Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is an excellent sequel to the first game. The story picks right up where you left off. After the events in the first game, your name has been cleared, as you were a dangerous lone wolf that needed to be arrested or killed. Now, you are a NYPD Detective. You are investigating a hostage situation in an abandoned warehouse when you quickly learn that the “cleaners” in the area are actually some new gang that work for the mafia. You dive into it to get to the bottom of this new threat.

In this game, you meet Mona again, a Russian Assassin that was shot in the first game and presumed dead. Both of you still hunt for the answer to where the Cleaners came from, who leads then and why they are targeting specifically you and Mona. After a while, you learn that Vlad, your “friend” from the first game, is actually behind it all. You and Mona chase him and eventually, after many explosions kill his @ss. That is the short version at least, but, like the first game, it is another great “revenge killing game” that reminds me of the John Wick films.

The mechanics, gameplay and controls are identical to the first game. You search for weapons, painkillers, ammo throughout the levels, use Slow-Motion for difficult fights and murder everyone that stands in your way.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne introduces some new features like new weapons and an improved Slow-Motion setting. You can now use Slow-Motion while walking and running normally, instead of making the mandatory dive to the left, right or straight.

You can now also play parts of the story as Mona, who uses her Dragunov Sniper as the primary weapon. Sometimes you need to escort and protect Max, other times you work to the point where you previously played as Max.

I have to say that I liked the graphics somewhat less than the first game. Although the detail is fine and more polished, the faces and facial expressions are now stiffer and “doll” like, instead of the real pictures that they put on enemies, your character and NPC’s in the first game. Still, it looks almost just as nice as the previous game. The L.A. Noire comic strips are still here and a are still an excellent way for telling the story.

The music and sound effects are just as good as in the first game. Other than that, no special new features can be named here. The same goes for controls.

In Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, I could only find one annoyance, namely a bug in a specific level where you need to escort someone. This person gets stuck on the door, which is a bug that has never been fixed. Nowadays, the fascinating world of the internet could tell me that I “just needed to press ALT + TAB and back”, but when I played this as a kid/young adult, I would never, ever have figured this out.

Overall, I liked Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne and its story. It was a little cliché here and there, but I will not complain one bit.

Definitely recommend this game.

Game: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Developer: Remedy Entertainment/Rockstar
System: Steam (PC)
Total Score: 85/100
Value Score: 8.5/10

• Story: 10/10
• Characters: 9/10
• GamePlay: 10/10
• Graphics: 9/10
• Sound: 10/10
• Music: 8/10
• Length: 3/10
• Replay Value: 8/10
• Player Value: 8/10

Pros
+Great story and action sequences
+Retains the great gameplay from the first game and expands on it with different weapons
+Replay value is higher due to additional difficulty modes added to the game
+Visuals have heavily improved compared to the first game
+There are platforming sections in the game which offers an additional challenge to the game
+Ability to save state and load state returns

Cons
-Game is way too short - its half the length of the first game