With the recent delay of Half-Life 2, PC gaming has been needing a good kick to the balls to get it moving again. We can all agree that the PC gaming world has been rather stale lately. Luckily, Max Payne 2 was released to fill the void that Half-Life 2 was meant to fill. Unfortunately, however, the complete lack of fanfare around the title created the idea that the game wasn’t even out yet. That is what I thought when I was surprised by the white box staring at my face in the local game store. In any event, less fanfare is good as it doesn’t really pump up the expectations.
For those who don’t know, Max Payne made a splash a few years ago as the first game to offer a Matrix-like gameplay effect dubbed “Bullet Time”. It also brought in a very deep story line and film noir atmosphere on top of the quality, third person shooter gameplay. The game was dubbed an instant classic in my, and many others’ books, assuming they played the PC version and avoided the control issue laden console versions. So Max Payne 2 shows up, will it match the expectations set by the first, or will it simply flounder in stagnancy as many other sequels do?
Max Payne 2 is the continuation of the story of the first game. It still stars our favorite angst ridden cop with mental disorder issues, but luckily no longer features the dirty sock smell face of the first game. This brings us first into the visual department. Graphically, Max Payne 2 brings out a nice little “wow” from my lungs. The visuals are absolutely astounding. The details in the character models are nice on the eyes indeed. Take Max, for instance. Up close, you get a very well rendered face and can even see the emotion; his cold, dead, angst ridden expression cuts into your soul. His clothing moves with him, his cloak flaps nicely, and even his tie appears to be separate from the actual body model. (It is important to look your best when fighting criminals.) A bit of a negative, though, is the lack of variety in character models. Apart from special characters, like Max, Vlad, or Mona, regular baddies are copies of one another. The special-forces guys all look exactly alike, as they wear masks. A bit of variety would have spiced things up.
The lack of character variety is luckily rectified, somewhat, by the insane amount of detail in character animation and level design. Characters move about smoothly, their in-engine cut-scene selves react realistically and even move their hands to emphasize speech. Of course, nothing beats when you actually kill someone. Max Payne 2 features the Havok engine, a nice rag-doll physics engine that makes death more impressive. Say, for instance, you blast a guy and he falls toward some stairs. Normally, in other games, he would just flop over and you would see him in a static death animation, hovering over the edge of the stairs. In Max Payne 2, the body actually rolls down the stairs, including the weapons he dropped in the process. The same applies to rails; sometimes you shoot an enemy and he will slump against the rail in a sitting position, and other times, when shot with more powerful weapons, he may twist over the rail as you watch him plummet below. Even level objects flow along with the player’s actions. Say, for example, that you stick a shotgun in an enemy’s chest and let him have it, and he is in front of boxes or a shelf with stuff on it. The guy will fly into the boxes or shelf, causing the contents to scatter about. Of course, the only oddity is when you see a gun fall from an enemy’s hand, and you see it land on the handle and balance itself that way. Otherwise, it is a lot of fun watching enemies twist and contort, mid-air, after tossing a grenade or hitting an explosive barrel with a slug or two.
The level design is also rather well done. Never will you end up having to deal with boring, empty levels, or just a bunch of flat, copied textures. Levels in Max Payne 2 are varied and gorgeous. My personal favorite is the funhouse level, which is set up to look like a sanitarium. It captures very well the idea of a run-down funhouse as well as giving us a taste of genius level design. There are twists and turns, elevators disguised as phone booths, and even back stage areas and catwalks. It is a convoluted and wonderful place for enemies to hide. Textures in the levels are also well done, with a variety of wood, metal, and carpeting.
Now, on to the gameplay itself. Max Payne 2 follows the same formula as the first title. The third person view run and gun action is pretty simple, yet highly effective. A major change from the first title is that Bullet Time no longer instantly puts you into slow motion. Instead, it starts out a tad slower than normal speed, but builds up steam as it slows down more and more. This makes the gamer avoid relying on Bullet Time to play the game and creates a more strategic thinking element in the game. This also allows the player to do some nice combo attacks, like spins to shoot multiple enemies on the screen, but not so much as to cheapen the combo effect.
On the other hand, though, diving always slows down gameplay instantly. While a bit different than Bullet Time in the sense it is instant, it does make a bit more sense, as actual aiming would be more difficult if you dove at full speed, and in this game it is a general mistake to run head long into enemies with guns blazing as they have decent accuracy.
A change that could have been mad but wasn’t regards ammunition. Like many other shooters, you really don’t have to worry about running out of ammo, as there is always plenty lying around; they might as well have just handed out infinite ammo. A good policy would have been to give enemies limited ammunition, which would force the player to take them out as quickly as possible in order to gain a better haul of ammo. If the enemy used up too much, then you don’t get any.
This brings me to enemy AI, where Max Payne 2 never ceases to amaze me. Most shooters, again, rely on the enemy just running up to you and blasting away. Some may even get tricky and strafe at you. Max Payne 2, on the other hand, has the enemies taking cover, diving, and using pinch tactics to get at you. It is a good sign that you are in for a hard time if you don’t get the drop on the enemy. In fact, the enemy frequently gets the drop on you, as they like to station themselves in nice ambush locations like behind doors or boxes in seemingly empty rooms. Unfortunately, allied AI is brick stupid. The first ally is this Russian cowboy wannabe in the employ of Vlad. This moron just ran into rooms and blasted around with is Kalashnikov assault rifle. Needless to say, he died about 30 seconds later, giving me a nice rifle to play with. And don’t get me started on the escort missions. Max is a total bad-ass until you have to protect his weak, sorry self while playing as Mona. Vinnie as Baseball Bat Boy is worse as all he does is cower. Max at least shot back, though he didn’t manage to hit much.
So, the difficulty is right on, and that is in normal mode. The game also provides harder modes, like the super-tough New York Minute mode which pretty much spells your doom if you get hit at all. The only real gripe is that the first time through, the game only offers around six to ten hours of enjoyment, though the time skyrockets when trying to shove your way through New York Minute mode.
Sounds in Max Payne 2 are also very solid. The most impressive aspect of the sound is how well it fits in with the atmosphere. The music is absolutely perfect during the mission update screens. Gunfire is realistic and doesn’t sound like a toy pop-gun when firing off heavy weaponry. The footsteps, enemy chatter, and other effects make for some nice ear candy. Even more impressive is that they got the voice acting right. Normally, voice acting is horrible, like in Xenosaga on the PS2 or the Command and Conquer series. Max Payne 2 breaks away from that, however. James McCaffrey reprises his role as Max Payne, and fills those detective shoes with ease. The rest of the supporting cast does an excellent job in furthering the realism of the game.
Max Payne 2 also allows level mods to be added to the game. A few are already out on the internet as we speak, and can allow even more wild, crazy, and overall creative levels to be made for your enjoyment.
Overall, Max Payne 2 lives up to the standard set by the original, and surpasses it in many ways. Max Payne 2 is complete in just about every aspect. Apart from the irritating escort missions and the short first run through, Max Payne 2 is perfect. If you haven’t yet purchased this title, I would whole heartedly suggest doing so. Just make sure you make room in the budget this year and move other titles to the Christmas wish list.
