Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

"With a riveting story, improved gameplay, Max Payne 2 deserves high praise for gaming integrity."

Max Payne 2 for the Playstation 2 is probably one of the most underrated games to slip under the radar of the mainstream videogame public. What hurts Max Payne 2 in sales isn't the game itself, but the system itself. Obviously with the XBox and PC, you're always going to have a faster and cleaner game simply by virtue of being more powerful, so comparing the PS2 port to other ports is simply unfair and useless as once you've played either version (PS2, XB, PC), you're unlikely to bother with the other version. With that being said, Max Payne 2 deserves credit for being a great game.

Graphically, the game is dark, gritty, and subtle toned in colors and palettes. It fits the total mood of the game and the characters that play them. There is a little lag when the screen swarms with enemies, but it's still a much better improvement over the last game where the frame rate would drop to almost half when the screen filled with enemies and bullets. Load times are probably the only flaw in the game, as they are pretty abundant and take a while to end, but it hardly stops the action because the game itself is smartly divided into Parts and Chapters that allows players to soak in the story. You can say that the load times are a bit of a blessing as the player can take time to decipher the storyline, but albeit, the load times are still a bit too long. Hardly a flaw if you're a patient gamer.

MP2 doesn't separate itself much from the last game in terms of music. There's very few musical tracks in the game, but there are some upbeat-techno music that plays when Mona and Max are together during action scenes. However, the game heavily relies on sound and they are pretty much accurately reproduced to their real life nature. Thunder, rain falling on roof tops, and explosions are all part of the game as it takes place entirely at night. The voice work is top-notch. James McCaffrey is back as the deep-voice of Max Payne and Mona Sax is played by the richly deep-sexy-voiced Wendy Hoopes. Most of the voice acting is stoic and cold-hearted in nature, befitting the game ever more gracefully as characters grow and develop to a point where it seems like you've actually known them your whole life. The voices are what makes the story go, even the accents are right down to the origin, and because of this Max Payne 2 watches like a 4 star movie.

Replay Value is somewhat decent. You get extra modes like New York minute and Hard-Boiled, and most of the modes are only tougher rehashes of the actual game itself. Though it sounds like the extra modes are not worth playing, they are surprisingly fun...though admittingly the game really lacks potent extras to keep the player interested for long after completion of the game. The true replay value lies in the thick and engrossing storyline that can make most RPGs hide in their closet. I found myself playing the game over again just to rehash the story in my mind as well as connect the links from the first game to this one. However, it is worth noting that Max Payne 2 is an entirely playable game without having played the first one.

Max Payne 2 delivers in every possible way in the game play department. Although the formula hasn't changed from the last game, there are some noticable additions that makes the game too hard to resist. What Remedy likes to call "Bullet Time 2.0" is a slight improvement over bullet time from the previous game. This time, Bullet Time refills automatically without you having to shoot an enemy, but it does build up quicker if you do. However, the major addition to bullet time is that Max Payne is able to move in real time during bullet time...but this happens only when the bullet time meter turns yellow. Essentially Max can move twice as fast as his opponents and because the bullets he shoots are done in real time, his bullets move twice as fast as his opponents'. This is a huge advantage for Max Payne, who will probably kill hundreds upon hundreds of mobs, thugs, and street lords. What's even more cool during bullet time is the reload animation is altered, so that Max or Mona swirl and reload quickly...almost 3x as fast as they would out of bullet time. This gives the player an even greater advantage. Fortunately, bullet time recovers rather quickly, giving the player ample opportunity to use it.

Somewhat new to the game is "Shootdodge." While the actual move isn't really new, the concept of the move is new. This ability allows the player to jump in any direction in bullet time while allowing the player to shoot. It acts like bullet time, but doesn't use up any bullet time. This is what you can call "cool" as you can bust right through a door using this and quickly look around the room with the analog stick, all while the enemy takes time to react to your entrance. It is Matrix-esque in a sense, but often much-cooler. It gives the player another arsenal at his or her disposal.

Like the last game, at first it appears that aiming in this game can be a total pain. However, Remedy realizes that PS2 users will have a much more difficult time competing with a mouse(for PC users), and to "remedy" this, the crosshair(you can choose which crosshair you want) just gives the player a general idea of where s/he is shooting. So you don't have to exactly aim the crosshairs on the target, just near the target. The controls take some getting use to if you're not familiar with the layout, but it's hard to imagine a better control scehme than Max Payne 2.

Game play is much like the last game, you shoot down your enemies till you find the answers Max is looking for. To help Max, there is a great arsenal of weapons at his disposal. What helps even more is that the game gives plenty of ammo, so much ammo that one would need to mindlessly blast away if the player actually runs out. What's new now is that Max is able to use two different weapons at once. One button is assigned a manual weapon like a Golden Eagle or an Dragunov while another is assigned a throwing weapon like a grenade or molotov cocktail. This is definitely an improvement from the last game as you obviously would have a hard time fighting 4 guys with one grenade. The slight modification of the sniper rifle in this game results in the camera following the path of the bullet to its target(which is just a fantastic sequence), but the animation only ensues if you will actually hit your target...which is a welcomed addition because you can miss and not have to worry about getting back into position before the enemy gets the jump on you. The control scheme is so intensive in this game that every button has a legitimate function, even L3/R3 buttons. You can shoot dodge, duck, aim fast, switch between weapons, etc all with the touch of a button. Despite the complexities of this game, mastering the controls take little time, which is a great welcome for new Max Payne players.

The AI in the game could use a little work, but for the most part it does a great job of fitting in with the game. If you throw a grenade in their vicinity, they often try to get out of the way...however, they stagnate if they are not alerted of your prescence and will blow up without much of a fight. Often, just as you approach enemies before they see you, you can overhear their conversations. Whether it's talking about a new movie, watching porn videos, the conversations you overhear are often hilarious and are a nice addition to the game.

Also new to this game are allies. Most of them are temporarily frank, but they do help you in some cases. When you control Max, often he might encounter an armed hooker or an armed bum or even a group of Italian mobs. Mona/Max (depending on who you control) will be your ally as well. You even have old ladies helping you out, but like all allies other than Mona, you can kill them if you like, even if they do help increase your chance of survival. Although you can control Mona for a good portion of the game, she isn't much different from Max other than appearance. The environment itself is pretty interactive as you can check telephone messages, watch TV, knock down boxes, or break dishes.

The storyline and vocal talent is what really compels Max Payne 2 into another level of gaming. Without the story, the action sequences probably wouldn't be much fun because you wouldn't have a purpose to playing the game. Like the last game, Max Payne 2 starts far from the beginning of the story and works his way from the beginning. The vocal captions of Max Payne as he describes the action scenes really helps break down the storyline from the one perspective that matters most: Max Payne's. While the game play is linear, the storyline often immerses the player to move forward as quick as possible so that they can continue to novel. The game uses no FMVs(other than the ending and intro), but instead relies on graphic novels that read more like a comicbook...just like the last game. The artwork matches the game; dark, gritty, and cold. It's actually sometimes a more welcomed change to FMVs, as usually seldom do motion video ever push a story along...it usually is just there to show off what the developer can do.

Overall: 10/10
Max Payne is definitely one of the more underrated games to hit a Sony console since Mega Man Legends 2. The game almost spells gaming perfection and I almost envy PC players who get the full advantage of their gaming machines. But the PS2 version is not nearly as bad as the "official" reviewers make it look like. Max Payne 2 plays like a superb action game, reads like an engulfing novel, and watches like a 4-star movie. If you're not playing Max Payne 2, you're doing yourself a serious disfavor.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/04