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Max Payne 2
This game ought to be loved by any film/comic fanatic, but it probably
isn't. Right from the outset Max Payne 2, like the original game does
its storytelling not just with cut scenes, but with stylish comic book
style panes and voice acting. This game is rich with storyline and
plot elements, following the life of cop Max Payne (god knows how he's
still a cop after all the people he killed in the first game!) and the
strange love story of a fellow female mass killer, Mona Sax. The
story and levels are also interspersed with various dream sequences
and the plot is not always chronological, which may seem a bit
confusing at first, but when you get a bit more engrossed and start
figuring things out, it's all good. Although playing the first game
certainly isn't a prerequisite of fully enjoying this one, though it
can only add to the experience if you are able to play them in the
intended order.
This game is deeply reminiscent of Tarantino films in general, or any
films that are rich with visceral violence. The one film that I can
say that the two Max Payne games are most like is Sin City, which
itself is based on a series of comic books. So generally speaking if
you're not a fan of gratuitous violence and gore, you might not like
this one.
To start off with Max Payne 2 seems like your average first person
shooter; you've got lots of enemies, lots of guns and a place to go.
This game sets it apart from all other first person shooters because
it makes the effort to model the different speeds and velocities that
bullets travel at when fired from different games, a feature which is
lacking in every other FPS game that springs to mind. That's not the
neat feature, because of that feature it can add bullet time, which
everyone should be familiar with (go watch The Matrix if you don't.
Oh and don't bother with the other two films, but DO bother with The
Animatrix sub-series, whilst I'm on the subject of The Matrix films!).
So you're there with multiple enemies with automatic rifles, a few
bullets left in the clip and no place to go. No problem, just right
click with your mouse, which sets Max into a deep state of
concentration and let rip in stylish slow motion, abling you to target
the goons with extra precision and giving you extra time to react to
incoming fire. Ace. You can also use this bullet time mode in
conjunction with certain movements to activate special moves, like
diving across an entrance to a corridor in slow motion, whilst firing
into any enemies that lay wait and landing in the safe haven of a
wall. Also, occasionally, it activates stylish little cut scenes like
when you reload in bullet time and the camera swings round Max to show
this, or if you get a head shot with the sniper rifle and the camera
swings round the bullet and follows it into the poor bloke's head.
The game's weapons are a bit samey, nothing innovative happening
there, though I would have liked to see a gun with a high rate of
fire, like a minigun or something, that could be unlocked. That would
have been a lot of fun to play around with, especially in bullet time.
However the graphics engine has been improved since Max's first
outing, as well as the physics system. The levels are also a bit
samey, with only a few memorable ones which sees Max needing to
navigate a sort of messed up Fun House.
I suppose other than the aforementioned bullet time, you are left with
an average FPS with nothing much to add, but it's still worth a play
especially if you enjoyed the style of Sin City.
3.0 / 4.0
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