Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

"Lays in the Shadow of Max Payne"

I have to admit, Max Payne redefined my views on the Action Game Genre, replacing it with nothing but thoughts and views of the almighty Bullet-Time, with awesome story telling through graphic novels, and awesome voice acting and sound to bring the whole armosphere together. Hinder with rough graphics, the game did bog down from time to time, but still, I loved Max Payne for the gameplay. Hell, I would actually choose the story over the gameplay for some reason, I reall just don't know why. The game has a awesome atmoshpere, taking place in New York City during the worst blizzard of the century, where you, as Max Payne, suffered real-life trauma as your wife was murdered by some druggies, causing you to go underground and investigate the drug, only to find yourself being wrapped up in the under-world of thugs, drugs, and mobs. Oh, and you were also framed for murder!

Will, Max Payne 2 begins where 1 ended. Max has just left court, being defended by Alfred Woden ,the man to be considered the God of New York city. Max's life has become crappy. He has been forced to move to a junkie apartment in a junkie building, living off his worthless days, sleeping on his couch with his wife's picture and wedding ring by his side. But one day, when Max was on patrol, he was informed of a shooting heard down at the warehouse. Max load's his guns, and arives at the scene of the crime, and rushes into the building. After witnessing a gruesome death, Max meets Mona Saxx, one of his old compatriots from Max Payne 1. But wasn't she dead? That's where the story begins, wrapping you up into the hells of New York City.

GRAPHICS: 5/10

I mean, this is horrible. This could be ported over to the PSone probably ( Mabye I'm over exagerating). The enviroment is muddy and ugly, and the textures are a mix between vomit and dirt, which comes off horrible. Some of the textures coulda easily been ripped right from a SNES game. Yeah, SNES! I'm serious. Some plants and flowers found across New York City are in 16 bit! Funny, I remember the PC version having full 3-D plants, and hell, that game did nothing PS2 couldn't do! The FPS comes off at around 30 during a clear screen, but when 4 guys make an appearance, it drops to about 15. These are the first GFKs to render the gameplay, and I'm not even a GFX whore!

SOUND : 7/10

James Mccarfery ( That's how you spell it, right?) returns to give his legendary performance ( heh), but a few other voices fail into giving that awesome presentation. Like Mona's, for example, and Winterson has no emotions at all. Gun-Shots are awesome, and even sound different during bullet time, while explosions sound deeper then before, but sometimes, the sound will either go off synch, or skip and cause some cut-scenes to go hay-wire

GAMEPLAY : 7/10

Wow, there is absolutley no updates to the gameplay really, besides a few new bullet time tricks ( You can now fire from the ground, and reload faster during bullet time). You basically do the same thing. Plus, I also noticed that the puzzles from before are no longer here, so you basicaly are just running through the game, shooting everything you can. It really bogs it down. Grenades have their own button now, so it makes things easier to use, but really, you'd expect a update on the gameplay over-all.

OVERALL : 6/10

Replay value seems the same, and the story is lacking something. Also, Max Payne just seems more older, and not as gritty as before, and you can actually notice it. The story isn't as good as before, and the Graphics really do hinder down the gameplay. You'll take notice, and pawn it as soon as your through.

BUY OR RENT:

Rent. You'll beat it before it really ends actually.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/04