Max Payne 3 Multiplayer Will Have Story Elements

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has revealed that the upcoming Max Payne 3 shooter will have some story elements baked into its multiplayer mode to get people interested in it and complement the single-player story.

Rockstar has always delivered immersive single-player experiences, with L.A. Noire being the best example, but, with recent games like Red Dead Redemption, it has also brought forth immersive multiplayer modes that suited all sorts of players.

Now, with Max Payne 3, Rockstar is trying to recreate the great mix seen in Red Dead Redemption, offering not just a new single-player story that continues the adventures of Max Payne, this time as he reaches Brazil and tries to start a new life, but also a multiplayer mode.

While quite a few people raised their eyebrows when the multiplayer news appeared, it seems that Rockstar wants to make it a very special experience, at least according to its co-founder Dan Houser, who's also the writer for Max Payne 3.

"We wanted to put some elements of single player into the multiplayer so the multiplayer will have a lot more detail and have elements of story in it and have a sort of an immersive quality," Houser told Variety. "We think that's something that is underexplored in multiplayer."

Houser also admits that it's going to be hard to please longtime fans of the Max Payne series, as in their minds the original titles, created by Remedy Entertainment and published by Rockstar at the beginning of the 2000s, will seem close to gaming perfection.

"I think the challenge of nostalgia is a profound one, because one thing about videogames is your memory tends to remove the horrendous," Houser said. "(The games) become these great, perfect experiences. ... It's definitely a challenge to get the right pitch when you want to appeal to the fans of the original and bring in a new audience."

Max Payne 3 is scheduled to appear in March, 2012, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.