8 Video Game ‘Final Instalments’ That Shouldn't Actually Be The Last
2. Max Payne 3
Another icon of the gaming medium; angsty, no-nonsense anti-hero Max Payne went on hiatus for a long time after his first sequel, but was thankfully resurrected by Rockstar in the summer of 2012 to widespread critical acclaim. It provided a fitting end for Max's story in the process, though it is a bit of a shame that we won't get to see the series' trademark 'bullet time' ability again anytime soon. In many ways the Max Payne franchise is the seminal arcade third-person shooter, having pioneered the use of slow-motion in gameplay as well as perfectly capturing a solid noir-esque setting, Max's visual update to the Xbox 360 and PS3 showed that the character and IP still had an audience a decade on from his last outing. So, as much as we might hate the long intervals between releases in the franchise becoming an unintended consequence of Rockstar's wide ranging talents, the long wait only seems to age the series like a fine wine. Not an 'ending' to the series in any explicit sense, but the third title's narrative did provide enough closure to end the trilogy comfortably. Said ending may have been the one we thought Max deserved, but trouble always finds him one way or another - it's just a matter of time until it does.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
