Max Payne 2 previews

If you loved MP 1 then you're gonna love this! It's a lot sexier than the original. Bullet time 2.0 rocks! All the weapons from MP 1 are included, as well as a few newer weapons. You can now set your alternate fire button to throw grenades or pistol whip – real handy in tight situations.

As with the original, there are a lot of cinematics to help stretch the game out. Max is also a lot more interactive with his environment. He can still turn taps on and flush toilets but now he also kicks boxes/items/bodies around. If you get off on a bit of gore then you'll enjoy this game; it's a typical Rockstar game.

Buy it! You wont be disappointed! If you haven't played MP 1 then buy/play that first.

Max Payne 2, in my opinion, is one of the most complete, polished games I have ever played. Everything from the game's packaging to the gameplay is of such high quality, you can't help but be impressed.

Technically this game is of very high quality all across the board – and you won't need a beast of a PC to enjoy it. The engine is a supercharged version of that of the original title – but make no mistake, this is cutting edge stuff. Both the graphics and game engine have had a major face lift and look excellent in all areas – creating awesomely realistic envrionments

The inclusion of a full physics engine (Havoc) has added realism and the ability to enjoy the coolest gunfights ever. The integration of the physics has been implemented so flawlessly into the game – it is the best-feeling physics I have seen yet.

The game world is highly interactive (especially with the aforementioned physics) and you will find yourself fiddling around within the various environments you encounter. Toilets flush, showers work, TVs are watchable (watch soaps, advertisements etc), vending machines spit out cans which you can kick around, furniture can be pushed around etc.

The gameplay is similar to the original but it is also taken up a notch too. All I can say is that it is very fun and the improved bullet time simply needs to seen to be believed – very entertaining.

Voice acting is surprisingly good and the storyline, while somewhat convoluted at times, still plays a central role in the game and is nicely written, told through a combination of in-game graphics and the same noir comic book method from the original.

Max Payne 2 is a very worthy successor and oozes style and quality from every pore.

Max Payne 2 is a mixed bag. Some areas have been done perfectly while others leave a sour taste in your mouth.

Graphically, MP2 is stunning. The scenery and the character design are heads and shoulders above any other game in this genre – heck, in any genre. The realistic gritty look to the main character Max and the other personalities definitely adds to the admosphere of the game, and the locations like the amusement park draw you in to this dark tale.

The environmental sounds and music are deep and full of foreboding, another element added flawlessly to enrich the game. The voice acting is good and the actor who voices Max plays his part perfectly.

Gameplay, unlike the original, rocks along at a fairly hectic pace. Instead of building on the atmosphere which was the hallmark of the original title, they instead have gone for a more arcadey shooter style, filling the levels with hordes of bad guys to kill. The early levels however play very much like the original MP, and I was actually a little disappointed that the latter levels just turned out to be shooting galleries (though that gave me plenty of chances to try out the new bullet time).

The story-line is probably the point that disappointed me most. Though it started out with a lot of promise, it turned out to be fairly weak at points – and, at others, down right ridiculous. This may have been the reason the shooter-style gameplay at the latter levels dissappointed me, since the story was fairly dead at that stage which may have killed the atmosphere.

Still, I enjoyed my time with MP2 and, though I had my gripes with it, it was a good experience. Hopefully they'll return to the previous formula if another MP is ever produced.

It was with some hesitancy that I purchased Max Payne 2 – although I thoroughly enjoyed the original, reports of MP2 being “more of the same” and “too short” made me rather unsure about it. I did give in eventually, though, and am glad I did – MP2 is one of the most enjoyable PC games I've played this year – not to mention one of the few that I have played from beginning to end in recent times.

Yes, MP2 is short, but its brevity is enhanced due to the addictiveness of the game. I completed it in three or four sittings, but each of these sessions was at least a couple of hours long on average.

Max's love/hate interest in Max Payne 2, Mona, is a playable character for certain parts of the game which adds a little extra variety and gives some more of the story from her perspective.

Highly recommended.

The production quality of Max Payne 2 I would rate as being a good deal better than Max Payne 1. The dialogue seems more polished, the characters look better, and more realistic (I'm not just talking about the graphical improvements, Max himself for instance is much more believable with his new look).

MP1 had quite a unique feel to it, and this has been more or less preserved for MP2. In fact, I doubt much has really changed in the code for the control of Max or the core graphics engine. Remedy has taken the slight risk of trying to improve its lovable Bullet Time feature, and I'm glad to say succeeded quite nicely. Bullet Time 2.0 has you going deeper into bullet time the more enemies you kill while in bullet time, this really gives you the chance feel like your ‘on a roll’ and adds a lot of satisfaction to clearing out a room full of guys.

Another addition to the gameplay in MP2 in the integration of the Havok2.0 physics system, the physics engine in this game really does make a big difference to the amount of fun it is, it adds to the how ‘cool’ some action scenes can become, having guys flying everywhere, pots and pans spinning mid-air and bullets flying all over the show really is quite a exhilarating experience.

The sound is excellent, perfect for the action. The only lacking part of the game would be the story, which is somewhat forced and occasionally ridiculous, but still miles above many other games. I would certainly recommend Max Payne 2; it's solid, fun and more than worth your time. In light of Max Payne 1 it's not a groundbreaker – but none the less a classic.