As I was playing through the story mode I kept feeling like the two characters are actually kind of similar. One of Michael's suits is basically the suit Max wears in the early parts of 3, and one of his preset outfits has a jacket and jeans combo that looks and feels very similar to the outfit from the first Max Payne game.

That I kept getting the sense that Michael is almost like some alternate-universe version of Max where his family didn't get capped and instead grew up to be a bunch of ungrateful yuppie fucksticks.

Hell, even Michael's special ability is Bullet Time!

There's all that and during the credits I noticed Neil McCaffrey was a producer for GTA5, so perhaps it was somewhat intentional?

So yeah, am I the only one that felt there were parallels to be drawn? Going to start replaying MP3 today I think, despite my grievances with the writing, it seems like an appropriate time to revisit it.

you can also buy max paynes tropical shirt for michael the one he wears once he is bald and goes to the favelas

Yeah there were some weird crossovers. Felt mostly like a reference to me, but enough of one that I noticed it.

And now I'm gonna replay Max Payne 3. Because I adore that game

He reminded me a lot of Tommy Vercetti as well.

My Michael was also bald and bearded, so yes I saw many of the same similarities, both visually and thematically.

I've never played either this game or Max Payne 3, but I hope if I do get to play the former, Michael doesn't turn out to be a whiny, old, constantly angsting "woe is me" type character like Max in 3 turned out to be.

All three characters become incredibly whiny after a point, but not in the moody Max Payne sense. It's obviously played for laughs, although it still gets tiring.

That was the result of the lack of Sam Lake who did the writing for Max Payne 1 and 2. Max Payne 3 was just a strange departure for the series. The writing was less unique, as noted in the review on Giantbomb, and long time fan reception. The third entry in the series felt like an attempt to shoehorn other source material in the plot, which dramatically changed the tone and style.

Indeed, this I know. Big, big fan of Sam Lake and everything he has ever touched. I didn't end up starting Max Payne 3 tonight. I lugged my PC up to my Mother's house but either my VGA cable is broken or something else that's kinda funky is going on to stop the TV from receiving my PC's visual output. Going to try again tomorrow.

I did actually quite enjoy Max Payne 3 aside from the writing on my previous go round, I could definitely see what they were going for. I wholly enjoyed GTA 5's writing, despite it being nothing particularly clever or well paced or anything. As a work of cinematic homage and pure style I really enjoyed it. So I'm going to try and approach Max Payne 3 with that same kind of mindset.

Totally got a Max Payne vibe from Michael's character. I made him walk around in Max-like attire for most of the game.

The writing in MP 1 and 2 are pretty atrocious, to the people saying those games had better writing. It's like a high school kid writing dialogue and not re-reading it. Too many descriptors and flowery to the point of hilarity. It's like someone was trying to write a spoof noir script.

(note: 2 did have better writing, but it was still annoyingly ridiculous. MP1's script is irredeemable).

They were spoofs.

I dont think so, pretty sure it was taking itself seriously (besides the tv stuff)

@naru_joe93 said:

That is exactly why I enjoy it. It is flowery and ridiculous to the absolute extreme. It is pure self-hatred and sociopathy boiled down to a single character. Then there's all the pulpy TV shows that reflect Max's current state of mind and events in his life in a very Twin Peaks-esque way, ahh, I love it. Max Payne 2 is one of my favourite games of all time though, so I'm clearly biased here. But yeah, you're right, it is like someone was trying to write a spoof noir script, because that's essentially what it was, although less of a spoof and more of a love letter. That's essentially just Sam Lake's style. Alan Wake was pretty much that same style of OTT homage but rather to pulp sci-fi instead of noir. Equally as flowery, ridiculous and nigh-on nonsensical as any of the Max Payne games. I guess you either love or hate his writing and I can totally see why some people don't get into it.

Max payne 3 is a well rounded game. It's got a good plot good writing and it looks great. I like that guy.

@lysergica33: well for Alan wake it works because its emulating twin peaks/David lynch (and his writing definitely matured at that point). To me, it just didn't fit with a hard boiled, neo noir story. Honestly though, it is a bit endearing. I just prefer mp3's writing for the genre.

What? Man, I completely disagree with you. Max in MP3 was superbly written.

I like both characters, but I don't know that they're all that similar. Max goes to some much deeper darker places than Michael ever gets near.

So you think constant, crushing, relentless darkness with no real break in between, which btw is a drastic shift in tone from the previous 2 games, makes for good writing? Especially when his moodyness seems to be limited to the cutscenes while he's a total badass in gameplay mowing down baddies by the dozen like he always did?

Except for the bullet time and being white males they are completely different types of people who would probably murder each other if placed in the same room for any length of time.