...According to Sam Lake, lead writer on both Max Payne and the sequel. "The script for the sequel is three times as big as the original. It's going to be a much deeper game and we're taking a big risk by putting him in a love story this time around. In the original we kept the story seperate so that you could blast through the game even if you didn't want to spend time with the graphic novel but this time around we're working hard to incorporate the story into the game."

Subtitled The Fall Of Max Payne, the title hints at another playful feel-good romp through the streets of New York, although it's also set in New York in the fall (read autumn), so the title isn't necessarily as dark as it sounds. Set a year after the end of the first game (all the characters that were lucky enough to survive the original are back for the sequel), the story starts with Max back in uniform, but once again standing accused of killing his former partner. Instead of shruging it off, he confesses to the murder, which sets up the whole film-noir love angle. But don't worry, Remedy hasn't gone soft on you. According to Sam Lake, The Fall Of Max Payne is "dark, tragic and violent, and mostly in Bullet-Time of course. Love hurts, and you just know there isn't going to be a happy ending? Or is there?"