Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003) is like a puzzle waiting to be solved. The pieces aren't in the right place, which leaves the game player to figure it out. Instead of giving us a straightforward action game, it successfully builds mystery. This "film noir love story" is a better improvement over the original, and the characters, the plot, and the setting are better this time around.

Max Payne no longer has that "constipated grin" on his face, but a face that is filled is with all the loss and anger that he once suffered in the past. By now he's a brooding cop, and he has every right to be one, since his wife and baby child were killed in the original.

The message of film noir is that there are no real heroes. Max Payne is not the typical cardboard cutout action hero. Here is a man so cheerless, that he doesn't even form a smile, and we can understand why. He also shows a "survivor's guilt." Having taken his revenge in the first game, Max is not satisfied with what he has--due to what he sees as his "crime" (surviving) going unpunished, and due to the fact that, even though he has claimed his revenge, his family is still dead, and he is still alive.

One night, Payne responds a hostage situation in a gun workshop run by men in jumpsuits. He stumbles upon Mona Sax, a femme fatale presumed dead after the events in the original. Payne learns turn too late when Mona warns him that they are both in danger. A sniper hits Max's apartment, and Mona escapes, with Payne setting out to find the person who wants him dead.

We are also introduced to several characters from the original, including Lt. Jim Bravura, Max's boss at the NYPD, and Alfred Woden, a dying senator and a member of the Inner Circle. There is even a subplot involving a Mob war between Vladimir Lem and Vinnie Gognitti (who, this time, resembles a foul-mouthed Joe Pesci character). The mob war subplot may sound unnecessary, but it's crucial to what happens in the story.

I liked the original Max Payne (2001), which was released in 2001, and I thought it was the benchmark of action-packed video games. I liked the dialogue, the intense action, the graphics, and the locations it used. But I like Max Payne 2 even more. This is a game that gives life to almost all of its characters. Like Max Payne, the characters are able to express their feelings and thoughts to each other, and there is a big surprise as Max finds out who's after him.

Max Payne series creator Sam Lakes keeps the player involved with his characters We're not just playing a typical action game where we shoot mindless bad guys, but we're learning about the characters as well. Even the villains in the game, get to share their stories.

I also liked how the characters' lip movements were convincing and how they moved along with the way they speak. They also do some convincing movements, such as ragdoll-like movements, which allow the enemy's body to move around like a limp corpse.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a great video game, but it shares the same flaws the original once had. There is a lack of character variety; a lot of the characters such as bodyguards, thugs, mobsters, and police officers look essentially the same, and once again it resembles a John Woo movie with its handgun leaps and ridiculously high body count. And the firing sounds for the weapons in the game sound unrealistic and could have been better.

I also think the game is also a bit too short, whereas the original was like playing a TV marathon. But what it lacks in quantity and length, it pays for with quality.

The New York settings in each level looks convincing and great. My favorite is the New York Police Department, where Payne is able to interact with other characters such as suspects and police officers. Even the streets of New York, during the mob war levels, resemble a war zone.

The narration in both the game and the graphic novel helps to not only move the story, but to provide humor or reaction to an incident. The narration by James McCaffrey (who also voices Payne) is great. Instead of sleepwalking in his dialogue like the original, he actually moves along with the words.

And fans will probably agree with me that Mona Sax is one of the most sexy 3D heroines out there. If her voice (perfectly provided by Wendy Hoopes) doesn't get to you first, her appearance certainly will. She is endowed with a high poly count and blessed with some very smooth motion-captured animations.

The beauty of the unfolding storyline of Max Payne 2 is that the player is never really sure if Mona feels the same way Max does, or if she's luring him into a trap--unless some heartless game reviewer ruins it for you. Being the highly trained killer that she is, playing as Mona is just as easy and equally lethal as when playing as Max. One wonders and hopes if their will be a spin-off to such a great series.

But will there be a "Max Payne 3?" Maybe. But to make another would seem difficult, especially after what happens in the end of this game. But Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne still remains the best in the series. This is not only an action game. It's about love, life and death in a city facing chaos.

I love this game.

First, I want to say this, My Geforce 3 Ti200 and Pentium 4 2.8Ghz runs this game at "max" settings and it runs very smoothly, game looks better than Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 and doesn't need a killer video card, just shows you how much.

Second, the game story is good, Max Payne has a very deep perspective about life general facts like dreams, the past, love, crime and more, I like hearing what he has to say about those things, it is almost like poetry.

The games music is good, it can really touch you and get you into the mood of the story.

The game action is great, a lot of fun with bullet time and high realistic games, I love the fact that you see him drop the magazine of the gun, it is probably the only game right now that really drops the magazine on the floor.

Great quality game, will be a classic and set the bar for future games.

Rated M for Strong Violence,Blood,Language and Sexual Content.

Max Payne 2 The Fall Of Max Payne is the 2003 sequel to the 2001 hit game Max Payne.In my opinion Max Payne 2 is just as good as the first.I actually played this game before the original.There isn't much of an improvement in the sequel.The graphics are a tiny bit better but other than that its the same as the first.But the first one was good and so was this one.Don't be fooled by the romantic looking cover just like the first Max Payne this one has plenty of blood and violence(and the ability to kill in slow motion) but unlike the first one this one contains more profanity including some f-words.The PC version of the game is amazing.The PS2 version on the other hand is not that amazing.When I got a PS2,I got Max Payne 2.I remembered it being awesome on the PC.The PS2 version is not a very good port.The graphics are worse and the bullettime is for some reason in black and white.However, if you never played the PC version, you will like the PS2 version.I heard Max Payne 1 is good on the PS2 and I will get that one as well.Max Payne 2 is an excellent sequel despite little improvement over the first one.I recommend both!

10/10

As a sequel, it surpasses its predecessor in every way. As a video game, it surpasses the very boundaries people thought allowable, and possible. The photorealistic effects, ingenious use of lighting and incredible colour palette mixed with a thumping and brooding soundtrack (Poets of the Fall) create the world of Max Payne. It is slick but incredibly violent and woven extremely taught; the love affair between Mona and Max if anything is simply beautifully told; and the storyline itself is conceptually impressive. Max Payne 2 is a game for mature players: and it will take multiple replays to fully understand the achievement set down by Rockstar and Take 2.

The saga continues.Even you're a hard person to find things good in later comers,you'll find all the things you loved in first one.Dark atmosphere,action with 'bullet-time' quality,high-level graphics...And in this one our guy is not alone;if you're looking for a femme-fatale keeping secrets,mysteries,it's Mona Sax what you need.A story with lies,deceptions.A man trying to find the ground from his eternal fall.That's what we call Max Payne genre.

The newest thing about the game is the change in the face of Max Payne.Deadsure this new look is better.The new holds all the sorrow,and fatigue which the years gifted to him.And besides Max Payne,Mona Sax's join gives game a new level.We can into the thoughts of her by the dialogs,the oil-printed screens between chapters.And in some chapters we are playing Mona Sax character besides Max Payne.That's another reason that when everything comes up to a conclusion in the end,we feel the loss,the pain in our hearts better.We exactly live the feelings these two characters live.

The screenplay is more complicated.The bad men,the conspiracies,the things tricky.We don't kill the men just because game wants,we don't go with the flow;we are aware all the going on.This is the success of the screenplay and the videos between the chapters to keep us in the same direction as the game is on the wheel.Also in some chapters we play in the events which happened during the chapter we played before.These are some of the developments about the cinematic and storytelling side of the second game.

There are two things I'd like to tell.First one;this one is not just a game to continue the series.It is connected with the first game both in story and character side.And it feels like it will go on.The second thing is the song playing in the end:Late Goodbye by Poets Of The Fall.Only the ones who play this game can understand how it makes you feel.

So play this game and see how it plays with the ides about 'falling' in your mind.Ask yourself:Is there anything he didn't lose as he lives in his eternal fall? and will ever be ground for him to reach?