up with another slice of previous-gen goodness pretty soon in the form of proper, official Remote Play functionality for the PS3's Ico HD . And this all comes from the highest possible source. The picture above was published
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Our Verdict
Great third-person actionthe mind-blowing graphics are worth every cent.
Tyler Wilde provides commentary followed by the full, original text of our Max Payne review from the October 2001 issue of PC Gamer US.
I played Max Payneagain recently, and it's still great. It also looks really, really goofy: it's a lot funnier now than it was then to see Sam Lake's grimace plastered onto Max's head as he shoot dodges face first into goons. Max isn't quite "cutting-edge" anymore, I'm afraid, and looking at the graphic novel bits again reminds me that a lot of the panels look like photographs slathered with Photoshop filters.
But Max Payne is still great. It might not "have bystanders gawking over your shoulder in amazement," but I think this review holds up otherwise. If you've never played it, though, I'd suggest waiting for a Steam sale to bring it down from $10/£6—I have to admit that my recommendation is at least partially rooted in nostalgia for one of my favorite series.
Max Payne review
Your ticket to the longest, best-directed action movie you've ever played
Required: PII 450, 96MB RAM, 800MB HD, 16MB 3D card
We recommend: PIII 700, 128MB RAM, 32MB 3D card
The last game we saw from Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment was in late 1996, when they released a top-down racer called Death Rally. Heard of it? Probably not. The game fell under the radar but became a grass-roots success among web junkies who played the shareware version, and when Remedy began work on a high-technology action game called Max Payne in 1997, a lot of folks started paying attention.
Nearly four years later, after volumes of press attention (including our May 2001 cover), Max Payne went gold on Sunday, July 16. Having played through it, we can finally declare it was worth the wait. Max Payne is great. Truth be told, third-person shooters don't come any better.
So far, since little was known about the storyline, the attention surrounding Max Payne has focused on the game engine. Fortunately, the plot—a grim, compelling noir-style cop tale—is as gripping as the stunning action sequences.
The game opens with Max teetering on the roof of a New York skyscraper, snow falling “like ashes from post-apocalyptic skies,” sirens blaring from the street below. He begins to reflect on his situation, and the ensuing game is a 21-chapter narrated flashback of how he got there.
In the first five minutes of gameplay, you relive the morbid nucleus of Max's rage. Returning home from your police beat, you find your adored wife and baby brutally slain, and the drugged-up killers still roaming the house. After dispatching them, Max joins the DEA, seeking revenge on the drug pushers responsible.
We flash forward to sometime a few days ago. Max has infiltrated the toughest mob family in New York, and is on his way to meet with his DEA handler in a subway station when everything goes horribly awry. Max's cover is blown, his partner is killed, and Max is framed for his murder. Left with nothing to lose and a swelling ache for vengeance, he proceeds to hunt the mobster chain of command.
We already knew that the game engine employs a slow-motion “bullet-time” mode in which action is played out like scenes from The Matrix, but we didn't know how it improved the mechanics of the game. It turns out that bullet-time is a resource, akin to ammunition and health, that slowly recharges with each kill. It's useful because Max, unlike most FPS heroes, doesn't have bulletproof skin. You take damage just as easily as your enemies, so bullet-time is the player's edge.
When in slow motion, you can turn and aim just like normal (though firing speed is diminished). This allows you to get a precise bead on enemies instead of just firing blindly in their direction. Using bullet-time in conjunction with a falling leap makes you a difficult target, and Max can generally take out three enemies with only minor injuries.
Oh, and we should probably tell you that it's the best-looking effect since the invention of the polygon. You don't just jump between regular-speed and slow-motion; a “tweening” effect creates a smooth transition between tempos. Gun-barrel explosions are full-bodied, bullets leave trails as they glide past your head, and shells eject from chambers as if in zero gravity. Every noise sounds like a 45 played at 33, including voices and ricocheting bullets. It's mesmerizing, and will have bystanders gawking over your shoulder in amazement.
When you're not in-game, engaged in an action scene straight out of a John Woo–directed slugfest, the story unfolds through a distinct graphic novel. Whenever you answer a phone, read a note, talk to someone, or travel between sites, comic panels pop up with sound effects and narration. It works well, allowing you to relax and watch some artful exposition after a hard hour of fighting. The shadowy drawings help flesh out the film-noir ambience Remedy was aiming for.
The in-game environments are less stylized and more realistic, with certain scenes breaching the photo-realism barrier. The texture work has to be seen to be believed. A detailed, seamlessly mapped, high-resolution photograph covers every 3D model, from people to pistols to store fronts. Amazingly, the game doesn't require a ninja system. It runs smoothly on a Pentium 500, due in part to the Finns' uncanny appreciation for tight code.
The fire effect deserves particular mention. I have never, in two decades of gaming, seen flame so believably rendered in real time. From candlesticks to muzzle flash, it moves like the real thing. One mission has you racing through a restaurant exploding in flames, and if you're not blind, your jaw will drop.
The game dynamically adjusts enemy skill level to suit your reflexes, a cool and invisible trick. The thugs make for decent opposition, but their strength is their brawn, not intelligence. The AI can get stuck firing into walls or beams, leaving Max enough time for a picnic before silencing them. They're all pretty much the same in terms of abilities, and there are no thrilling boss characters.
With the exception of two nightmarish dream sequences (which you actually play through, making for some disturbing side trips into hell), missions take you on solo guns-blaring tours of city buildings and, in one case, a cargo ship. The result is an endless stream of cool action scenes, but missions might have been more interesting with the addition of friendly AI. Throughout the game, you commission someone to unlock a door three times. Besides that, you're on your own.
There are also no innocents in the game—only gangsters and druggies. This absence is explained by the snowstorm, which has everyone boarded up at home, but the city that never sleeps seems strangely dormant.
The lack of multiplay isn't so much an issue these days, as single-player games seem to be experiencing a healthy resurgence. I'm not even sure how it would be possible to implement deathmatch with the problem of bullet-time, so don't expect any such option here. You'll just have to settle for a sweet single-player story.
One last point of praise Remedy deserves is for the load times. Loading a map the first time takes several seconds, but anytime after that (such as hitting the quickload key after a pathetic dive into a shotgun blast), it's instantaneous. Finns are obviously very impatient.
If you're looking for a great thrill ride, an interesting story, and bleeding-edge technology, Max Payne delivers all of them. As with any engine's first title, its potential is not totally fulfilled, but the graphical novelties outweigh any shortcomings. Fans are already setting to work on modifying their own Max Payne total conversions. We're dying to see what comes next. — Jeremy Williams
Highs: A new high bar for incredible visuals; intricate story; great load times
Lows: Unrefined AI; not much variety in mission objectives or enemy tactics.
The Verdict
Max Payne
Great third-person actionthe mind-blowing graphics are worth every cent.
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Video: What comic books can teach video games about storytelling
Courtesy of the GDC Vault comes a free lecture from comics and games writer Antony Johnston, who has worked on games from EA and Sega, in which he explores what these two mediums can learn from the other.
Given at GDC Online 2010, he discusses an economic approach similar to editing comics to cut down the dialogue, exposition and scene duration for games. He recreates scenes from Alan Wake and Mass Effect to show how scenes can be made even more effective with this technique.
The session is available here.
Session Name: From Comics to Consoles
Speaker(s): Antony Johnston
Company Name(s): Freelance
Track / Format: Game Narrative Summit
Overview: Comics and games: a match made in heaven? What can games learn from comics, and how do the skills of one medium translate to the other? Veteran comics writer Antony Johnston, who has also written games for EA and Sega, discusses the similarities and differences between comics and games, the effect of transmedia on both media, and what games writers can learn from studying -- and writing --comics.
About the GDC VaultIn addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent GDC events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC China already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscriptions via a GDC Vault inquiry form.
Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available via an online demonstration, and interested parties can find out more here. In addition, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault admins.
Be sure to keep an eye on GDC Vault for even more new content, as GDC organizers will also archive videos, audio, and slides from other events like GDC China and GDC 2013. To stay abreast of all the latest updates to GDC Vault, be sure to check out the news feed on the official GDC website, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.
The Last Guardian dev says game is still in production, doesnt clarify possibly leaving Sony
It feels like we’ve been waiting decades for the next game from Team Ico, but it’s really only been two and a half years since The Last Guardian was formally announced. Still, the number of delays since we first assumed the game would launch in 2010 have left us confused and worried. And rumors that the head of the developer, Fumito Ueda, had left Sony hardly raised our spirits. Today Ueda went on
Former GTA dev vowed never to work on a violent game again
An emerging theme in the games industry is developers engaging the idea that games may be disproportionately violent or too derivative.
Deus Excreator Warren Spector spoke out about the latter recently, launching off the reveal trailer for the new Wolfenstein: A New Order. Joining the conversation now is Jeremy Pope, a veteran of Rockstar Games and former production manager for Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and Max Payne. In an interview with GamesIndustry International, Pope explains why he will never work on a violent game again.
“I would always kind of defend the games we were making and I was pretty proud of being involved,” he said, “but then when I would visit my grandmother in highly religious Alabama and have to explain what I do for a living, I didn't feel so great about explaining to them that I was a part of 'that game' they've been hearing about."
Pope says his decision to avoid violent games is about working on projects he can "feel a bit better about," but doesn't disparage Rockstar's accomplishments.
"I definitely want to make a point of saying that I actually love Rockstar's games," he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Pope discusses the perception of games in the mainstream news media and how gaming is so often used as a convenient scapegoat for political topics like gun violence.
“We had the same problem 10 years ago and it still persists today,” Pope says about the NRA blaming games for high-profile gun violence. “We don't really have a great ambassador, if you will… And then you see the NRA has one guy who goes up on a podium and gives a talk, and whether you agree with it or not there is a clear single voice and something to react to.”
Check out the full interview here .
Video: Making games look like movies, circa GDC 2004
"With the current programmable graphics hardware and floating point pipeline, we could leverage a lot of shading and rendering techniques from the cinematic world for use in our games." In this free GDC Vault video from GDC 2004, Arcot Preetham from ATI (quoted above) and Hector Yee and David Hart from PDI/Dreamworks discuss how movie shaders -- like those used in the Shrek series -- and real-time
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD versions coming to PSN next week
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two of the most respected games ever, both taking high spots on our top 100 games of all time , so obviously we enjoyed the recent HD rerelease of the titles for PS3. In fact, Sony’s recreation of the games was so good we gave it a . Now the publisher is following the example set with previous HD collections, as next week both version will be downloadable on PSN.
Max Payne 3's Rockstar Pass DLC baldly goes
Games about grumpy old slo-mo ex-cops are few and far between, which is why we're looking forward to Max Payne's third outing.
Games about grumpy old slo-mo ex-cops are few and far between, which is why we're looking forward to Max Payne's third outing. But what if there's just not enough game?
Fortunately, Rockstar have alleviated our worries by announcing Max Payne 3's DLC plans. Over the summer and autumn of this year multiplayer DLC will trickle into the game, just as the rain trickles in through a leaky roof during the British summer time.
With a Max Payne 3 Rockstar Pass you'll be able to buy the DLC before it's even released. For £19.99 you'll get all seven bits of DLC delivered to the game, which Rockstar reckon is a 35 per cent discount on buying it all individually.
Rockstar have also given us Max's DLC itinerary for the year, and it looks like this:
June 2012
• Local Justice Map Pack
Summer 2012
• Disorganized Crime Map Pack
• Deathmatch Made In Heaven Mode Pack
• Hostage Negotiation Map Pack
• New York Minute Co-Op Pack
Fall 2012
• Painful Memories Map Pack
• Trickle Down Economics Map Pack
It's not clear if these are bespoke multiplayer levels, or if they're just single-player levels modified for multiplayer shenanigans.
The Rockstar Pass plan brings confusion and doubt to our simple minds. Do we buy Max Payne 3, see if we like the multiplayer and then invest in the DLC individually? Or should we buy Max Payne 3 and the Rockstar Pass for a wallet-trembling £49.98? Or do we get this packfrom The Hut, which includes Max Payne 3 and the two (utterly awesome) Elite Squad movies on Blu-ray for £24.95? Help us dear reader. Help us.
Sony confirms that Ueda will leave company following The Last Guardians completion
It’s been a rollercoaster year for fans of Sony’s Japanese development group known as Team Ico. The year began with us all expecting Last Guardian to be released in 2011, then it was continuously delayed, then the dev’s previous games got an HD remake, and then rumors surfaced that the company’s creative lead, Fumito Ueda, was leaving following The Last Guardian’s completion. After Sony was suspiciously
Report: Ico/Shadow of Colossus director Fumito Ueda has left Sony
When it was first announced, PS3-exclusive The Last Guardian was one of our most anticipated games of 2010, then one of our most anticipated for 2011, and now we’re really excited for it in 2012. But the delays and the fact that we hadn’t seen the game in a long time was starting to make us worried. And this new rumor floating around hardly comforts us, as Eurogamer reports the games director and Team
Max Payne 3 classic skins are hilarious, Captain Baseball Bat Boy cartoon is awesome
We still have a couple weeks to wait before Max Payne 3 is spilling whiskey all over our keyboards, but while we're busy fighting a demonic horde of server errors, analog stick soldiers are getting drunk on bullet time right now.
We still have a couple weeks to wait before Max Payne 3 is spilling whiskey all over our keyboards, but while we're busy fighting a demonic horde of server errors, analog stick soldiers are getting drunk on bullet time right now. Making us even more jealous, our friends over at GamesRadarhave sliced together a video showcasing a couple of great throwback Easter eggs: Max Payne 1 and 2 skins, and a complete Captain Baseball Bat Boy cartoon. See the magic above.
Video: Relive the 2012 GDC Online Choice Awards
MMOs, free-to-play games, and social and mobile titles all had their time in the spotlight at last month's Game Developers Choice Online Awards .
. The prestigious event has come and gone, but the GDC Vault is now inviting viewers to relive the evening with a special video archive of the show.
Hosted by Rebel Entertainment's Mike Goslin, this year's ceremony at GDC Online celebrated best-in-class online games from all over the industry, from hit mobile titles to sprawling MMO juggernauts. Winners included notable games such as Riot's League of Legends , BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic , Zynga and Omgpop's Draw Something , and much more.
In addition, World of Warcraft won its very own spot in the ceremony's Hall of Fame, and Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies pioneer Raph Koster received a special honor as an 'Online Game Legend.'
With GDC Online evolving into GDC Next and moving to Los Angeles in 2013, this show will be remembered as the final incarnation of the esteemed Austin-based event. To watch this year's award show for yourself, be sure to check out the above GDC Vaultvideo.
About the GDC VaultIn addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent GDC events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Online already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription Beta via a GDC Vault inquiry form.
Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available via an online demonstration, and interested parties can send an email to Gillian Crowley. In addition, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault admins.
Be sure to keep an eye on GDC Vault for even more new content, as GDC organizers will also archive videos, audio, and slides from other events like GDC China and GDC 2013. To stay abreast of all the latest updates to GDC Vault, be sure to check out the news feed on the official GDC website, or subscribe to updates via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS.
Max Payne 3 preview
Time hasn't been kind to Mr Max Payne.
Time hasn't been kind to Mr Max Payne. His first game – a thirdperson shooter filled with noir and comic book obsessions, told with illustrated panels and gloriously overwrought metaphors – killed his wife and child. His second sent an assassin after him and, after Max had softened her heart and fallen in love with her, killed her too.
But new developers Rockstar have saved the biggest body blow for the third game, and it's literal: Max has got fat. Gone is the ex-cop's sleek figure, as thin as a stiletto drawn from the heart of a terrible noir metaphor. In its place is a definite paunch.
Eight years have passed since the end of Max Payne 2, and Max has cut most of his ties with his old cop life. Fat and sad, Max is resigned to pouring his remaining days away like doing a secret wee in a swimming pool (these noir metaphors are hard). He spends his time drinking and popping painkillers – remember it was us PC gamers that earned him that particular vice 11 years ago – in a New Jersey bar just outside his old New York stomping ground.
And then, like a pretty dame with a nametag that reads 'Tara Rouble' sauntering into an office, trouble walks into his life. In Max Payne 3, it takes the form of a gaggle of hoodlums in Max's local. They're hopped up on steroids and testosterone, and you can't help but cheer when Max shoots them. Problem is, one of them is the son of a local crime lord. Max has to get out of the city in less than a New York minute – which, for UK readers, is pretty sharpish – lest he bring the full force of the city's scummy underbelly down on his head. Again.
He's lost his cop contacts, but Max still has a few buddies. Through his old police academy friend Raul Passos, he's offered bodyguard work in a sunny spot. Problem is, that sunny spot is Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's biggest cities and one of the world's most notorious crime spots.
But the change of scenery doesn't mean a change of tone: Max Payne 3 is as noir-y as a black and white film about a PI in a trenchcoat smoking a cigarette. Sure enough, his boss's wife Fabiana Branco gets kidnapped. Max suggests buying the kidnappers out, arranging to transfer the money at a football stadium. It's from here that I got to play Max Payne 3, trying to secure the release of Fabiana before she disappears into the Brazilian night forever, lost like a blue biro in a big box of identical blue biros. In an alley. In the rain.
Time may not have been kind to Max Payne the man, but for the game he inhabits it's had no such debilitating effects. Somewhat surprisingly, Max Payne 3 feels as fluid and gratifying in 2012 as it did back in 2001. Most third-person shooters emphasise restriction and defence; Max Payne 3 demands you go on the attack.
Max can move well for a big lad, demonstrating his time-bending powers – which return unaltered from the previous two games – as things start to go wrong at the stadium. Press Left-Shift and time slows down. Press Space and Max launches into a lengthy 'shoot-dodge' leap, letting him draw a bead on his enemies and execute them in mid-air.
The kidnappers want to collect their cash at the stadium's centre circle but, before Max can hand it over, sniper shots disrupt the meeting. A bullet slams into Max's shoulder, crippling his dual-gun wielding ability until he's able to patch himself up – cue a trip through the stadium to reach the home team's medical centre.
Bar the added weight, 12 years has gifted Max a cover system and very little else. Even the UI is the same as in previous games: a silhouetted figure reddening as slowly damage is taken. Health comes in pill form only: there's no recharging behind cover. In fact, enemies aggressively flush Max out from environmental hardpoints, Rockstar's way of coaxing players out into the open to greater use Max's slow-motion dives and dodges.
The result is something as smooth and satisfying as a neat scotch poured over a packet of cigarettes and served in an upturned fedora. Bullets slam into enemies with palpable force. The last enemy killed in a wave is subject to particularly gruesome effects: they're given their own special killcam, letting players gawp as their target's entry and exit wounds spurt geysers of blood.
After three minutes, I slipped back into long-dormant attack patterns honed on previous Max Payne games. It's clear the new developers understand Max, and want to produce a game as simultaneously silly and serious as its predecessors – a game where a fat, growly man can launch himself feet first through a window and slide down 30ft of tarpaulin, kick a soldier in the face, then get up a second later to complain about his day. Rockstar wear their influences on their sleeves: Max Payne 3's got the obvious nods to films – Man on Fire, Boiling Point, Reservoir Dogs – but its biggest informer is Max Payne itself.
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.
Dragon Age: Origins is now free on Origin
Origin's On the House is an ongoing program in which games on EA's Origin digital distribution service are offered at no charge.
If you haven't yet hopped aboard the Dragon Age train, here's your chance: BioWare's epic fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Originsis now On the House.
is an ongoing program in which games on EA's Origin digital distribution service are offered at no charge. There are no time limits on ownership or other such catches; you simply go to the game page, click "Get It Now," and carry on from there. Previous On the House games include Battlefield 3, Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled 3.
I'd say Dragon Age: Origins goes a bit beyond those games. It's few years old now, but it's still a game well worth playing, both as a sweeping, party-based RPG and an entry point into BioWare's home-grown fantasy setting. And with Dragon Age: Inquisitionset to come out next month, this is the perfect opportunity to give it a shot.
The On the House offering is the standard edition of Dragon Age: Origins rather than the Deluxe or Ultimate releases, but again, it's free. Free! But only until October 14. Scoop it up while you can at Origin.
Max Payne 3 preview
We just watched a bullet slowly bore through a man's skull.
We just watched a bullet slowly bore through a man's skull. It left a big empty chunk in both the entry and exit wounds. It was simultaneously the most revolting and amazing thing we've seen in a long while.
On one hand, it's a revolting display of ultra violence that could turn the stomach if you thought about it too hard. But on the other – infinitely more important – hand, it's a glorious display of the hardboiled fiction Max Payne is famous for. They don't have to zoom in to show you the extent of the damage your bullet does, but it's important to the series' tone of stylistic realism.
“Here's a scenario: There's three or four guys in front of you,” said the Rockstar rep who led us through the demo. “The most direct way, the easiest way, is probably just to run in and take them out with some straight shots to the face. But there's a ledge twenty feet to the left of you, and you've got to go out of your way to get there to leap off to shoot them in bullet time on the way down. It's out of your way, but you do it because it looks great. Form over function. It's about feeling like a badass action hero.”
His point is well taken, but it also belies the complexity of Max Payne as a character, which is much more visible in this third iteration of the series. Rockstar's vision for Payne casts him much more as an anti-hero than the previous games. He's not just a badass action hero, he's also a drunk and overweight pill-popper. What's most surprising is that Rockstar has found ways of conveying a sense of Payne's character through gameplay.
Whereas in the first two games Payne was a nigh-unstoppable shooting machine, in the third he's much sloppier. He'll leap into a slow-motion bullet spray, but if he gets hit hard during that move he'll just fall flat on the ground like a buffoon. Max Payne is a skilled gunman, but he's also scrappy and often uncoordinated.
Max Payne 3 is very clearly a character driven epic in much the same veins as the latest Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption and GTAIV. Payne may have been a wonderfully well-spoken noir lead in the previous games, but Rockstar has artfully turned him into a full-fledged character.
While we adored the original two games, we're starting to think Rockstar has a better grasp on noir storytelling than Remedy ever did. The original Max Payne was a sort of neo-noir thriller will dashes of mysticism and corporate conspiracy. Max Payne 3 seems to be a much more traditional, more personal tale complete with a damsel-in-distress macguffin that leads into a twisting conspiracy.
As our demo opens, we're told something has happened in Payne's New York home that has forced him to “get the hell out of dodge,” as the Rockstar rep put it. He's fled to Sao Paulo where he's begun working private security for a wealthy real estate mogul called Rodrigo. When Rodrigo's wife Fabiana gets kidnapped (standard noir fare, remember) Payne is tasked with getting her back. “But what starts out as a simple kidnapping soon descends into merry hell,” the rep says in a charming English accent. “Conspiracy, betrayal, paranoia, all these wonderful noir sensibilities that you'd expect from a Max Payne story come into the fray. Max ends up two steps behind everybody with no clue what's going on.”
The gunplay here can get incredibly vicious. As previously mentioned, things get pretty sloppy from time to time. It's not uncommon to end up knocked down and scooting along the floor on your side, frantically trying to gun down a couple enemies before you're killed. However, being killed isn't a completely terrible thing here. MP3 has a system in place that allows you one last chance to get a vengeful shot off on an enemy who has killed you. If you successfully manage to shoot him back, you'll get a new lease on life. In a way, this underscores the character of Payne. He may get knocked down, shot, and nearly killed, but he's always got one last gasp left in him. One last bullet for the person who got in his way.
The PAX East showing of Max Payne 3 had a lot to love. The shooting feels great, the voice acting is phenomenal, and it looks wonderful on PC, with every line and wrinkle in Payne's aged face plain to see. It's not necessarily the most technically impressive game. In terms of graphics, it looks on par with most other AAA games on the market. It's the style that Rockstar has imbued in the game that makes everything look so spectacular.
It's not that Payne himself looks like a spring daisy. It's that he changes costume in practically every scene (game characters so rarely get a change of clothes) and ages or regains youth as the time period shifts. And it does shift often. Payne is trying to piece together how exactly he got himself into this mess, and he'll recall moments from his past as he goes along (remember he's a drunk pill-popper, so his memory is a little fuzzy.)
It pains us to say it, but it looks like it may have been the right decision for Rockstar to take over development duties on Max Payne 3 from Remedy. While we still love Remedy (including their PC version of Alan Wake) Rockstar seems to have more of a knack for hardboiled noir, and so far it seems as if they're taking all the right steps toward keeping Max Payne with the times.
Dragon Age Inquisition preview: fortresses, friendship and the Fade in BioWare's open world
After a long period of relative silence, information is finally creeping out about the shape and state of BioWare's next major RPG.
After a long period of relative silence, information is finally creeping out about the shape and state of BioWare's next major RPG. I saw Dragon Age Inquistion at an EA event in London earlier in the week, the same information that will have - as of the time this goes live - just been revealed at PAX. Here's a rundown of my first impressions of the game - which, although it's more than a year from release, is looking far more fleshed out than I expected.
Plot and companions
Inquisition is set a few years after the events of the two previous games. The world is in the middle of several wars - civil war in Orlais, and the ongoing conflict between the mages and Templars - that are snowballing into one another: kind of like a fantasy World War I. At the start of the game, a massive dimensional tear opens between reality and the Fade - the dream dimension that is the source of magic and that you'll have visited once or twice if you played the previous games. In order to find out who is responsible for the fade tear, a new faction is formed with your character as its leader. This is the Inquisition, and the way it is founded reminds me of the description of the founding of the Grey Wardens - a trans-national pact to solve a problem that each individual faction can't solve by itself.
In the first game you were the Warden, in the second you were the Champion, and in the third you'll be the Inquisitor. You'll be able to choose your race from human, elf, dwarf, and - for the first time - qunari. BioWare weren't willing to spill any details on how your characters' origin will be fleshed out beyond that.
There'll be a range of companions, and BioWare stressed that this involves a "significant returning cast". The in-game demonstration confirmed the return of Dragon Age 2's Varric - the dwarven rogue who narrates the game - and Cassandra Pentaghast, the Chantry Seeker who interrogates that narration out of him. The fourth companion shown was Vivienne, an Orlesian mage who, based on a snippet of in-game dialogue, was once First Enchanter of one of the Circles there.
Combat
Combat is still based on a four-person party, and you can still control any individual member as well as pause time and zoom out into a full top-down view. The impact of spells and melee strikes inherits a lot from Dragon Age 2, but what I saw had a greater sense of weight and impact - there were no arbitrarily exploding torsos, for one thing. The new game has been built in the Frostbite engine, and environments are partially destructible. We were shown a wooden bridge being destroyed to send some archers tumbling to their deaths, and smaller scenery items - barrels, barriers etc - can be blown up or cast aside by magic.
Tactics - the system by which friendly AI behaviours can be programmed - will return, and full friendly fire for magic will be an option for players that want it. Interestingly, health regeneration will be very limited: adventuring for any length of time will mean bringing healing supplies with you or having a mage with the right abilities on hand. It's nice to see these kinds of hardcore mechanics making their way back into mainstream RPGs, and it seems like a natural fit with the size of the world BioWare are creating.
Finally, content in the game won't scale with the player's level. This means that certain encounters or areas will be off-limits until the Inquisition's power grows. As someone who feels that scaling difficulty creates as many problems as it solves, I'm pretty excited about this change.
Conversations and consequences
Conversations are still dialogue-wheel based and the player character is fully voiced. Honestly, it looks a lot like Dragon Age II - but one cool new feature is the way that each option on the wheel has a corresponding tooltip offering more information on the potential consequences of that decision. The choice we were shown involved a party of injured guards wandering a road during an attack by a splinter faction of Templars. The player could order them to stay where they were, help a local village, or defend a nearby Inquisition keep.
Once you've made one of these decisions, it's up to you whether you try to mitigate their negative effects in the open world. You could, for example, tell your allies to abandon the village and then go and save it yourself - or tell the guards to stay with their wounded and attempt to relieve the siege single-handed. I like the degree of flexibility it suggests, as well as the way it'll hopefully force player decisions to result from the game's mechanics ("I don't have enough healing items to do this alone, I need these guards to help me") rather than a simple desire to play one type of hero or another.
The world...
...is looking big. Specifically, bigger than Dragon Age: Origins. Three years of development time and a decent budget look to have prevented DAII's geographical limitations from resurfacing. The game will be split into multiple large areas with each area containing a number of towns, fortresses, caves and dungeons. There were no loading screens within these zones during the demo I was shown, but there will be some kind of load when the party moves from one zone to another. I was shown an area in Ferelden that included a large lake as well as a desert area west of Orlais.
The broad area that the game will cover includes Ferelden, Orlais, Nevarra and the Free Marches. The map I was shown didn't extend as far north as Tevinter and Antiva or further south than Ferelden's Kocari Wilds. If you're a fan familiar with Thedas' layout then that should give you some idea of the scope, though I don't know exactly how many of these open-world zones there will be - nor how the game will handle cities. Nontheless, it feels fair to say that it's looking pretty big.
Each area has a number of fade tears - smaller portals to the Fade that the player will be expected to close. Think Oblivion Gates, basically, though what exactly is involved in closing a tear wasn't revealed. In Ferelden, one of these tears is in the middle of a lake - one solution, the devs suggested, involved using a nearby dam to permanently lower the water line.
Fortresses!
It seems like every province will include a fortress or two, and one of your main objectives when you arrive in new territory will be to claim an Inquisition stronghold. The presentation suggested that this will involve a range of side objectives - poisoning water supplies, etc - followed by a brief siege. Once you've captured a fortress, it'll change to reflect Inquisition ownership and the kind of outpost you want it to be. We were shown designs for a military fortress, an espionage centre, and a merchantile trading hub. Each will have its advantages and drawbacks and they'll additionally affect the kind of organisation the Inquisition will come to be - unlike the Wardens, whose identity is set in stone, you'll have some say over whether the Inquisition comes to be a merciless fighting force or something more subtle.
Taking a fortress then gives you access to a strategic metagame where you spend Inquisition agents to affect change in the world. The ones we were shown involved rebuilding monuments, opening paths to new areas, and establishing resource-gathering buildings to help with your crafting and alchemy. It made me think a little of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - a great open world game in its own right, and an influence I'm happy to see cropping up in a different genre.
Also, dragons.
BioWare seem to be really proud of their dragons. There'll be a fixed number of these in the game, and it sounds like they'll act as massive boss fights at the culmination of certain areas. They seem a little bit clumsy - they have a tendency to fly leg-first through pieces of tactically scattered ancient ruin, sending bricks and debris in their wake - but it's nonetheless very impressive. The brief segment we were shown reminded me of the original CGI trailer for Origins, where a dragon battle was a long, mobile, multi-stage affair. Here's hoping that some of that energy makes it into the actual game this time. In any case, expect to be shown BioWare's impressive dragon over and over again in the long year before release.
Max Payne 3 screenshots show multiplayer combat
The latest Max Payne 3 screenshots give us our first look at the new multiplayer mode, as season favourites MaxPayneDev3, 4 and 5 take on blue team underdogs MaxPayneDev7, 8 and 9.
The latest Max Payne 3 screenshots give us our first look at the new multiplayer mode, as season favourites MaxPayneDev3, 4 and 5 take on blue team underdogs MaxPayneDev7, 8 and 9. It's weird to see nametags floating over people's heads in a Max Payne game, but it looks as though we'll be able to dive through things and over things with the same dexterity as Payne himself in multiplayer
The closest comparison I can think to how the whole thing might work is John Woo's Stranglehold, and that was completely bonkers. You could swing from chandeliers and run up and down dinosaur spines in slow motion shooting each other. Max Payne 3 is likely to take a much more serious tone judging from the screenshots below.
Dragon Age: Inquisition interview - on fan feedback, romance, returning characters and the open world
The Dragon Age series has evolved in a tumultuous fashion since Origins.
The Dragon Age series has evolved in a tumultuous fashion since Origins. The switch from the world-threatening crisis of the first game to the personal stories of Dragon Age 2 proved too great a shift for some fans. Inquisition will again take the series to a grander stage. An open world with dynamic keep battles will bolster the central story, which sees inquisition—led by you—recruiting aid aid to postpone an imminent apocalypse.
How else will Inquisition differ from its predecessors? What have Bioware learned from fans of the series? How will they correct the awkward savegame bugs that could bring characters back to life, and how have they chosen your companions for the new adventure? Chris spoke to executive producer, Mark Darrah, to find out.
PC Gamer: What has creating this new protagonist, the inquisitor, given you the opportunity to do or change that you couldn't have with the warden, or with Hawke, or with a previous Dragon Age lead?
Mark Darrah: One of the reasons that we've decided to do that in the Dragon Age series is that it lets us explore a lot more themes. Hawke's story, it's not done, but the most important event of his life is essentially what's happening in Dragon Age 2. With the warden from Dragon Age: Origins he carries a lot of very divergent baggage. Anything from he could be dead to maybe there's a kid in the picture, maybe he's actually ruling Ferelden with Anora.
He's a very difficult character to proceed with because the universe is in very different places based on the events of the Dragon Age: Origins. Just reflecting those changes in the future games is a big challenge. To actually have him as a playable character is just—it would tie our hands too much. It would require us to make a story that was too constrained.
When we started this franchise, what we really wanted to always be doing was telling the story of the world, as opposed to the story of a single character. When we have a character, these events are big and world-shaking. We basically are trying to tell the story in the best way possible, rather than trying to have an arc for a single character.
PC Gamer: What is different about the inquisitor? In each case, the player puts a tremendous stamp on who they are. Hawke is not necessarily the warden. They have specific ways in which they have their own identity.
Mark Darrah: Because we're going back to full races there's going to be a significant difference in background between the different potential inquisitors. In Dragon Age: Origins you are a member of the wardens, but in a lot of ways you are the last surviving warden or at least the last surviving warden on the ground when he's needed. I mean Alistair is there.
PC Gamer: Yes, apart from Alistair.
Mark Darrah: Apart from Alistair, who doesn't want to pick up the mantle for his own reasons.
PC Gamer: Sure, of course.
Mark Darrah: In Dragon Age 2 Hawke is really a leaf in the wind. The story is very much about him reacting to the world pushing on him. In this case it's much more about putting the inquisitor at the head of an organization that you're reestablishing. This isn't about being a Jedi, this is about founding the Jedi order.
You're definitely much more of an actor. You're the tip of the spear. You aren't waiting for the world to act upon you. You are acting upon it, both because you have an organization at your back. This gives you greater reach. You're not walking into a camp and begging for help. You're pounding down the gates of a castle and demanding that they come onto your side.
Also, surviving this calamity has actually given you powers that other people don't have. You have a remnant of this explosion in your hand that actually allows you to close these fade rifts that are around the world. This gives you additional influence on the world and additional ability to demand respect, demand that people listen to you, because you can do something no one else can. You can actually put a stop to this.
PC Gamer: It's a new direction for the narrative, but it sounds like there are a lot of echoes of who the warden is. You're still a part of an organization that's almost neutral, a third party to a lot of the conflicts in the world. Also, having something about yourself that allows you to interact with evil in a particular way.
Mark Darrah: Yes, that's a very good observation. In a lot of ways the inquisition is similar to the wardens in that way. Something stands apart or above the politics. It does what needs to be done to fix the world essentially. One of the overarching things of Dragon Age has always been that people do bad things, but for good reasons and that it takes someone outside of the situation to do good things in that situation.
Loghain in Dragon Age: Origins is someone who is doing something bad, but he's doing it because from his perspective it's the right thing to do. To him, Orlais is ultimately a bigger threat than the blight. He can't allow the Orlesians to come in to help. As the warden in Dragon Age: Origins, you're standing apart.
This is that taken to the next level. This is you. Everything is just too chaotic. There's a civil war mixing up Orlais. Someone needs to come in to do what needs to be done. In this case, more than in Dragon Age: Origins, there's the hints and the scent that there's a public master behind this. There's someone that's tugging on the string and maybe pushing the chaos a bit farther.
PC Gamer: Was the reasoning behind coming up with a new faction then so the players could maybe put their own spin on it and determine more about it? For example if you tried to tell this story starring a warden commander then you would be bound to that previous amount of the fiction that's already been established.
Mark Darrah: Yes, very much so. The wardens are—as we'll go into Inquisition to some degree—they have one purpose: to fight blights, To fight darkspawn, to fight blights to a fanatical degree. To this is their purpose, they will do nearly anything in order to do that.
We've established a lot of this and there's a certain amount of expectation set up from Dragon Age: Origins. We're not done with the wardens, but yes, they have limitations from how they can be used.
PC Gamer: Sure. I was going to ask, just to broaden the range a little bit, you guys have had a big presence at PAX. I wasn't there, but it was interesting to observe. Obviously, really substantial and a big substantial fan response to it as well. I guess two sides to that. One, why is that important to you and two, has it been useful now that you're going into the rest of development?
Mark Darrah: Yes, we did have a really big presence at PAX. We have a continuous presence. We have a base where we have a very much, a very personal connection to the fans. Then PAX Prime, last year we did a huge stage presence. It's been very helpful. It's very important from my perspective to keep in touch with our fans, to listen to their concerns, to stay in contact with them, to give them an opportunity to provide us with feedback.
The other thing that I think that this venue does is it gives them an opportunity to see us as people as well. We only have an opportunity to communicate electronically. It's very easy to see Bioware or any company as a single monolithic entity, that there are no people in there.
Trade shows, especially things like PAX which are very fan-focused, are very good for making that connection, directly, one on one with our fans. It's very important. We do take it back. It's very energizing for the developers with a huge presence at PAX PRIME, I think there was 30 people there from Bioware. It's just very good to see the response. I think to some degree it's very important for the devs to see the gamers as people as well and not the faceless masses on the forums.
PC Gamer: I was going to ask, how much you guys feel like you have to react to your fans, to what they want, and how much freedom you have to lead them in almost any regard, from the small decisions you're making to scoping out the future of the series and everything else?
Mark Darrah: It's a little bit of both. From a small feature perspective things like control schemes and the way that the narrative or the way that the conversation works and stuff like that, that's where we take a lot of feedback. That's where we're very much, I think people have a clear understanding of what they want and what they don't like.
The danger is most people, myself included, aren't perfectly objective when they're playing a game at the higher level. Henry Ford has a famous quote. If we asked people what they wanted they'd ask for a faster horse. There's a certain amount of truth to that.
Part of our job is to go out into the wilderness to go farther beyond what the players have seen, what they've played and essentially light a torch so they can see what could be and then hopefully they'll want what we're presenting. That can be uncomfortable. That can result in concern because obviously what they're comfortable with, what they've played before isn't completely what we're delivering.
In the case of Dragon Age: Inquisition I think there is a core there. I think there is a core Dragon Age game at its center. I think that comfort still remains, but we will be pushing you, we're challenging you with some new things.
PC Gamer: It's interesting, from an outsider's perspective, it always seems like Dragon Age undergoes quite a radical transformation game to game. That wasn't the case in Mass Effect, even though obviously things were improved and changed. The scope of the game maybe didn't change so dramatically. Why has that been the case do you think?
Mark Darrah: In a lot of ways Inquisition has been the game that we've really wanted to make from the beginning. From a systemic perspective Dragon Age 2 is actually very similar to Dragon Age: Origins. Its bones are the same, but we've put a very different outfit on top of it, for a lack of a better term.
Dragon Age 2, we decided we want to try something, to try to do very different storytelling, something much more personal, something much more tightly constrained. No chosen one, no clear overarching threat. I don't think it was a perfect success, but that was intentional.
A lot of the other changes that are perceived, the overall scope of the game or the perception of the combat getting a lot simpler or waves and things like that—not intended, exactly. That was supposed to be more evolutionary. I think we just overreached. We pushed too hard.
Because of Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition is having to be a lot more ambitious, to address those concerns and really try to get back much more to the roots of the franchise. Much more about tactical combat and a higher level of deliberate difficulty. More clear overall story, with the moral choices still in there, but much more in vein of Dragon Age: Origins style storytelling. You're right to ask. The goal wasn't to revolutionize the series every single time, but Dragon Age 2 forced our hand to a certain degree.
Max Payne 3 screenshots show Max's many faces
Things have come a long way since Max monologued his way through the first game wearing this facial expression .
. Three of the four new screenshots show close-ups of Max's three new looks. There's the youthful Don Draper Max, washed up beard-of-sorrow max and Stone Cold Steve Austin Max, all looking mean, all firing guns. What do you think of the new Max? Get ready to judge his face. Three, two, one ... GO!
Dragon Age: Inquisition interview - on fan feedback, romance, returning characters and the open world
The Dragon Age series has evolved in a tumultuous fashion since Origins.
The Dragon Age series has evolved in a tumultuous fashion since Origins. The switch from the world-threatening crisis of the first game to the personal stories of Dragon Age 2 proved too great a shift for some fans. Inquisition will again take the series to a grander stage. An open world with dynamic keep battles will bolster the central story, which sees inquisition—led by you—recruiting aid aid to postpone an imminent apocalypse.
How else will Inquisition differ from its predecessors? What have Bioware learned from fans of the series? How will they correct the awkward savegame bugs that could bring characters back to life, and how have they chosen your companions for the new adventure? Chris spoke to executive producer, Mark Darrah, to find out.
PC Gamer: What has creating this new protagonist, the inquisitor, given you the opportunity to do or change that you couldn't have with the warden, or with Hawke, or with a previous Dragon Age lead?
Mark Darrah: One of the reasons that we've decided to do that in the Dragon Age series is that it lets us explore a lot more themes. Hawke's story, it's not done, but the most important event of his life is essentially what's happening in Dragon Age 2. With the warden from Dragon Age: Origins he carries a lot of very divergent baggage. Anything from he could be dead to maybe there's a kid in the picture, maybe he's actually ruling Ferelden with Anora.
He's a very difficult character to proceed with because the universe is in very different places based on the events of the Dragon Age: Origins. Just reflecting those changes in the future games is a big challenge. To actually have him as a playable character is just—it would tie our hands too much. It would require us to make a story that was too constrained.
When we started this franchise, what we really wanted to always be doing was telling the story of the world, as opposed to the story of a single character. When we have a character, these events are big and world-shaking. We basically are trying to tell the story in the best way possible, rather than trying to have an arc for a single character.
PC Gamer: What is different about the inquisitor? In each case, the player puts a tremendous stamp on who they are. Hawke is not necessarily the warden. They have specific ways in which they have their own identity.
Mark Darrah: Because we're going back to full races there's going to be a significant difference in background between the different potential inquisitors. In Dragon Age: Origins you are a member of the wardens, but in a lot of ways you are the last surviving warden or at least the last surviving warden on the ground when he's needed. I mean Alistair is there.
PC Gamer: Yes, apart from Alistair.
Mark Darrah: Apart from Alistair, who doesn't want to pick up the mantle for his own reasons.
PC Gamer: Sure, of course.
Mark Darrah: In Dragon Age 2 Hawke is really a leaf in the wind. The story is very much about him reacting to the world pushing on him. In this case it's much more about putting the inquisitor at the head of an organization that you're reestablishing. This isn't about being a Jedi, this is about founding the Jedi order.
You're definitely much more of an actor. You're the tip of the spear. You aren't waiting for the world to act upon you. You are acting upon it, both because you have an organization at your back. This gives you greater reach. You're not walking into a camp and begging for help. You're pounding down the gates of a castle and demanding that they come onto your side.
Also, surviving this calamity has actually given you powers that other people don't have. You have a remnant of this explosion in your hand that actually allows you to close these fade rifts that are around the world. This gives you additional influence on the world and additional ability to demand respect, demand that people listen to you, because you can do something no one else can. You can actually put a stop to this.
PC Gamer: It's a new direction for the narrative, but it sounds like there are a lot of echoes of who the warden is. You're still a part of an organization that's almost neutral, a third party to a lot of the conflicts in the world. Also, having something about yourself that allows you to interact with evil in a particular way.
Mark Darrah: Yes, that's a very good observation. In a lot of ways the inquisition is similar to the wardens in that way. Something stands apart or above the politics. It does what needs to be done to fix the world essentially. One of the overarching things of Dragon Age has always been that people do bad things, but for good reasons and that it takes someone outside of the situation to do good things in that situation.
Loghain in Dragon Age: Origins is someone who is doing something bad, but he's doing it because from his perspective it's the right thing to do. To him, Orlais is ultimately a bigger threat than the blight. He can't allow the Orlesians to come in to help. As the warden in Dragon Age: Origins, you're standing apart.
This is that taken to the next level. This is you. Everything is just too chaotic. There's a civil war mixing up Orlais. Someone needs to come in to do what needs to be done. In this case, more than in Dragon Age: Origins, there's the hints and the scent that there's a public master behind this. There's someone that's tugging on the string and maybe pushing the chaos a bit farther.
PC Gamer: Was the reasoning behind coming up with a new faction then so the players could maybe put their own spin on it and determine more about it? For example if you tried to tell this story starring a warden commander then you would be bound to that previous amount of the fiction that's already been established.
Mark Darrah: Yes, very much so. The wardens are—as we'll go into Inquisition to some degree—they have one purpose: to fight blights, To fight darkspawn, to fight blights to a fanatical degree. To this is their purpose, they will do nearly anything in order to do that.
We've established a lot of this and there's a certain amount of expectation set up from Dragon Age: Origins. We're not done with the wardens, but yes, they have limitations from how they can be used.
PC Gamer: Sure. I was going to ask, just to broaden the range a little bit, you guys have had a big presence at PAX. I wasn't there, but it was interesting to observe. Obviously, really substantial and a big substantial fan response to it as well. I guess two sides to that. One, why is that important to you and two, has it been useful now that you're going into the rest of development?
Mark Darrah: Yes, we did have a really big presence at PAX. We have a continuous presence. We have a base where we have a very much, a very personal connection to the fans. Then PAX Prime, last year we did a huge stage presence. It's been very helpful. It's very important from my perspective to keep in touch with our fans, to listen to their concerns, to stay in contact with them, to give them an opportunity to provide us with feedback.
The other thing that I think that this venue does is it gives them an opportunity to see us as people as well. We only have an opportunity to communicate electronically. It's very easy to see Bioware or any company as a single monolithic entity, that there are no people in there.
Trade shows, especially things like PAX which are very fan-focused, are very good for making that connection, directly, one on one with our fans. It's very important. We do take it back. It's very energizing for the developers with a huge presence at PAX PRIME, I think there was 30 people there from Bioware. It's just very good to see the response. I think to some degree it's very important for the devs to see the gamers as people as well and not the faceless masses on the forums.
PC Gamer: I was going to ask, how much you guys feel like you have to react to your fans, to what they want, and how much freedom you have to lead them in almost any regard, from the small decisions you're making to scoping out the future of the series and everything else?
Mark Darrah: It's a little bit of both. From a small feature perspective things like control schemes and the way that the narrative or the way that the conversation works and stuff like that, that's where we take a lot of feedback. That's where we're very much, I think people have a clear understanding of what they want and what they don't like.
The danger is most people, myself included, aren't perfectly objective when they're playing a game at the higher level. Henry Ford has a famous quote. If we asked people what they wanted they'd ask for a faster horse. There's a certain amount of truth to that.
Part of our job is to go out into the wilderness to go farther beyond what the players have seen, what they've played and essentially light a torch so they can see what could be and then hopefully they'll want what we're presenting. That can be uncomfortable. That can result in concern because obviously what they're comfortable with, what they've played before isn't completely what we're delivering.
In the case of Dragon Age: Inquisition I think there is a core there. I think there is a core Dragon Age game at its center. I think that comfort still remains, but we will be pushing you, we're challenging you with some new things.
PC Gamer: It's interesting, from an outsider's perspective, it always seems like Dragon Age undergoes quite a radical transformation game to game. That wasn't the case in Mass Effect, even though obviously things were improved and changed. The scope of the game maybe didn't change so dramatically. Why has that been the case do you think?
Mark Darrah: In a lot of ways Inquisition has been the game that we've really wanted to make from the beginning. From a systemic perspective Dragon Age 2 is actually very similar to Dragon Age: Origins. Its bones are the same, but we've put a very different outfit on top of it, for a lack of a better term.
Dragon Age 2, we decided we want to try something, to try to do very different storytelling, something much more personal, something much more tightly constrained. No chosen one, no clear overarching threat. I don't think it was a perfect success, but that was intentional.
A lot of the other changes that are perceived, the overall scope of the game or the perception of the combat getting a lot simpler or waves and things like that—not intended, exactly. That was supposed to be more evolutionary. I think we just overreached. We pushed too hard.
Because of Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition is having to be a lot more ambitious, to address those concerns and really try to get back much more to the roots of the franchise. Much more about tactical combat and a higher level of deliberate difficulty. More clear overall story, with the moral choices still in there, but much more in vein of Dragon Age: Origins style storytelling. You're right to ask. The goal wasn't to revolutionize the series every single time, but Dragon Age 2 forced our hand to a certain degree.
Max Payne 3 preview
This article originally appeared in PC Gamer UK 233.
Mull this over: it's been eight years since we last saw Max rip a raw, bloody wound through the New York criminal underbelly. Eight years. That is old (staff writer Rich was 17 when Max Payne 2 came out). But no one has managed to take his place. Kane & Lynch tried, and they're still trying, but for grumpy, hyperviolent third-person action, we really need some more Max.
Despite a new haircut and the sunnier setting of Sao Paulo, as I'm shown the new game in Rockstar's offices it's clear they're sticking to the well-worn path that Max sourly trod before. In fact, we're in New York. Brazil does feature a lot, but this wouldn't be the same game without a dingy, Big Apple corridor to tear up.
It starts in Max's apartment, where he's under siege from a mob family. Max has killed the boss's son. It's the incident that'll send him to Brazil, fleeing from the rage of the mafiosi. Rockstar have done a remarkable job of impersonating the original developers Remedy: when Max runs out into the corridor blasting at the mob guys and drops into bullet-time, everything feels spot on. The world thickens as the trenchcoated ex-cop fires his gleaming handcannons. I can pick out individual bullets leaving the gun. The guy at the end of the corridor folds. The sniper rifle laser sights coming in through the window are easily dodgeable as time takes a break.
Coming out of bullet-time, the noise and bodies play catch-up, and everything rushes into place with a chaotic whoosh that's as satisfying as the violence. Glass tinkles as the snipers' bullets play across the corridors: Max dives into bullet-time and aims at the opposite roof, peppering the snipers. As he hits the ground, the camera zooms to his target's face, tracing the bullet. A short cutscene plays – a crazed ex-military neighbour of Max's runs into the corridor with a shotgun and takes out a few mobsters, before detonating a bomb vest. Inside, his apartment is littered with conspiracy paraphernalia and bomb-making equipment. It has nothing to do with the main story, but those surreal little pockets of madness fit into Max's strange dream-like noir world perfectly.
The story bounces between New York and Brazil. Fleeing NY, Max ends up working for the Brancos, a wealthy Brazilian family, as a security chief for hire. Their money makes them a target for the paramilitary group Cracha Preto. They've already kidnapped the trophy wife of the family's boss, Rodrigo Branco.
Max goes through some major image changes on his trip; the shaven-headed, wife-beater-vest look is the final stage in his transformation. It's a 'fuck you, shit's about to get real' to the people he's fighting. Before that, though, he's rocking a cheap, crumpled grey suit, while protecting the family from strangely well-equipped invaders.
The bad guys rappel into Branco's HQ while Max is escorting an IT guy to the server room, but the NPC isn't a burden: he keeps away from the fight and opens doors when asked. That's his contribution. The open-plan office is a perfect place to show off the new cover mechanics. Max sticks to the walls, and ducks under waist-sized desks. He can blind-fire over and around the edge of cover. It's a concession to stealth, but there's a lot more fun to be had just running around and gunning.
Modern offices are good places for shootouts: everything explodes in papery, glassy blasts under Max's double-Uzi onslaught. There's just enough cover to take people unawares, and Max now has a disarm move that spams a few punches at a nearby enemy before yanking whatever weapon they've got out of their grip. There's plenty of opportunity to upgrade weaponry from a warm grasp – or cold, dead hands. While Rockstar are known for their open worlds, this is a tightly choreographed bolt. The bullet trail camera, which follows the killshot from the barrel of your gun to the target, kicks in when Max fires at an enemy standing in front of a glass window. He spins backwards out of the window, the camera following his final moments in a haze of blood and broken glass. It's a nice reward for the player, and it doubles as a way of telling you that you've just shot the last bad guy of the section.
Further on, after Max has a battle with a heavily armoured minigun boss who requires nothing but bullet spam to put down, the office explodes. As offices tend to do, when around Max.
Stumbling through the ruins of the building, Max has collapsing floors and flames to contend with. But even when he's limping, concussed and slightly on fire, he still has to shoot people. Max battles his way through the flames; no wonder he's grumpy.
The game is punctuated with cinematic moments: tiny instances of obligatory bullet-time, a few per level, such as the warehouse sequence I'm shown. The level floods with enemies and you're given a few seconds of unlimited ammo. Max leaps from a balcony to a hook, and dangles from it, before slow-motion kicks in and he's swinging, shooting everyone in a few seconds. The warehouse is part of a bus depot, which is where Max has to lead Giovanna, a girlfriend, to safety – and again it looks like Rockstar have got it right: there's no mollycoddling a dim AI here. She only gets in trouble when the story demands it.
There's a lot of environmental detail in the bus depot. Nearby, a petrol station explosion results in an impressive blast that destroys a bus and launches enemies through the air. Other points of interest include a gunfight in the station garage that ends with Max shooting the control panel on a massive platform, dropping the bus that's resting on it onto the heads of the enemies who were using it for cover. Later, Max uses his bullets to aid a loose balcony on its way to collapse.
It all looks lovely in slow motion. It was never enough for Max Payne to look slick: it had to feel awesome as well. Rockstar have expanded the Woo-some action a little, allowing Max to land after a dive and to continue firing in a 360° arc from the ground. It's a nice touch, further empowering the player to shoot whoever you like while lying on your back.
But laid back it's not. When Max and Giovanna have to commandeer a bus to make their escape, the inevitable happens: an on-rails shooting section. Yet, as with the NPC escorting, it looks like Rockstar have neatly side-stepped the usual pitfalls. It's short and it's explosive. Giovanna drives while Max leans out of the open front door and unleashes his Uzi. Even in a bus, Max can use bullet-time to pick out the gas pumps, although the constant forward progression tends to leave the resulting plume of flame somewhere in your peripheral vision. The demonstration ends with the bus crashing and a fitting fade to black.
Truth be told, the action hasn't moved on that much in the dormant years. The NPCs are a bit smarter, but this is the sort of stuff that Remedy delivered nearly a decade ago, just with some spit and polish, and extra action moments underpinning the classic manshoots. The gravelly narration remains and the story is still delivered through graphic novel-style cutscenes, although now they take scenes from the game and force them into each panel.
In fact, the only concession to what we expect from a modern game is in the hidden multiplayer that Rockstar have confirmed but are refusing to talk about. In pretty much every other aspect, Max Payne 3 has refused to move with the times. It's absolutely the old Max in new clothing
League of Legends' refer-a-friend system to be reworked
A refer-a-friend system seems like an obvious boon for all involved.
A refer-a-friend system seems like an obvious boon for all involved. In League of Legends, it should reward referring players with bonus skins and Riot with additional players. And, of course, it gives the referred a chance at a lifetime addiction to the complex tactical interplay between an angry crocodile and a purple sadomasochist. Unfortunately, the system as it currently stands is being heavily abused by botters and account sellers.
Riot is well aware of the situation, and has laid out plans to make refer-a-friend less open to misuse.
"We started RAF to reward players for their part in growing League," write Riot. "Refer-a-Friend has quite the history at this point, with multiple incarnations dating back to the original launch of the game, and it’s been a rewarding experience for lots of players.
"Any rewards program like RAF runs the risk of some participants trying to game the system, and ordinarily we might tolerate low levels of fringe misuse if it meant we were still doing right by the vast majority of players. However, RAF abuse was increasingly degrading the average players' experience, forcing us to contemplate changes."
Riot is planning to focus on account selling and botting; things that, as bots continue to load into new player games, are directly harming the new player experience.
The trouble, Riot says, is that Grey Warwick and Medieval Twitch skins require more effort than the average player can achieve—needing 25 and 50 referrals, respectively. That makes them valuable, and so attracts account resellers.
The imminent update will reduce the amount of referrals needed to achieve these skins. "With the new update," write Riot, "for every friend you refer who reaches level 10, you’ll earn 1000 IP. You can refer a total of five friends, and with three successful referrals, you’ll unlock the Grey Warwick skin. Recruit five friends and you’ll unlock Medieval Twitch."
While Riot doesn't think the plan will eliminate botting, they do hope it'll make the RAF a more stable and abuse-free system.
What we want to see from Dragon Age 3
Everyone expects the Dragon Age 3: Inquisition , mostly because it's already been announced and therefore doubting it would be very silly.
, mostly because it's already been announced and therefore doubting it would be very silly. We know it'll be based on the Frostbite 2 engine, and thus has no excuse not to offer a rather bigger, more attractive world than Dragon Age 2's deserted city of chains. Everything else though, from story to design, is still under wraps. That's not going to stop us making a few wishes though, so here are some of the things we want to see...
Fix The Dragon Age 2 Problems, Obviously. You know the list. The re-used areas, the spider jump-scares, the empty streets of Kirkwall... Dragon Age 2's problems aren't exactly a secret, and while many of them can be put down to it feeling like a very rushed game, nobody wants to see them appearing again. Dragon Age 3 has no such excuse, with its development starting around two years ago according to the announcement letter, and no release date or even a single screenshot yet to be revealed.
A Song Of Guts And Maturity. For a series that supposedly owes such a creative debt to A Song Of Ice And Fire, the Dragon Age series - while not necessarily playing it safe - has always felt like a pretty sterile, unsurprising world. The first game established itself as something of a cliche storm when Loghain and his thunderface walked on to be the villain. Dragon Age 2, as much as it wanted to explore darker themes, often struggled by resorting to fantasy horror archetypes rather than anything with punch, with its attempts to do more - Hawke's mother for instance - often just coming across as silly.
In the wake of The Witcher 2, that's just not good enough. It's not a question of making Dragon Age a dark universe so much as actually living up to the darkness already written into it, instead of just claiming to be for adults and then cutting away to people having sex in their underpantsor mistaking big gory combat hits for impactful violence. Geralt's controversy-shrugging adventures make it look like a cartoon in comparison, and without coming across as gratuitous. Well, mostly anyway.
The Inquisition title gives this sequel the perfect chance to really sink in deep with the demons and whatever we've already seen, but also tell dark, more relatable human stories of sin, corruption and consequence that put the player into tough moral places throughout. Speaking of which:
No Light/Dark Side Counter. Childish. Boring. Any system where you can commit atrocities and make up for it by handing over a few presents is a system in sore need of being ripped out and replaced with something more effective where deeds rather than integers are what counts.
A Fresh And Motivating Story. Well, yes, obviously. However, specifically, more of a hybrid between Dragon Age 1 and 2 in terms of approach. Dragon Age 1 nailed the motivation, but the individual stories it told were fairly stock fantasy stuff. Dragon Age 2 braved new territory, but all too often gave little reason for the characters to be involved or even particularly care. Dragon Age 3 needs to do both.
Story And Game Integration. It also needs to actually play by its own rules. To pick one element, the Circle of Mages is an interesting idea in lore-terms, but one that the game routinely breaks over its knee by filling the world with blood mages on the grounds that mages are fun to fight, by having guards completely ignore you wandering around in a mage's robe and holding a mage's staff and having fireball battles in the streets of Kirkwall, and by the game simply not having the guts to instil spellcasting with the risk it's supposed to have. Mages can be taken over by demons from the Fade at any point? Yeah, right. Not if they're the player character of a 20+ hour RPG, they can't.
This kind of thing simply breaks the fiction, and even if you can find some "But Elves Are Nymphomaniac Nudists In The Lore! " type justification, makes the world far less interesting than if Bioware had actually changed things. Some things can obviously be handwaved. Making the entire plot of Dragon Age 2 unsupported by Dragon Age 2 can't. Dragon Age 3 needs to be built around the rules as established so far, rather than taking the easy road and hoping we just don't notice.
Open World, Open Heart. The idea of setting an RPG in a city or other small, densely packed area isn't inherently a bad one. It doesn't however fit Dragon Age, with its more old-school, epic sweep. Let's see a map bursting with possibilities and secrets, that rewards exploration and puts new area types and cool things to discover around every corner. Oh, with one caveat:
No More Deep Roads. Dullest. Location. Ever.
Leaving Ferelden. Yes, yes, Kirkwall was in the Free Marches rather than Ferelden itself. The differences weren't exactly huge though, and this time it would be good to spread a bit further to some of the locations we've only heard of so far - chasing a heretic through the Tervinter Imperium for instance, or taking a trip to the corrupt court of Orlais. Provided that Bioware can find actors whose Orlesian accents aren't like nails down a chalkboard, of course. (This is far from guaranteed.)
Character Customisation. Commander Shepard was a great character, and there's no reason that she couldn't have a fantasy equivalent. Dragon Age isn't the game to do that in though, and Hawke added nothing to the game except for a bad British accent, some forgettable family members, and even less reason to care about what was going on in Kirkwall if you weren't (sssh!) a mage.
To get that "meh" though cost so much. Outright origin chapters aren't really needed, but race and similar choices were sorely missed - especially in such a fractured world. The nature of the story will obviously determine how much freedom there can be - creating a Qunari for instance for instance would mean immediate difficulties with the name field, never mind finding helmets that fit - and dwarves are tricky for a few reasons. Elves at least should be an easy enough alternate race to play as, and one with plenty of scope for extra political drama due to their poor social status in Thedas.
No Main Character Voice. For the above reasons, really. A fixed character having a voice is one thing - it would be silly for instance if Geralt didn't. When it's your own creation, the immersion lost by having them be a heroic mime is more than made up for by them not sounding like a complete cock/cockette. Once again, Hawke, looking at you. Over a whole RPG though, you soon get used to silence.
Party Customisation. Personally, and this is somewhat heretical, I prefer characters to retain and develop a unique look over the course of a game rather than everyone just ending up in plate armour by the half-way point. Still, as the head of the party, you should feel like you're in command.
Jobs For The Boys And Girls. As part of that, these slackers shouldn't be spending ten years sitting in a pub, hanging around at the campsite, or sitting in some mysterious void when they're not in the party. Let's send them out on missions, a bit like in Star Wars: The Old Republic, to earn their keep, practice their skills, and find more goodies and secrets. Ideally that wouldn't be purely random missions though, adding some of the tactical element of Mass Effect 2's suicide mission throughout the game and giving you a reason to switch around your team if your regular sword-and-board guy is elsewhere.
NPCs Responding To You Showing Up In Your Pants. It just bugs me when they don't. Anyone else always take a moment to check when playing a new RPG? Oh. Well, moving on...
Action/RPG Choices. Ignoring the dreadful waves mechanic, I didn't mind the more active combat of Dragon Age 2. With Bioware's resources though, it would be good to see a choice between classic, hardcore RPG combat and something faster that can be either more exciting, or simply skip to the next bit of the story a la Mass Effect 3's Narrative Mode. Bioware already made the (arguably bad) decision to split its audience between the two styles. Neither can really be left out of the next game.
Return Of The God Baby. Morrigan's son really needs to play some part in this story - even if it's only a side-quest that can be cut out depending on imported saves. That decision was far too important in Dragon Age Origins to be just thrown aside or consigned to a crappy bit of DLC that nobody played.While we're on the subject, David Bowie'splans from Dragon Age: Awakening really need to be addressed as well - a quick "Oh, yeah," line of dialogue doesn't count. In both of these cases, and the political chaos at the end of Dragon Age 2, it's not simply about tying off old plot threads - it's about conveying the idea that these stories mattered, so that Inquisition feels like it does too.
No More Starmap Design. Compartmentalised design (where the quest is secretly split up into intro/outro, four isolated zones and the ending run) is obviously easier on the designers than integrating everything. It's also really hard to ignore these days. The different parts of Dragon Age 3 should really mesh together to feel like a world, where some quests are isolated, but others draw in elements from around the world. At the very least, it would be good to see Dragon Age 3 blur the edges.
Fluid Politics. A good start would be a proper politics system, where tough decisions can actually follow you around and kick back at unexpected moments. Get a reputation as a liar? Good luck getting anyone to help the next time you shout "Wolf!" Alpha Protocol exists. Steal from it.
Separated Multiplayer. Multiplayer is inevitable, not least because Mass Effect 3's was so popular. That's fine. It shouldn't however have any impact on the single-player game, beyond - at most - minor cosmetic stuff. Certainly, no War Assets type system to try and force everyone into it. If it's fun, we'll play it. If not, we don't want to be coerced by the threat of getting the crap ending.
Built For PC. Consoles can play too, but for a Western RPG experience and all the trimmings, you're looking at the PC. The Witcher 2 raised the bar, and it's unlikely that The Witcher 3 will be any less. If Dragon Age 3 is targeted for current-gen console systems, it'll never be able to match up Even the initial batch of next-gen games it might be part of won't come close to what our machines can do.
DLC That Actually Feels Like It Was Designed To Integrate Into The Game In A Satisfying Way Yet Not Just A Chunk That The Core Game Is Lesser For Lacking. That.
And More Specifically? It's a very difficult line to draw, but there are possibilities. Instead of trying to give the main character more adventure for instance, fleshing out the stories of the party members. If they're not interesting enough for that, they're probably not interesting to be on the team.
Character Vault. Finally, a really small one, but a necessary one. Bioware has long talked up the benefit of keeping your saves. With Origin (and Steam, but I think we all know how likely DA3 is to benefit from that), the game itself should keep characters on file for use in future games. Dragon Age 3 should offer the chance to at least upload the gamestate for the next one and the DLC. The first two games should also offer some way of storing characters safely, rather than expecting everyone to back them up. This is something that should have been standard as of the Cerberus Network in Mass Effect 2.
And those are our ideas. What others can you think of?
Rockstar's Dan Houser gets nostalgic about Max Payne
Rockstar's Dan Houser has been shedding a little light on the creative proces behind the gruff, manly second sequel to Max Payne.
Rockstar's Dan Houser has been shedding a little light on the creative proces behind the gruff, manly second sequel to Max Payne. Speaking to Gamasutrahe rightly points out that the rose-tinted glasses often blur out older game's deficits - a challenge that Rockstar faces with Max Payne's legions of dedicated fans. “I think the challenge of nostalgia is a more profound one, because one thing about video games is your memory tends to remove the horrendous,” said Houser. “You want to appeal to the fans of the original and bring in a new audience.”
When asked about Max Payne's hair rotation (bald with beard), Houser commented that the issue was a contentious one. “We saw a lot of people questioning our parentage, and our right to be doing this and, you know, our right to even exist,” said Houser. “There is a lot of love for this property. The fact that there's a huge rabid fan base is something that is very much in our favor.” It sounds like Rockstar is taking Max Payne seriously, and has a huge amount of respect for the franchise. We're so excited that the four months until its launch in March 2012 might as well be taking place in bullet time.