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.
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.