Max Payne has undergone a makeover in the years since Max Payne 2. He's shaved his head, ditched his trademark trench coat in favor of a wife beater and he's changed locations to Brazil. But underneath the cosmetic changes, Payne is still the same tortured noir hero gamers have played in two previous iterations and new developer Rockstar Games has kept the same fluid bullet-time combat that made the series a landmark in gaming.

Rockstar Games showed a demo to journalists in Sydney and the new Max Payne promises to be as riveting as the first two games in the series. The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) looks fantastic as Payne shoots his way through Sau Paulo. Payne's new design could initially confuse gamers who are used to Payne's trench coat but Rockstar has faithfully kept to the series Noir-feel. He's still living in the underworld with its mobsters, murderers and dames but transported to the flashier atmosphere of Brazil.

The game takes place twelve years after the events in Max Payne 2. Payne is now working as a private security for a rich family in Sau Paulo, Brazil but trouble finds our hero once again as his employer's wife is taken hostage.

The physics in any Max Payne game is the centerpiece in the previous two games and Rockstar has really focused on that in Max Payne 3. Enemies can be killed in different ways depending on the type of bullet. The environment has a scale of interaction that is mind boggling. Bullet-time is gorgeous and the player can see the level of detail in slow motion that hasn't been seen before.

Max Payne 3 will be the first game in the series to feature multiplayer experience. The game is scheduled for release in March 2012 on both consoles and the PC.