The Fall of Max Payne is glorious to experience. The game is a timeless masterpiece, and you'd better own it.
-Computer Gaming World.
I don’t think it could have been put a better way than this: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is one heck of a video game. Call it a realistic shooting gallery, or whatever else you want, this games grips you and doesn’t let go for the full 5 to 8 hours you’ll be playing it. But what a glorious time it will be.
Coming from the Finnish developers at Remedy, the original Max Payne was an excellent game, combining many of the conventions of the shooter genre at the time with several twists that changed it for the better. First, there was Bullet Time. Yes, that technique made popular by The Matrix found its way into Max Payne, who used it to great effect in killing hordes of crooks, and getting revenge on the people who murdered his family. But BT didn’t only look cool; it actually had strategic implication. See, whenever you shoot dodge (BT + any direction), Max would become invincible, allowing him to dive into a hail of bullets that would kill any normal person. There are many situations that required its use, and as the game got harder, one got more proficient in when to and not to use it. In addition, the game’s art style and story were straight out of the noir style; it had the ham-fisted acting, and the underlying “we’re not really serious” vibe that really gave the game great character. 2001 was a great year, for pretty much any gamer.
In 2003, the sequel came out, continuing the story of Max, who now followed a new love interests who held the answers to his connections and what was really going on behind what happened to his life (which, at the end of the first game !SPOILER! he was absolved of his murder spree, but resigned from the DEA !SPOIRLER END!). In addition, the graphics have improved tremendously. But what really makes 2 so special is the game play; I don’t believe there is a finer shooting experience to date (Half Life 2 is an entirely different kind of game, which exclude it from here) anywhere. Bullet Time becomes a much more visceral experience. Gone are the constant shoot dodges (which did get pretty annoying by the end); walking around in BT is the new fad. Slowing down time is now the way to dodge bullets, avoid enemies, and takes the new villains down. The graphics only add to this feel. Think of a John Woo movie on steroids; the environment are interactive, as boxes fly, things explode, and human carcasses smack against walls. Headshots show instant rag dolls, as the victim’s head whips back and the recipient basically flies. It’s not all that terribly realistic, but man it sure does look great. And it’s fun. Every gun shot, every object, makes a sound during the firefights that only adds to this unbelivable, intense experience. Without the atmosphere, it probably wouldn’t be as good, as that is part of the game’s appeal. It just feels so natural and intuitive to use BT. Still, you’re not invincible, and you can use invincibility cheat too if you just want to blow through it.
However, the modding community has extended the life of this game; check out the different mods out for this and see what I mean. From Matrix inspired graphics, to Equilibrium, to a new Street Fighter mod – they really changed the way it looks and plays while still retaining the great game play and visceral violence.
Really, if there’s one game everyone needs, it’s this. Max Payne 2 has it all: story, game play, graphics (which have aged particularly well), and great mods to extend its value. Pick it up for the PC; you won’t be disappointed. It truly is a perfect game in every sense (maybe not at release, but definitely now).