Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a 2003 third-person shooter game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to 2001's Max Payne and the second game in the Max Payne series. Set two years after the events of the first game, the sequel finds Max Payne working again as a detective for the New York City Police Department (NYPD), while struggling with nightmares about his troubled past. After being unexpectedly reunited with contract killer Mona Sax, Max must work with her to resolve a conspiracy filled with death and betrayal, which will test where his true loyalties lie.
Max Payne 2 is played from a third-person perspective. Throughout the single-player campaign, players mainly control Max, with Mona being playable in a few select levels. Both playable characters have access to a wide variety of weapons to eliminate enemies, as well as a bullet-time ability, which slows down time during combat. The bullet-time mechanic has been upgraded in the game to allow players to move faster as they kill more enemies, as well as reload weapons instantly. Due to the Havok physics engine being used, the game also features improved ragdoll physics. The story is again told mostly through graphic novel panels with voice-overs, although several traditional cutscenes are also used. Whereas the first game's plot was inspired by Norse mythology and traditional hard-boiled detective novels, the sequel is mostly based on tragic love stories like those seen in film noir, with Max and Mona's relationship being central to the game's narrative.
Max Payne 2 was released for Windows in October 2003, for the Xbox in November, and for the PlayStation 2 in December. The game received highly positive reviews from critics and, like its predecessor, has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. Praise focused on its action and story, while criticism targeted its short length. Despite the positive reception, the game sold poorly, leading Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive to cite Max Payne 2s sales as a cause for the company's reforecast finances of 2004. Max Payne 2 received several industry awards, including Outstanding Art Direction at the Golden Satellite Awards 2004, and Editors' Choice Awards from GamePro, IGN, and GameSpy. A sequel, Max Payne 3, was released by Rockstar in May 2012. Remakes of Max Payne 1 & 2 are in development by Remedy and will be published by Rockstar for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Max performs a shoot-dodge maneuver.|alt=A video game screenshot of a man leaning on the floor while holding a gun in each hand and firing them at another man down a hallway.
Max Payne 2 is a third-person shooter featuring linear levels spread across three distinct chapters. Throughout the majority of the game, the player assumes the role of returning protagonist Max Payne; in several levels from the second and third chapters, the player controls secondary protagonist Mona Sax.
When first played, the game offers one difficulty level that is adjusted automatically if the game is too difficult for the player. For example, if the player's character dies too many times, the enemies' artificial intelligence is made less effective, while more health in the form of painkillers is made available. After completing the game once, other difficulty levels are unlocked. Two special game modes are also activated: New York Minute and Dead Man Walking. In New York Minute, the player is given a score based on the time taken to complete each level. The Dead Man Walking mode places Max in one of five scenarios, in which he must survive for as long as possible while fighting off endlessly respawning enemies.
Max Payne 2 allows the player to enable bullet-time, a mode that slows time, while still allowing the player to aim in real-time, to give the player more time to determine what they want to do. In this mode, the screen's color changes to a sepia tone to act as a visual cue. When in use, the bullet time meter will decrease until it is either empty or the player disables bullet time mode. The meter will eventually increase when not in use, and can be replenished quickly by killing enemies. To simulate the bullet time effect, the character can also execute a shoot-dodge maneuver. When the maneuver is performed, Max or Mona jumps in a direction specified by the player, and although bullet time is activated while Max or Mona is in mid-air, this will not deplete the bullet time meter. The combat system has been improved for Max Payne 2; the player can arm Max or Mona with a secondary weapon such as a grenade or Molotov cocktail, and when near an enemy, they can pistol whip them. AI companions can occasionally come to Max's aid, although their deaths do not affect the gameplay or story.
While investigating a gunfight at a warehouse owned by his ally, Russian mobster Vladimir "Vlad" Lem (Jonathan Davis), Max encounters a group of hitmen called "the Cleaners", who raided the warehouse for guns. Max is also surprised to run into contract killer Mona Sax (Wendy Hoopes), who he thought had died two years ago. Max heads to Vlad's restaurant to question him about the raid, only to find him under attack by mobsters led by their mutual enemy, Vinnie Gognitti (Fred Berman). After saving Vlad, he claims that Vinnie, now the underboss of the Punchinello Crime Family, is trying to monopolize the black market arms trade and sees Vlad as a threat. On 22 May 2002, Take-Two announced that they agreed to pay up to $8 million as incentive payments to 3D Realms and Remedy Entertainment to develop Max Payne 2. On 3 September 2003, Take-Two officially announced a release date of 15 October 2003 for the game.
Originally modeled in Max Payne after the game's writer Sam Lake, Max's appearance was remodeled after professional actor Timothy Gibbs for Max Payne 2; James McCaffrey returned as the voice of Max.
The story, sometimes told through in-game dialogue, is pushed forward with comic panels that play during cut scenes. The developers found comic panels to be more effective and less costly to use in the cut scenes than fully animated cinematics. They also noted that the graphic novel format allowed the player to interpret each panel for themselves, explaining "the nuances are there in the head of the reader, and it would be much harder to reach that level with in-game or even prerendered cinematics." Even though the game only supports DirectX 8.1, the graphics in Max Payne 2 mimic those generated by DirectX 9 by making optimal use of effects such as reflection, refraction, shaders, and ghosting. The developers considered one particular scene in which effects are used well: When Max has lucid dreams, the screen appears fuzzy and out of focus. Since Max Payne, the polygon count (the number of polygons rendered per frame) has been increased, which smooths out the edges of character models. In addition, characters have a much greater range of expressions. Previously, Max had only one expression available; in Max Payne 2, he often smirks and moves his eyebrows to react to different scenarios.
The game uses the Havok physics engine, which the developers chose because it was "hands-down the best solution to our needs". The Havok engine was tweaked to make weapons, bombs, and Molotov cocktails act more naturally, and the audio was updated to make them sound more realistic. The new physics engine allowed for certain actions that could not happen in Max Payne; boxes can be moved and follow the laws of gravitation, and explosion detonations make enemy bodies fall realistically. Development tools were made available for Max Payne 2 by Rockstar Games and Remedy Entertainment to allow players to create modifications for the game. Modifications can perform several functions, such as the ability to add new weapons, skills, perspectives, surroundings, and characters.
Music composers Kärtsy Hatakka and Kimmo Kajasto returned to compose the game's soundtrack. It features cello performances by Apocalyptica member Perttu Kivilaakso. The game's end credits feature the song "Late Goodbye" by the band Poets of the Fall, the lyrics of which were based on a poem by Sam Lake. It was their first single and reached #14 on the Finnish Singles Chart as well as #1 on Radio Suomipop's Top 30 chart. It is referenced many times in the game, usually by characters singing or humming it.
Anti-piracy
When Rockstar Games released the game on Steam, they used a no-disc crack to bypass their originally included DRM.
Reception
Max Payne 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, while the PS2 version received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.
Steve Polak of the Australian The Daily Telegraph, who enjoyed the first Max Payne game, also praised Max Payne 2, calling it an "outstanding" game that "keeps alive the sense of atmosphere and engaging gunplay-oriented action that was so exciting in the first release." He lauded the game for better production values compared to the first game, including its more polished story, more professional scripts, and better acting and graphics. The complexity of Max's character was a welcomed element by Polak, who found that games often created heroes that were simplistic.
Awards
Max Payne 2 was the recipient of several industry awards, including Outstanding Art Direction at the Golden Satellite Awards 2004, Editors' Choice Awards from GamePro, IGN, GameSpy, and GameSpot, and Game of the Month from Game Informer.
During the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Max Payne 2 for "Game of the Year", "Computer Game of the Year", "Computer Action/Adventure Game of the Year", "Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male" for James McCaffrey's vocal portrayal of Max Payne.
Remake
In April 2022, Remedy announced that it is remaking Max Payne and Max Payne 2 on its Northlight Engine, with funding from Rockstar. The two remakes are set to be released as a compilation for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
See also
- List of fictional portrayals of the NYPD
- List of third-person shooters