It had been known since March 23, 2009 that Max Payne 3 was about to be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The story of a retired police detective cast in the world of corruption, tumult and intense violence is finally back. Back then, Sam Houser, the founder of Rockstar Games, has declared that the game is writing a new chapter in Max Payne’s life, with a real evolution of the character, a Max Payne few years older, more cynical than ever. The game makes you experience the downward spiral of his life and his last chance for salvation as a sequel for the last in the series, Max Payne 2.

<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->

The action of the game takes place in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Max was thrown out from the New York Police Department and since then he had spent 12 years  struggling with his own addictions. In order to get rid of his life he moved to the Brazilian metropolis where, despite his will, he is drawn into undesirable and life-threatening situations while working as a security agent for a rich local family. His physical appearance is changed with a beard to grow and a shaved head and different and more casual outfit. Different settings are also part of the new changes and actions that occur in the night or in rain give the “noir” kind of feel that has to do more with the style than with the location itself. For realizing the settings, Rockstar Vancouver (the new handler for the game) had sent crews in Sao Paolo to do researches on the environmental layouts and to absorb the local flavor.

Another feature that Rockstar Vancouver wanted to renew in this 3rd series, is the bullet time system that now includes a number of other features related to animation and interaction with the surroundings. The game is created in a realistic note using Natural Motion’s Euphoria technology that allows for the characters to act realistically while being hit or in impact with things around. During the game, the player has full control over Max’s actions as it was shown in a demo provided by Rockstar to Game Informer.

The options given for the character to protect himself from he bullets are the ability to take cover behind objects (but at the same time some elements may be destructible) and also to take enemies for human shield, though the later is not recommended for success. Yet the character has a limited ability to climb walls and access combat areas from different positions. There is a bullet-cam to monitor projectiles into their targets and Max is given the possibility to perform life-saving kill shots. If Max succeeds in killing his pursuer before the screen fade to black, then he will be able to take a big leap to life thanks to an adrenaline supercharge.

Game Informer were impressed by the animations and attention conferred to the details in the environments said to increase the gunplay and the feeling of the game. So, Max Payne is back, waiting for you to dive in the atmosphere of adventure and unexpected situations!

The story of the game is about a meteorologist that was caught up in an old nuclear ice-breaker called North Wind, frozen in the ice desert many years ago. This character is a steel creature who once fought for its life and freedom, but now it is caught in this ice trap populated with creatures that not only lost their natural look, but their right to die, too. It’s all about a drama of a captain and his ship developed in an atmosphere where one invokes the survival instincts to outlive an atmosphere of animal fear.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
The uniqueness of this game is the Mental Echo – system that allows you to penetrate another character’s memory and gives you the possibility to change actions taken by that character in the past. This involves saving people’s lives through that that you can take over their bodies and their memories, thus changing the course of history.

Using the settings of the arctic atmosphere, it employs also the body heat feature in the shape of a health meter, where the player must use heat sources to regain health. These surroundings can cause you the shiver and your battle for surviving in this tundra terror seems a hard task to perform. The progress of the game consists in a lot of strange events you encounter such as finding crew mates that have died, and somehow you are able to re-live the moments of their deaths in order to save them from their past mistakes. This feature takes you to different scenarios that are not similar to each other.

Your foes are the crew that have turned into violent zombies; your only way to gain health is warming up, taking the necessary heat from different heating sources, such as torches, lamps, generators etc. Although you might get hurt by a zombie, your recovery is possible due to the warming up! For most of your fighting arsenal is given initially the options of your fists and a valve through where you work your way up until you find a pistol. The combat mechanisms are not so great given the fact that your arsenal of fist mixed combat styles, thus turning the game into a very slow one.

The good thing with this game is that it gives you enough thrills and drama to motivate you going; re-living other people’s dying moments gives the plot a different twist; the sense of reality is accurately rendered giving you the sensation of actually living in the arctic.

The bad thing is that combat can be quite a task, rather than a pleasure, the steadiness pf the game can vary and the graphics look little blurry from time to time.

But altogether the game offers a unique style of a story and events that you encounter, events that with every character involved generates a new scenario where the player is being propelled. The game’s title itself Cryostasis – sleep of reason gives you the thrills, so it won’t hurt to have it on your shelves!

Remember Doom? The one and only, first-of-its-kind? Well, Doom may not have been the first FPS, and despite the fact it had to walk in the shadow of Wolfenstein and Quake, it surely managed to become more than just "another first person shooter," that's a fact!

Now, it seems history is hitting us back, and the good old Doom will be reborn on a new platform... the iPhone! While a few months ago it was only about making waves, now id's head John Carmack has thrown a bunch of details regarding the upcoming iPhone port of the golden PC classic.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
While Carmack talked more about how they did it, I honestly don't care much about that part. The truth is that, according to his reports, Doom for iPhone works and looks just great, and that's what we all need to know!

Oh, yeah, sorry about that - there's one more thing to know before moving on - the release date, of course! So... when is Doom for iPhone coming? As early as next month, so get ready to go through it once again!