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An Enjoyable Experience

» Pros

» Cons

A bit Short
Relatively Long Load Times
Limited Replay Value
Uncreative Plot Line
What Happened to our Constipated Max from MP1?
Too many cheap 'Hiding around the corner' moments
Max and All Characters still seem a bit stiff in the joints

» Review

I completely disagree with the FS review of this title. I feel that many gamers (FS included) are getting, or have been, biased towards anything that is not a cookie cutter FPS. Max Payne is definately a shooting game, however, several of my friends have dismissed the game simply because its in 3rd person perspective.

MP2 is a very polished and polished some more sequel to the original. The same wise-cracking and over-the-top plot and story line is present. The only problem I had with the story line was that it was rather mundane and overdone. Cop with history continues to have flash backs and begins trying to tie up the loose ends from his past. Mix in several different predictible double crosses and you have yourself the next 'Rouge Cop' Sunday night movie.

That being said, MP2 just oozes style, simalar to a Tarntino movie. The Graphic Novels used to forward the story is novel and does an adequate job. I much perfer this to FMV or a Game engine cut scene; it fits the mood of MP2 better. The writing and dialouge is over the top and corny, but come on...its Rockstar.....Did anyone LISTEN to Grand Theft Auto III? Its entertaining and funny, and it serves the purpose of creating a mood and telling the story.

The graphics on MP2 are great. They may not be up to par with the upcoming HL2 or D3, but I ran the game on a 1.4 Athlon and a Geforce3 and they looked great at 1024. The scalability of this software is amazing, compared to many peices out there today. The textures are updated from MP1 and the Models are much more detailed. No more is MP a constipated character with a flat face. All characters are so well modeled that you often find yourself looking at them rather than shooting back.

Its a shame that the lip syncing is miserable and that the movements of characters is so stiff and dis-jointed. These two issues cause you to forget about the quality of the models.

The physics engine in this game is amazing. This is one of those titles that people will get through and think 'why didn't they do this before'. The ragdoll physics in this title are much better than any other I have seen. Throughout the whole game I did not see a single corpse land in an unbelieveable position. Bodies did not hang out in open air. One of the best things I saw was blasting a guy with a full clip against the wall and watching him slide down the wall, arms catching on boxes and shelves as he went down.

The Fighting in MP2 is great. The bullet-time and shoot dodge is required to make it through many spots alive. However the fighting is a bit repetitive, though not much could be done to really break it up. There are several levels where your trying to protect someone (besides yourself) as well as a few puzzles, but on a whole its a pretty straightforward shooter.

MP2 is all about creating a mood and an experience. The levels flow and make sense. There is enough cutscences and filler to make it a cohesive story. The fighting is a blast and can be challenging.

At the end of the game, I felt like I just played/watched my way through the newest Bruckhiemer or Jonh Woo Flick.