Payne In the Butt

The Max Payne games are two of my favourite games of all time, mainly because of their story and atmosphere. It’s oddly refreshing to play a shooter where you’re just a regular cop, fighting gangsters, with no supernatural elements whatsoever. The stories skirt on the edge of self-parody while always maintaining a sincere grimness as Payne makes his way through the dark, cold streets of Noir New York City.

The storylines aren’t terribly deep, but they’re entertaining, and the subtle references to mythology and literature (Ragnarok in 1, Paradise Lost in 2) are a nice touch. Payne 2 is particularly interesting, with a non-linear structure that pretty much requires you to play through twice to work out how the various levels fit together. And I found the ending oddly satisfying in a melancholy sort of way; Payne finally coming to terms with his survivor’s guilt as Mona Sax dies in his arms.

So, where can the story go, now Payne seems to have found some measure of peace and every other character is dead? Well, if you’re Rockstar Games, you think Payne should go bald, grow a hobo beard, and move to Brazil! Obviously – because if the Max Payne games were about anything, they were about brightly coloured tropical environments!

Damn, and I thought the producers of the film didn’t know what the hell they were doing with the character…

Not Technically Fallout Related

You might remember a while back I talked out about the M-388 “Davy Crockett” tactical nuclear recoilless rifle, aka the smallest nuclear warhead ever.

Well, it turns out that those ingenious American weapons designers, having developed the warhead for the M-388, decided to start thinking about what else you could do with a tiny nuclear device.

The obvious conclusion? Use it in an air-to-air missile! From Wikipedia: “…The GAR-11 used a sub-kiloton (250 ton) W54 warhead shared with the 'Davy Crockett' M-388 recoilless rifle projectile, rather than the larger W25 warhead of the AIR-2 Genie nuclear rocket.
Out of concern for the problems inherent in using nuclear weapons over friendly territory, a conventional version of the GAR-11, the GAR-11A, was developed…”

Seriously, a nuclear air-to-air missile? Unless you’re fighting dragons or some sort of boss mothership in a shoot em up game, when exactly would this weapon be anything other than overkill?