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.
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.