This game was honestly everything that I was hoping for from the first one. They improved on just about everything. Most importantly they kept the cool psychological levels while getting rid of the god-awful platforming. The location variety is an improvement but it was still mostly the same dull apartments, at the very least the few times you do backtrack its to the most interesting area in the game. Just like in the original the voice acting and dialogue is incredible and really sell the tone, plus all the henchmen dialogue or advertisements on TV you'll pass by are pretty funny. I think all of that is improved here though, as while the story is still told pretty cryptically it was actually interesting this time around. Im not gonna say I understand it but I think it was well paced with a good conclusion.
The combat itself also felt a lot more enjoyable. I played the first on ps4 and then this on a laptop with an awful trackpad (do not recommend) so it certainly wasnt the controls. I think overall outside of a few mildly annoying sections its a lot more balanced and I never got mad at it like i did with the first. The enemy ragdolls flicks wildly between realism and absurdity so killing enemies is always a good time, only real complaint there is that I feel like blood levels were too minimal, but I might just be a weirdo. Another thing worth mentioning is that the checkpoints are horrendous, but you can save at any time. I feel like this encourages saving every ten seconds and kinda takes away from the experience but maybe I just suck and was playing wrong, who knows. And while its mostly pretty subtle, the soundtrack fits really splendidly.
Overall, Max Payne 2 is everything a sequel should be. It improves on all the fun stuff, continues the story in a compelling way and all In all just makes it hard to wanna go back to the original.

Time Played - 8 hours 15 minutes
Nancymeter - 85/100
Game Completion #31 of 2022
March Completion #10

"Max Payne 2" tem tudo, mas falta algo

É a segunda vez que zero Max Payne 2 esse ano, mas ainda tenho sentimentos mistos sobre ele, esse jogo tem tudo para me fazer gostar dele, uma gameplay mais refinada e mais divertida, melhores atuações e cinemáticas e uma ótima história que solidifica o Max como o personagem noir e miserável que ele é, porém, esse acabou sendo o pior da trilogia pra mim, mas ele ainda é um ótimo jogo que eu recomendo todo mundo jogar caso tenham jogado o primeiro.

Uma coisa que eu tenho que mencionar é que eles fizeram um ótimo trabalho em fazer o mundo reagir as suas ações e te dar muito mais interatividade, os cenários estão mais bonitos, detalhados e no geral o jogo escorre atmosfera e personalidade, é uma boa sequência que eu não consegui gostar tanto quanto os outros da trilogia mas que eu recomendo fortemente.

Pra mim, Max Payne 1 tem uma ótima história que é acompanhada por uma gameplay que, embora tenha uma boa fundação, acaba apresentando muitos momentos de tentativa e erro ou simplesmente partes muito difíceis, Max Payne 3 por outro lado, tem uma história lamentável mas que traz consigo uma gameplay incrível com tantas setpieces que te carregam do começo ao fim, Max Payne 2 tem um pouco de cada qualidade desses dois jogos, mas não o suficiente pra se tornar memorável, eu não sei, talvez eu seja enviesado pra falar já que gostei tanto do primeiro jogo e do terceiro.

I felt the rise of that old familiar feeling

An extremely good follow-up to the original Max Payne that is leaps and bounds from the original game in so many ways but the overall premise of the scenario and writing which I found to be weaker than the original premise for the story. That said, this game is a true technical marvel especially for a 2003 game and playing it nineteen years later still holds up extremely well especially in the texture work and models. On paper it just seems like a straight improvement over the original but I feel like it lost a bit of its edge as well. Funnily enough this is the Max Payne I've spent the most time in just because of the gameplay and the mods are even more out there especially the cinema mod.

The overall conspiracy feels less inspired than the original and Max's personal anguish this time around is the full center and focus of this narrative. I couldn't even put my finger on it either but there's just some questionable moments in the story that I found off putting and the lack of great metaphors really hamper my overall enjoyment of the game. The nightmare levels don't even feel like nightmares in this one but more like psychedelic trips this time around. It loses that nervousness the first game manages to invoke in me but that's not to say they aren't completely bad. I will say the the little story flourishes in the enemy conversations add so much to the experience per usual and hearing how the answering machine actually remembered my call later is a great touch. The television shows have more effort put into them and you can actually see the stills used properly now as well.

That said, Max Payne 2 improves in every regard elsewhere though that it's not even funny. In the span of two years, almost every graphical asset as been improved. Weapon models, shell casing, animations, the texture work even still holds up incredibly well too. The addition of ragdolls while not remotely a huge deal now manages to be something incredible immersive especially when time is slowed to a crawl. Even more so is the improvement to Bullet Time where instead of time slowing down at a fixed amount, time slows down is based on how many enemies you kill illustrated by the golden luster of the hourglass. It will get to the point where you're acting in seconds and the enemies are almost completely still in frame all accompanied by a cool as fuck reloading animation. Even the sound of the weapons feel like they have more of an impact as well.

I can gush about the technical aspect of the second game all day but I wanted to talk about the other general improvements to gameplay. Melee and grenades finally have a hotkey of their own instead of having to select it from a menu, new weapons adding better weapon variety in the earlier acts without having to wait until Act III to use an assault rifle of any kind are many examples here. You even play as a second character during specific chapters but she isn't much different from Max other than the weapons she starts with but it's more for story purposes if anything. I will say the game introduces a few segments and chapters that felt like were added for the sake of variety instead of just being straight up fun like guiding a very slow escort for the entire chapter. Protecting someone from high above isn't too bad but without the little segments of having to move around, it would get tedious pretty fast. I will say though I felt the game to be much easier than the first title by a huge margin, I died way less and felt like enemies did way less damage in general. The adaptive difficulty seems to be present in the second title but to what extent, it definitely feels less which might be a good or bad thing but learning towards bad considering quick saving is still present.

I felt like the overall story of Max Payne 2 didn't have that much of an impact for me this time around. Max's tragic love story felt kind of forced in my honest opinion or maybe a way for Max to cope with the events of the first game. Personal experience aside, I do remember my stepfather playing this one too on the PS2 so it's not like I'm viewing this title with brand new eyes either. Technically, it's a much better game in every way and I still highly recommend playing this one nonetheless. This game is also getting a remake with the first game which I really don't feel like it needs in all honesty. This game still holds up incredibly well from a technical point that I think you shouldn't wait for the remake for this one at all. Play this as it is on PC.

"With no way to deal with the past, I kept my eyes on the road, off the rear-view mirror and the road-kill behind me. I chased lesser mysteries, other people's crimes."

The Fall of Max Payne is a slick follow-up to the original that scales back the stakes but makes the more sensible choice of portraying an intimate character drama using the ones we already know from the first game. In turn, Remedy treats us to a tragic noir love story between Max and former one-scene-wonder Mona Sax as they become entangled in a mob war.

The more personal approach to the narrative this time pays off, and I found it to be an overall improvement from the first Max Payne's story. The graphic novel interludes, of course, make a return, along with real-time cutscenes. While I appreciate the desire to mix things up more, especially with the fancy new technology at their disposal at the time, I feel that a bit of the style is lost with the reduced number of graphic novel scenes. Though it is an even trade in exchange for a stronger narrative this time around.

The gameplay remains largely the same, though that's by no means a bad thing. After all, the combat in the original was already tight and fun to play around with. What does receive a huge upgrade here, however, is the level design and the difficulty. Clearly, they listened to complaints the first time, as Max Payne 2 provides adequate challenge from beginning to end on the default difficulty. The levels themselves are far more engaging, too, with the funhouse being a particular highlight.

In short, Max Payne 2 provides a worthy follow-up to the original. It doesn't rewrite the book, but it doesn't really need to. Instead, it expands on the base experience in new and engaging ways with a stronger story at the helm.

8/10

in which max payne is really horny

i love how domestic and urban the arenas are in max payne 2. you fight in numerous apartment buildings, and one mansion. a hospital. a police station. a warehouse. a funhouse. a club under renovation. and a construction site. some of them are abandoned but not all. there aren't any real civilians but you always feel right in the heart of a beating city. there's no apocalypse. no supernatural element. each arena does feel like a centrepiece stage for a movie scene but simultaneously it feels like real life. its hard boiled noir aesthetic is laid thick and yet the game feels grounded to real life n ways i can't think too many shooters since have.

i also think most of the environments look rad, super nice art direction, and because they're mostly empty, they're very cacophonous. my kind of shooter.

This is everything I'd hoped for out of a sequel to the first Max Payne. It feels similar enough while keeping all of the good and improving greatly on the bad. Few sequels hit the mark this well.

The main gameplay feels much better just from some minor changes. A little more weapon variety, not being forced into a vulnerable stand up animation after your dive, a better grenade/melee system, and the difficulty/health system being handled in a much more sane way. This game gets what Max Payne was going for with its difficulty, enemies die quickly and kill you quickly. For the most part bullet sponge bosses are gone, and normal enemies don't benefit from the insane adaptive difficulty of the first game. Max dies quickly, but not from one shot anymore, and painkillers are abundant rather than having a scarce handful hidden out of the way in each level. Exploration off the main path feels rewarded more now with extra painkillers and ammo in places that make sense, with the main paths through levels being a bit easier to make out. I did like the environment variety in the first game while still staying on theme, but that's still done better here and with better paced levels. The presentation is also much better, the graphics and sound are a notable step up while still being on the same engine. This is especially notable in the dream sequences, which are improved in gameplay as well, doing away with the poorly implemented platforming and dull mazes. My only real complaint here are the escort missions, some of which are an okay change of pace but the ally health system can feel unfair at points, and there's one mission in particular that's a standout low for the game. Overall though it was really fun to play, and while the story and tone of the first game was what kept me going, here I really got why people love the gameplay. I really wish that there was a way to play through the first game with these updated mechanics, hopefully the remake is good.

The story is just as cheesy as the first time around, but I'm impressed with how they kept that same tone that I loved while blending the comics with real time cutscenes and much more dialogue during the levels. The first game felt like an extreme case of story being separated from gameplay most of the time. You'd fight through waves of enemies in same-y environments for half an hour (even if they did change it up between levels), and then get a bit more of the story. Here there are way more important characters talking to you in the actual levels, or bits of background info that aren't exclusively told through cutscenes. It kept my attention way better and felt like the pacing was much smoother without detracting anything from the tone of its predecessor. The ending is a slight weak point I think, it didn't feel as climactic as the first game, and the final boss fight being mechanically similar but lesser in scale didn't help with that.

This is also a shorter game, and while the pacing is excellent and I definitely prefer this to it overstaying its welcome, I would've loved more here (or just a third Max Payne game by Remedy). Still, a very easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys shooters, this is the one that people talk about when they talk about Max Payne, and I honestly think people remember the first game as being more like this than it is. I remember liking the third game, and I'd like to revisit it now that I've played the first two to see how it holds up. Also curious how much they'll change with the remake, but I'm glad I played the originals regardless. Maybe just watch the cutscenes of the first game if you're checking these out yourself and skip straight to this one, it's a great time.

Silent Hill 2 for people who like John Woo movies.

Jokes aside, this game is just perfect. Remedy's best game (I have not played Alan Wake 2 yet, will need a better PC before I get to it) and one of the best games of all time. There aren't many third person shooters that feel as satisfying as this.

''Max Payne's journey through the night continues.'' ... Welp, too bad it wasn't in the way they probably intended. lol

My favorite video game.

A beautiful story of self-destruction. Max Payne's heightened superhero levels of slo-mo and shoot dodging abilities here are not able to save anyone. This is a story primary featuring the surviving characters from the original Max Payne and by the end of Max Payne 2, all except for Max have been killed.

The only real problems I have with Max Payne 2 are minor. Explosive barrels take way to long to blow up. By the time they do, you've around ran slo-mo circles around the cleaners and blasted them with dual uzis. If I had to say what's really a problem in this game it would be the overuse of the same levels. They recycle most of them in some way. You go through the fun house three times, until they have to finally let the place blow up.

I've seen several reviews on YouTube claiming they don't understand Max falling for Mona Sax. They say this "Mona thing" happened over a couple days, how could he be so deeply in love with her? Max Payne is a noir character and he's destined to lust for Mona until the bitter end. It's really out of his control. Max Payne 1 played with Norse mythology and Max Payne 2 explores the American mythology of the hardboiled hero and the femme fatale. He's a deadly killer, she's a deadly killer, and there is no way for both of them to get out of this alive.

self-loathing as a broken funhouse mirror, distorting and reflecting back everything you hate about yourself; you see it everywhere; on billboards, on tv, in everyone else. It all seems to reaffirm the ugliness you see in yourself; you can run from it but it'll always be there, right behind you. The only way to escape is to confront the man in the mirror, to look at the twisted parody you've become and choose to do something about it; as max says "It could destroy you, drive you mad. It could set you free"

a masterpiece

I had very mixed feelings upon finishing the original Max Payne last week, so I'm very pleased that I was just able to blow through the sequel in a single sitting; this is night and day more polished than the first.

The gunplay feels snappier than ever, and I immediately noticed the separate keys for both bullet time outside of the dive and bullet time with the dive from the getgo to strengthen the plethora of approaches. Speaking of which, it's much easier to utilize bullet time in the sequel since you'll get more meter just from landing hits on opponents and it slowly regenerates over time anyways. Enemies are no longer busted from the adaptive difficulty and you can reasonably take them out with headshots from the less shaky aiming or tear through them with the automatic weapons just as they can tear through you; the shotguns are finally fixed this time around too, without the constant bullet spongyness from adaptive difficulty and enemies not having all their shotgun bullets lined up perfectly able to snipe you from 50 feet away.

The presentation's been upped too; the characters have much more expressive and animated faces, the comics look just a tad bit sharper, the dream sequences feel more woozy thanks to the wobbly camera (and don't have flimsy 3D platforming on tightropes), and you get to see Max do a sick spinny reload animation whenever you're fighting in slowmo. I didn't think there was much they could have done to improve upon the overly serious and dark noir themes of the original, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. And you can finally skip the cutscenes so you don't have to worry about constant saving to avoid unskippable cutscenes!

Only complaint really is that some of the "protect the ally" missions where you have to pick off enemies before they down your friend can result in scenarios where you get soft locked if your ally has taken too much damage and you run out of old saves, since there's no way to heal allies and they will probably take some inevitable damage. Other than that, the ante's been upped and the heroic bloodshed's back and better than ever with tightened & over the top combat; no reservations recommending this over the original (though maybe you'll still want to watch the cutscenes as the original sets up the sequel well) and this was a blast to run through.

-feel like the other two games in the series do a fantastic job at making u feel as alone as max constantly is and he’s rlly not alone here like at all. too many characters are introduced, too many names mentioned, too much time spent protecting others or having them protect you. the nyc of the first game and sao paulo in three are map designs held up by lonely alleyways that exist only for you to kill as many ppl as u can as quick as possible and this rlly isn’t. the streets feel too alive and it disconnects you from the story bc max is so clearly not a real guy. he only feels real and believable when by himself and stewing in his own self pity and regrets

-has like very strange tonal dissonance that isn’t as present in other remedy games and def feels more like the rockstar influence on this one

-love how much of the in game television content in this is seemingly remedy taking shots at themselves which that’s funny and cute and self aware in a way that’s not fucking annoying. sam lake’s writing is always so deeply unsubtle and on the nose,, makes me smile seeing schizophrenic written in blood or all the diff times it’s mentioned that max is in a computer game.

-I don’t like the story here as much as 1/3 bc max is a piggy here :-// max isn’t acab here :-((

-tbh think mona’s face is probably modeled after julianne moore which fucking owns lol

-would actually be so surprised if anything they’ve ever done is better than the funhouse level

I mean, it's almost as if they traveled forwards in time, read my review of the first game, saw the things I wished were improved, saw the things I didn't like, and just improved all of them.

The gameplay feels so much tighter than the first one, the graphics are frankly beautiful, the voice acting is better, even the story is better. My biggest issue with the first game's story was how generic it was due to it being so influential to future games. This game, while it still has some classic beats of detective thrillers and crime dramas, had a much more compelling and unique story. I was engaged the entire time.

This is also where you can start to really see the Remedy branding come in to play. The first game had a lot of features that are absolutely reminiscent of modern Remedy, but this is where you really see that flower blooming. Specifically, the various TV spots like Lords and Ladies and Address Unknown really add so much character, there are so many fun dream sequences/set pieces, and without spoiling anything, the Vincent Gognitti part screamed Remedy.

I described the first game as having a lot of potential to be one of my favorite games of all time if the remake irons out my issues with it. I dare say that Max Payne 2 COULD be on that favorites list, and I will say with certainty that it's going on my Honorable Mentions list as soon as I post this review.

Like Hotline Miami, I spent a lot of time during the last 18 or so months playing Max Payne, but rather than aiming for the 100% completion route, I would instead pair it with DJ Shadow's Endtroducing..... and just replay my favorite levels on some of the harder difficulties. My love for the original game's writing and atmosphere are still there, but playing it this way for so long has oddly turned it into a comfort game of sorts, as I'd just sit back, turn my brain off, and blast gangsters away with dual Beretta pistols to the tune of songs like "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" and "Midnight in a Perfect World". Because of how much I loved the first game, I was incredibly excited to check out its two follow-ups, and while Max Payne 3 did look the most intriguing due to how different it was from the rest of the series, I've heard enough people say that Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne was the peak of the trilogy to make me look forward to finally playing it.

At first, I found it somewhat difficult to compare this game to its predecessor due to how similar they are, but Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne got just enough right for me to consider it to be the better of the two games. On top of the gunplay and heroic-bloodshed-inspired bullet-time mechanics feeling just that much better and tighter, I thought that the levels were much more consistent in their design, as the first game's sudden difficulty spike towards the end was swapped out in favor of having each chapter get gradually more difficult while still feeling fair. The levels were also much more varied here in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, with the levels allowing you to play as Mona Sax being especially fun thanks to their tense sniper sequences. Although this didn't have the snowed-in atmosphere of the first game, I still thought that the presentation in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne improved on what was accomplished in the original game, as the more detailed character models, comic panel cutscenes, pitch-perfect voice acting, and violin-heavy score complimented the grimy, run-down apartment buildings and decrepit funhouses that the game's shootouts take place in.

In terms of gameplay, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne improved on what the first game already did so well while still retaining that game's general feel, but I wasn't expecting it to also surpass the original game in terms of storytelling. Rather than diving into a national conspiracy, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne focused more on Max's relationship with Mona Sax while still having its fair share of twists, betrayals, and battles against Payne's own inner demons, and this character-focused approach made the plot feel much more engrossing to me while still lining up with the first game's mood of hard-boiled film noir. Max Payne was an already dark game, but the tone here was even more bleak and cynical, as Max is constantly pushed to his mental and physical limits over the course of the story. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne was a terrific follow-up to an already amazing game, and despite how it will be quite a while before I end up playing through Max Payne 3, that doesn't change just how excited I am to try it out.

Uma daquelas obras que não envelhecem nunca.

A trama é o velho noir cheio de clichês, mas que ainda funciona carregando muito drama nos acontecimentos da história.

Joguei o jogo com a adaptação da Steam de teclado para controle, e funcionou super bem, em momento nenhum tive dificuldades por conta dos controles. Essa jogabilidade gostosa em terceira pessoa, é algo que só a Remedy faz tão bem!

(A versão Steam do primeiro estava com muitos bugs, por isso desisti e pulei logo pro segundo da franquia.)

A sequel that very much rings more hollow than the iconic first instalment in terms of its narrative, but makes up for it in spades with small but absolutely essential upgrades to the gameplay that leaves it a lesser, but still worthy follow-up.

Now, that's not to say that I consider the story in this game to be bad, by any stretch. The steps the narrative takes to follow on from the first game is to be commended - my issues lie in the style of which this second outing is presented. The comic book cutscenes remain, but the writing comes across as less snappy - the metaphors are heavily toned down and James McCaffrey's line reads are far dryer, with less of the biting cynicism and more of a cold emptiness. In-game cutscenes are animated in better quality, but lose the pseudo-cinematic direction of the original. Most of all, the story itself is a deeply personal one, to Max himself, rather than the conspiracies of the original he found himself tangled up in - no longer as much of a throwback to the noir crime dramas the original game was a loving homage to.

To put it simply, this felt like a sequel that was never expected to happen, and becomes something different. But that's not to say different is bad.

While the story still remains interesting - certain odd choices and flashbacks/flashforwards aside - it's the gameplay that forms the star attraction this time around, and just as well, because Remedy brought their A-game. Movement feels much smoother (aside from the weird jumping that brings you to a dead stop mid-air like a cartoon character, not sure what's up with that), the shooting is more responsive, the quicksave adaptive difficulty bug brings enemy reflexes and accuracy back down to sane levels. Bullet time is also overhauled, making it less about dodging the slowed-down bullets and more about landing more shots before the goons can fire back, and the bullet-dodge is finally not mapped to the same button as regular bullet time, a big problem from 1. You even get a very cool spin-around fast reload animation, to further incentivise usage.

With all of 1's worst elements addressed and fixed, 2 does not stop there - ragdoll and physics objects are implemented throughout and Remedy have a lot of fun with how they're presented. Certain enemies get a special slow-mo killcam as their body violently descends off of a sheer drop, hitting multiple objects on their way down or landing in a trashcan. The physics objects are mainly just there to look cool, but holy shit for a 2003 game, they blew me away. Little pieces of debris from an explosion slowly falling over as you nudge them really adds so much to so many setpieces, but Remedy wisely stop short of making them any kind of important gameplay mechanic - I mean, this was post-Trespasser and pre-Half Life 2, so I guess that makes a lot of sense.

Level design is far more enjoyable than 1, with surprisingly large-scale areas to engage in combat in, and a lot of entertaining side details to explore or ignore at your leisure. Guard conversations, unread answer machine messages that add extra story details and those random TV shows that have become Remedy tradition from what I've heard. The AI is also very well-made, aggressively chasing the player when you take cover, diving for cover when being shot at themselves, and lobbing grenades and/or molotovs; although their aim is a little haphazard.

My major complaint, if I have to be honest, is the difficulty; I feel like I breezed through the first chapter, and it's to be expected due to one baffling decision: forcing the first playthrough to be on Easy. I don't know if they were afraid of game journalists or something, but whatever the case the game sadly bombed in terms of sales anyway, putting the series on the back burner for a good long time until Rockstar went it alone with Max Payne 3: although given the story in 2, perhaps it would have been better had the series moved on peacefully. I'll just have to see what it brings to the table once I've played it.

So, at the end of the day, the story? I think it's a little worse. The gameplay? Much, much better. Absolute must for third-person shooter fans, or honestly just videogame enjoyers in general.

Just another tremendous game in the series from Remedy, with a refocused tone, and a vision that seems more realized with a bigger budget and advanced technology. This one hurt, emotionally. There's so much to love (and hate) here, it's baked in atmosphere, full of humor, drama, surrealism, love, anger, hate, pain, and death. It's on the shorter side so I will definitely be replaying this game on a harder difficulty sooner than later. Probably stands as my favorite shooter of the Xbox / PS2 era, though I've not played too many, probably dethroning Halo: Combat Evolved.

very satisfying in terms of a narrative end cap, of course. not the complete slam dunk iterating on the first game was ideally going to lead to otherwise.

combat gameplay sees an improvement if only because the adaptive difficulty feels less overbearing (i'm pretty sure it's still here, though) which makes getting through the thing less of a headache. unfortunately level design takes a hit with everything feeling a bit less creative (especially the nightmare sequences) overall. the game ending on reusing shooting small parts of the environment to progress the final boss was a bummer. it was bad in Max Payne and it might have been even worse here due to the external pressure of enemy fire making the already finicky hitboxes worse.

looking forward to playing Max Payne 3 someday even though i expect the story to be a shit show. the gameplay looks to be like a powerhouse among third person shooters.

Marvelously written, Sam. Beautiful balancing of idiosyncratic Runyonesque darkly-comedic screenwriting onto hard-hitting, sentimentally drowning Shakesperean tragedy. Every swing hits to the chest in the best-worst way possible for majestic Noir glory. Technologically polished too, added physics and guntotting madness for our trigger-happy amusement which just clicks abundantly satisfying to distract us from the emotional damage. Seems awfully more downing if we say goodbye to Sam Lake's Payne from here onto the Rockstar sendoff. There's no reason for that incredible catharsis that final Poets of the Fall needle drop to hit so tremendously by the end. The witchcraft of evocative storytelling.

Max Payne 2 was released a little over a year from the original and a surprising amount of fat was cut from the original. It’s the same game, but more refined and updated and feels more tightly woven than its predecessor. A lot of problems were fixed, but new ones arose as well. The narrative continues right after the first game with Max still trying to avenge the death of his wife and child, still trying to get to the bottom of The Inner Circle, and a new love blooms: Mona Sax.


The game starts off similarly to the first game, we get some weird trippy dream sequences, but they aren’t nearly as awful with zero platforming this time. Once you are in control of Max you can instantly feel the difference. He has more weight, his animations are smoother, and gunplay overall just feels punchier and sharper. More weapons were introduced with many old ones coming back. The new M4 and Kolishnokov weapons are a great addition, but unnecessary. One assault rifle is good enough as well as the addition of the HP5, but the Ingrams do just fine for a sub-machine gun. While the older weapons pack more of a punch the new weapons just feel like they were added just to add to the weapon count, less would have been fine. A new dedicated projectile button has been added so you can throw grenades and molotovs without equipping them.

Bullet Time has been refined and fixed as well. Max can now spin around in a 360-degree motion while dodging and the bullets impact harder and there’s less of a delay when you shoot. There is also better feedback on enemies when hit as they stumble more and drop their weapons so you know they’re dead in bullet time. Max can also stay lying down while continuing to empty a clip so the delay in getting up doesn’t make you completely vulnerable as the first game did. The difficulty has been dialed way back and I died a lot less than in the first game. All these great fixes and additions make Max Payne 2 the better of the two games already.


When it comes to level design, Max Payne 2 has more interesting levels like a creepy funhouse, a sprawling mansion, a construction site, and some apartment slums, but there’s a lot of backtracking and I feel the overall scope of the game feels claustrophobic. The variety is better, but you explore those few areas longer and I just feel I wanted to see more of New York inside this noire world Max lives in. Also, gone are the boss fights so the game feels better paced and I felt a tempo of gameplay going that the first didn’t have. However, the game is much shorter clocking in at 4-5 hours. There aren’t any collectibles or anything like that so once you fly through the game it’s over and there’s no reason to ever go back honestly.


Max Payne 2 is a memorable ride. The story is still told in those awesome comic strips, and I feel at the end of the game we get to know Max and Mona well enough to understand their characters and want them on screen more. Their love story is a great centerpiece for this Mafia revenge tale and it makes Max and Mona feel more human. There’s still a cliffhanger at the end of the story, and a third Max Payne game didn’t come until a decade later, but what we get is one of the best single-player shooters of the PS2/Xbox era. It’s tightly compacted and solid and while its short, sometimes that means quality and that is rare even to this day.