Hot Mods 26/12 – Max Payne
Maybe the movie adaptation didn’t pan out all that well, but it doesn’t change the fact that Max Payne – the game – marked a seminal moment in entertainment history.
It could easily be accused of demonstrating a complex and unfocused mish-mash of genres and concepts – thrown together in an attempt to appeal to as many gaming demographics as possible. It took the bullet-time feature recently made popular by The Matrix, and used it to make the bulk of the John Woo-style shoot outs manageable with a mouse and keyboard.
But the inherent sci-fi nature of The Matrix mechanics were shed, replaced instead by an apparently unsuitable Mickey Spillane-esque noir detective story complete with the transparently tough main character Max Payne. Norse mythology then provided the completely unrelated narrative backbone to this bizarre amalgam of pop culture themes.
The result, however, worked beautifully and without apology. Since then, this bubbling crock pot of contemporary themes has made Max Payne the perfect foundations for a host of equally imaginative mods – blending gaming styles from horror to fantasy into the high-octane gameplay mechanics that made the source game such a success.
So this week we decided to celebrate Max Payne as you’ve never seen him before. Forget the movie and delve into the mods.
THE MODS:
Although Max never really got his fists and feet involved – relying more heavily on gun play to do his talking – lots of modders have realised the hand-to-hand fighting potential the game engine is loaded with. Katana exploits this possibility beautifully, providing a total conversion that’s been called ‘The love child of Max Payne and Kill Bill’. Quite rightly, too.
The mod is very much a story-driven game, following an assassin’s attempt to leave the clandestine order he no longer wishes to be a part of. There’s only one way to part company with this band of brigands, however, and that’s by shuffling off the mortal coil.
Much of the gun fighting has been replaced with sword play and hand-to-hand combat, which makes a huge difference to the gameplay as the close quarters action means our assassin must use his bullet time abilities to take on multiple assailants all at once – something Max generally didn’t have to worry about. Of particular note in Katana is the awesome and atmospheric soundtrack that’s worth listening to even when you’re not playing.
The Katana mod also provided the foundations for another Max Payne mod currently in the works, which you can learn more about in the One to Watch section at the end.{PAGE TITLE=Hot Mods Page 2}
If we’re giving the Katana mod some page space, then we also have to mention the Kung Fu mod. Currently on Edition 3, this mod aims to emphasise the John Woo/Hong Kong cinema influence of the source game by increasing Max’s ass kickin’ abilities.
It’s also a lot more than just flying kicks and throat punches, of course. Kung Fu mod was over 18 months in the making, and refocuses the entire game around Max’s martial prowess. Alongside the plethora of kung fu moves taken directly from the greats of Asian cinema, a stick fighting feature has been added that makes excellent use of bullet time.
In this mod, Max hasn’t put his guns away, however. They’re still very much a primary weapon and work as they did in the original game, but the main character himself is now far more agile and capable. Wall running and slo-mo acrobatics lifted directly from kung fu classics and modern masterpieces like The Matrix conspire to make Max Payne a more formidable foe than ever.
There’s nothing like running round the wall and putting a shotgun blast in the top of the enemy’s head, or flipping over the staircase banister in slow motion and putting both barrels into a confused assailant’s back, so if outrageous gunplay is your bag, you’ve got to check out Kung Fu Edition 3.
The vampire hunting Marvel comic anti-hero, Blade, also adopted a similar, dark sci-fi gothic theme as the Wachowski brothers employed in The Matrix when he appeared on the big screen, and that makes him an equally popular candidate for a Max Payne mod.
The Blade Mod does precisely what it says on the tin, and transforms the cop-on-a-rampage into the Day Walker… on a rampage. Naturally this meant the mod team making significant adjustments to the main character, and not only in appearance (which, it has to be said, is a nigh on perfect representation of Wesley).
Blade is actually quite a one-dimensional character in his non-interactive incarnations (comics and films, to be precise) but stepping into the hunter’s shoes changes the experience quite considerably. Armed with his trademark double-edged sword, arsenal of aikido moves and vampire-specific weaponry, the action is thick and fast in the Blade mod.
Your character’s transformation is quite complete, and adjusts the gameplay mechanics to allow for his vampiric abilities, such as extra speed, reduced vulnerability and increased agility. If the comic or the movies line your shelves, then the Blade mod definitely won’t disappoint.{PAGE TITLE=Hot Mods Page 3}
Okay, admittedly this is a mod for Max Payne 2, but it’s just so awesome we wouldn’t be providing proper Max Payne mod coverage if EQ Gunkata didn’t get an honorary mention. Most Max Payne fans rushed out to buy the sequel anyway, so we’re probably cool.
Anyway, as action movie fans will already know, EQ Gunkata is a concept gleamed from the 2002 Matrix-esque sci-fi flick, Equilibrium. In the future, people control their emotional states through complex drugs, and a new form of martial art has evolved (called Gunkata) that allows its practitioners to shoot in all directions with accuracy – essentially removing the need to visually aim.
The action’s great, and this Max Payne 2 mod really captures the outrageous essence of this futuristic martial art. The inherent bullet time feature naturally adds a lot to this realisation of Gunkata, but the work the modders have done to turn the system into a workable gameplay mechanic is quite awe-inspiring.
Install this mod, and you’ll never be able to go back to the single shot, careful aiming of Max Payne 2. Be warned, but be entertained.
One To Watch: The Real World
Obviously you’ve noticed us wax ultra-lyrical about the connections between Max Payne and The Matrix – particularly when it comes to mods. Well, The Real World mod represents the single most concerted effort to fully combine these two giants of modern entertainment.
The creators of the Katana and Kung Fu mods combined forces to put together not only a powerful sci-fi/kung fu mod, but the comprehensive Matrix game we’ve always wanted, but never seen.
The Real World promises to take us on Neo’s journey through the most invigorating and memorable sequences from the Matrix Trilogy, and includes all the trademark bullet time moves you know and love. And not only from Neo, as the rest of the resistance make their own appearances in settings from the training dojo in the Construct to the Burley Brawl and the immortal foyer scene.
It’s been a while since any new Real World news showed up, but considering the wealth of experience behind the game and the years already invested in its development we’re confident it’ll be with us before too much longer.
