Max Payne has always been a Single Player game, but with the third game, Rockstar Games has added a Multiplayer Mode in conjunction with the Single Player. There are several modes and new innovations to be included in Max Payne 3's Multiplayer.
Bullet-Time
Yes, Bullet-Time is in Multiplayer. It is a Burst that can be equipped and used after building up adrenaline through kills. Bullet-Time works by Line-of-Sight. So, if you activate Bullet-Time, anyone that you can see, or that can see you are slowed down as well. You get an aiming speed advantage over everyone else to make up for this. If you are in Bullet-Time, simply escape from the Line-of-Sight and you'll revert back to normal speed.
Bursts
Bursts are Max Payne 3's equivalent to perks. Your character can be customized by various perks. An example list of Bursts appear below:
Paranoia Burst: A Level 1 Paranoia Burst makes your opponents teammates appear as enemies. Level 2 does this and turns on friendly fire so your opponents start killing each other.
Weapon Double Dealer Burst: A Level 1 WDD Burst deactivates the enemy team's special weapon attachments. Level 3 causes all enemies who are holding grenades to drop them, live, at their feet.
Grounded Burst: A Level 1 Grounded Burst removes a the player from the enemy team's minimap. Level 2 removes your entire team from the enemy minimap. At Level 3, this burst actually puts false information on the enemy's minimap.
Slippery Character Burst: At Level 1, this burst drops a smoke bomb and gives you unlimited stamina to escape. Level 2 does the same thing, with unlimited stamina until death and a flashbang to blind pursuing enemies. Level 3 gives this burst to everyone on your team.
The Trigger Happy burst gives you better guns. The Big Dog burst gives you more health. In-game items bought with in-game currency can nullify some of the burst effects.
There are various Bursts that are also pre-order goodies, look around in online retailers to see what you might get. Bursts are also earned by leveling up (obviously). Each Burst will have three levels, and each level requires more adrenaline than the previous one to activate.
Vendettas
If you are killed twice in a row by the same person, you can initiate a vendetta. This will reveal your enemy's location on the map. If you kill them, you get bonus XP. But if they survive and kill you, they get the bonus XP.
Modes
There are a few different modes in Max Payne 3. While it will have standard modes such as Death Match, Team Death Match, there are two new modes worth noting:
Gang Wars
Gang Wars is Rockstar's attempt at integrating narrative into Multiplayer and is the centerpiece mode for Max Payne 3's Multiplayer. Events that happen in the Single Player story are used as starting points for the narrative in Gang Wars. The storyline dynamically shifts based on the actions and victories of each match. Each Gang War will have five chapters, and each Chapter features one of ten different game types. Each Gang War is also narrated by McCaffrey.
Payne Killer
This mode is a Multiplayer update of New York Minute, essentially. Whichever players get the first two kills become Max and his buddy Passos. They get tougher weapons and more painkillers. Everyone else... well you have to go and kill them. If you kill either Max or Passos, you become them, and now everyone has to kill you. Sounds fun.
Crews
Crews is a new concept for Rockstar's Multiplayer games. You can join public crews formed by Rockstar or create your own private crews (up to 200 people in a crew and it can be customized by members). Playing in a crew will net you extra XP which help you when it comes to unlocking new weapons and bursts. You can also feud with rival crews (though this honestly seems like a terrible idea. We'll have crazy people like those whacked out people who drag their Facebook rivalries into real life. You just watch, some Bloods or Crips will lose a match in the game and their Crew will be like “Let's fucking kick some real ass!”).
Crews also will follow from game-to-game. So crews formed in Max Payne 3 will go with you when you jump to Grand Theft Auto V's multiplayer.
