Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
*Max Payne voice begin* The number one feature of the original game was bullet-time. Shamelessly borrowing the idea, and quite frankly the name, from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), bullet-time was undoubtedly the gimmick missing from action games of this vein. "Back and better than ever" comes to mind concerning bullet-time in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Remedy has made a few minor tweaks to bullet-time, creating a much more cinematic experience, as well as giving Max a better fighting chance. As Max successfully hits targets while in bullet-time, the world around Max will slow down even more, while Max relatively speeds up, making clearing out a room full of armed assailants that much more interesting and heroic. The camera will pan out and around Max in the heat of a fire-fight, in a slow-motion visual spectacle before returning control to the player, crosshairs dead on the next target. The Deafening Silence of Love
The final mouse-click was an exclamation mark to every game that had led to this point. I released my finger from the "trigger", and then it was over. To make any kind of sense of it, I needed to go back two years. Back to the night the 'Payne' started…
It was the warmest summer in years. Amidst the dull silence and glowing suburban nights, I found it all too obvious that the dreary repertoire of games had reached an uncomfortable droning lull. I reached for my usual painkillers once again, as I had done so many nights before, searching for the key to an exit of the uninspiring mire of paths I'd been down before. Gaming was my escape - my so called painkillers – which grew less effective day by day, night by night. All that was about to change…
*Max Payne voice end*
Genre defining. Revolutionary. Ground-breaking. Words used far too loosely in the video game industry. Publishers throw around terms as such, and more often than not, these promises are never met. With an industry endlessly crying wolf, it's easy to miss the rare item that actually does mean business, and delivers on much more than what a massive campaign could ever promise. Max Payne was one such item. Though I vaguely recall the hype surrounding the original Max Payne leading up to its actual release, I do recall my personal high-hopes based upon footage shown more than a year prior to the games release. Fact is, Max Payne delivered, and now it was time to see if he could deliver again.
Following the events of the original, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne finds Max back on the right side of the badge. Exonerated by all but his self for the events that unfolded in the previous tale, Payne will once again let his actions be ruled by love and loss, against heavily stacked opposition, in a twisting plot of betrayal and lust.
Rockstar Games has done little in comparison to make improbable claims and statements concerning one of their top assets. It was perhaps apparent to them that Max Payne was a once in a life-time feat, in terms of originality and creativity, and equally apparent to the collective gaming mass. In all honesty, what more could you want a game that was near perfection? Precisely… MORE! More Max Payne. More bullet-time. More exploration into the psyche of a man on edge.
In terms of gameplay, Remedy Entertainment has "more" or less left well enough alone. Max is back in all his gun-blazing, bullet-dodging, death-defying glory. The years have aged Max, but not the action. Presented with an even grittier Payne and deeper and darker tale, the game is, without a doubt, a proper sequel realized. Building off the gameplay/story structure of its predecessor, fans of the original will feel quite at home, as the controls and action have remained intact. The game remains that of a third-person perspective affair, with the original Max Payne containing the best use of third-person for it's time. Max, despite his evident age, can still dodge, dive, and roll, avoiding the barrage of bullets with "Max Payne" written on them.
As in the first Max Payne, Max will have several weapons at his disposal, most after prying them from the cold, dead hands of his enemies. Max can again wield dual pistols and small machine guns, though he could probably kick just as much butt with a crowbar and bullet-time. Shotguns, MP5's, Colt Carbines, Uzi's, hand grenades, you get the picture – all at home in the hands of our mad Max.
Artfully killing mobsters is only part of the equation. Due to the inherent bullet-magnetism Payne possesses, a good deal of time will be spent scavenging for pain-killers to keep Max on his feet and progressing through the game. The action, which happens often enough, never gets boring, or even repetitive, with a pacing tight enough to keep you from getting up to go to the bathroom when you know damn well you should!
Hell Never Looked so Good
The levels are grim as the story. Max will revisit familiar locations of Hell's Kitchen, and familiar faces will be found raveled within Max's personal hell. While Max Payne holds up as one of the best looking games of it's time, The Fall of Max Payne just barely makes the mark for presenting the best of it's time. The levels themselves offer merely an incremental update over the previous, though forgivably so. The textures and overall level design are noticeably improved, but in comparison to the high-water mark set by the original, it isn't all that exciting. Fitting: yes. Jaw-dropping: no. What did make a major visual improvement however, were the character models. I actually didn't remember how silly the original models looked until playing through The Fall of Max Payne, and then loading up the original. The arms seemed somewhat simian, and the faces were horrendous – including the "smelly" facial expression of the younger Payne. The years have wiped that expression off Max's face, presenting a much more mature and sleeker – dare I say sexier – look to the models all around. Body parts are much more proportionate, and mouths actually move while talking. While not AS realistic or high-detailed as models in other recent games, it is still a vast improvement.
For the most part though, the "look" of the game is derived more from the camera effects and the newly included rag-doll physics. Remedy, like many other recent developers, has turned to the Havok engine to handle both the physics of the character models and inanimate objects throughout the game. Death sequences look much better as a result, and battles in areas with moveable objects, such as boxes and drums, that much more interesting. Sweeping colorful slow-motion blurs around Max as he reloads turns the action into a true ballet of bullets.
The main theme song of Max Payne is once again central to Max's state, perfectly setting the tone for the tragic-hero vibe. It serves well, once again, as the underpinning atmosphere needed by the graphic novel representation throughout. The theme has become one of the most recognizable core arrangements in a game, along the lines of the Metal Gear Solid theme (which actually dates back to the original Metal Gear).
Voice acting is above par, which is quite the feat for a game. For some reason, casting voice talent for a game can typically be compared to that of a Kung-Fu movie. James McCaffrey has returned to do the voice-over for the man himself, and does so with decent, though at times, drowsy delivery. To keep the characters from sounding too much like one another, May Payne 2 used perhaps the largest cache of voice-talents ever in a game. That goes to show just how serious they were with respect to the cinematic quality of the game!
The secret of the overall sonic characteristic of Max Payne 2 has little to do with the quality of individual sound bytes and samples. Certainly guns that go bang real loud and bullets striking different materials all help in creating the illusion of inclusiveness for the gamer. It's actually the sounds amidst the fire-fights and relentless action that give the game its high aural quality. The swooshing sound of concentration and slowed-time as Max effortlessly clears a room of armed hostiles, deep pinging of shell casings tapping the concrete floor, and echoed cries of pain as Max sends another to hell. Poetry in motion.
Max Payne 2: The Rise of a Successful Sequel
The odd aspect of Max Payne 2 has nothing to do with the twisting, dark, grim story of Max Payne, but with its unexpected release. Certainly we expected a sequel at some point, but we expected at least a year of speculation and hype once it would officially be announced. So, after an unexpected announcement of its production at E3 last May, and an even more unexpected release date of October 2003 – the very same year, we didn't know what to think.
Regardless of unexpected events, we did expect Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne to offer more of the same, though in a good way. Remedy has done just that, leaving well enough alone for the most part, while giving Max the needed graphical upgrade. Once again, the story will leave you thinking "huh?" until you start playing through it again to fit all the pieces of the puzzle revealed early in the game together. The game is forgivably short (roughly 6-10 hours), but makes up for it with both a genuinely great script and unlockable modes of play. A near masterpiece.
