Max Payne 3: Gang Wars
What happens when narrative and multiplayer converge.
Multiplayer might, at first, not seem like a natural fit for Max Payne. As its title suggests, the series has always featured an intensely personal story, the harrowing portrait of a man pushed to his absolute limit and how he copes with that torment.
To achieve this, narrative has always been paramount, and rightly so. It's what established Max as such an absorbing protagonist.
In stark contrast, the best multiplayer – from GoldenEye to Call of Duty – has always been about forging your own narrative. Players are cast as faceless, voiceless characters, whom over the course of several rounds spin a rudimentary narrative, defined by the outcome and the emergent rivalries of a single game.
Charlie Bewsher, the lead designer on Max's multiplayer, is well aware of these innate differences. "The narrative element of Max Payne 1 and 2, and what we're doing with 3, is obviously very strong. So when you starting thinking about the multiplayer version of Payne I think you've got to address that part of the game. But there's also a narrative unique to any multiplayer game, though – you sort of get this drama that unfolds."
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/121/1214745/max-payne-3-20111214081817132-000.jpg)
Max Payne 3's attempts to give more definition to the spontaneous type of narrative you get in a round of multiplayer. To do this it's created a new mode called Gang Wars, the centrepiece of Payne's multiplayer suite. A typical match, for instance, might kick-off during the calamity of a drug deal gone horribly wrong. You must collect duffle bags gorged with cash and ferry them back to safe points. It's a standard multiplayer objective but the difference comes in the next round; instead of tasking you with the same objective, the mission changes and draws upon the events of the preceding round not only to give context but motivation for the new task.
The reasoning behind the mode is not force a new story upon players but to "highlight the dramas that happen," according to Bewsher. So in round two, for instance, a bounty might be placed on the head of the previous round's most lethal player. Or you might have to grab land from the dominant team. Say you successfully won the most new territory, in the next round you might have to frantically run around defusing bombs set on your new turf.
The objectives are connected through a voice-over by Max himself and the use of motion comics, ensuring the look and feel of Max Payne 3's single-player carries over into the multiplayer experience. And the variety of mission types available means the permutations for Gang Wars are virtually limitless.
The variety of objectives prevents one team from dominating – some reward ruthless individualism, while others encourage co-operation. It also means that rounds of Gang Wars unfold with the rhythm of the most absorbing sports game, emphasising organic drama of multiplayer – things like comebacks or last-minute wins feel more meaningful.
The multiplayer experience is augmented by the presence of Bursts – special abilities that you unlock as you accumulate XP. The perks are inspired by the individual characteristics of the factions open to players in multiplayer. In addition to Bullet Time, Max's signature skill, the most original Bursts are those that alter players' perception of reality.
Paranoia is particularly crafty enhancement that makes the opposition see their teammates as enemies. Each Burst is graded into three levels. Wait to use it, and it becomes all the more devastating, enabling friendly fire for the opposing team.
Other Burst destabilise proceedings in equally interesting and chaotic ways. Sneaky makes your gamertag appear as friendly to the enemy team, allowing you to infiltrate their base, for instance, before spectacularly betraying them. Intuition is a powerful ability that, at level 3, allows you to see a silhouette of every enemy.
Bullet Time appears in multiplayer in the form of a Burst. But it isn't based on a proximity bubble, it's all based on line of sight. If you're caught in the gaze of a player who has activated Bullet Time, reality will slow down for you, too. Bursts aren't simply about providing an advantage; they change the tempo of the gameplay – occasionally conferring an advantage, sometimes cancelling each other out.
![[IMG]](http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/121/1214745/max-payne-3-20111214081815802-000.jpg)
Fortunately, many of the distinctive gameplay features that the Max Payne series innovated – Shootdodge, Bullet Time – sit more than comfortably within the confines of multiplayer. The ability to fling yourself through the air is a fantastic addition to multiplayer – especially when you see teammates bursting through windows and taking down opponents. It's incredibly useful as it can be deployed both offensively and defensively. Find yourself about close to death, and shootdodge can be used to break the line of sight with your attacker, giving you just enough time to regain consciousness. It also looks really, really cool.
The Gang Wars exist concurrent to Max Payne's central timeline, elaborating what happened to various gangs before and after they cross paths with Payne. So a match of Gang Wars might tell the story of the power struggle after Max deposed a dominant faction. It's an interesting idea, but we'll have to wait until we've played through the single-player campaign to see how the two narratives intertwine and support each other.
Initially, the idea of contouring multiplayer with a narrative might seem intrusive, forced and contrary to the ethos of multiplayer. But here it works brilliantly, since it constructs its story unobtrusively from the dramatic elements that emerge naturally in a game of multiplayer. For those who feel anonymous in a match of Call of Duty, Max Payne's multiplayer makes you feel integral to what's going on.
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