Before I go any further if you haven’t ever played or seen the first Max Payne before I suggest reading my review of the original first to understand how the game plays, as I’m not going through all that again. The sequel plays in a very a similar way to the first, so i’ll concentrate on what’s new in this review. Ok? Good, let’s get onto the story...
A Film Noir Love Story
Max Payne had a unique way of telling its story the first time round. Whereas most games have in-game cinematics or FMV sequences (often which are done poorly, or feel out of place with the rest of the game) Max Payne had a comic book style which told its tale well. Sometimes you’d get in-game cinematics which were beautifully done using the games engine, but the heart of the story was told via the comic book. Max Payne 2 is no different, but with better visuals for the cinematic parts using Max Payne 2’s newer engine.
The story pretty much picks up from where we left Max in the last game, with a dead wife and kid, feeling empty and angry with the world. Now though Max has managed to get his life together a bit and become a Detective in the NYPD, and the events of the previous game seem a distant subject. After the first level you realise that the past has come back to haunt Max, and quickly the game goes into a complex tangent from where the last story ended. It’s actually very well handled, and it’s great that the developers managed to continue the events from the last game and make it feel like you’re finally tying up all the loose ends from before. Despite being a continuation of last time, the story still remains separate enough from previous to feel new, yet still holding onto essence of the first. Just as good sequels should be!
Max Looks Good
Aside from the obvious graphical make over, many fans might feel they’ve been cheated after playing the game for a few minutes. The game does play very similar to the first, there’s no denying it. Those who are impatient and skipped to the end of the review will look at the score and go “Eh? If it’s so similar why on earth did it get such a good score?” Well firstly, NEVER skip to the end of my reviews without reading them through fully , secondly Max Payne was a good game and this version retains all the great things about the first. Max Payne was a superb game, with wall-to-wall action throughout. The reason it received a score lower than Classic was because it was over before you really even got started, plus a few silly mistakes that I couldn’t ignore.
Max Payne 2 builds on the strengths that made the first game so enjoyable, but also adds a few touches to enhance it. Bullet time (a rip-off Matrix effect for those who haven’t played/seen the first) may appear to the same initially but even this has been tweaked to work better. More emphasis on using Bullet Time to run around dodging bullets, rather than using the almost invincible Bullet Time Dive, has been implemented. This makes fire fights more interesting that simply diving left and right only, a tactic often used by hardcore Max Payne players.
There are also new moves within Bullet time that help you, encouraging you to use it more. The automatic weapon reload feature when your out of ammo whilst in bullet time not only looks very stylish, but is far quicker in the heat of battle than pressing the reload key and spending a precious few seconds changing over a cartridge. Another great feature, which I’m surprised never made it into the first it’s so handy, is when you dive you can lie on the floor afterwards in prone, blasting away enemies after you land. Again, this can be a life saver in combat if you miss calculate a dive. All these moves look very stylish.
, secondly Max Payne was a good game and this version retains all the great things about the first. Max Payne was a superb game, with wall-to-wall action throughout. The reason it received a score lower than Classic was because it was over before you really even got started, plus a few silly mistakes that I couldn’t ignore.
