Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

"A solid sequel to a revolutionary game."

There are some games that are so good; they can spawn a whole genre of clones that are nowhere near as good as the one that started it all. Max Payne was a game that started a whole new way of playing video games. With the bullet time feature, Max Payne single-handedly changed the way games are played. But that was two years ago. Since then there have been tons of games that try to capture the magic of this game but fail (Dead to Rights). Now, after two years, they made a sequel to Max Payne! I couldn’t wait to play this game. But how do they follow a game like Max Payne? Let’s see.

Gameplay: 8/10
Max Payne: The Fall of Max Payne still features the same bullet time feature that we know and love. This game still has the over the top running and gunning that is featured in the first Max Payne. But in this game, you get to also get to play as femme fatale Mona Sax. She helps Max Payne in his quest for vengeance and has a Desert Eagle that can take any man down. But, the problem is that absolutely NOTHING has changed. Yeah, so you get to play as a different character with ONE new weapon, and you can pick up painkillers from fallen bad guys, but that it is it! That doesn’t mean squat!

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics in this game are pretty good. I am glad that the characters’ faces don’t look as if they were just stapled onto their heads. It is also good that Max doesn’t have that constipated look on his face anymore. There were some flaws though. If you engaged in a high-action firefight, there would be some major slow down problems. Also, even though the cut scenes were better than the last game, some objects would look blocky like a psx game.

Sound: 9/10
The sound in the game was pretty good. I like how some of the guns sounded and the other sound effects. The music was brooding and tragic, and it set the mood for the game. I did notice one flaw though. When I was playing as Mona, she would sometimes talk with Max’s voice.

Control: 9/10
The control is pretty solid. It does take a little bit of time to get used to it for you newcomers, but I still thought the controls were pretty good.

Overall, I thought Max Payne 2 was a worthy to the original Max Payne that we all know and love. But, I do have to say, rent this game because it is really short like the last one.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/04