Max Payne has really let himself go since the end of Max Payne 2 if shots of the latest issue of Game Informer showing a bald, overweight Payne in Max Payne 3 are to be believed.
Guess he didn’t try hard enough to get the good ending to Max Payne 2, because Max is not exactly looking like his old self in this alleged photo acquired by VG247 of the newest issue of Game Informer, which has a Max Payne 3 cover story, is to be believed. Don’t click through if you don’t want your perception of the hard-boiled hero to be changed forever.
If you did click through, well you saw what I saw. Max Payne looking overweight, now bald and rocking a dirty wifebeater and cargo pants. Sure he’s got a big gun in one hand, but otherwise, this is not the Max we knew from the first two games.
Details from Deeko corroborating the alleged Game Informer reveal that Max isn’t just overweight and bald, but also addicted to pain killers. That last part I could have seen coming, considering he downed about 3,000 pills over the course of the first two games.
To get away from it all he’s found himself in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where the game takes place in an Uncharted 2-esque setting with fully destructible environments (so long New York). Gameplay unfolds in Brazilian slums and features a “more visceral and ultra-violent” take on the series’ bullet time mechanic. There’s also online multiplayer.
Still in denial that Max could let himself get in such bad shape? Well, this is all rumor until more people get their hands on the issue, so it could all be bogus. But I don’t know. Max was pretty close to going crazy in Max Payne 2. If that game was The Fall of Max Payne, I guess Max Payne 3 is the depressing aftermath.
UPDATE: This is official, guys.
