Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Sony PlayStation 2, 2003)

In today's standards of video games, I don't think this game would rate that high at all. It's a good game, I'll give you that, but there are too many little things that would make me rate this game above 3/5. It's just a fun bullet-time 3rd person shooting action game but with its errors, it's a mediocre experience at best. Well, with no further ado, let's go into pros and cons of the game.

PROS
1. Improved bullet time. The meter increases the more you hit enemies
2. easy controls, for the most part
3. good voice acting, for the most part
4. fun weapons from malakov cocktail to MP5 to Dragnov to pump-action shotgun
5. new fun modes (only unlocked after you beat the game in Detective mode) such as Dead Man Walking (try to survive in a hellish scenario as long as you can), harder difficulties, New York Minute mode
6. good story (though first max payne had better storyline)
7. comedic television shows. mostly adult humor though. also lots of funny stuff aside from the main plot
8. just pure action fun. great way to blow off stress

CONS
1. frustrating camera rotation some times, esp. in important battles
2. no auto-save. For example, if you didn't MANUALLY save after finishing Ch. 1 and you die in Ch. 3, you go back to your last MANUAL save. God, Max Payne 1 had auto-save, why not this game?!!!
3. linear paths, very very linear
4. on harder difficulties, A.I is crazy. Not smart, just crazy regarding their accuracy and their evasion skills. Imagine 007 Goldeneye with A.I. tuned up to 100% difficulty
5. the load time. God, the load time... That's why I stopped playing hard difficulty because once you die, you have to suffer a load time that would make you wait in line for hotdogs instead of waiting for the last savepoint to load.
6. compared to today's standards, graphics are horrific and ugly. This game was lucky I cared more about gameplay than graphics because otherwise, I wouldn't have give this game more than 2 minutes.

Well, so that's what I have to say about the game. It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but those little flaws could get you. So decide for yourself if you want this game or not. Personally, I think if you want a Max Payne game, get the first game instead. The sequel really makes you want this to be the last game of the series. It sure made me hope that this game resulted in the FALL of the max Payne series.

The story line is interesting the first time you play, but gets in the way when you try to play again. Good overall concept for a shooter, easy to use controls....wish aiming was a little more stable and not so here or there, but it really doesn't matter...getting close is good enough with this game. It's worth 10 bucks for a weekend of mind numbing entertainment....cheaper than the bar and a lot less smokey.

"Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Pain" is the sequel to the first "Max Payne" by Rockstar Games. This game continues the Trails and Tribulations of Detective Max Payne, as he tries to stop the bad guys, clear his good name (again) and relive the past all at the same time.

The Surreal Story to Max Payne is once again told in a comic book like setting, but without the cheesy graphics - think of a Film Noir in snapshot form.

The Action is non-stop, as you can slow down everything with Bullet Time - which is more welcome here than in the movies.

And just like in the First one, The Controls take some getting used to. Once you've gotten the hang of it, you'll really start to enjoy the game.

If you are able to find this game on eBay, bid or buy it - it's all good.
I hope this review helps you.

My husband beat this game when it first came out, but for some reason it came up missing when we lent it to someone, so when I was window shoppinf on EBAY I call it, I found it and won it for a resonable price and my husband still lovs to play it.
I have never been interested in it but hey he likes it!!

The film noir / graphic novel feel of the original is back and better than ever, though Max's character model isn't nearly as interesting this time around. The dialogue is much better though, such as in: "The things I want, by Max Payne. A smoke. A whiskey. For the sun to shine. Unlimited ammo and a license to kill..." The gameplay itself is an improvement over the original, with the ability to stay on the ground after a shootdodge and kneecap every baddy around you before getting back up. The weapons are better, with the addition of a secondary fire button for grenades and molotovs, or pistol-whipping if you're just that cool. Max can now jump farther and higher than an epileptic dwarf, which is also nice. Max can also wield two desert eagles at a time, which is deadly, as well as two MP5s, a drastic improvement over the dual Ingrams. The AI is also a lot smarter than before, actually ducking, running, rolling, and taking cover when you lob a grenade at them, though the molotovs are still just too fast for them to react to (hint), even if a little harder to aim. All in all, an improvement over the original, if not as much of an improvement as one might expect.