Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Max Payne is one of the all time iconic game trilogies, and for very good reason. The second game in the series cements it firmly in the canon of all-time-great games, both for it's incredibly tight gameplay and for Sam Lake's first truly great story. This is, for the most part, how sequels should be done; an improvement on many aspects of the first game, without losing the heart that makes both games work. The few issues I do have are far outweighed by the many positives, and if you haven't played these original games, just do it. If you need more words to convince you, then here you go! The gameplay in Max Payne 2 is a step-up from the original game in pretty much every way possible, without losing the incredible fun of the slow-motion shooting and dodge-shots. It's pretty obvious that the addition of the Havok physics engine influenced many of the gameplay choices, and boy, they were on the money with those. Instead of the sometimes clunky pre-rendered death animations from MP1, enemies now go flying with appropriate force after you land the final hit, and their corpse can hit tables, computers, boxes, and so much more on the way down, really adding to the movie-like feel of the game. This means that in some situations, you can blow up enemies' cover with a grenade, or shoot it out of the way to make the follow-up much easier to land. Bullet-time is mostly the same, but shoot-dodging is massively improved. In MP1, when you land on the ground during a shoot-dodge, Max awkwardly stops shooting, and has to do a recovery animation to get back in the fight. Here, you can continue shooting from the ground for a while, something that comes in handy in many fights, and the exceedingly long recovery animation was cut down by a lot. The weapon progression feels much more natural here, and with the better physics and damage system, pretty much every weapon is a viable choice all the way through, although some are clearly superior. Max also handles much better, and the jumping/dodging feels way more accurate to what you intend to do, leading to less frustrating shoot-dodges or jumps. The levels are also pretty enjoyable and an improvement over the original, with wider areas to fight in, and less completely linear hallway sequences. The fact you can duel-wield the SMGs on its own gives the game a free extra point for me, and I always appreciate a hard hitting version of the MP5. Max also has a fantastic looking John Woo-esque reload when you run out of bullets during bullet-time, which is amazing from a thematic angle, but also helps bullet-time not feel wasted when you are low on ammo. The enemy spawning is also FAR better than MP1, they no longer pop out of the blue, and are instead properly telegraphed. The weapon spread may be a mixed bag, depending on your opinions, as MP1 had a pretty consistent "bullet-hose" effect, especially while in bullet-time, whereas this game has a lot more bloom/spread. I personally think that makes the game much more fun, but I could see how it is occasionally annoying. On the story front, you can really tell this is Sam Lake hitting his stride on how he wants to tell stories; a fantastic blend of dark humor and genuine emotion. It loses some of the more campy action-hero moments from MP1, but more than makes up for it with the far more interesting look at Max himself. The interactable elements from the first game that would pop up with mini-comics are gone, but the TV shows scattered throughout the game are fantastically funny, and do a lot to help explain some of the more esoteric elements of the story. They are an element that clearly Sam Lake loved, as they go on to show up in both Alan Wake and Control, in similarly funny but clearly purposeful ways. I will say, I do miss the weirder aspects from MP1, like the bizarre Valkyr sequence, but the nightmare chapters are far less annoying in their gameplay, and use some pretty cool camera tricks to accomplish their goal. There are also far more in-game cutscenes, but the comic framing is still well in place. Arguably, it's sad for Max as a character that MP3 exists, as the end of the story sees him seemingly feeling much better than the end of MP1 left him, but I get why Rockstar did what they did. I do miss Sam Lake's face being Max Payne's, but having a real actor do the face work for the comic sections does add a lot more credibility to Lake's writing. Max's relationship with Mona is shockingly well written for what I was expecting going in, and it manages to avoid a decent amount of tropes that were very prevalent in video game women at the time this game came out. I'm not 100% sure what the thematic/metaphorical significance of changing the snow ridden coldness of MP1 to the stormy and wet landscape in this game, but it works very well to enhance the noir sensibilities of the story and visuals. [spoiler] If you beat the game on the highest difficulty, there is an alternate ending, the first of many ending screws that Sam Lake starts to put in every game from here on out. It isn't canon to MP3 in any way, but it is probably the best possible way that Max Payne could go out. [/spoiler] James McCaffrey's voice acting is again absolutely sublime, and with Sam Lake's improved writing, he makes the character of Max Payne come alive. The music in this game is again, simply amazing, and Max's theme is one of those really highly underrated pieces of video game music that fits so well in every scene its used in. While it's not technically part of the game, the mods that exist for MP2 mean you can play a lot of interesting levels created by the community, ranging from simple shooting galleries, to decently well thought out levels. As far as complaints, my chief one is that the game is just far too short. Right when you feel the story is hitting on a lot of levels, and getting interesting, it abruptly ends, with pretty much every character getting a final period put on their story. The last level or two are also weirdly annoying with a few too many gimmicks, and I simply despise the forced escort mission the game makes you do for WAY too long. The final boss is also a real disappointment, and feels like it was shoehorned in at the last moment, and kills a lot of momentum the game is building up. All in all, this is a fantastic game that is easily worth the price of admission. With the remakes of MP1 and 2 already confirmed by Remedy, which will use Alan Wake 2's absolutely gorgeous Northlight Engine and a lot of money from Rockstar, I am excited to see how those will turn out. I will say, I always feel bad for Remedy and Sam Lake, since somehow this game sold like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, just like Alan Wake 2, even though both games are fantastic. I really hope that doesn't happen to Control 2, but only time will tell. I really do believe that if you want to go on and really truly enjoy Alan Wake and Control, playing both MP1/2 will genuinely reveal some secrets in both franchises, but also will help you better understand the themes that Sam Lake is going for across his body of work. The Norse gods are very important. You'll see. I'll show you.

Max Payne 2 is the [b]bastard middle child[/b] of the franchise. Some people love Max Payne 1 for its iconic bullet time mechanic and unhinged storytelling, and some prefer Max Payne 3 for its flawlessly modernized gameplay and bold story presentation. But a lot of people dismiss Max Payne 2 altogether as "mid." Well, not me; I love all my boys ([i]almost[/i]) equally. Max Payne 2 was way ahead of its time with its ragdolls and physics. They took everything that worked in the first game and added those insane physics mechanics. It makes all the shootouts vastly more dramatic and fun. I just love how enemies react to every single bullet you pump into them, how they fly across the room with a perfectly landed grenade, and how their bodies interact dynamically with the environment and other physics objects scattered around. The game also has a masterfully crafted atmosphere if you love the noir genre. The vibe is so good that even the loading screens have immense aura; they are iconic, and there are tons of them. Honestly, I could use any of those loading screens as a wallpaper. Plus, the game introduces another playable character: the femme fatale Mona Sax, and she is awesome. She is never the damsel in distress; instead, you play as her to save and help Max, which I think was highly subversive and bold for its time. Some of you losers would probably call this game "woke" if it came out today. Anyway, I also love the silly, meta TV shows that you can watch on the in-game TV stations. You can really tell they poured a lot of love and attention into this game. As a final note, I really miss how [b]dark, dirty, depressing and decrepit[/b] video game environments used to look. Nowadays everything is so colorful, even the edgier games. Anyhow, don't skip this game.

This was the second and last time anybody in the world made a game that was awesome and badass