Say what you like about Rockstar’s fondness for horrorshow ultraviolence, lowlife criminality and the occasional bit of table tennis, but they surely know how to make a great looking videogame, as these new screens of Max Payne 3 brilliantly demonstrate.

Rockstar Vancouver is handling development, although other divisions will be chipping-in as needs be. Max himself seems to have aged a bit – 12 years, in fact. He’s shed a few too many follicles too, by the looks of it. Fortunately age and hair-loss have not wearied him. If anything he’s more easy to anger than ever – a possible side-effect of his addiction to painkillers, but a more likely reaction to his world-wearied existence and the unavoidable fact that the fella’s a veritable aggro-magnet.

Max’s newest backstory is as grim and gritty as you’d expect from Rockstar. He’s long since departed the NYPD and now finds himself odd-jobbing and providing personal protection for a wealthy family in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Think again if that fill your head with images of tropical idylls – Sao Paolo is invitingly described as one of the world’s deadliest and most crime-ridden cities. And that's in a country where murder is the #1 cause of death among the young and ruthless street gangs run amok.

One such is ‘Primeiro Comando da Capital’, aka the PCC, who are responsible for robberies, kidnappings, prison breaks/riots and, of course, plentiful drug-trafficking. If they’re not in the game itself they’ll certainly be the inspiration for the charming characters that Max finds himself doing business with.

In gameplay terms Max Payne 3 keeps to the story/character-driven template of earlier outings, albeit pumped up Rockstar-style, with a pleasing array of sophisticated weapons, dual-wield capabilities, extra-mature themes, Bullet-Time segments and so on. Rockstar’s proprietary RAGE engine is pressed into service alongside Natural Motion and advanced particle physics tech, all of which must make the new intelligent cover system and close-quarters fisticuffs very compelling indeed.

In short, we’re already feeling the cuts and bruises, but absolutely can’t wait to lay hands on the game when it launches on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms this winter. Bring the Payne!