Tomi on 7/4/2022 at 06:51
The first two Max Payne games will get remakes by Remedy! They may be just remakes, but these two go off the hype charts for me. They're both such fantastic games, and it was only a couple of weeks ago when I thought that it's a shame that we'll probably never see more Max Payne again because Rockstar bought the rights to the games and pretty much seemed to abandon the franchise. And now we're getting this. :)
I played the whole Max Payne trilogy only two years ago or so, and while MP1 may have felt a bit outdated gameplay-wise and MP3 too much of a Rockstar game (still good tho), I thought that MP2 still felt all-around awesome. Yeah, of course it's showing its age here and there, but there's something very unique about it. The comic book panels worked great back in the day, and they still do. The gameplay still feels surprisingly smooth and cool, even though (or because?) there's no cover mechanism or anything. The bullet time has been done a million times in other games, but it has never been as good as it was in Max Payne.
Remakes are a difficult thing to properly pull off. Change too much, and you may break the game. Nostalgia plays a big part in remakes, after all. Don't change much (= the so-called remakes where the only changes are hi-res textures or something), and no one will care. I hope that Remedy manages to find a good balance somewhere in between.
No release date or anything yet, as far as I know, but I have a feeling that Remedy will take their time and do this properly. Max Payne deserves nothing less.
Thirith on 7/4/2022 at 07:12
I never finished Max Payne at the time. There was something about it that put me off. But Max Payne 2? Love it. I'll probably check them both out (eventually), but it's MP2 that I'm more excited for - provided that these will be good, worthwhile remakes.
EvaUnit02 on 7/4/2022 at 08:23
Quote Posted by Tomi
Don't change much (= the so-called remakes where the only changes are hi-res textures or something), and no one will care. .
What you're describing are remasters, they're a different beast from remakes.
They often have varying degrees of effort. A more lazier one might be just a resolution bump + higher framerate. These are often considered to be cash grabs. Dark Souls 1 is good example of this.
Tomi on 7/4/2022 at 11:18
Quote Posted by Thirith
I never finished
Max Payne at the time. There was something about it that put me off. But
Max Payne 2? Love it. I'll probably check them both out (eventually), but it's
MP2 that I'm more excited for - provided that these will be good, worthwhile remakes.
Could be the psychedelic drug trip levels that put you off MP1? I found them quite depressing, and they dragged on for a bit too long. Of course the gameplay was a bit more simple in it too. MP2 did everything a little bit better.
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
What you're describing are remasters, they're a different beast from remakes.
Good point! I hope that they take notes from the recent Mafia remake. That's a great example of a successful remake, I think!
Thirith on 7/4/2022 at 12:29
To be honest, I couldn't pinpoint why Max Payne didn't click with me. I can say what made me fall in love with Max Payne 2:
1) The physics: I remember how wowed I was when I shot a goon and they went flying into objects... which then went flying as well in physically credible ways (at least at the time). I would bump into things just to see how they'd scatter and fall. All of this resulted in the world feeling tangible and tactile and real.
2) The tone: There's an immensely tricky balance that MP2 aimed for and that it achieved IMO. A combination between melodramatic/operatic/over-the-top and emotionally earnest. Sure, it's all pastiche turned up almost to the point of parody, but at its core the game takes Max, his emotions and the people around him seriously, flamingos and all.
3) The tongue-in- cheek surrealness: Where Alan Wake felt like a constant barrage of "Remember Twin Peaks? Doesn't this remind you of it?", it either felt fresher in MP2 or there was enough there that made it feel like homage but not outright copy. Sure, there were lines and ideas that felt lifted straight out of Twin Peaks, but in Alan Wake it felt to me like the entire game was doing Twin Peaks cosplay in a way that I found pandering.
EvaUnit02 on 7/4/2022 at 18:54
Quote Posted by Tomi
Good point! I hope that they take notes from the recent Mafia remake. That's a great example of a successful remake, I think!
I was genuinely surprised that Mafia 1 remake turned out so well (we probably have 2K Czech office to thank for that). The modern climate of mainstream Western entertainment industries has left me utterly pessimistic. They're all so fast to bend over to moral outrages to censor existing media. The Mafia 2 remaster was completely uncensored (eg the Playboy pin-up collectables are intact), they just slapped a content advisory warning at the start.
Ten years ago I would've been super excited to see remakes or sequels to popular Western franchises (usually from large companies). These days my expectations are in the absolute dirt. If anything I'd much rather stuff be left in the past just so that their legacies won't be tainted. Talentless political ideologues turning everything into super cringey partisan sermons, or pseudo-intellectual postmodernist hacks trying to "subvert expectations" are probably the most common reasons for this.
Example:- I binge watched the first half of season 2 of Picard last week, it's an appallingly written turd. Eg they injected cringe modern day rich Californian liberal agitprop into ep3 + 4:- immigration enforcement officers being portrayed as cartoonish assholes who "disappear people".
Remember when Star Trek presented nuanced discussions on topics, presenting both sides of the argument and letting the viewer decide for themselves? A fucking parody comedy series, The Orville, still did that (and I hope they will continue to do so. Disney might've messed with the upcoming S3.).
EvaUnit02 on 7/4/2022 at 21:09
UNO has Ass Creed DLC now. This is real, not a late April Fool's joke. What a time to be alive.
(
https://youtu.be/IIs4d8xw2mU)
Anarchic Fox on 7/4/2022 at 23:44
Quote Posted by Thirith
I never finished
Max Payne at the time. There was something about it that put me off. But
Max Payne 2? Love it.
Huh! I stopped after the first game back in the day. I found it fun but not amazing. Now that I know the second one is the best in the series, I'll give it a go too.
nicked on 12/4/2022 at 08:06
I loved Max Payne 1 at the time. I still remember seeing the screenshots in PC Gamer and thinking "Wow, that's it. Game graphics have peaked. There's no way anything can look better than this." :laff:
I didn't get around to playing Max Payne 2 til many years later and it left me cold - my enduring memory of it is shitty escort quests and unnecessary weirdness. Definitely lost some of the slick simplicity I enjoyed from the first game.
Still, a modern remake of both from Remedy is something to get excited about. Maybe they can round the edges off that shitty Captain Baseball Bat Boy escort bit.
demagogue on 8/5/2022 at 12:50
I want to believe.
[video=youtube;9tYmIFNCFAo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tYmIFNCFAo[/video]
