Max Payne 1 (voiced by James McCaffrey) is a
fugitive DEA agent and former NYPD detective whose wife Michelle and newborn
daughter were killed in connection with the Valkyr drug case. Max then goes
undercover in the mob, and eventually becomes a one-man-army vigilante waging a
personal war on crime (and in particular, those criminals responsible for his
family's death). Max ends up killing hundreds of gangsters and conspiracy
enforcers while on the run from the police determined on stopping his vendetta
against all those responsible for his family's death. He uses metaphors and
wordplay to describe the world around him within his inner monologues, which
often contradict his external responses to characters he speaks with. The first
game presents the story as retold by Max from his point of view.
Characters
Mona Sax (voiced by
Julia Murney): The twin sister of Lisa Punchinello and a contract killer, Mona
is the femme fatale of the game. She has a grudge against her sister Lisa's
abusive husband, Mafia boss Angelo Punchinello, whom she desires to kill. After
Puchinello is killed, she sides with Nicole Horne who hires her to kill Max.
Finding herself unable to do so, she is shot in the head by Horne's henchmen
and collapses into an elevator. She reappears in the sequel as a playable
character.
Nicole
Horne
(voiced
by Jane Gennaro): The game's main antagonist who led a secret military program
code-named Valhalla. She had Michelle Payne killed after she viewed a document
that shows that Horne is still producing the Valkyr drug despite the fact that
the project was suspended. Horne commands a well-armed private army of hitmen
and mercenaries. She is killed by Max at the end of the game.
Alfred
Woden
(voiced
by John Randolph Jones): For most of the game he remains a mysterious unseen
character, only interacting with Max through phone calls where he either warns
him of a coming threat or provides information. Towards the end of the game he
meets Max face-to-face and introduces him to an Illuminati-like society known
as the Inner Circle. Woden tells Payne that Horne is his real enemy and
expresses his wishes for Payne to get rid of her. He is seemingly gunned down
by Horne's men while in a meeting with Max, but is later seen on a security
terminal getting up off the ground and leaving his dead comrades. He reappears
in the sequel as a U.S. senator.
Don
Angelo Punchinello (voiced by Joe
Ragno): An Italian mob boss who distributes Valkyr and become involved in a
gang war against the Russians. He remains the main villain throughout most of
the game until it was discovered that he was being controlled by Horne. He is
later killed by her before he can give Max too much information.
Vinnie
Gognitti
(voiced
by Joe Dallo): A high-strung mobster working for Lupino who is terrified that
his boss will kill him due to Lupino's Valkyr-induced psychosis. Max confronts
him to discover where he can find Lupino, but this encounter results in Payne
shooting Gognitti in the gut and then pursuing him through the city's buildings
and rooftops. When Max catches up with him he forces the information out of
Gognitti and leaves him bleeding in an alley (in the 1998 trailer Vinnie was
shown being summarily executed by Payne in a cut scene, but this was changed
later along with an other tweaks to the story). He reappears in the sequel as a
Mafia underboss.
Vladimir
Lem
(voiced
by Dominic Hawksley): A Russian mob boss and prominent gunrunner currently in a
war against Angelo Punchinello. He teams up with Max providing him with weapons
in one part of the game and occasionally chauffering him around to key
locations. He reappears in the sequel as a charismatic restauranteer who
maintains his shady connections in organized crime. He is portrayed by Marko
Saaresto of Poets of the Fall (a friend of the game's writer Sam Lake). The
band also wrote the main theme, "Late Goodbye", for Max Payne 2.
Jack
Lupino
(voiced
by Jeff Gurner): A Mafia underboss and an occultist, who oversees Valkyr
distribution for the Punchinello crime syndicate. He has been driven crazy by
his Valkyr addiction and has become a Satanist, obsessed with making a Faustian
pact with the Devil (he also owns Necronomicon, a fictional book from the
Cthulhu Mythos and Cthulhu is one of the deities he worships). When Max
confronts him he is the middle of a Satanic prayer; a gun fight ensues and
Lupino is killed by Payne.
B.B.
Hensley
(voiced
by Adam Grupper): A corrupt DEA agent and a supposed friend of Max. Receiving
pay outs from Horne, he radios Max telling him to meet agent Alex Balder at the
train station and then shoots Balder dead, framing Max for his murder. Towards
the end of the game he meets Max and is revealed as a traitor working for
Horne. Payne kills him in a gun fight.
Deputy
Chief Jim Bravura (voiced by Peter
Appel): A high-ranking NYPD officer who is pursuing Max for most of the game
and is not deterred in arresting him, even though the TV commentators don't see
the violence as a bad thing because mobsters are the only victims. At the end
he finally arrests Max, but in the game's sequel he becomes Max's boss.
Michelle
Payne
(voiced
by Haviland Morris): Working for the district attorney’s office, Michelle came
across a file that incriminated Horne, which later led to her murder and the
killing of her child by Valkyr junkies sent to her home. She repeatedly appears
through the game in flashback and nightmare sequences.
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