A copy of PC Gamer arrived at my door a few weeks ago and it's cover is about a new game called Max Payne... OK, not sure how you spell it and I left the mag out in the car. :)

Anyhow--not to get into all the hype for a preview of a game I don't even know that much about, but one thing I was surprised to discover was that you can get a sort of preview of the level of gfx detail by downloading 3DMark 2001 from Mad Onion. Has anyone done this yet? I just built this machine so wanted to run benchmarks and was truly impressed by the visuals in this benchmark. It's got this Matrix like slow motion gun battle that blew my socks off. As it turns out, this slow-mo thing and all that graphical splendor is going to be a part of the game. If they can pull it off, it's going to be really impressive. If you have decent bandwidth, you really should take a peek at the new 3dmark benchmark. Very impressive.

Also interesting in the article was that this is a FPS that's going to cater to the OFF-LINE crowd. Woo. Now that's an original thought! I'm actually delighted, but am perhaps a little more skeptical than the author of the article that this game will actually bring about a renaissance in off-line fps gaming. Despite the fervor of the on-line crowd, I have yet to be bitten by the bug and am a little annoyed at all the attention this market is getting.

Max Payne... I thought it died like Prey did... but the avi i saw of Max Payne did look cool (came with a game i forget), but hasn't this game been in development as long (or even longer) than DNF? whats the holdup? hmm maybe itll be a surprise fps like NOLF was...

etc

Yes, I've downloaded 3DMark2001, and the Max Payne bits blew me away, too. I made my wife watch it, and she also could scarcely believe it. That bit with the trees and grass waving in the wind was also pretty impressive.

After seeing the graphics, and reading in PCGamer how Max Payne drops into slow motion when you leap or roll, I'm anxious to play the game. For a slight preview, try playing a UT deathmatch with TacOps weapons, the low gravity mutator, and speed turned down to 50%.

The Max Payne preview in 3DMark 2001 is amazing. If the gameplay turns out half as good as the graphics and effects it will be one hell of a game.

A big clarification: the "matrix scene" in 3D Mark 2001 is not necessarily representative of what Max Payne will be like. It is not a "Max Payne preview"-its a benchmarking scene developed by Mad Onion using the Max Payne engine, which is used for the other scenes in 3D Mark 2000 and 2001. You're seeing a scene with no sound, AI, interaction and with pre-determined camera placement. Hence more processing power to just the graphics. 3D Realms has said several times that gamers shouldn't expect Max Payne's graphics to be up to level of 3DMark 2001.

>Yes, I've downloaded 3DMark2001, and the Max Payne bits blew me away, too.

Realize that they used some Max Payne art assets, but that's not quite the game. The "low detail" mode is more like it, the "high detail" mode with actual chunks of geometry removed from walls is something you won't find in Max Payne.

>That bit with the trees and grass waving in the wind was also pretty impressive.

If you've got a GeForce3, there's a "Game 4" test that is basically an expanded version of that with flowing water and stuff. And hardware vertex shaders makes the movement much more smooth (butterflies seem to really flutter, etc). It's amazing.

The thing that impressed me most about the Max Payne article in PCG, besides that it was written a bit less obnoxiously than their normal stuff, is just how much the game seems to revolve around story, how much there is to it, and how fun the action apparently is. Granted, this is an "exclusive preview" and they tend to be flowery, but I'm genuinely looking forward to the game now. It seems like Remedy pulled off what the potential of the game has been for the last few years, which was always in question for me.

Is it just the particular demo I saw, or does he do the same jumping-sideways-shooting move in every scene? The lack of variety gives me a queasy feeling. I suppose I'll have to go take a look at this month's PCG. (heh)

- Alan