Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Moby ID: 10708
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Two years have passed since Max Payne first embarked on his desperate quest for revenge. Returning to his former position as a detective in the New York City Police Department, Max is assigned to investigate a series of murders carried out by group of contract killers known as the Cleaners. Unexpectedly, Max encounters the enigmatic Mona Sax, whom he assumed dead. People from his past begin to return one by one, and Max gradually realizes that he did not know everything about the mysterious Circle and those who were involved in the murder of his family. Somebody out there is trying to kill Max, and he must find the answers before they succeed.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a direct sequel to Max Payne. The game is very similar to its predecessor in gameplay concept and presentation, bringing back noir detective atmosphere, cinematic John Woo-style action, and cutscenes shaped like comic book panels.

The game is built on the same engine as the predecessor, with several additional special effects and enhancements, such as dynamic shadows and lighting, cubic mapped reflections, and high resolution textures. The Havok engine with ragdoll physics is used to enhance the interactivity with the game world: objects can be moved and destroyed, physically responding to the actions of the player character and opponents.

A new feature in the sequel is the possibility to use secondary weapons alongside regulars guns, namely melee strikes, grenades and Molotov cocktails. Certain characters will join Max and fight on his side from time to time. The player also controls Mona Sax during a few stages. The Bullet Time feature from the previous game has been upgraded to version 2.0, in which Max's speed in bullet time increases as he gets more kills consecutively.

During the first playthrough the game only offers one difficulty level. If the player struggles to succeed, the game will automatically lower the difficulty, reducing the effectiveness of enemy fire and increasing the amount of painkillers. Additional difficulty levels are unlocked when the player completes the game, as well as two new modes: New York Minute and Dead Man Walking. The first awards the player with a score for completing a level as quickly as possible, while the second has Max fighting endlessly respawning enemies.

Spellings

  • è‹±é›„æœŹè‰Č2ïŒšé©Źć…‹æ€é…æ©äč‹ç§‹ - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

324 People (272 developers, 52 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 59 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 262 ratings with 12 reviews)

Some guys just shouldn't bother with the dames...

The Good
The original Max Payne was easily one of my favorite early Xbox titles. With a combination of film noir and graphic novel styles, it was easy to get sucked in, especially after you'd mastered the use of Bullet Time. Max Payne 2 easily surpassed it in almost all categories.

The first thing you'll notice is the change in the appearance of the characters. Models are more complex than in the previous game, especially in regards to the heads. Gone are the static photographic faces, which have been replaced with softer, more convincing textures, mapped to heads that feature mouths that move during speech. The effect was characters who felt more real, making it easier to become attached to the characters and story this time around. I’d originally been opposed to the aging up and conversion of Max into a stereotypical late-30s tragic badass in a trenchcoat, but it works well here and I actually prefer him to the younger Max. The entire world, even familiar places, feature better modeling, lighting, and textures as well. It's fitting that you'll revisit an area from the first game that's in the middle of renovation in the second. It may not be up to the PC version’s standards, but it’s still a beautiful game.

Bullet Time has also been changed up. As you take out enemies, your Bullet Time meter fills up. Once you’ve filled it up completely and keep pumping the baddies full of lead, the meter will begin to turn yellow. At this point, Max’s reactions become closer to real-time while everything is slowed down. Send an enemy flying and shoot a nearby exploding object to send him spiraling somewhere else. This becomes especially fun when you turn a group of bad guys into a midair corpse ballet. Another addition when in the yellow is the spin reload, in which Max spins while dumping clips, with the camera following him. On one hand, it may seem like a needless bit of animation, but in the case of a large firefight, it gives you a quick 360 view of the scene. It’s a great effect when you’ve just sent the last of three guys into the air. Once you’ve mastered the altered Bullet Time, you’ll find the real meat of the game and quite possibly lose yourself in a Zen-like trance.

The sound engineer is to be applauded, especially when it comes to vocal effects. Besides the standard face-to-face conversations, you’ll hear characters through doors, over speaker phone, over an intercom, etc., and each sample is convincingly muffled, echoed, distorted and spacially-placed. Explosions, gunfire, and environmental sounds are in the same league, as is the effect applied to them when Bullet Time is kicked in. When the world slows down with a full-auto machine gun, you can even hear the parts of the gun moving. And mind you, this is just using a stereo setup. The soundtrack features some nice arrangements of the original music, and everything fits the mood very well. The track by band Poets of the Fall, which plays at the credits, was a welcome addition that truly capped off the movie-like experience.

The Bad
The only real issue that I had with the game was the short length, which also seemed to be the main complaint by most. For anyone who bought the game at $50, it was likely a disappointment. At $20 or less, maybe not. I’d rented it, beating it quickly and blazing through in half the time on my second attempt.

I do wonder about the addition of the melee attack though. Not once did I need to resort to it out of a lack of ammo, nor did it seem all that effective when I did use it. Perhaps more experienced players can go on a pistol whipping frenzy when Bullet Time has gone into the yellow, but I was so trigger happy that I'd never thought to try. Most likely, they just decided to have Max able to do something when the button was pressed while he wasn't carrying grenades.

The Bottom Line
Where many could easily dismiss Max Payne 2 as being little more than a short expansion disguised as a sequel, I found a game that improved upon the original’s strengths while tightening the design overall to help match the pace of a film. Not every story needs fifteen to eighty hours to tell. Besides, any game you can blaze through but still get sucked into and enjoy can’t be all that bad, can it?

Xbox · by DarkBubble (342) · 2007

Good game, but where's the game-pad support?

The Good
Overall, I loved the game. It was intense all the way to the end. The story and graphics were excellent.

The Bad
The only thing that stunk about this game was that there was no game-pad support. How can you play such a great game with no game-pad? Playing with the mouse and the keyboard was very tedious and annoying. I'm very disappointed in Rockstar. All the great games they made and this one came up short because of no game-pad support. Rockstar should make a driver for game-pad support and have it available for download. I'm pretty sure when people found out that there was no game-pad support, they left the game alone. Who wants to play Max Payne with a keyboard and mouse? I don't think no one would. If they create the drivers, people wouldn't hesitate to pick up the game from the store. This would make the game more user friendly to the hardcore fanatic.

The Bottom Line
I would describe this game as a masterpiece in its own way. This game would have been an instant classic, but due to the fact that there is no game-pad support, it caused the game to come up short. Also, the game is very short. 10 hours of play? Damn, thats torture!!!! They could have made the game just a little longer.

Windows · by Oscar Molina (1) · 2004

Stumbling sort of Sequel

The Good
The new weapons in the game, such as the Russian firearms, add to the previously intriguing arsenal of the first game (except for the lack of M79). The ability to pistol whip or use grenades with your current weapon means there's no longer any need for weapon switching, especially in the middle of a firefight.

The newest feature, by playing as Mona Sax, is a definite plus, being able to wield unique guns and access parts of the chapter that Max doesn't. There are also NPCs who support you and Vinnie Gognitti you need to protect. Kind of makes me wonder what it would be like to play as Alex Balder.

The Bad
There is way too much re-usage of the same levels, including Ragnarock and the Address Unknown theme park. The other levels are just bland buildings instead of the rooftops, slums, hotels and factories of the first game. Then of course there are the little things missing, like laser traps, rats and breakable objects. This lack of variety also makes the game feel short. Even the unlockable minigames can't really compensate for the smaller chapter count. Using Mona Sax more often in the game might have improved the game overall. Much of the game mechanics are the same, except that bullet-time feels a little faster than it should, making it almost useless. Finally, the game also doesn't have much in the way of atmospheric music.

The Bottom Line
This sequel didn't quite capture the experience and take the best from the first game. This sequel was a bit of a let-down. This game could most likely be finished faster than the prequel and then you'll be craving for more. Not sure what Rockstar was going for, but it should be emphasised that Max Payne should not be given a Grand Theft Auto treatment. Worth the occasional play, but not worth the money to buy.

Windows · by Kayburt (30396) · 2020

[ View all 12 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Need help with retarded ending Indra was here (20756) Jan 29, 2011
Please help to Max Payne Movie! Marex (40) Nov 12, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Max Payne

Max Payne looks very different in comparison to the predecessor because this time a professional actor, Timothy Gibbs' was used as Payne's face instead of writer Sami JĂ€rvi.

References

  • Towards the end of the game, one of the police officers quotes one of Max's first lines from the first game; "They are all dead." In both instances, the police are arriving after the situation has been resolved.
  • If you listen to the messages on Vinnie Gognitti's answering machine, you'll hear a threat from the "God Father." Someone did a an impression of the late Marlon Brando.
  • First time Max walks around the police HQ, there are two cops in basement garage. The cops are modeled and named after 3D Realms leads and co-founders George Broussard and Scott Miller. Pay attention to their dialogue; it makes fun out of the long production time of Duke Nukem Forever, ending with 3D Realms' legendary release date slogan ("When it's done!").
  • In the level "Dearest of All My Friends", Max and Vinnie escape in a delivery van which has the word "Deliverator" written on its side. According to Joe Siegler, it's a reference to Remedy's earlier racing game Death Rally, where "Deliverator" is the most powerful car in the game.

References to the game

May Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 06/2007.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2003 – Best PC Story of the Year
    • 2003 – Best PC Graphics of the Year
    • 2003 – Best PC Successor of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2003 – #8 PC Game of the Year
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 13, 2004 - Best PC Action Game in 2003 (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 12/2008 - One of the "10 Coolest Levels" (For "A Linear Sequence of Scares". It is the highlight of the game because it is very different from the rest of the game, represents a silly image of Max' soul and offers many surprising script sequences.)

Information also contributed by Jason Musgrave, Jouni Lahtinen and Scott Monster

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by kbmb.

Xbox, PlayStation 2 added by Corn Popper. Xbox 360 added by karttu. Xbox Series, Xbox One added by Eufemiano Bullanga.

Additional contributors: Xantheous, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Slug Camargo, Daniel Albu, Havoc Crow, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added October 25, 2003. Last modified March 15, 2024.