Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8691 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Take 2
• Released on: 2003-12-05
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Platform: Xbox

GamesMaster Magazine
"Unbelievably violent and distressingly short--but brilliantly atmospheric and just so cool to play that you'll forgive it. 85%."

Manufacturer's Description
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a violent, film-noir love story for mature audiences. Dark, tragic and intense, the in-depth story is a thrill-ride of shocking twists and revelations. Working together with Rockstar Games' New York-based production team, developer Remedy has now been able to take the game to new heights with extremely high production values. Professional talent for voice acting and graphic novels, motion capture and access to authentic digital source material from New York City help to ensure that Max Payne 2 provides the quality performances that fans have come to expect from Remedy and Rockstar. The fierce yet stylish action sequences and slow-motion gunplay that has become synonymous with Max Payne are back and better than ever. New and enhanced moves and options provide breathtaking cinematic gameplay. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is set to raise the bar on action games all over again.

Customer Reviews

Uninspired sequel
Max Payne 2 has everything Max Payne 1 had, but it seems watered down a lot. The controls are perfect and have been improved, but all other aspects of the game are a disappointment.

The storyline really sucks. Unnecessarily complicated and yet predictable at the same time. It's totally unengaging, the compelling urge of mysteries to be unraveled from Max Payne 1 is completely gone.

The gameplay is not as bad, but still worse than Max Payne 1. A lot of the time, especially in later levels, you'll be suddenly overrun by enemies and your only resort will be to load a saved game and to anticipate the ambush. This seems to be calculated in, which i find a sign of lazy design. The most blatant of these is a level where a building is on fire and barrels are exploding all the time. Unless you know which barrels are going to explode next, it's a question of luck -or a lot of reloads- whether you'll survive. It doesn't make the game any more difficult, either. Once you know where and when enemies will show up, the game's a doddle.

Level design is ok, except for those pesky ambushes. Some levels are very repetitive and quite unimaginative. I'm getting tired of construction yard and mansion levels...
One that stands out in a really good way is the funhouse level. It has some nice graphics and is basically a lot of fun to play.

Some levels are played in tandem by Max and Mona, with the player switching between the two characters. This could've been a nice touch, but it's actually just a gimmick. You can't switch between characters yourself, and there's no difference between their abilities. The duo levels are few and far apart, so there's no consistency.

The final 'showdown' is a real disappointment. Very anti-climatic, you only know that this is the final level when it's almost over.

The verdict: I wouldn't buy it at it's full price, but wait until it ends up in the bargain bin at about €30. The gameplay is still great and level design is good, so it's a fun game. It just has some very crippling flaws...

Max Payne returns...
Max Payne 2 is the kind of satisfying, brain-free blasting action that console gaming was invented for. It's a rain-soaked, noir-styled thriller that follows the titular Payne through yet another life-or-death, intrigue-filled trawl through the seedy, underbelly of New York City. The game's premise is as shallow as it gets, but thanks to the excellent plot and cinematic stylings you'll forgive it's 'shoot, run, shoot' mechanic and learn to appreciate it's no-holds-barred take on the genre.

But, of course, no game is perfect, and Max Payne 2 has it's fair share of flaws. Firstly, it's too damn short. You'll love every minute of it, but when the end arrives you may feel a little short changed. Secondly, the ragdoll physics, although mostly excellent, occasionally glitch and end up looking a bit, well, crap. A shame, as the rest of the game looks stunning. Otherwise, everything's as tight as a drum. Some say the bullet time is flawed, but with proper mastery, wiping out a room full of goons never gets old - especially with a pair of Ingram sub-machine guns in your posession.

Gameplay highlights include the funhouse level based on a TV show that plays throughout the game (an excellent parody of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, I might add), and is gloriously surreal. The hand-drawn sets and cardboard-cut-out characters are sheer genius. In fact, the whole game is one big highlight, and thanks to the Havok physics engine, each playthrough can differ depending on how you interact with the environment. Offed bad guys stumble into chairs, fall over balconies and get their limbs caught on stuff - it's completely overblown and unrealistic, as is the nature of the game. The major improvement over the previous game, however, is the upgraded Bullet Time system that now allows for more varied use of Max's slow-mo abilities, and just looks cooler, which is the most important thing, right?

There are a hundred unique touches that make Max Payne truly unique including chattering enemies, hilarious, self-depreciating humour and self-referential TV shows that mirror Max's life. And then there's the graphic novel wherein the game's plot is advanced between levels on the pages of a comic book; gritty, hard-boiled voiceover and all.

So, let's get down to the nitty gritty; should you spend forty hard-earned notes on this? Well, that depends. If you're expecting depth and longevity, look elsewhere, but if you're cup of tea is pure, unadulterated fun, then Max Payne 2 is the game for you. Entertaining but short-lived.

Not an improvement
I got this game 2 days ago. Cumulatively, I have played on it for about five hours and completed it.

I was a huge fan of Max Payne when it came out 3 or 4 years ago, and if you've not tried either before then I'd definitely recommend saving your money and getting the first one - it was better in so many ways.

The Fall Of Max Payne is overshadowed by the original in the story-line region - basically, it's strange, it's a bit confusing, and frankly pointless. It's about Max's love-affair with a (female) criminal. The story-line of Max Payne was far better thought-out.

Max Payne 2 is also way, way too short, which is a great disappointment because Max Payne was lengthy, and kept you playing because it's story-line was so gripping and intense.

However, it's not all bad - The Fall of Max Payne has the same beautiful graphic quality and rendering as it's predecessor, although some textures are bit low-quality.

The environments are nicely designed, and very interactive, in as much as any small boxes, bottles, general stuff that you run into, will move. But you can't shoot boxes open any more!

None of the areas of the game are particularly based on strategy, and when they are, it's pretty obvious what to do, which is probably partly responsible for it being so short.

The weapons are similar, the physics are the same, the bullet-time is still cool, and if you're after something to satisfy the simple desire to run through a game and blast the enemy with round after round of gunfire, then this will be the best thing for it.

The violence level is just the same, with the added spice of regular extreme language, and 'scenes of a sexual nature' as the cencorship people put it......which was a bit of a surprise!

Not the best, but worth trying.