Max's signature Bullet Time moves are back, but upgraded with the level of sophistication and detail that we can bring to an action game in 2011. A combination of our RAGE engine, blended animations and Natural Motion's Euphoria system control Max's movements, making him react to the world around him realistically, bracing for impact from a diving shoot-dodge or transferring his weight from foot-to-foot while in Bullet Time – the player has an amazing amount of control over the player when running and targeting.
Bullets are individually modeled, and hits register dynamically and individually on every enemy. Every gun is modeled as accurately as possible, with the hammer and slide cocking back after each shot. There are also some additional new features to gunplay in Bullet Time that we'll reveal soon. Our goal is to set a new benchmark for sophistication and feel in a 3rd-person shooter – we've really tried to make the experience as intense and focused as possible.
The Rockstar people think that it's great that first-person shooters let you swing your targeting reticule in 360-degrees without any hitches and recognize that third-person shooters often fail to meet the same standard. They promise and showed me that theirs does. While they didn't let me play the game, they showed me that you can point Max's gun(s) anywhere you want with no resistance in the controls and no hiccups in Max's animation. The hero convincingly adjusts the stretch of his arm, the lean of his back, and the turn of his hips to accommodate wherever you are pointing no matter where you have him moving.
The Rockstar folks also think it's cool that Max can and will roll and dive wherever you need him to and shoot from wherever he lands. One of Max's key moves is the slow-mo dodge, which is great to use when you see bullets streaking at you in slow-mo, enemy projectiles trailed by white lines back to smoking barrels. I got to see Max leap to his left, like a man in a road going airborne to avoid the bus bearing down on him. Max braced his arm as he landed on the ground on his side... and could still shoot from there. A combination of tons of animation and blending tech (the Rockstar people will happily talk about it a lot) boils down to: Max moves like an idealized person would, not like some hitchy video game character. He doesn't ice-skate on the ground when he runs. He doesn't stutter or flop limply when he dives or lands. Enemies are supposed to be similarly empowered with great animations, and for the most part they seemed to be, though some did flop in a video-gamey way when hit by Max's bullets.
This section of the demo ends with Max exchanging fire through the windows of a hallway with gangsters on a roof across the street. Here I see both the cover mechanics in play and get a small taste of the game's destructibility. First off, don't worry about the game turning into some sort of cover-focused shooter. While you can shoot using cover by poking your head out or blind-firing, the focus is still on the run-and-gun mentality you would expect from Max Payne. Plus, the destructibility will prevent you from any sort of cover abuse -- cover will get torn to shreds as more and more bullets are laid into it.
After the lights went up, my impression of Max Payne 3 had gone from "totally different direction" to "true sequel." The only thing missing was a trippy dream sequence where Max tip-toes along a trail of blood. When I asked the Rockstar rep about there being such a section in Max Payne 3 he smiled, but refused to comment.
You can't stay in cover all the time because of that destruction engine and a particularly smart AI, which we're told will never acts the same way twice in multiple play throughs - and definitely won't sit around waiting for you to pop them one by one.
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Still lying prone our player twists 360 degrees taking out a few more NPCs while horizontal. It's a level of manoeuvrability we've never seen in that kind of position before and Payne's body movements remain solid and fluid throughout as he adjusts his weight.
Bullets are individually modeled, and hits register dynamically and individually on every enemy. Every gun is modeled as accurately as possible, with the hammer and slide cocking back after each shot.
I saw someone else posted in this thread and I was hoping it was someone from Rockstar offering me money. No offense, Sobek
As for the bullets, I'm just glad it is still in. I want to see this euphoria stuff in action.
Maybe it will be awsome from a technical POV but its not going to be anything like max payne. Say byebye to the awsome dark and gritty film noir feel and say hallo to max in sunny brazil... Rockstar fucked up max just to create another generic shooter.
Maybe it will be awsome from a technical POV but its not going to be anything like max payne. Say byebye to the awsome dark and gritty film noir feel and say hallo to max in sunny brazil... Rockstar fucked up max just to create another generic shooter.
Best animation I have ever seen, even better than the Uncharted series. Bethesda needs to take notes.
Best animation I have ever seen, even better than the Uncharted series. Bethesda needs to take notes.
Best animation I have ever seen, even better than the Uncharted series. Bethesda needs to take notes.
why is max a fat bald dude ?
I really have to agree to this!
The animation were the best I've seen in a third person shooter.
I can only hope this will come out on the pc!