I had been waiting for Max Payne 2 since the day I completed the first Max Payne (review 93%). Now Max Payne is back and it has yet again exceeded my highest expectations in form of gameplay and graphics, with a few flaws, but none that detract from it, nor will keep me from playing it over and over again, like the last one. So what you can expect from Max Payne 2?

Like in the original game, the story in Max Payne 2 will be told through graphic-novel-style still pictures narrated by the characters. The game is set in New York City (a few years after the first Max Payne), and you play the role of Max Payne, as he rejoins the NYPD as detective. Of course, he's older, wiser, and much worse for wear. The story will unfold over the course of a retrospective that covers a recent series of events that led up to his current situation, like in the original game. This time around, the love story theme will play a much bigger part as Max becomes involved with a murder suspect, a sexy killer Mona Sax.

The gameplay isn't any different than the first that isn't necessarily a bad thing, so once again you can expect pretty straightforward shooter with plenty of John Woo-style fight sequences and enemies to blast away. The third person perspective is still there, as are the plethora of weapons, from automatic pistols to shotguns, to machine guns. You will find some new weapons, like the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the MP-5 machine gun, and the Druganov sniper rifle. Bullet Time 2.00 is sharper, groovier and even more useful than it was in its original incarnation. I'd say the gameplay is much more intuitive this time round, even psychedelic dream sequences aren't frustrating. To make gameplay a bit more interesting, you will enjoy is the part time switch playing as a different character - the beautiful and mysterious Mona Sax.

After you complete the game, it will unlock a few new gameplay modes. The first three modes are a repeat of the original game's modes with more deadly opponents, a limit on save games and New York Minute which give you a time attack mode. You'll also have Dead Man Walking, where enemies endlessly spawn while you try to stay alive as long as possible.

I would like mention that Max Payne 2 (Havok engine) has the most realistic implementation of ragdoll I've ever seen in a game. Karma-ragdolls are not that good (used in UT2003), when body's fall from a distance, they bounce too much. I bet you will love to watch how grenades send the bodies flying through the air. Imagine you toss a grenade into a courtyard where a few baddies are. The grenade will blew the guys way up in the air and flung a couple trash cans up onto the balcony where you are standing! Damn cool. The environment is pretty cool too. If the first game's textures looked great and really brought out the New York atmosphere, then Max Payne 2 does this even better. Good job Remedy! :)

As a whole, this game rocks!  Honestly, this is by far one of the best shooter I have played yet. I just can't give it an exceptional 100% rating considering how short the game was. Also there's no multiplayer (co-op mode would be cool). Personally I don't complain about the game length. Why stretch the story if it's perfect as it is now. If I go see a movie and it lasts 10 hours I'll get bored after three hours no matter what it is, and the same happens with games like that, with a strong plot, you lose focus to the story and it comes boring. Of course, if the game is boring or something, hell it can last 50 hours! In other words, I rather have a short awesome game than some long crap. If you are a true gamer and like this genre then 100% buy this game!

System requirements:
Minimum: 1 GHz Pentium III / Athlon or 1.2GHz Celeron or Duron processor, 32 MB DirectX 9 Compatible AGP Graphics Card with HW T&L support, 256 MB RAM, 1.7GB free HDD space
Recommended (medium graphical detail): 1.4 GHz Athlon or 1.7 GHz Pentium 4, Celeron or Duron processor, 64 MB DirectX 9 Compatible Graphics AGP graphics card with HW T&L support, 512 MB RAM, 1.7GB free HDD space.