"Outnumbered and outgunned" doesn't mean much to a guy who can shoot down his opponents before their first round clears the barrel."

"Though bullet time slows down your enemies, nothing can slow Max Payne's relentless gameplay. The deeper you descend into Max's nightmarish quest, the more action you'll find. "

Harsh Realities

Many times, I’ve heard it said that snow makes everything beautiful. It is a soft white blanket over the dirt and grit of the world, a surreal covering for all of the dark and ugly things in the world. What about you, Max? What do you see out there in the swirling flurries of white? Does it truly hide all of the ugly things that haunt you? For some reason, I highly doubt that.

No one said he was nice.

I’ve seen you spend night after night chasing the dreams and demons in your mind. Thoughts and memories, like snakes, twist in on themselves and disappear in a writhing mass, only to reemerge with the same sinister intent in another unexpected place. I guess there is no snowy blanket that can cover the darkness, dirt, and grit that exists in your mind. Out here in the endless drifts of white, as the city is locked in this frozen white embrace, I can see you are thinking about it again … brooding.

It wasn’t snowing that night, those many months ago. As fate would have it, you had just turned them down on their offer to join the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Amazing how the timing works on things like that. You declined to help protect people from that evil, so that you could keep your family safe, only to have the same evil visited on you. Do you believe in karma, Max, or should we just call it fate? I’m sure that question burns in your mind at times, but don’t let it eat you up inside. Even if you had taken the offer those maniacs would still have entered your home. Your wife … your child … Their lives would still have ended that night. The servants of Odin made their entrance onto the stage of your world, regardless of your choices.

A man on a mission.

So, you abandon the fragments of your shattered life, and let the task of justice consume you. All the work you have done, all of the dreams you had, are gone like so much chaff in the wind. You seek solace in the arms of the one group that will help you find those responsible for loosing Valkyr upon the world. Welcome to the DEA, Max. Max Payne, the loving father and husband, is gone. Through the convoluted world of undercover operations emerges a new Max Payne. Cold, calculating, dangerous, and utterly without pity for those that chose to travel the road of crime. It takes time, but you can be a patient man when necessary. You won’t forget, will you, Max?

Each day brings you another step closer to those responsible. Now the storm comes, at last; its teeth of ice sink into the city, as its voice shrieks an icy howl down the frozen white streets and alleys. The city grinds to a halt under the ferocious onslaught, but that won’t deter you, Max. There’s still work to be done, down in the depths of the subways. An old friend, the last connection to the old Max Payne, needs you there. Beneath the frozen streets of the city, that last thread snaps, as your haven is destroyed in an instant. The snakes that you have been hunting have realized your intent. Their venom has poisoned another against you, and now you must hide from your enemy as well as your allies. Your friend lies dead, and you can protest your innocence as loud as you want, Max … but no one is listening.

He’s not going down without a fight.

Welcome to the world of Max Payne, a police officer whose family was brutally murdered, leaving his life turned from idyllic to nightmarish in the blink of an eye. Now, he must seek out those responsible, using any means necessary. But, now, they know he is coming, and will do anything to stop him. In the howling madness of New York City, during the worst storm in history, the story unfolds before Max, drawing him into a dark and gritty world filed with twists and turns of every sort. Max’s world has just been turned upside down. Care to join him?

By Carlson