There are a lot of private security forces." As always, Rockstar took tremendous strides in researching Sao Paulo. "Sao Paulo has the greatest number of heliports on top on buildings of any city in the world. "You'll see a high-rise building with a multi-million dollar penthouse and at the base is literally shanties," Berrera recalls. Sao Paulo demonstrates all extremes of the human condition, making it a perfect setting for a Max Payne take of crime, violence, and redemption. In addition to drug trafficking, one of the city's most notorious gangs, the Primero Comanda da Capital, controls huge swaths of the city and has organized large-scale prison riots, robberies, and high-profile kidnappings since its formation in 1993.Combine the city's notoriously corrupt police forces with the sobering statistic that one out of every 75 citizens is carrying a gun and it's little wonder that the number one cause of death for young people in Sao Paulo is murder. "The setting is so ripe with things for us to play off of." Sao Paulo's ghettos, known as favelas in the native Portuguese, are some of the most dangerous in the world. "If you take a look at films like City of God and Elite Squad - there's some really nice intense situations happening down there," says Rockstar's VP of development Jeronimo Berrera. However, the team as Rockstar Vancouver is embracing a new, more contemporary setting for its grim crime take: Sao Paulo, Brazil, a sprawling Latin American megalopolis boasting a population of over 20 million people. Their graphic novel style cut scenes and dark scripts created a sense of foreboding and drama rare for the day. The dark, damp New York setting and atmosphere of classic film noir marked the first two Max Payne titles, a cinematic style defined by films like The Maltese Falcon and A touch of Evil. The company is known for creating worlds so immersive and complex they seem as real as our own hometown - and a good deal more exciting. Whether it's Liberty City's dense metropolis, Bully's bucolic school campus, or the arid desert of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption, the main characters in Rockstar games are often reflective of the setting itself. More than any other publisher, Rockstar's games depend on a real sense of place and culture. Like most Rockstar games, it's clearly a labor of love (and just a little bit of mania). The third chapter of the Max Payne saga takes our hero places that he's never gone before, while at the same time keeping an eye towards maintaining and improving the stylish gunplay that made his reputation. If you expected a by-the-numbers sequel, prepare to be surprised. We've learned to go with our gut and trust our instincts.we wanted to challenge ourselves." At Rockstar's headquarters in New York, located in the hip SoHo district, we witnessed a world-exclusive first look at the game in action. How do you create a game that both respects the history of the franchise and creates a new world that feeels fresh to gamers in 2009? "We're used to having franchises that people expect a lot from and have a lot of pressures attached to them," Nelson sales. We're definitely looking back and trying to maintain every element that clicked with people eight or nine years ago and make it have the same impact now." It's a difficult balancing act. We're not Remedy, but we have a lot of respect for what they did. "You have to maintain the elements of it that are special and that people remember, but you also have to evolve. "It's a tricky thing, because you're taking this beloved franchise that we didn't do originally," comments Rockstar art director Rob Nelson.
Clearly, Rockstar Games, which is developing the game in-house for the first time since purchasing the rights from series creator Remedy, is not averse to taking chances with the franchise. If not for the logo on the cover, it would be hard to recognize Max at all. He's ages considerable since the tragic events of Max Payne 2, with a scarred ace and a thicker build. The bald, bearded man on the cover bears little resemblance to the character we followed through two successful games.