Rockstar using new Payne voice actor

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 June, 2009

Plus human shield, last-gap slow-mo kills.

More details have spilt out of the Game Informer first-look feature on Max Payne 3, revealing that Rockstar Vancouver is ditching James McCaffrey, who voiced our hero in the first two games.

According to the piece, Rockstar believes it needs someone older, but doesn't intend to replace him with an established star, VP of development Jeronimo Barrera pointing out, "We're good at [casting]."

The game will, however, retain a lot of the series' calling cards, despite this being the first Max Payne game developed in-house at Rockstar (the first two were by Remedy), and despite the switch of location to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

"All the Max Payne themes will remain intact - manipulation, betrayal, and the stuff that really made Max Payne," said art director Rob Nelson. And yes, the internal monologue will be coming back, like a serpent coiling around the soul of an egg-yolk pregnant with nauseating uncertainty.

"Will there be night-time levels in the rain? Probably, but level after level of that stuff would get old, so we thought it would be interesting to put him in this environment. You have the very rich living next to the very poor, and that creates a lot of tension," added Nelson.

There's not a whole lot more detail available on the game than that yet, except the previous revelations that it has a cover system, Bullet Time returns, Max is bald and addicted to meds, and there's unspecified multiplayer on the way.

Max will be able to take human shields, and will be able to recover from near-death with a last-minute bullet to his murderer restoring some adrenaline. You can also expect the slow-motion gunplay to expand out into more elaborate set-pieces.

For now though, that's roughly your lot, give or take. Watch out for our own preview, hopefully, in the next few months.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Salaman #1 3 years ago

    A bald Max Payne, eh?

    Hmm ... at least people can't complain they're going for the teenage male audience.


    ooooh look at me ... MFing F1RST! \0/
    Edited by 1 at 15/06/09 @ 08:32

  • bad09 #2 3 years ago

    Should be fun! Seen the first two cheap so might have a refresher before this hits.

  • makeamazing #3 3 years ago

    Ah shame the original voice guy was great... they sound like they are only taking the shell of Max Payne and leaving the things that define it behind :(

  • zoidberg #4 3 years ago

    seems like shit. ruining a perfectly good game concept. they're making it "generic".

  • Eraysor #5 3 years ago

    Last-gap?

  • kangarootoo #6 3 years ago

    "seems like shit. ruining a perfectly good game concept. they're making it "generic"."

    Seems a little early for that conclusion I think. The story delivery of Max Payne 1 and 2 was original (in games at least), but the gameplay was pretty generic in lots of ways.

    I think I'll wait to see what they actually deliver. Different is not always bad when it comes to sequels. If it was simply more of the same, what would be the point?

  • dudefella #7 3 years ago

    Fuck this. No. I really want to give this game a chance. But ditching McCaffrey? That gay MADE Max Payne, that voice defined the character. For someone older? What? That makes zero sense. I am dreading for this game now.

  • Evolution #8 3 years ago

    In the same vein they might as well have ditched David Hayter because he couldn't perform as Old Snake...

  • Hunam #9 3 years ago

    Maybe they'll ditch the graphic novel bits next.

  • Artemus #10 3 years ago

    My expectations for this game have dropped considerably. R* seem to be trying their hardest to mess it up.

  • Dynamize #11 3 years ago

    It just gets worse and worse :/

  • photoboy #12 3 years ago

    I don't like the direction they're going with this. McCaffrey IS Max Payne as far as I'm concerned. And making Payne bald is so cliched, how many videogame characters do we need who have either no hair or really close shaved haircuts? It's getting ridiculous.

    Max Payne with a beard I could definitely see, as he's always been a scruffy, dishevelled type, but bald while wearing a wife beater shirt really doesn't seem right to me. If they wanted to change this much, why not use a new character? I do like the painkiller addiction though, sounds exactly the sort of shitty thing that would happen to Max.

  • the_mtfr #13 3 years ago

    Jesus. I think it's a bad move to ditch the original voice actor since, with the passing of time, he has also gotten older. Not to mention the fact that being a voice actor alone means he could fake an older voice.

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    @cragtek

    "Last-minute bullet stuff sounds very Hitman-esque."

    Yeah, that was always very cool in Hitman. But the bitter pill was that you knew it was a futile act. Having it actually mean something might work quite well.



    And I think we are being to a bit to woe-is-me over this one. Its not like the original guy was the only good voice actor in Hollywood. So long as the new guy can actually act well, I'm not so worried.

  • Diabeu #15 3 years ago

    "I think you guys are forgetting who rockstar are. "

    a bunch of idiots? years ago i really loved that company, but now? I'm number one hater in my area

    I just hate the direction that MP3 is going

  • Sar #16 3 years ago

    Maybe next they'll ditch the noire atmosphere for a free roaming city wide shmup where you can steal vehicles and hire prossies...







    Cynical, moi?


    Oh and "last-gap" = last-gasp btw.
    Edited by 1 at 15/06/09 @ 19:21

  • frankfurter209 #17 3 years ago

    NOO!!!!! James McCaffrey was completely perfect in the role

  • qin #18 3 years ago

    After reading some foolish comments I had to register just say Max Payne was the first game to use bullet time.

    Damn it, you're right it did do bullet time before max payne.
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/09 @ 15:59

  • YourMessageHere #19 3 years ago

    Can we stop calling it "Bullet Time" now? It's called slow motion, and has been since it was invented many many years prior to Max Payne or The Matrix. Every and film game since that uses it seems to think it's necessary to give the same effect a different name to make it seem like their game is doing something unique, but basically it's all simply a matter of letting you aim in real time while everything else is slowed down. It's a cool effect and great fun, but to make out it's special just because it has a different name is daft.

    @qin

    No it wasn't. To the best of my knowledge, that was Requiem: Avenging Angel, two years earlier. It was fairly average apart from the slow motion, but that was so novel it felt great at the time.

    EDIT: @kangarootoo

    Your point is well taken, I agree that everyone's overreacting to the VA announcement, but then again it's not as if Hollywood was overflowing with voice actors that are actually talented, is it?
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/09 @ 07:30

  • Cheeky #20 3 years ago

    No James McCaffrey? No 'Noir York'? No leather jacket? No dark, gritty atmosphere? Sorry but, apart from the name on the box, this isn't a Max Payne game.

  • Diabeu #21 3 years ago

    CountFapula

    who cares? I'm not gonna suck their dicks just becouse they made The Warriors (I think it is the last good game made by r*)

    Respect is earned, not given

    You can even build a shrine for R* - I don't care

    so shut up for the next ten years if you want, still I don't care

    my opinion, my point of view, You don't like it? I don't care

    can You dig it?