New details of Max Payne 3 have emerged, confirming that the super slow-mo shooting of the first games will be returning for the sequel, along with the original voice of Max Payne, James McCafferty, who will be fully motion captured to play the part of Max. The game's story will jump around in time, and will feature a younger Max with a full head of hair, as well as the bulkiy, bald Max we've seen in screenshots so far.
The creators of the first two games, Remedy, aren't working on the sequel. Rockstar Vancouver are the lead studio, but Rockstar say that Max Payne 3 is a collaborative effort between London, Toronto, Vancouver and New England. Rockstar were responsible for porting the first two games to consoles, and are planning to bring some of the technology seen in GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption to the new Max Payne game.
A preview in the next issue of Edge reveals that the game will be strictly linear, with greater emphasis on big set piece events. The adaptive Euphoria animation system is being used to make Max's dual-wielding dives more believable. Enemy AI has been trained to react more realistically to bullet impacts and there will be plenty of destructible environments to shoot up in slow motion.
The third game will be set eight years after Max Payne 2, and will follow Max as he progresses from grizzled cop to Sao Paulo security officer, complete with bald head and beard. There's no release date yet, but there's a few screens on the Max Payne 3 site.
