The Matrix

The Matrix, the 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, popularized the bullet time effect that the first Max Payne was among the first games to feature. Because comparisons to the film were inevitable, the designers worked several homages into the game: blowing open the subway tunnel door to reach the bank vault echoes the film's cartwheeling elevator door, and the opening "Nothing to Lose" level resembles its lobby shootout. Futuremark, which licensed the MAX-FX graphics engine for 3DMark, added a Matrix-style lobby shootout as a test in the 2001 benchmark, and Remedy later claimed that gamers thought of Max Payne rather than The Matrix when they thought of bullet time.