Sam Lake reminds us that making a video game is hard… even if it’s a remake.

Sometimes we underestimate what is involved in making a remaster or remake of a game. As much as a game is old, that it’s not being made from scratch, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. Or that there isn’t a lot to do. At the end of the day, making a video game is always hard work, and when we also have to bring a game from the past and adjust it to the standards of the present, there’s work there too. That’s why we should be more respectful with remakes. And have them in more value.

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This is exactly what has been brought up in an interview with VCG by Sam Lake regarding the Max Payne remakes. Announced last April 2022 for Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and PC, both games will be sold in a single pack. Although there is still no release date, Lake wanted to clarify the scope of this project.

Because while it would be easy to do it from less, his words make it clear that it’s hard work. To paraphrase what he says in the interview “it’s a significant task in the sense that, even dealing with old games, just the thought of bringing them up to modern standards and combining them into one, you can see that it’s a very, very big project.” Something we’ve already said ourselves, but it sounds more credible when said by the game’s author himself.

Max Payne is a third-person shooter that was originally released in 2001 for PC, followed by versions for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mac Os X, Game Boy Advance, iOs and Android. It was widely celebrated for its dark, mature story, spectacular action and a mechanic they called bullet time, which essentially consisted of Matrix-style slowdowns of gunfights at any point in the game. It would be followed by a sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, in 2003, which was equally acclaimed.

So the next time you’re tempted to complain about a remake, remember Sam Lake. Of all the people who work so hard to bring games forward. Because while it’s true that there may be too many remakes, that doesn’t take away from the hard work they put in.

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