The prologue of A Bit Closer to Heaven is the third and last prologue in Max Payne.
Plot[]
The prologue starts with Nicole Horne departing Punchinello Manor after killing Angelo Punchinello and drugging Max Payne with a large dose of Valkyr, leaving him for dead in the manor. As she and her men head to Cold Steel, Max finds himself in another nightmare about the death of his family; once again exploring a twisted dream version of his old house, he hears his wife and follows her voice through the house.
Upon going through a door, Max finds himself in a room very similar to Punchinello's office, but the walls of the room are on fire. He sees a letter on the desk, and it reads "You are in a graphic novel", reflecting on the various moments when his words appear in baloons, his life being in fragmented stillshots, all of which horrifies him. After reading the letter, he answers a nearby phone and hears a familiar voice speaking nonsensically. Going into the next room, Max is once again in that same room, with another letter and ringing phone on the desk. Reading the letter, Max learns that he is in a computer game, reflecting on the various abilities and weapons that he possesses, all of which horrifies him. Answering the phone, Max hears the same familiar voice, telling him that he's been drugged and how he needs to wake up. Through the next door, Max is seemingly back in the dream version of his house and continues exploring, climbing stairs, and walking through familiar, yet distorted, rooms.
After going through an upstairs room and into a long corridor, Max comes across another blood trail, eventually finding a bloody crib. After seeing the crib, Max is suddenly in his and his wife's bedroom, with his wife's dead body on the bed and himself as an NYPD Detective. Max screams "Murderer! You killed her!" at his other self, shooting him down. Max then recalls his wife mentioning a strange memo that came across her desk possibly regarding Vikings. Max then interrupts her, saying they will talk more about it that evening (which, in fact, never happened).
Characters[]
- Max Payne
- Nicole Horne (cutscene)
- Killer Suits (cutscene)
- Rose Payne (voice)
- Michelle Payne (voice and dead body)
PS2[]
On the PS2 version, this chapter is divided into three sub-chapters: A Vortex of Green Blood, Funny as Hell and The Killer Was Smiling.
Trivia[]
- It is not explained how Max actually escaped the Punchinello manor. The graphic novel scenes of the next chapter (Take Me to Cold Steel) suggest that Max woke up outside the manor. It is possible that during the nightmare, he wandered away (sleepwalked) outside the manor premises and escaped potential mobsters and police arriving at the scene. Possibly, Max evading freezing to death may be attributed to the effects of the Valkyr overdose, enabling him to reach safety in time.
- If the player enters the blood maze and then goes back to Max's distorted apartment, muffled sounds of his wife and daughter crying, along with Max's speeding heartbeat, gasping and trembling, can be heard, all of which become more and more intense the farther back the player goes and vice-versa. Those sounds cease once the player re-enters the blood maze.
- There is a cut dialogue between Alex Balder and B.B. in this mission, they are supposed to appear in the Michelle and Max's room with B.B. holding Alex in gunpoint. There's a video that shows it.
- Alex Balder: What? B.B.!
- B.B.: What can I tell you. I'm working for her.
- This dialogue foreshadowing B.B.'s confession that he killed Alex in Roscue Street Station and being an agent working with Nicole Horne, and the reason they don't show up on the mission is because it would be too early to the player discover that B.B. was a traitor.
Obtainable Accomplishments[]
Complete 'Part III Prologue: A Bit Closer To Heaven' on any difficulty
10 POINTS
Video[]