Easter Eggs and Secrets in Max Payne

The following is a list of secrets, easter eggs, and hidden trivia references in Max Payne.

Easter Eggs

• During the chapter Live from the Crime Scene, just before Max finds Alex, one of the mobsters will toss a grenade, but if Max kill him quickly enough, he can pick it up and head towards the beginning of the chapter where a hole in the wall can be found. Toss the grenade into the hole and the message 'I had declared a war against rats' will appear as an objective. Head back through the tunnel and up the stairs, where there will be rats holding guns; they will fire at Max on sight.

  

• Just before the first ramp leading down into the underground section of the parking garage, there is a roof top with a small shack on it. The roof is accessed by jumping up and onto the gray bins stacked against the wall. It's then possible for Max to shoot his way inside. Drop down the hole and Max will end up in a room with the Rockstar Games logo on the wall, a dead mobster, some sniper rifle ammo and a radio. Turn the radio on and a message can be heard from Remedy.

Secrets

• If you shoot the alarm or the speaker from Live from the crime scene and Fear That Gives Men Wings, Max will thank the player.

Other video games references

• A reference to the Internet meme that popularized the broken English phrase, "all your base are belong to us" from the opening cutscene of the 1989 video game Zero Wing, can be seen on the Tar Cafe marquee in Tutorial chapter.
• In a secret ammunition room of the chapter Police Brutality. The famous Dopefish is found in the style of a poster, with the caption 'Dopefish Lives' in bold letters. Dopefish is seen wielding two handguns, seemingly similar to the 9mm handguns that Max Payne uses.
• Several computers in Cold Steel, including the one you access for information on the Valkyr project, have Duke Nukem 3D mouse mats. Duke Nukem 3D was published by 3D Realms, who had the publishing rights of Max Payne before selling it to Rockstar Games.
• In chapter Fear That Gives Men Wings, a hidden room has posters of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix.
• When Max finds the code on the dead chemist's computer in the chapter The Deep Six, he says "The half-life of the lab rat had ended online..."

Movies and television shows references

• One of the thugs in Live from the Crime Scene has a cell phone with the ringtone of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly main title theme song.
• Past Rico Muerte's room is a cracked wooden door which can be shot through. Once inside climb out onto the ledge and walk across to the next room. Inside the room is a dead man holding a gun while lying on the floor with a stake driven into him, The man wrote "Buff" in his own blood before dying, which is a reference to the American TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• In the chapter Fear That Gives Men Wings, Max enters an apartment with an Ingram on the kitchen counter and a mobster in the bathroom. This appears to be a reference to the movie Pulp Fiction.
• The beginning of the chapter Nothing to Lose is very similar to the 'lobby scene' in the 1999 sci-fi action film, The Matrix.
• One mobster in Angel of Death chapter blows up a door with a grenade launcher. This is more than likely inspired by the movie Scarface. Some aspects of the manor, such as the layout, are similar to the one in Scarface as well.
• The title of the chapter, An Offer You Can't Refuse is a reference to the movie, The Godfather.
• The Hard-Boiled difficulty setting is a reference to the famous movie by Hong Kong director John Woo. Hong Kong action cinema was one of the inspirations for the game.

  

  Zero Wings reference