3. Max Payne Drops The Film Noir, Puts On A Hawaiian Shirt - Max Payne 3
Ahead of release, much concern was made over the fact that our esteemed, steely hero Max Payne was to undergo something of a makeover for the third game in the series, both in terms of the character himself and the game's popular aesthetic. Rockstar boldly opted to strip away the film noir style of the previous titles - aside from a few flashback missions - and set the game largely in sunny Brazil, with Max shooting around sun-kissed shanty-towns and so on. Also, Max himself looks starkly different; gone is his black jacket in favour of...a Hawaiian shirt, and his head has been shaved. Though the game still boasted the intense heroic bloodshed of the two prior games, it was a change that still proved unsavoury for most of the series' hardcore fanbase, who just wanted a consistent style and aesthetic throughout. Given that a fourth game is unlikely, it's odd that Rockstar decided to diverge so drastically at the last hurdle.