Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne Review

There’s a saying that sequels kill the real image of a game. They are often overly modified and take away the feeling of the original. There are very few sequels that have actually arrived with the exact prototypes, and at the same time improve everything about the original game.

Max Payne 2 was one of those games. The original Max Payne was built on a very solid foundation with a great cinematic ‘comic book style’ storyline and a hardcore first-person shooter.

It was the first game that introduced slowed-down "bullet time" - which you'd seen in The Matrix movie. The original game was a much-loved game, but it was still criticized for being very short and getting harder as the game progressed.

All these criticisms were taken into account before making Max Payne 2, and the game did improve lots of its flaws. A good number of improvements were added to the game, including the physics engine, which I think was a great addition to any game.

The engine made the game superior in many ways.  Although when you trigger the full bullet time, it only lasts for a limited period, illustrated using an egg-timer. You can generate bullet-time credit by killing the bad guys, and there is no shortage of those.

Max Payne 2 wasn’t a short game like the original one, but there wasn’t any huge difference. A few twists and turns surely make the gameplay large, but the role of Max was almost the same as the first one.

You can save the game at any point you want and heal Max with painkillers when he is in low health. At some stages of the game, you get to play as Max's girlfriend (!), who is a female assassin called Mona Sax. She plays a big part in the storyline and mostly helps expand the game. In a first-person shooter, you usually run, kill, and then run again.

Sometime you are trapped and pray to be at the end of the other end of the stage and take all the bad guys down. This is where Mona helps, not making the game repetitive. With max trapped around bad buys, play it as Mona and provide sniper cover.

It's not too many times that you can play as Mona, though. As Max is an emotional character and makes mistakes with his judgment throughout the game, the story lets you play as Mona to rescue him from situations he can't pull through himself.

Even when covering with a sniper or rescuing Max, Mona gets into action, running from point to point, finding a proper corner. Mona can't take too many bullets like Max, so in this case you need to make sure of preserving the painkillers, when it's needed the most.

The graphics of Max Payne are excellent compared to the time it was published. A polished environment and the character designs were suitable for the game too. One of the best parts of this game is the dream sequences. The visual effects of the dream sequences added an extra appeal that usual first-person shooters don’t have in general.

The music quality was well matched too. Even though sometimes the music is a bit gloomy and repeated, you never feel bored listening to it. It would’ve been impossible to make this game such a big hit without its fine music throughout the game. The voice of all the characters, especially Max, is another attraction of this game.

Unless you experience it by yourself, I can hardly describe how perfectly his voice has suited the game. Frustrated, angry, anxious, and hungry for revenge. You get all these expressions in one man’s voice.

With a great storyline, a new physics engine, remarkable graphics, and music with dream sequences, Max Payne 2 is a very good game and a must-buy for all FPS lovers.