Max Payne 3 features in new EDGE - multiplay confirmed

EDGE has featured Max Payne 3 on its latest issue following the game's first new screens in two years last week, confirming all new info as well as online multiplayer.

The magazine shows Payne with hair, in contrast to the character first shown two years ago as shaven, chubby and dirty.

Now, though, the baldness is gone, but he seems to be having a mental meltdown, as shown on the mag's cover.

Don't expect Max to wear his mane throughout the entire game, though. The magazine says we're going to see points where Payne "has a full head of hair" - there are screens which still show him as bald - and that he "isn't the booze-soaked hulk we'd been led to expect."

Payne has dissolved from hard boiled New Yorker to a struggling alcoholic since the end of MP2. Sao Paolo, Brazil is the setting.

Collaborative effort

MP3 is now a collaborative effort between four of Rockstar's studios: Vancouver is still developing as before, but New England, Toronto and London are now all involved.

It has been mentioned before that development has been a joint effort, but specifically who was involved was unknown until now.

"We have a lot of talented people across all our studios," said MP3's art director, Rob Nelson, "and this just means we can bring the right people in for a specific task when needed - and it gives the games a consistant level of quality and an approach that's Rockstar."

Environments are fully destructible; we're going to see a wheel-based weapon selection window; and a new cover system will use scenic objects. Bullet-time will be charged up by killing enemies.

The comic-like panels from the first two games will return, but, according to EDGE: "These dramatic plot pointers use the in-game engine and show an animated collage of action footage."

Hundreds of hours of mo-cap footage have also been recorded, which has been mashed with the Euphoria engine to make characters which will interact with the environments realistically and accurately, apparently.

James McCafferty, Max Payne's voice actor in the first two games, will also return in a fuller role. Rockstar previously said it would bring in a new actor to play Max in the third title.

Probably the biggest revelation from the piece is that the game will feature online multiplayer, although it isn't mentioned how it'll work.

There's also new screens in the mag. We're not linking due to legal reasons, though.

Rockstar announced Max Payne 3 for a 2009 ship back in May of that year for PS3, 360 and PC. It's since been delayed numerous times and went underground until last week's new screens. No release date is mentioned in the mag.