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92%
PROS
Awesome graphics, great control over Max in bullet time, cool photo journal, replay value.
LOWS
No multiplayer, the game is a bit too short, some missions can feel repetitive.
OVERALL
The second Max Payne is a real treat. If it had multiplayer, a longer storyline, and some more new areas, we wouldn't leave our rooms.
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These missions are a lot of fun, especially since you are getting a new character to play with. With Mona, you can still use Bullet Time and dive, so you won't be missing anything.
The overall enemy AI is excellent. Since you have the advantage of going into Bullet Time and doing awesome Matrix moves, enemies are pretty much defenseless. Their only real power lies in bulk. If you run into a room filled with guys, you switch to Bullet Time and do a backwards dive. Thugs will rapidly fire at you, and if you get to close to them, they might dive away. If you are running into a room and an enemy is next to the door, the force of running through the door will knock them off their feet. The AI of cooperative players like Mona Sax is also superb, and in the missions that you play with her, the tactics she has may even surpass your own.
Like the original Max Payne, you will be able to play in Bullet Time and perform awesome diving moves. There is a separate button for diving, so you can go in slow motion without entering bullet time. By hitting this button, your game automatically goes slow, and you have control over every muscle Max moves while in the air. You can go to the right, left, backwards, or forwards. If you enter a room in a forward dive and find it swarmed with enemies, you can move your mouse away from the thugs and turn Max while in the air. It is integral to enter some rooms in bullet time. Bullet time slows down everything, to the point where you can actually see the bullets flying from guns. Bullet time and diving makes Max Payne 2 stand out from all the usual FPS games. Playing the game like this makes everything different. The gameplay literally slows down, to the point where you can stretch out every kill into the perfect movie. There are instances in the game where when you kill a particular enemy, a mini cinematic will start of your foe falling to the ground. What a great experience.
Not only will you be engaging in intense firefights, you will also have a few sniping sessions. One mission in particular has you play as Mona while Max is in a courtyard, and he is trying to get into a building. You are on the top floor of the building, and as Max runs across, you need to snipe out any enemies he encounters. This mission seems very real in that when Max runs to one end the courtyard, you can't cover him anymore. You will have to run all over the building trying to find the perfect sniping spot multiple times as Max fights for his life.
There is no multiplayer in Max Payne 2, which I was really pretty upset with. Just like in the original Max Payne, a multiplayer mode would've been much appreciated.
Even though the lack of multiplayer may make you cringe, there is a high replay value of the single player game. When you start out, there is only one difficulty mode available: Detective. After you beat this mode, you can move onto Hard Boiled and Dead on Arrival, each getting progressively harder. After those, you can start New York Minute. Once you can start Dead Man Walking mode, the fun really begins. It is pretty impossible, but for hardcore fans, it will be a great challenge. It's basically a Deathmatch mode, where you cannot win but can only stay alive for as long as you can. In New York minute mode, you need to get the shortest time for a particular game part. This is fun, but I like Dead Man Walking better.
For the most part, Max Payne 2 is an excellent game. It looks incredible, it's a blast to play, and it is unique from the typical FPS games you see in stores today. There are, however, a few aspects of the game that detract from the overall perspective. There is no multiplayer, which would have been much appreciated. Missions can sometimes seem repetitive, because you will revisit many of the same places through Max's journey. In addition to that, the game length is pretty short. If you sat down for a day and played the game, you could easily beat it. If these aspects were corrected, Max Payne would be the best PC game we have to date.
