he original Max Payne was a revolution in gaming back in 2001. It was a whole different take on the action genre – it felt much more like a film than other titles. The now-famous Bullet Time innovation was integrated perfectly, and made insane stunts entirely possible (if not easy) to pull off. Max Payne 2 plays almost exactly the same as the original, but it feels like the development team took everything that wasn’t completely awesome in the first game, shot it in the face, and smoothed over the holes with buttery goodness.
Max Payne 2 is so polished, it positively shines. Rather than breaking what made the first one so excellent, Remedy simply tightened up every aspect of play and wrapped a new plot around it. Animations are the most noticeable thing; they are spectacularly well done. Enemies react realistically to getting shot or blown up, blood spatters are grimly accurate, and objects get knocked over and destroyed in vivid detail. Collision is almost perfect as well – I can count on one hand the number of times I noticed an error over the course of the entire game.
Blowing away fools is just as fun as it was two years ago. This is one area where the collision engine really shines: Diving over, under, or onto objects is almost too awesome. Bullet Time is even cooler – the more bad guys you kill in quick succession, the slower time gets. The hourglass meter of Bullet Time now refills slowly on its own as well, meaning you don’t have to hoard it in case of an ambush.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the brevity of the main mode, every stage is handcrafted and packed with variety. Between providing covering fire from the rooftops, frantically escaping an exploding building, or playing a different character, Max Payne 2 never falls into a rut. Don’t worry, there’s enough of the usual "cap everyone between you and X" mixed in to satisfy.
The presentation of the story is basically the same as before, but it feels faster and more interactive. Downtimes between action sequences are short and usually interesting. Everything about the setting comes together to provide a cohesive ambience for Max’s dark world.
The only gripes I have with it are that the camera will occasionally get backed into a wall when Max is diving alongside it, the quest is a bit short, and there’s no multiplayer. Beating the game unlocks some new modes, but nothing incredibly cool. Other than that, Max Payne 2 delivers in every way possible.