Max Payne

Max Payne is the titular main protagonist of the Max Payne franchise.

A former NYPD detective and DEA Agent, his wife and daughter were murdered by junkies three years prior to the events of the first game. This causes him to go undercover hunting for the source of the drug, 'Valkyr'. In the second game, he returns to the NYPD and crosses paths with Mona Sax, an assassin that he falls in love with. Three guess as to how  that  went. The third game takes place a decade later, with Max having left the NYPD to pursue a life in private security in São Paulo, Brazil. As with most of his career moves, it ends only in blood and tears.

Appearance
Tackling insurmountable odds, Max Payne faces every situation with a 'John McClane' type wit and a very dark sense of humour which joins his nothing-to-lose demeanour.

Max has a poetic sense of describing his actions. He does not believe his doings are heroic and he believes he should be punished for his actions. Max's pessimistic view on life and his inability to have fun is very noticeable as Vladimir Lem points out to Max in 2003.

Max, along with his dark humour, is also very morbid. For instance, in Chapter 2 of the second video game, he sarcastically describes Vladimir Lem "a gentleman" who reassures his "girlfriend" after discovering a recorded phone message from Vlad to his secret mistress. He tends to make jokes even in the face of danger. One example is the conversation between Frankie "The Bat" Niagara while he is bound to a chair or while he is pinned down by The Cleaners, expecting Mona to provide cover fire. Max humour makes a return in Max Payne 3 as dry jokes, but still funny.

Max Payne pursues his enemies with deep perseverance, some even say fanatically.[5] No matter how injured he might be or how many laws he might be breaking, when he sets his sights on his target, he refuses to let go of them. If it means killing all the enemies that happen to block his way, jumping on top of a moving train, avoiding destructive explosive charges, whatever it might be that impedes serving his revenge Payne is not hesitant to overcome.

Following the events of 2001, however, Max seemed to have started to experience a more pronounced degree of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and depression that has been kept under the surface for 3 years after the murder of his family. The dark and dry humor in his monologues are reduced during the events of 2003. His apartment was quite the mess. There was also a voice recording from Max's apartment phone that was tapped by the cleaners which shows Max calling a phone sex line to talk about the emptiness that he had been feeling despite divulging the truth and killing every major personnel involved in the Valkyr case.

This is possibly due to the fact that Max no longer had an actual purpose to live for having fulfilled his vengeance. While he was undercover with the DEA, he had to keep up a good appearance and an obsessive drive. Alex Balder was also a dear friend and DEA handler who kept Max "relatively sane" for 3 years and he was murdered in front of him in 2001, no longer able to support Max.

In 2012, Max is retired from the NYPD and in complete depression resorting to substance abuse with alcohol and pain killers. Murdering Valerie Winterson and the death of Mona Sax have added more layers of guilt and sadness. Whatever motivation that Max holds on to in the third game is desperation and survival. Despite this he seems at times to display a certain sense of honour, even with his dark and melancholic perception of the world around him.

Personality
In the mid 1990's, he wears a leather jacket (similar to the one used in the rest of the series) a white shirt with a necktie, a pair of jeans and black shoes.

In 2001, Max is undercover and therefore spends the game in typical street clothes: A black leather jacket, orange opened panther shirt, a white T-shirt with a necklace, black pants and black shoes. He is 6ft (183cm) tall.

In 2003, Max is back on the force, so he's kitted out in relatively smart office suit but still has his trademark leather jacket with a tie until he loses it in the hospital.

In 2012, Payne is seen in many different outfits. While still in New York, Max wears his traditional leather jacket, with a white collared shirt with a tie, a pair of grey jeans and stylish black shoes. Later, Max is seen sporting a casual gray suit, while in another instance, donned with a blue bulletproof vest over his clothes. During most of his time there, he has a beard, and later is seen with a bald head, wearing a white undershirt with shoulder holster for his hand gun(s), tan colored cargo pants, and tan shoes. He can also be seen wearing a colorful Aloha shirt while in São Paulo favelas.

Max had always kept himself in good shape at least up to 2003. He has an athletic build that fits him well in his clothes. With depression, alcohol abuse, and ageing he is slightly overweight around 2005-2012.

Abilities
It could be said that Max Payne has lightning reflexes, very acrobatic, is a skilled hand to hand combatant, being both capable of disarming enemies whilst he himself is unarmed, and also being able to neutralise enemies completely in hand to hand combat when necessary. He is also in good physical condition, and is a skilled handler of firearms, capable of operating many handguns, shotguns, SMGs, assault or sniper rifles, and explosive ordinances. However, for the most part, he seems to prefer sticking to his trusty Beretta as his main sidearm.

Max's pain tolerance is also impressive, being able to take multiple ballistic wounds from enemies and still being able to continue to fight as effectively as if he was unhurt. Max consumes Painkillers to recover from the most severe wounds, although this may simply be a gameplay element. In the story, however, Max shows other aspects of physical endurance: He survives a direct shot in the head (Max Payne 2) and overdose of Valkyr drug (the original video game), both of which are expected to have killed him. It is also apparent that Max has a, if somewhat limited, Healing factor, being able to recover a small amount of health after being wounded, although not enough to be able to completely recover from the damage of a wound without taking Painkillers.

Max also appears to be ambidextrous since he can dual-wield single handed weapons and only seems to be able to hold two more and more powerful guns as he ages and gains more experience. (2 Desert Eagles by 2003, 2 sawed-off shotguns by 2012).

In firefights, Payne can launch himself into a shootdodge to minimise his exposure to an incoming hail of bullets and/or take enemies by surprise, especially around corners.

Trivia

 * In the Remedy game Alan Wake, multiple easter eggs referring to Max Payne can be found. One of the easter eggs suggest that Max was killed thirteen years after his revenge on Horne, that he was killed by a woman, and that he died in a city during the winter, likely New York. Two of the notes found by Alan Wake are read by the same voice actor that voices Max Payne in the games (McCaffrey), and might be references to the character. They do not appear to be part of the rest of the notes Alan Wake finds, which are read by another voice actor. For instance, the femme fatale that Max Payne refers to in the series is mentioned in these two notes.
 * In the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a bulletproof window glass could be found, with the words "Max Pane" written under it.
 * In Grand Theft Auto 2, car respray shops are named "Max Paynt". Despite that the game was released in 1999, it's very likely that Rockstar borrowed the name from Max Payne, since they were affliated with the game as well.


 * Max shares some similarities to Kratos from God of War series: Both are anti-heroes who killed all who are responsible for their wives and daughters' death. Also, both of their families are seen in their nightmares.