“Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Max Payne, New York’s finest, with the biggest mobster body count ever. Dearest guests, prepare to die!” Yes, there are many things that we remember the Max Payne series for, but one thing that actually stands out is the astonishing dialogue, a potent blend of gritty philosophy and cynicism, which would have at times done justice to even made a pulp fiction maestro like Raymond Chandler. Which is why, instead of raving about what to expect in the forthcoming Max Payne 3 (yes, we will do so later, we promise), this Sunday we are just going to sit back and savour what we think are the ten best quotes to have emerged in the series so far.
- “The past is a gaping hole. You try to run from it, but the more you run, the deeper it grows behind you, its edges yawning at your heels. Your only chance is to turn around and face it. But it’s like looking down into the grave of your love, or kissing the mouth of a gun, a bullet trembling in its dark nest, ready to blow your head off.” (Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – A Film Noir Love Story, 2003)
- “When the darkness fell, New York City became something else, any old Sinatra song notwithstanding. Bad things happened in the night, on the streets of that other city. Noir York City.” (Max Payne, 2001)
- “He was trying to buy more sand for his hour glass. I wasn’t selling any.” (Max Payne, 2001)
- “There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask ‘Why me?’ and ‘What if?’ When you look back and see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn’t be you. It would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions.” (Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – A Film Noir Love Story, 2003)
- “The word was out, a deadly virus released into the city’s corrupt circulatory system. Something wicked this way comes. Max Payne at large. (Max Payne, 2001)
- “The rain was coming’ down like all the angels in heaven decided to take a piss at the same time. When you’re in a situation like mine, you can only think in metaphors.” (Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – A Film Noir Love Story, 2003)
- “After Y2K, the end of the world had become a cliché. But who was I to talk, a brooding underdog avenger alone against an empire of evil, out to right a grave injustice? Everything was subjective. There were only personal apocalypses. Nothing is a cliché when it’s happening to you.” (Max Payne, 2001)
- “The past is a puzzle, like a broken mirror. As you piece it together, you cut yourself, your image keeps shifting. And you change with it. It could destroy you, drive you mad. It could set you free.” (Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – A Film Noir Love Story, 2003)
- “But dreams have a nasty habit of going bad when you’re not looking. The sun went down with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding.” (Max Payne, 2001)
- “Firing a gun is a binary choice. You either, pull the trigger or you don’t…” (Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne – A Film Noir Love Story, 2003)
Looking forward to more quotes in Max Payne 3, and incidentally, we would like to complete that quote at the beginning of this piece:
“Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Max Payne, New York’s finest, with the biggest mobster body count ever. Dearest guests, prepare to die! Max! I’d love to come and welcome you, but I’m busy dodging bullets and hiding under a desk at the moment!”
Now, if that does not sum up a game, nothing will!
