Others say...

"A Complete Mess"
What do you do in Max Payne 2? You walk from room to room shooting enemies in slow-motion dives. Oh yeah, and there's a competent story and some cool dream levels thrown into the mix. Now I'm all for mindless shooting (Especially when the enemy AI is as good as it is here) but a number of serious flaws suck the fun right out of this PC port.

1. Load times- Around 45 seconds everytime you start a new level or die and have to respawn. And you will die often, so even though you can save at any time, it's annoying when you hit a difficult section of the game. Picture this: Die, wait 45 seconds to reload level, die within two seconds again, wait another 45 seconds, repeat ten times. Aggravating, to say the least.

2. Save System- Completely f-ed up, it never, ever saves automatically, and saving manually is one of the most tedious processes I've ever encountered in a video game. Since you should save alot, this is not a good thing.

3. Framerate- It's never smooth, even in a small room with no enemies, and during heated firefights it slows down to around 5 fps, absolutely no exaggeration there. In these moments you just move the analog stick and hold down the fire button, and the game's auto-aim feature that makes all your flying bullets somehow hit an enemy, no matter how off you are, does the rest.

4. Graphics- This game looks like crap. Everything is too dark, textures are pixelated like mad, and it just isn't up to par with even first generation PS2 titles.

5. Audio- Skips alot.

6. Other problems- Game freezes for a few seconds whenever transitioning to a cutscene, switching weapons requires you to take your thumb off the analog stick, leaving you vulnerable if you run out of ammo in the midst of a shoot out and need to equip a different weapon.

Basically everything good about the PC version is either ruined or missing altogether in this barely playable port. This game is a trainwreck, stay away, it costs about the same as a roll of toilet paper for a reason. Best used as a coaster for your icy beverage. I give it a...

4/10

"A Few Problems, But Still Very Fun Sequel to a Great Game."
If you're a hardcore action fan like me, chances are you've probably heard of Max Payne. It combines elements of John Woo films and film noir graphic novels. Some people may not like the film noir style or graphic novel look, but I think it's very unique and stylish. Now the sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, improves on it in every aspect. I understand that of course the game is going to run and look better on Xbox and PC. It probably does, but that didn't stop me from buying it for PS2. The graphics are both good and bad. The environments are decent and the character models could be better save for Max Payne, Mona Sax, and Vladimir. Max no longer has that stupid sneer on his face. Voice acting is pretty good, but it tends to skip every now and then. Controls are pretty much the same as the first, except now you can pistolwhip or throw grenades with a weapon equppied. The Bullet-Time feature has been improved and the sequences when reloading in Bullet-Time are awesome, looking just like a top-notch action movie. Don't let the love story theme stop you from purchasing this. It's a very good story and some levels let play as not only Max Payne, but Mona Sax, but she basically plays the same as Max, which is or isn't a bad thing necessarily. Also, the dreaded nightmare sequences are on here, but they're not as hair-pulling as they were on the first. These are short and playable. My only complaints and why Max Payne 2 didn't score higher with me is that unfortunately, the Xbox and PC version are both graphically and technologically superior to the PS2 version. Also, it's a bit too short. But these problems don't hurt the game that terribly much as it's still very fun and just as good as the first if not better. I give a 4 out of 5. Semper Fi, Carry On.

"Not worth the money"
This game is not worth paying for. If you played the first game then you have played this one. It is true that there is a new story and there are some new gun configurations but the gameplay and graphics were not improved at all. The whole bullet time thing is not enough of a reason to purchase a game. When I went to sell it back they wouldnt take it so i basically had to pay them to take this joke of a game. Waste of time and DVD discs.

"Where's The Beef?"
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First off, I own the original Max Payne for the PS2 and loved it, so when I saw the billboards for it (I couldn't go two blocks without seeing one) I naturally was really looking forward to it.

And then I bought it, and then...well...for me, I had a hard time playing the game. Or, to be more accurate, working up the desire to play it once I got it. Everything that was in the original was in here, along with a few extras, such as switching between Max and Mona, as well as having computer-controlled cannon fodder accompany Max every now and then.

Maybe that's it: maybe they put too much of the original in this. The controls were the same, the graphics quality was the same, everything was the same. Normally in a good sequel, there are noticeable improvements and/or changes (how the Final Fantasy people do it I'll never know). Maybe that's what this game really needed.

Or was it the plot? In the original, the emotional weight of the plot, of Max avenging the murder of his family, was almost palpable, but in this it wasn't there. Watching Max trying to sort out his feelings for Mona while trying to figure out who's behind a power struggle within the Inner Circle just didn't resonate with me.

Anyway, I see a Max Payne 3 in my future. I just hope it gets a bit more beefed up.

"What's the Deal?! I Still Like it..."
...but I've never seen the Xbox or PC version of the game. I picked it up cos it was cheap as heck used and I've heard it was good stuff. I'll admit the graphics aren't the best and are exactly like MP1, maybe a little better. But still, this is definitely a solid game and the story is great like the first game and it has the cool dialogue too, more modes to play, the bullet time is better and it's just as good as the first game.

My only problem was it was too short, but it was worth 12 dollars!