By default Max has a pistol and Mona has a long range sniper gun but over the course of the game you will find weapons such as an MP5, a Colt, Shotguns, Uzis and others. Max and Mona have a variety of weapons they can use throughout the game and picking up enemy weapons and ammunition is encouraged. On the lowest difficulty level most should be taken care of easily, but as this goes up they become harder to take down and the game becomes more of a challenge. The strength of the AI is definitely their number and not their brains. It's once you reach the levels with the commandos (who seem awfully like the commandos in Max Payne 1) that you will start to encounter problems. Early on in the game you will face the cleaners who are basic schmucks with pistols and aren't to hard to defeat. These two problems didn't stop people playing the original game and enjoying it and the same should definitely apply with Max Payne 2.Īs well as the main characters such as Vladomir Lem and Vinnie Goggnitti you come up against, you will also encounter foot soldiers such as the cleaners and commandos. The linear style of the levels also contributes to this and whilst it lessens and even eliminates frustration you may feel throughout this game, it does contribute to the games short length. However the fact is the game play is so good, you will probably find yourself going back and playing your favourite missions again. If you set your mind to it, the game can be completed in a day quite easily. The main problems we have with the game are some that were also faults in the original game. During this time you have to keep an eye on more then just Mona's health, and this occurs more then once during the storyline. Like with Max your main task as Mona will be to traverse the environments taking enemies down but during one crucial mission you will have to give an AI Max cover whilst he tries to find a means to escape. You will complete a level with Max and then the next level is played as Mona behind the scenes. At times you will take control of Mona Sax, Max's love interest and one of her levels is played retrospectively. One significant change is the fact that occasionally during the storyline you will control a different character to Max. Bullet time is accumulated by defeating enemies, or you can let it slowly build up during time it is not being used. It is probably possible to complete the game without using bullet time at all, but it would make it significantly harder then it has to be. Obviously your rate of fire is reduced during this, but the enemies take longer to respond. Bullet time slows gameplay down to allow you to take multiple enemies down in quick succession.
We found ourselves using bullet time much more then the original title, whilst shoot dodge was used less. For those of you who haven't played the original, an option on the menu called previously is included which features a graphic sequence portraying all the events from the original game.īullet time and the shoot dodge manoeuvre have both returned. Whilst for the most part, the game revolves around itself, at times it makes small subtle references to the previous game such as his wife and child being murdered by junkies. If you have played the original game right through you should be right at home with the game play in Max Payne 2, and also understand most of the storyline. For most of the game your task is to get through each level, taking down the enemies you come across in various ways. Max Payne 2 like the original is a third person shooter. This can be confusing but due to the fact the storyline is so strong and involves so many characters you will find this game hard to put down. All the moments featured in the middle of the game build up to the climax where you will completely understand what the first graphic novel is demonstrating. Like the original, the start of the game is actually the end of the game. From here the story twists, turns and grabs you by the scruff of the neck and won't let go until the bitter end. At the end of the first game we saw that he was headed back to the DEA but it turns out he left this job and is now back on the beat working as a detective in the New York Police Department where he becomes infatuated with a female murder suspect, Mona Sax.
Once again you take the role of Max Payne, although not all the time. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is best described as a fitting sequel but it still has a few minor problems which can be overlooked as it is such a superb game. With this in mind its almost hard to fathom that here we are only two and a half years later, reviewing the sequel. After four long years of development, Remedy had finished the game. For those of you who don't know, 2001 marked the beginning of this franchise.