Max Payne 2 Reviewed

Some random reader writes "Max Payne 2, the sequel to the awesome original game released years ago, hit shelves three days ago. The first review I've seen thus far is at PCSynapse. It seems to be what fans want, give or take a few quirks. Overall conclusion - 'MP2 was not designed to be revolutionary - but more evolutionary, and in that apparent goal it has succeeded with flying colors.'" There's a selection of other reviews collated via GameTab.

Comments

Free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Do it NOW!

Re:Free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal (note that since this was written Mumia's sentance was overturned and he is now spending life in prison) by Terry Bisson from New York Newsday, 1995 In 1978, Philadelphia Mayor (and ex-police chief) Frank Rizzo blew up at a press conference, threatening what he called "the new breed" of journalists. "They [the people] believe what you write and what you say," said Rizzo, "and it's got to stop. One day--and I hope it's in my career--you're going to have to be held responsible and accountable for what you do." What the "new breed" was doing in 1978, and is still doing today, was exposing police misconduct. A cop had been killed in a confrontation between Philadelphia police and the radical MOVE organization (the same MOVE that was fire-bombed by the city seven years later), and the police version of who shot first hadn't been accepted without question. Rizzo feared a new trend, and he was right. The trend has continued. Today, the Mollen Commission, the NYPD "party"in DC, the Rodney King case and hundreds of other local scandals have exposed the dark underside of police misconduct nationwide. Ironically, the most prominent of the "new breed" of journalists at whom Rizzo's outburst was directed is awaiting execution on Pennsylvania's Death Row, the victim--many believe--of a police frame-up. Mumia Abu-Jamal began his journalism career with the Black Panther Party. The Panthers were the original "affirmative action" employer, and Mumia (then Wesley Cook) was Minister of Information for the Philadelphia chapter at age 15, writing for the national newspaper. A heady beginning for a West Philly kid. After the Panthers fell apart (helped by a stiff dose of FBI harassment) Mumia turned to broadcasting. He had the voice, the writing talent and the ambition, and by age 25, he was one of the top names in local radio, interviewing such luminaries as Jesse Jackson and the Pointer Sisters and winning a Peabody Award for his coverage of the Pope's visit. He was president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, called "one to watch" by Philadelphia magazine. But Mumia was still a radical. The Philadelphia Inquirer called him "an eloquent activist not afraid to raise his voice," and this fearlessness was to be his undoing. His vocal support of MOVE's uncompromising life-style lost him jobs at Black stations, and he was forced to moonlight to support his family. The mayor's outburst marked the beginning of a campaign of police harassment that included such subtleties as a cocked finger and a 'bang bang' from a smirking cop, and escalated to a late-night police beating of Mumia's brother on the street. Mumia was driving a cab that night. It is undisputed that he intervened. It is undisputed that both he and officer Daniel Faulkner were shot, and that Faulkner died. What is in dispute is who killed Faulkner. Mumia says it was someone else, and several witnesses saw another shooter flee the scene. Mumia's legally registered .38 was never decisively linked to Faulkner's wounds. Mumia's murder trial was a policeman's dream. Denied the right to represent himself, he was defended by a reluctant incompetent who was later disbarred (and who has since filed an affadavit in Mumia's support detailing his delinquencies). Mumia was prosecuted by a DA who was later reprimanded for withholding evidence in another trial. He was allowed only $150 to interview witnesses. But best of all was the judge. A life member of the Fraternal Order of Police, branded as a "defendant's nightmare" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Judge Albert F. Sabo has sentenced more men to die (31 to date, only two of them white) than any other sitting judge in America. A fellow judge once called his courtroom a "vacation for prosecutors" because of bias toward convictions. Sabo wouldn't allow Mumia to defend himself because his dreadlocks made jurors "nervous." Kept in a holding cell, he read about his own trial in the newspapers. A Black juror was removed for violating sequestration, while a white juror was given an

Re:Free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!!!

[benna]

The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal (formated properly this time) (note that since this was written Mumia's sentance was overturned and he is now spending life in prison) by Terry Bisson from New York Newsday, 1995 In 1978, Philadelphia Mayor (and ex-police chief) Frank Rizzo blew up at a press conference, threatening what he called "the new breed" of journalists. "They [the people] believe what you write and what you say," said Rizzo, "and it's got to stop. One day--and I hope it's in my career--you're going to have to be held responsible and accountable for what you do." What the "new breed" was doing in 1978, and is still doing today, was exposing police misconduct. A cop had been killed in a confrontation between Philadelphia police and the radical MOVE organization (the same MOVE that was fire-bombed by the city seven years later), and the police version of who shot first hadn't been accepted without question. Rizzo feared a new trend, and he was right. The trend has continued. Today, the Mollen Commission, the NYPD "party"in DC, the Rodney King case and hundreds of other local scandals have exposed the dark underside of police misconduct nationwide. Ironically, the most prominent of the "new breed" of journalists at whom Rizzo's outburst was directed is awaiting execution on Pennsylvania's Death Row, the victim--many believe--of a police frame-up. Mumia Abu-Jamal began his journalism career with the Black Panther Party. The Panthers were the original "affirmative action" employer, and Mumia (then Wesley Cook) was Minister of Information for the Philadelphia chapter at age 15, writing for the national newspaper. A heady beginning for a West Philly kid. After the Panthers fell apart (helped by a stiff dose of FBI harassment) Mumia turned to broadcasting. He had the voice, the writing talent and the ambition, and by age 25, he was one of the top names in local radio, interviewing such luminaries as Jesse Jackson and the Pointer Sisters and winning a Peabody Award for his coverage of the Pope's visit. He was president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, called "one to watch" by Philadelphia magazine. But Mumia was still a radical. The Philadelphia Inquirer called him "an eloquent activist not afraid to raise his voice," and this fearlessness was to be his undoing. His vocal support of MOVE's uncompromising life-style lost him jobs at Black stations, and he was forced to moonlight to support his family. The mayor's outburst marked the beginning of a campaign of police harassment that included such subtleties as a cocked finger and a 'bang bang' from a smirking cop, and escalated to a late-night police beating of Mumia's brother on the street. Mumia was driving a cab that night. It is undisputed that he intervened. It is undisputed that both he and officer Daniel Faulkner were shot, and that Faulkner died. What is in dispute is who killed Faulkner. Mumia says it was someone else, and several witnesses saw another shooter flee the scene. Mumia's legally registered .38 was never decisively linked to Faulkner's wounds. Mumia's murder trial was a policeman's dream. Denied the right to represent himself, he was defended by a reluctant incompetent who was later disbarred (and who has since filed an affadavit in Mumia's support detailing his delinquencies). Mumia was prosecuted by a DA who was later reprimanded for withholding evidence in another trial. He was allowed only $150 to interview witnesses. But best of all was the judge. A life member of the Fraternal Order of Police, branded as a "defendant's nightmare" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Judge Albert F. Sabo has sentenced more men to die (31 to date, only two of them white) than any other sitting judge in America. A fellow judge once called his courtroom a "vacation for prosecutors" because of bias toward convictions. Sabo wouldn't allow Mumia to defend himself because his dreadlocks made jurors "nervous." Kept in a holding cell, he read about his own trial in the newspapers. A Black juror was removed for violating sequestration, whi

Re:Free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

You all suck and can't format...for the last time.

The Case
of Mumia Abu Jamal
(note that since this was written Mumia's sentance was overturned and he is now spending life in prison)

by Terry Bisson
from New York Newsday, 1995

In 1978, Philadelphia Mayor (and ex-police chief) Frank Rizzo blew up at a press conference, threatening what he called "the new breed" of journalists. "They [the people] believe what you write and what you say," said Rizzo, "and it's got to stop. One day--and I hope it's in my career--you're going to have to be held responsible and accountable for what you do."

What the "new breed" was doing in 1978, and is still doing today, was exposing police misconduct. A cop had been killed in a confrontation between Philadelphia police and the radical MOVE organization (the same MOVE that was fire-bombed by the city seven years later), and the police version of who shot first hadn't been accepted without question. Rizzo feared a new trend, and he was right.

The trend has continued. Today, the Mollen Commission, the NYPD "party"in DC, the Rodney King case and hundreds of other local scandals have exposed the dark underside of police misconduct nationwide. Ironically, the most prominent of the "new breed" of journalists at whom Rizzo's outburst was directed is awaiting execution on Pennsylvania's Death Row, the victim--many believe--of a police frame-up.

Mumia Abu-Jamal began his journalism career with the Black Panther Party. The Panthers were the original "affirmative action" employer, and Mumia (then Wesley Cook) was Minister of Information for the Philadelphia chapter at age 15, writing for the national newspaper. A heady beginning for a West Philly kid. After the Panthers fell apart (helped by a stiff dose of FBI harassment) Mumia turned to broadcasting. He had the voice, the writing talent and the ambition, and by age 25, he was one of the top names in local radio, interviewing such luminaries as Jesse Jackson and the Pointer Sisters and winning a Peabody Award for his coverage of the Pope's visit. He was president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, called "one to watch" by Philadelphia magazine.

But Mumia was still a radical. The Philadelphia Inquirer called him "an eloquent activist not afraid to raise his voice," and this fearlessness was to be his undoing. His vocal support of MOVE's uncompromising life-style lost him jobs at Black stations, and he was forced to moonlight to support his family. The mayor's outburst marked the beginning of a campaign of police harassment that included such subtleties as a cocked finger and a 'bang bang' from a smirking cop, and escalated to a late-night police beating of Mumia's brother on the street.

Mumia was driving a cab that night. It is undisputed that he intervened. It is undisputed that both he and officer Daniel Faulkner were shot, and that Faulkner died. What is in dispute is who killed Faulkner. Mumia says it was someone else, and several witnesses saw another shooter flee the scene. Mumia's legally registered .38 was never decisively linked to Faulkner's wounds.

Mumia's murder trial was a policeman's dream. Denied the right to represent himself, he was defended by a reluctant incompetent who was later disbarred (and who has since filed an affadavit in Mumia's support detailing his delinquencies). Mumia was prosecuted by a DA who was later reprimanded for withholding evidence in another trial. He was allowed only $150 to interview witnesses.

But best of all was the judge. A life member of the Fraternal Order of Police, branded as a "defendant's nightmare" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Judge Albert F. Sabo has sentenced more men to die (31 to date, only two of them white) than any other sitting judge in America. A fellow judge once called his courtroom a "vacation for prosecutors" because of bias toward convictions.

Sabo wouldn't allow Mumia to defend himself because his dreadlocks made jurors "nervous." Kept in a holding cel

FIRST POST

[Anonymous Coward]

I have really bad farts and sometimes they squirt into my longjohns and dribble down my leg and they smell really bad too because I eat lots of cabbage and garlic.

YOU FAIL IT!

[Anonymous Coward]

You may now go jump off a cliff thus solving all of the worlds problems.

Gabe & Tycho are split

[daeley]

Yesterday's Penny Arcade weighs in with its own review. :)

Re:Gabe & Tycho are split

[Goldberg's Pants]

The "evolution" "revolution" thing is so stupid, because it bass ackwards.

Revolution: Change comes, a few people die.
Evolution: Change comes, entire species and bloodlines are wiped out.

Max Payne, the original, was lame. A slightly above par third person shooter with terrible dialog, and a gimmick stolen from The Matrix.

Re:Gabe & Tycho are split

[Dehumanizer]

I found the dialogue quite funny, and the gimmick was announced before anyone knew what "The Matrix" was. Trouble was, the game was delayed for a couple of years...

Re:Gabe & Tycho are split

[binary paladin]

The dialog was hilarious!

It was more than slightly above par. The only other third person games I've liked as much have been Rune and Jedi Knight II. Of course, JK2 is only third person when you're using a lightsaber and Rune is all about melee.

I've yet to play a third person shooter that was as fun or had the play control of Max Payne. The comic book deal was great too. About the only fault I can give the game is the dream sequences were a little annoying.

Re:Gabe & Tycho are split

[Tarpan]

About the only fault I can give the game is the dream sequences were a little annoying.

Annoying? I've never been so scared by playing a computer game as I was when I played the nightmare sequences in MP1. Especially the ones with the little kid. I guess playing it in the middle of the night in a pitchblack room with headphones, didn't help to make me any less frightened ;)

Re:Gabe & Tycho are split

[binary paladin]

They were creepy. I can't say they weren't. Perhaps saying "sequences" as a plural was wrong too. It was the second one where you're just kinda walking around with those red path things. Although... they are funny as hell when you pick the phone up.

Okay... so the only thing that annoyed me was the red path things and the jumping.

yes, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

is there anyone here that actually fucking cares?

Re:yes, but...

[frekio]

yep

First review?

[Anonymous Coward]

The first review I saw of MP2 was at Penny Arcade the day after it came out. I tend to agree with Gabe, this should have been an expansion pack and we shouldn't have had to wait three years for it.

Re:First review?

[frekio]

3 years?

How's everything going for you in 2005?

FREE NELSON MANDELA

[Anonymous Coward]

WITH THE PURCHASE OF ONE AL SHARPTON. LIMITED TIME ONLY.

I LOVE NIGGERS. THEY LOOK SO CUTE HANGING FROM THE TREE IN MY FRONT YARD.

Potant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.

portant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.portant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.

For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[dirkdidit]

Max Payne is one of those games where you literally forget you're playing a game. It's that good and realistic. The first one had a good, solid plot, which in my opinion makes a game worthwhile to play.

It's going to be the longest short wait ever for me until Max Payne 2 comes out, I'm just hoping it's as good as it sounds and can live up to the reputation the first one got.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[dirkdidit]

Bad to reply to your own posts, but by the long wait for me I mean that I preordered it online sometime ago and it just shipped out Friday so it's going to be sometime next week before I get it.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Kenja]

So being able to slow down time and reload a shotgun in less then a second is "realistic"? You need to lay off the pills boy.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[DeathPenguin]

Good post, but I'd argue the validity of the claim that Max Payne was 'realistic.' The graphics looked fairly realistic, the weapons were also good, but slowing the passage of time, popping pills to replenish health instantly, and getting hit in the head with a baseball bat several times and walking away moments later hardly qualifies as real to me.

The game was excellent, though. It played like a well-written movie and was tons of fun. There were definitely times when I could almost forget I was playing a game. I hope the sequel lives up to the original.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks Kenja. Worded much nicer than I was shooting for :)

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you saying you lack the ability to slow down time? Sucks to be you.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Evil Adrian]

getting hit in the head with a baseball bat several times and walking away moments later hardly qualifies as real to me

Don't you watch wrestling?? Blunt object trauma to the head is nothing!

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Geek of Tech]

Open your mind. There is no shotgun.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[drix]

In Max Payne 1, you slow down time at will, recieve literally tens of gunshot wounds and remain standing, and, oh yeah, murder something on the order of maybe 1000 people, the penalty for which is winning the game. You're conflating that with reality?

It's examples like that that senators and first ladies point to in horror when they speak of the epic of videogame and movie violence infiltrating our culture. For a long time I thought they were full of shit. But now I start to see how the uberviolent videogames coming out really do cheapen the value of human life, even if only subconsciously.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

"..and getting hit in the head with a baseball bat several times and walking away moments later hardly qualifies as real to me."

You think that was bad? In the sequel, Vlad shoots you in the head with a Desert Eagle. A few cutscenes later, you're back in the game killing bad guys.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[dwillden]

So being able to slow down time and reload a shotgun in less then a second is "realistic"?

I don't know about slowing down time, but If you have the shells placed in a handy location, reloading a single shot breakaction shotgun in less than a second is easy.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Prior Restraint]

...popping pills to replenish health instantly,...

Technically speaking, you didn't have a health bar; it was a "pain meter" (hair-splitting ensues). The pills were referred to as "painkillers". The point was that you were still injured, but the pills allowed you to ignore the negative effects because you were, in effect, hopped up on goofballs.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, so WWE wrestling is real? Didn't know that. Naively thought it was all scripted showbiz. But psht! let's not speak it out loud, or we might cut into da man's well-deserved profit margins.

However, I can admit that blunt object trauma to your head is nothing: there's nothing left there to damage!

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[brogdon]

"So being able to slow down time and reload a shotgun in less then a second is "realistic"? You need to lay off the pills boy."

Specifically the red pills, I believe.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Zerakith]

Im suprised he made it to a sequel after so heavily overdosing on painkillers :)

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Sj0]

You know what else cheapens human life? Killing tens of thousands of people in REAL life, which senators and first ladies support all the time. Everyone in politics who thinks video games are so horrible are hypocrites. Anyone in the media who has ever celebrated someones death too. The only group which would stand a chance of not being hypocrites might be a group like Amnesty International, whose purpose is to eliminate such deaths orchestratred by man, and you know what? They've got more important things to worry about than some video games that surverys show are played overwhelmingly by consenting adults anyway. They've got ACTUAL hate, ACTUAL pain, ACTUAL death to worry about, instead of playing this disgusting, orwellian game of scapegoating and massive social manipulation which is spreading from video games to to fill the entire spectrum of problems which only really exist in statistics, like the "weight problem of America", whose solutions are so intrusive, it makes one wonder who is truly living in the oppressive regime here -- the people who are being oppressed openly, or the people who are being manipulated in every aspect of their lives, from what they watch on TV to what they eat, to who they love, to who they hate...

Saying that one group of artists deserve legal protection, but another don't because their medium is too alien also cheapens human life.

So no. Video games don't cheapen human life by letting you kill lots of bad guys and letting you take a lot of bullets. People in power who think life is cheap cheapen human life by sending people off to die(in one way or another) or kill, or treating people like scum, or by refusing to protect the weak from the strong, the unpopular from the popular, or the meek from the violent do. Saying otherwise only ignores the truth so an easy answer can be given instead.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[eatdave13]

Well, I can reload an M16, M60, and M9 in less than a second, so a shotgun with a clip isn't too much of a stretch.

As for slowing down time... well, that's nothing a 10 strip won't fix.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, those paynekillers should have killed him.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Anonymous Coward]

Some kind soul please take a baseball bat to the head of this asshole.

*THWACK*

Thanks!

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[drix]

Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious... I really needed to be told all that.

Saying that one group of artists deserve legal protection, but another don't because their medium is too alien also cheapens human life.

First, no it doesn't. That claim doesn't make any sense. Second, I don't recall "saying" that. In fact I can't remember ever making even a tangential reference to that idea.

Video games don't cheapen human life by letting you kill lots of bad guys and letting you take a lot of bullets.

Actually, I believe they do, for the reasons I previously outlined. And seeing as you've done nothing to address those, I shall continue to.

So no. Video games don't...

Haha, it's almost as if you had actually proved something by this, the third paragraph of your strange little rant. I fail to see what line of reasoning you feel you are capping off, here.

I don't even actually disagree with what you're saying. You'll note that your point and my point are not mutually exclusive. So kindly calm your hormones.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[bKT*]

I loved the original; one of the first singleplayer games I've actually spent my hard earned money on. (I'm not one for buying singleplayer games; usually get them from friends after they're done with them).

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Sj0]

You're half right. I read

It's examples like that that senators and first ladies point to in horror when they speak of the epic of videogame and movie violence infiltrating our culture. For a long time I thought they were full of shit. But now I start to see how the uberviolent videogames coming out really do cheapen the value of human life, even if only subconsciously.

as an admission that these imbiciles were right. Perhaps you wrote it with a different, more slight meaning, but to me at that moment, the red lights went off in my brain that someone might actually budging to the absolute human atrocity which is the "Video games kill people, so we should censor video games" movement. My entire post was an attempt to, through sheer force of will, knock out out that universally dangerous point of view completely out of orbit.

So kindly calm your hormones.

Listen. You might just be a gamer who isn't taking this too seriously, but the moment "drug wars", a game made in someones free time au gratis, was brought up in congress, this fight became very, very personal to me. Imagine someone walking into your house and arresting you because you decided to some stick-death alike on your website, or because you wrote an article for the local newspaper which graphically described the conditions in Afganistan or Iraq. Imagine being arrested and jailed for years because you were telling some kids at the local high school about a couple fights you got yourself into in your youth. This could be me now. If non-commercial expression is ever restricted, and it looks to me like congress wouldn't be willing to make the distiction, I could be extradited and tried like Skylarov! This isn't id Software's freedom I'm fighting to protect, it's MINE, so if you don't mind, quit pretending this issue doesn't matter just because the police aren't going to run a sting operation at your house, you small minded troglodyte!.

(And if you think my view is unwarranted, I point you to a poem written in WWII in nazi germany which sums things up quite nicely.)

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[drix]

You, sir, are unstable.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Sj0]

No, you're just an idiot. Sorry.

Re:For Those Who Haven't Played the first....

[Wolfrider]

--If you haven't played it already, I also recommend Deus Ex for immersion and playability. You can get it for ~$13 online.

http://store.yahoo.com/cybercitysoftware/deusex. ht ml
) No affiliation, this is just the place where I bought mine. (

Games with guns are ubiquitous

[zymano]

Thief was a game. Games that make you think and can build suspense like in a good movie. There seems to be a lack of real story telling and artistic talent at these game companies. The game are all cookie cutter now.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[the_2nd_coming]

my buddy got a game that you are a blackops dude, and you have a few weapons, but you have almost no ammo, so you must be traly good at knocking out poeple and sneaking in the shadows.....some of the stuff is lame, like some of the shadows are a little two dark, but it is a good game.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

You prolly mean Splinter Cell.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Obyron]

> and can build suspense like in a good movie.

> There seems to be a lack of real story telling and artistic talent

> cookie cutter

You've never played Max Payne, have you? ;) We're talking about a game that set a bar for what graphics should be in a FPS. Not artistic? Look at the amazingly cinematic way the levels are laid out. The action actually flows like a movie. Lack of storytelling? You don't have to listen to me to find someone who thinks the story was simply incredible.

And "cookie cutter?" That's just laughable. Sure, the game follows certain basic FPS traits (lots of guns, physics gets raped), but to say it's cookie cutter is to say that Star Wars is bad just because it uses the hackneyed "anonymous farm boy turns out to be universe-saving hero" schtick.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[the_2nd_coming]

yeah thats it.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[kayen_telva]

i'll try to save your post from utter pointlessness
splinter cell ?

yeah, its pretty good.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

i'll try to save your post from utter pointlessness

TOO LATE! Nice try, though. ;)

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Overly Critical Guy]

Max Payne set a bar for graphics standards? Are you joking? What games are trying to look like Max Payne...Doom 3? Half-Life 2? UT2004?

You're just some Max Payne fanboy.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

when you take out the interactivity from a game
it becomes a movie. if you call a game a movie,
it means that the game has not succeeded to be
more than a movie, i.e., the game sucks as a game.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

Set the standard for its time monkey boy. Try to keep up. Here, have a banana.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

...is to say that Star Wars is bad just because it uses the hackneyed "anonymous farm boy turns out to be universe-saving hero" schtick.

Thanks. I've been wanting to check out Star Wars for some time, but now you've ruined it for me. Use a spoiler space next time, you insensitive clod.

;P

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[Anonymous Coward]

"Look at the amazingly cinematic way the levels are laid out."

O a, actually _sick_ with games that have actually _one_ way to be played. Clear one room, advance to the next. Boooring.

Thief had _multiple_ ways for almost every level, problem or enemy. That was revolutionary.

Max Payne just combined a good story and bullet-time with booring level design.

Tels

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[W2k]

That's not what "set the bar" means. Max Payne (and to an even greater extent, MP2) truly does set an example for any FPS seeking to be realistic (at least in graphics). The MP developers have clearly sought to give the player the feeling of being in a movie, and in that, they have succeeded. True, the physics are not quite true to life, but name one action movie in which they are? Max Payne is actually more realistic than most action movies I've seen in that the hero dies, at least temporarily :)

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous

[10bt]

The game are all cookie cutter now.

well, that's a little bit over-reaching. not sure if max payne is a cookie cutter product because i've never played it, but a lot of games today -- and hollywood movies for that matter -- do seem to lack charm in large part as a result of being polished and scripted to death by a previously proven formula. blame it on henry ford. it is akin to assembly line game mass manufacturing: fast and efficient. ~10bt

It's a good/fun game, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's short. Think of it as an interactive movie trilogy, and expect to spend as much time on it as you would watching a movie trilogy. That said, the gameplay is fun, and the story is good, and you can always go back and replay it.

Succeeded in not being revolutionary?

[timeOday]

Wow!

Re:Succeeded in not being revolutionary?

[kevinvee]

They weren't even revolutionary in not being revolutionary. Why, I was just not revolutionary last week, and then they had to follow up with a non-revolution evolution to my non-revolutionism.

Another review.

[TheFlu]

There's another review here.

BEWARE OF GOATSE LINK

[Anonymous Coward]

Its a troll.

My favorite mass review site...

[frekio]

is GameRankings.com which has a lot of MP2 reviews here

BEWARE OF GOATSE LINK

[Anonymous Coward]

The goatse man lurks behind that link!

BEWARE OF LIAR

[Anonymous Coward]

STFU N00B

BEWARE OF LYING LIARS AND THEIR LIES

[Anonymous Coward]

you may be sued by fox new$.

Your website

[Anonymous Coward]

is the lamest fucking thing related to Linux I've ever seen. It's a bigger insult to Linux than Gentoo.

Waste of $$$

[Anonymous Coward]

Already beat this crappy game. Less than 13 hours of game time. Beat the first in less than 12 hours in 1 sitting. If you feel the need to waste 50$ of your hard earned money on 12 hours of game time, be my guest. I for one am still playing Half-Life and its mods along with Battlefield 1942 and its mods. I've gotten easily over a thousand hours of time out of HL and at least 500 out of BF1942. All for the same 50$.

Re:Waste of $$$

[Tisephone]

Max Payne has mods too. Very good ones.

And have you gotten easily over a thousand hours of time out of HL and at least 500 out of BF1942, *single-player*? Otherwise you're not making a fair comparison.

Some people still appreciate good single-player games.

Re:Waste of $$$

[beakerMeep]

Seriously! I mean who buys games based on what mods are out their for it? Last time I checked mods were made by the community AFTER a game has been released. I can understand if this guy doesn't like the game because it's short but for my money ($50) I will buy a game like mp2 in an instant compared to a long game that sucks.

Re:Waste of $$$

[tmark]

Completely off-topic, but how the heck could you get 500 hours out of BF1942 single-player ? I don't think I got *5* hours of play out of the single-player mode, it was awful and useful only as a training ground for the real reason you buy BF1942, which is multiplayer.

Why I love Max Payne

[quantax]

As someone who does artwork for games, Max Payne is just great; gameplay-wise, not much new going on but as far as visuals, stylistically Max Payne is a major cut above the rest. Before Max Payne, stylism was there in FPS games, but not in the quanities as it was in MP. Throughout the game, I felt like I was fighting in a grungy, bleak and lonely version of NYC, much like the one depicted in comics and movies. Then include their photo-realistic textures that gave everything such grit and depth, and you end up with a visual masterpiece. Max Payne is not great because it brings revolutionary changes to the table, but because it raises the bar for the quality of art in games and not only that but the thought behind the stylization, not just 'because its cool'. Lets hope that other games follow suit (Doom3 is another example of good art direction and stylistic techniques.)

Re:Why I love Max Payne

[JFMulder]

Even thought the environments seem really nice in DooM3, I have to disagree with the good art direction claim in regards to the monsters. Some of them are really bad. Come on, spiders with upside down heads? Demons with rocket launchers mounted on their backs? Gabe says it better than me on Penny-Arcade.

Re:Why I love Max Payne

[_|()|\|]

include their photo-realistic textures that gave everything such grit and depth, and you end up with a visual masterpiece.

I don't have them installed, but I remember Kingpin and Return to Castle Wolfenstein as having terrific textures. Doom 3 looks like it will raise the bar, technically. I think they're using a technique similar to that of MicroWave, which takes detail from a high-poly model and turns it into a texture for a low-poly model.

Re:Why I love Max Payne

[robson]

Even thought the environments seem really nice in DooM3, I have to disagree with the good art direction claim in regards to the monsters.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that the art direction on the environments is lacking. There seems to be an absence of subtlety when using the new technology. I know, id isn't known for its subtlety, but there's a difference between over-the-top demon-robots and rooms where every single thing is polished to a high shine. It just looks bad. Or no, worse than bad -- it looks tacky. It almost looks like the new tech makes it hard to create matte surfaces.

I know, it's not fair to make these judgements before the game is released, and I'll be happy to take it all back if the screenshots and E3 movies turn out to have been misleading.

BEWARE OF GOATSE LINK

[Anonymous Coward]

And people that lie about goatse links!

how to get Mona Sax Nude

[Anonymous Coward]

1) create a shortcut with this: C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Max Payne 2\MaxPayne2.exe -developerkeys -screenshot
2) start new game
3) hit page up/down to scroll through skins till you get to nude skin of Mona Sax
4) ...
5) Profit! (or at least wank)

Re:how to get Mona Sax Nude

[beakerMeep]

haha. this should be modded up as informative :) It actually occured to me to be the biggest wussy move on rockstar's part to hide the nudity especially in a game thats so violent.

Re:how to get Mona Sax Nude

[Anonymous Coward]

If they really wanted to hide the nudity they wouldn't have even made the nude skin texture in the first place.

Best thing about MP2

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the fact that the model for Mona Sax is hot.

Re:Best thing about MP2

[Doomrat]

She's got that gimpy altered-face look. The sort which could only belong to an American glamour model (I REALLY hope she's actually American, or my post is completely broken).

Re:Best thing about MP2

[kfg]

I don't know specifically about Kathy Tong, but America has to scour the rest of the world to find its gaunt glamour models.

They sure as hell don't find them wandering the ailes at WalMart.

So your post is broken at its conceptual core.

KFG

Re:Best thing about MP2

[fenix down]

They only scour the world so they can trick you into thinking they really look like that. They could just Photoshop up locals, but it's way easier to convince you that Sweeden is full of mythical elvish babes than to convince you that they live in Iowa, you just never notice them.

Re:Best thing about MP2

[kfg]

You Photoshop up Rosanne (in real time on the runway) to look like a mythical elvish babe and I might start to believe you.

Good luck.

Besides, they seem to be into convincing us that Brazil and Ethiopia are fairyland these days.

KFG

Re:Best thing about MP2

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, with Sweden, it's true, as you'd know if you'd ever been there. Only place in the world where, when you go to see a movie, you'll spot at least a dozen women in the audience who are more beautiful than any of the starlets up on the screen. F*cking amazing.

Realism?

[DirkDaring]

"Fans will love the new realism this lends to the game, as the enemy shoots out your cover right in front of your face, or when you find yourself knocking over stacks of crates in search for ammunition or painkillers."

Woah. And I thought I was the only one who hid their ammunition and painkillers inside stacks of crates. Now that's what I call realism!

More like a patch

[Anonymous Coward]

This gameis more like a patch then a new game.

YANKEES WIN!

[Anonymous Coward]

SUCK IT FLORIDA!

Re:YANKEES WIN!

[Anonymous Coward]

YEAH! FUCK YOU IN YOUR ANUS WITH A RAKE!

You are not logged in. You can log in now using the convenient form below, or Create an Account, or post as Anonymous Coward.

Re:YANKEES WIN!

[Anonymous Coward]

You fail it.

Re:YANKEES WIN!

[Anonymous Coward]

YHBT! YHL! HAND!

Physics!

[SD-VI]

So maybe the physics aren't quite up to what HL2 is supposed to offer, but they sure are neat. Knocking a bucket with a plank in it off of a ledge offered me more satisfaction than any part of the plot. See, it fell off, then bounced, then the plank came out! And it was the real deal, no scripting. Another highlight of the game was having an bum (armed with dual 9mm pistols) say in a slurred, drunken voice "I'll cover you from here!" The story is still awful in an amusing way, if you're wondering.

Re:Physics!

[beakerMeep]

So maybe the physics aren't quite up to what HL2 is supposed to offer, but they sure are neat.

I agree but should we really be comparing the physics to a game yet to be released? Aren't we just comparing to hype then? I know you trying to stave of what seems like the enevitable response from lamers and this really wasn't your point either :) but i just thought it interesting they way you phrased it.

Re:Physics!

[Anonymous Coward]

Who hasn't tried HL2 by now?

I have, and the physics are definitely superior to MP2's. They feel real, where Payne's still feel sort of cheesy.

Re:Physics!

[SD-VI]

I probably should have put emphasis on "supposed." Yeah, I was afraid of someone responding and saying "but HL2's will be better!" Old habits die hard. It's not just comparing to hype, anyway, with the leak out. Of course, since I haven't touched the leak myself I'm only relying on secondhand information.

Re:Physics!

[Anonymous Coward]

They use the same physics engine (namely havok). So the physics are every bit as good as HL2, but they might be "used" in a different way (eg. the gravity gun in HL2).

bids on how long it takes taco to beat it

[the_2nd_coming]

I say by 4 AM sunday.

Re:bids on how long it takes taco to beat it

[Anonymous Coward]

Taco beats it every time his wife has a headache. Duh.

Re:bids on how long it takes taco to beat it

[Anonymous Coward]

LMAO

Great FPS Games

[futuresheep]

Max Payne was an excellent example of how you can integrate a compelling story with a great action game. If you liked that, and are looking forward to playing this one. I would highly recommend playing Mafia. Great story, graphics, and variety in the gameplay.

Re:Great FPS Games

[beakerMeep]

Mafia was cheesy and had annoying controls. max payne is not an FPS too but the only reason I mention that is because I wish it was. Don't get me wrong though it's a 9/10 so far (1/3 of the way through). But if it was a FPS it would be a 10/10 ;)

Re:Great FPS Games

[buffer-overflowed]

Eh, my attitude towards Max Paine can best be described as tepid. I'm sick to death of the whole FPS genre. Wow, a story, but how is it on the repeat single-player? How many times have you gone through and beat it. Is it the type of game you bust out once or twice a year just to go back through?

And multi-player, well multi-player has not changed much in years. Except for improved graphics and stylistically, the gameplay has been pretty static(Although vehicles have gotten better).

Re:Great FPS Games

[beakerMeep]

MP!=FPS (i know i know semantics :) still i dont think replay value applies to MP I would be happy to play it once or twice a year to go through it again because the story is what is good about it. It's funny because you knock some games as being more of the same but can't seem to recognise what's different. It almost sounds like you just don't like games. On the other hand I think that I do agree with you in that there is room for improvement. The game designers i think need to think out of the box more -- that would really take these news ragdoll and realistic physics engines to the next level. They need to incorporate it into the gameplay. For example in Deus Ex the were these carts kind of like airplane food carts that you could push and they would roll quite a bit. Nothing too fancy but when combined with some dynamite on top it made for some really cool new ways to be the baddies. So in short i know where you are coming from but the submitter basically got it right not revolutionary but evolutionary.

Re:Great FPS Games

[buffer-overflowed]

Hah, I knew someone would correct me on that the second I hit submit.

I do like games, but that's fading, everything seems like a rehash of something else with nothing new really added, well to me anyway. No real innovation, everything seems to want to be "cool." There have been a few games out in recent memory I found fun, but those were mostly console.

Deus Ex was fun to me, MP wasn't. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it was the noir genre, or the fact that I'd played Deus Ex first and the entire "The Matrix is cool" vibe had faded into repetive oblivion by the time I ever picked up MP.

Games of this genre may have, IMO, hit the same place as shooters have. Fun for the new player, and fun for the enthuisiast[sic] but some of us are just plain sick of em because there hasn't been much evolution in the genre.

Re:Great FPS Games

[CAIMLAS]

Are you fucking kidding? Max Payne is -nothing- like Mafia except that a) they both deal with organized crime, and b) they are both 3rd person shooters to some degree.

Mafia was slow, repetitive, and had no ability to save between checkpoints. Not only that, but the game was really, really long, and sometimes savepoints were a good 30+ minutes appart, requiring - at the very least - that much gameplay time in order to get anywhere. It was tragically difficult, you got all the weapons within the first couple levels. The levels also got repetitive - get a new car, shoot someone, pick someone up, etc. - basically the same template for them all. Deviate even just a little bit from the designated plotline, and you fail the mission - 20 minutes down the drain. The majority of the gameplay (75%+?) is spent driving a car around a city that resembles 1920's NYC. The textures are great, but the lighting and other elements of graphic quality kind of suck - it had a half-finished feel to it. The music was better than par by a hair, and there was very little game 'atmosphere'. I could only tolerate to beat this game with cheats - which there weren't any of; instead, I had to use a trainer/memory editor. The only reason why I bothered to beat it was because I'm a huge italian mafia buff, and I wanted to see where they took the story. The high point to the game was the realism in which they modeled and designed the cars you drive throughout the game.

Max Payne, on the other hand, shouldn't have taken more than 8 hours for a normal player to beat. You could save at any point you wanted. The gameplay was fairly varried, and it took some skill to actually get good at efficiently using bulletime alongside the reloading of your gun (which bullettime 2.0 fucked up, I might add). Not only that, but the game was heavily integrated with an -integral- storyline that was creative, humorous, creepy, and indepth throughout. Graphic attention was top-notch. It was just long enough so you didn't get tired of it, but also short enough that you wanted more when you were done.

So where is the similarity?

Yeah, justice for Mumia...

[Anonymous Coward]

FRY THE COP-KILLER NOW!

Re:Yeah, justice for Mumia...

[Anonymous Coward]

The point is he didn't kill the damn cop. The bullets don't even match.

Re:Yeah, justice for Mumia...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you had any experience with criminal forensics, you would know just how easily bullets can be forged. It is obvious to any rational person that this is what has happened here.

Re:Yeah, justice for Mumia...

[Anonymous Coward]

You: "Kill him!"
Him: "There's no evidence!"
You: "So?"

See the problem here?

Oh, that's right. Civil rights don't matter anymore. My bad.

It's American culture

[Anonymous Coward]

Because of our Protestant roots... Violence is okay, but nudity is not.

Re:It's American culture

[beakerMeep]

I know but that's why it's wussy for Rockstar to wimp out on it. Remember there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Why is this even mentioned here?

[SexyKellyOsbourne]

Max Payne 2 is a DirectX 9 game, meaning it doesn't work under Linux. Even under WINE, it just crashes out after playing the intro movies, meaning no Linux support whatsoever. I swear Microsoft pays game developers to use DirectX just to make it incompatible with Linux, since no programmer in their right mind would choose DirectX over OpenGL -- you can do with 5 lines in OpenGL what it takes 50 messy lines to do in DirectX.

I played the first Max Payne, and it's really not worth installing Windows to play. You mostly float around in slow-motion "bullet-time," and it's not much more than a gimmicky Matrix game that grows old fast, and has no multiplayer. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is entirely free, and is available on a gentoo liveCD -- a great way to show off Linux at a LAN, and it's a lot more fun.

This story is just another example of slashdot degenerating and catering to the nu-geek case mod Wintendo crowd, not computer and science enthusiasts. There's a lot more interesting stories out there happening right now, and a lot of cool stuff gets submitted that doesn't make it, though this somehow does.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Anonymous Coward]

For the love of God, shut the hell up.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Doomrat]

PLEASE be a troll, PLEASE be a troll... don't you fucking DARE be real.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, kids - part of Slashdot's motto is "news for nerds." This includes gamers, and this includes Windows users.

Nice try trolling, though.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[buffer-overflowed]

You a game programmer? I doubt it. I'm not either, and I've stayed the hell away from graphics work, but I somehow doubt you have the slightest clue wtf you're talking about.

It doesn't work yet you mean. If there's enough interest in it, it will be run under Linux. Not like it's that big of a freakin deal to dual-boot or anything. You want to apply market pressure, don't buy any windows games, period. Don't emulate Windows, don't run Windows apps. You're going to have to give up a lot of very good, mature software. I don't buy computer games anymore personally, but I may make a notable exception for the new Sam and Max.

Now that you've stopped buying windows games you now need to get at least a quarter of Windows gamers to do the same. Games will then be made for Linux(ignore the fact for the moment that I, and I assume others, like Linux because it's almost a purely workhorse OS.)

Wintendo? That's a new one. I thought most of the hardcore microsoft fanboys/girls owned X-Boxen.

Yes, come develop games for Linux, but they must be free or else our hippy community won't buy them! Free games pay the bills alright(ignoring the resume add and reputation increase inherant in completing a decent game). /. catering to the Windows crowd? That's almost laughable.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Anonymous Coward]

"You mostly float around in slow-motion "bullet-time," and it's not much more than a gimmicky Matrix game that grows old fast, and has no multiplayer"

Are you SURE you haven't played the second one? Because you just described it, spot on! It's the same as the first, but with better graphics and an annoying storyline that interrupts the game every 10 seconds with cliche cut-scenes.

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Anonymous Coward]

an annoying storyline that interrupts the game every 10 seconds with cliche cut-scenes.

Which is different from the first game.....how?

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[frycarson]

Your kidding me, there's a new Sam and Max coming out? Dog and Rabbit? oh yeah... string elevator (or was it twine).

On a side note, the problem might be that Linux isn't the most install friendly OS sometimes. Granted, I haven't bought any of the boxed games out for it, but I was too entertained making it work for a month straight(thank you gentoo and a lack of knowledge). I might try and get NWN to work sometime though... Wow, a new sam and max... You've made my day.

FryCarson off to see if you lie

Re:Why is this even mentioned here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Tada

guess you don't buy DVDs then

[QuantumG]

cause even if you watch The Matrix Reloaded 4 times you're not getting that value for money.

Bullet time ruined it for me

[Tibor the Hun]

by making it too easy.

the gameplay consisted of mostly save, enter the room, hit bullet time, shoot, save/reload, repeat.

i absolutely loved the graphic novel presentation and the noir genre, but i didn't much care for the actual gameplay.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Migrant Programmer]

the gameplay consisted of mostly save, enter the room, hit bullet time, shoot, save/reload, repeat.

You ruined it for yourself, by taking any challenge or risk whatsoever out of the game. Try playing a game without reloading when you get hurt or die. Makes it much more interesting.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Tibor the Hun]

dying wasn't the problem, with the bullet-time i would hardly die at all. but when i do die, i hate having to repeat the same old stuff, because there were no novel enemies or situations that haven't been presented before.

i did the same thing in half-life, and i didn't feel that the game was ruined. the monsters spawned differently, and the marines sure as heck acted differently every time i'd reload, so it wasn't always the same old crap.

so i don't think i ruined it for myself. i feel that the gameplay was not well balanced nor thought out.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[_|()|\|]

Try playing a game without reloading when you get hurt or die.

I played Half-Life at the hardest difficulty, at the recommendation of a friend who's a much better gamer than I am. Finishing became a chore, and I was quick-saving after every kill, destroying my sense of immersion. I did that to some extent in Max Payne, but I had so much fun that it didn't matter. It's the only game I've finished twice. I'm looking forward to playing Max Payne 2, because the new slow motion should encourage more fluid, continous action.

Having finished Spider-Man and Grand Theft Auto 3, I can see the benefit of a coarser-grained, console-style save system. There's a sense of accomplishment when you complete what initially seems like an impossible mission.

I like having a flexible save system, but it should be accompanied by an incentive not to use it--points, medals, unlocking a weapon, etc.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Sj0]

i feel that the gameplay was not well balanced nor thought out.

Listen. Until you've got a game under your belt, which I severely doubt, seeing as game developers tend to use capitals(Attention to detail, you see), I'd rethink what you really mean to say. Well thought out gameplay doesn't nessessarily mean gameplay YOU find fun. The Sim* series of games are all very well thought out, and must be, because of the numbers-intensive nature of the games, where complex behaviours must arise out of simple contexts and random numbers can only rarely be used, but most of them bore people to death. Well balanced gameplay is such a subjective thing that short of some tricks, such as sub-quests and mini games which require varying levels of skill, allowing players to choose the path which they find the most fun...though even then, people will ignore their own skill level, find themselves in a heap of trouble, and blame the game for being unbalanced. Balance is further aggrivaed by the fact that many developers use it to control the pace of their games. In Final Fantasy games, for instance, enemy strength on the world map is usually far below that of the player chracters, meaning that players can travel all over the place, and the story moves along quite briskly. This is a stark contrast to a Dragon Warrior game, where a slime can kill an unwary warrior in his first battle. They're both balanced in their own way, but depending on the players, both are likely to be critisized in the same vague way by gamers like you as being "unbalanced" or "not well thought out".

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[silpan]

The bullet time made the game really easy, but I believe its mostly intended for the visual effect, like a slow-mo scene in a movie. The bullet time actually made it seem like the bullets missed more. If they had not implemented it that way, it would have been more useful, maybe as a learning aid to help with the more difficult parts of the game.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Anonymous Coward]

Your signature needs an update (the site has moved). Tried the Quest for a King(Demo), but the screen was corrupted. Using WinXP

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Sj0]

There must be a severe problem with your VDM. I've tested Quest for a King on literally thousands of computers over the years, on more than 10 platforms, many of which aren't even windows, with no graphics problems. The only problem which ever presented itself was when a program(in this case, my debugger) took the game out of ModeX and moved it to mode 13h, which simply doesn't happen under normal circumstances.

Do you have problems with other ModeX games under DOS?

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Tibor the Hun]

perhaps you're right. i'll just say that i didn't like the game (for the reasons mentioned previously), but then i'm wasting your time and mine.

Re:Bullet time ruined it for me

[Sj0]

I wouldn't worry about it. We're all wasting on anothers time. Slashdot is a waste of time. Just enjoy it. :)

bit torrent link to the game

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is the link. Enjoy!

Re:bit torrent link to the game

[Anonymous Coward]

lmfao i never thought of that...NICE post...however i got the game before it was even out.

Review it yourself, bit torrent link!

[Anonymous Coward]

The bit torrent link.
Personally I didn't enjoy the game that much, but try it yourself. For more good torrents, visit suprnova.org.

Check it out...

[Doomrat]

Machine - 1Ghz, and still the reviewer said that tha game ran perfectly. That is impressive and commendable, well done devs.

The reason for Bullet-time

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, Bullet-time is fake when you think about it as Max Payne slowing down time, yet somehow being able to aim (including pivoting his body to do it) in real time. But to me the reason Bullet Time is so awesome is because it allows you to simulate real life reflexes in a video game. I don't know about some hard-core gamers, but I can point and shoot a gun with much more accuracy and speed in real life that in Max Payne without bullet time.... just my thoughts on bullet time :)

Still waiting

[SuperKendall]

I'm still waiting for the game that forgoes the traditional crates, but offers me a mini-game for opening a bottle of aspirin with a child-proof cap. Then I will know we have crossed a new threshold of realism, not just because the box looks REALLY well lit and falls into a rag doll which crumples realistically to the side.

WTF is your point?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're trolling, there's shorter and more interesting troll stories to post...

On the odd chance you're actually trying to get people motivated to save this guy, don't you realize this is Slashdot? People here bitch and whine and moan about their rights being taken away left and right, and that's pretty much it. Pretty much all slashdot's readership is good for is temporarally knocking sites with too small a pipe off the net. If it involves more action than just clicking a link, the guy is gonna fry.

Re:WTF is your point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it is a legit attempt at getting people to act.

meep nice trolling kelly

[beakerMeep]

"nu-geek case mod Wintendo crowd." haha as opposed to the MTV osbourne crowd?

That ruled

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks, that was awesome.

More Reviews

[MunchMunch]

Just a few more reviews for everyone:

GameSpot

IGN.com

FYI, both reviews seem to think its a lot better than 'evolutionary.'

Ummm

[Eezy Bordone]

This is not "Stuff that matters". At least not front page /. stuff.

Re:Ummm

[Winterblink]

Time to maybe visit your preferences and start selecting what sections you WANT to see on your /. homepage, huh?

Re:Ummm

[DeCappa]

This is not "Stuff that matters". At least not front page /. stuff.

Many slashdotters enjoy gaming. Some of us still have inner children and are not dead inside.

Re:Ummm

[Anonymous Coward]

As a nerd AND Windows gamer, it's much more relevent to me than the new-Linux-prerelease-point-release-kernel story was earlier.

So yes, to some of us it is.

Either change your slapdash settings or shut up.

Liked it

[Scutter]

I can definitely see some of the game's flaws:

Too short, too linear, too easy.

However, the rich plot, the voice acting, the music, the ambiance serve to make this a worthy game to play. And they finally got Bullet Time right. In MP1, you had to use it so sparingly that it was almost useless. The Quenten Tarantino feel to the Bullet Time cinematics were awesome. I would have preferred a little bit more play between cutscenes, though. Seemed like just when you got going, you had to stop for a three minute cutscene. Max Payne (and MP2) ranks up there in my top three (including Thief/Thief2 and Splinter Cell). I'm so tired of Run 'n Gun that it's nice to see the occasional gem with something extra to offer.

Re:Liked it

[Anonymous Coward]

you like sadly linear games like max payne and splinter's
cell? plot and voice acting were good in MP2?
huh? plot? what plot? there was no plot. the
characters were just running around, revisiting
places, because they didn't have anything better
to do. some russian guy wanted to rule NYC's
underworld. big deal. seen it before. about million
times. and listen to mona sax's voice... duh.

thief 1 & 2 are brilliant games (except for the
very last level in both of them), and fun. not
running in a tunnel like max payne and splinter's
cell. in T1 and T2 you don't feel claustrofobia.

MP1 & MP2 are run'n'gun games with a slomo-trick
copied from some HK movies. how boring can it get?

Re:Liked it

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a sad, bitter little man. I feel sorry for you.

Re:Games with guns are ubiquitous -- bullshit.

[Anonymous Coward]

aaah but have you played MP1 or 2? ...both games go along way to build up suspense, and are rife with story telling. Don't write it off because it invovles guns. I agree that alot of the present days game companies produce cookie cutter games that lack story and artist talent, but Rockstar studios doesn't generally fall into this category.

If you liked theif and haven't tried MP1 or indeed MP2, perhaps try out a demo or something... you'll be suprised at the amount of sneaking around invovled and immersivness of the plot.

Penny Arcade is a steaming pile of shit

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is our opinion of a game! LOLOLOL OH GOD MY SIDES!

Try it.

[lamery]

http://www.emptylogic.com/suprnova/torrents/445/MA X.PAYNE.2.THE.FALL.OF.MAX.PAYNE-DEViANCE.torrent

Re:Try it.

[LordLucless]

Tracker keeps timing out for me :/

My mini Review

[James Lewis]

Max Payne 2 is, as you would expect of a sequel, much like the original Max Payne. Both games are short by game standards, and Max Payne 2 seems even shorter than its predecessor. That isn't a complaint, merely an observation. Max Payne 2 is a lot of goodness packed into a tight package. It does leave you wishing for more. Firstly, I am going to skip over AI, graphics, and sound. Any other review of the game can tell you about this, so let it suffice to say that they all come together to produce a great gaming experience. What matters is how the developers use them to suck the gamer into their world. By video game standards, Max Payne is original, but like so many games it is an imitation of movies, in this case film noir. They get it very close to right, but at times it almost seems as though they try too hard, and after a while the lines start sounding a bit cheesy. I suppose it is silly to expect a game to rise above this, as great writing/acting talent is no doubt drawn to movies themselves, but I'm still holding out in the hope that someone will put together a really great original script for a game. But again, this is a video game, and by those standards Max Payne 2 rises above the rest. I don't know about you, but I am getting a bit tired of the "aliens/monsters invade, it's your job to save the world" plot. The idea of using comics to tell the story was a stroke of genius, as it is a perfect work around for the incapability of video game characters to act. The technology just isn't there yet, and when games try to tell a story with emotion it is more likely to come off comical than serious, as the stick figures jerk around in an attempt to appear human. Obviously comics aren't great at conveying emotion, but they certainly don't detract from it the way in video game cut scenes tend to. Film noir being the straight faced act that it is allows Max Payne 2 to flow nicely. The atmosphere of the game is outstanding. The attention to detail put into every level is phenomenal. One wonders if the trend will be for games to become shorter in coming years, as the effort needed to build ever more realistic worlds from scratch becomes greater. There is a mad fun house level in the game that almost makes you cringe as you realize how much effort went into making all the props and setting them all up to move as a fun house does. The cringe comes from the realization that the detail must have cost the game some of its length. Apparently the developers realized this too, as you actually pass through the level twice during the games. My gripes about the game are few. I think there could have been a little bit better enemy placement, and the difficulty of the game could have been increased to make the game both longer and more challenging. Shooting enemies in bullet time doesn't lose its charm, and with quick save and load being such an easy thing you think they would have made things a bit tougher. There were times where I would take out 2 or 3 people and turn hoping to see one more bad guy, only to find an empty corner. Another thing, I think they should have placed the bad guys in front of more breakable objects. I don't know about you, but I love to see stuff fly apart, and it just didn't happen as often as I wanted. More often they would be standing on some ledge, ready to die and give you yet another display of the physics engine. I personally don't think it is that cool to see the person you shoot instantly go limp and fall like a sack of potatoes. It may be realistic for a rag doll, but it isn't for someone who just got shot. But hey, I guess that is why it is called "rag doll" physics and not "guy who just got shot" physics. If they wanted to show it off I would have rather seen them add slow motion deaths for grenade explosions, of which there were none. All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. I hope they are able to lay Max Payne to rest however, as I don't think they can really do much else with this. Hopefully their next game will be as fresh as the original Max Payne was.

Re:My mini Review

[James Lewis]

God, I forgot the paragraph returns. Try this for easier reading:

Max Payne 2 is, as you would expect of a sequel, much like the original Max Payne. Both games are short by game standards, and Max Payne 2 seems even shorter than its predecessor. That isn't a complaint, merely an observation. Max Payne 2 is a lot of goodness packed into a tight package. It does leave you wishing for more.

Firstly, I am going to skip over AI, graphics, and sound. Any other review of the game can tell you about this, so let it suffice to say that they all come together to produce a great gaming experience. What matters is how the developers use them to suck the gamer into their world.

By video game standards, Max Payne is original, but like so many games it is an imitation of movies, in this case film noir. They get it very close to right, but at times it almost seems as though they try too hard, and after a while the lines start sounding a bit cheesy. I suppose it is silly to expect a game to rise above this, as great writing/acting talent is no doubt drawn to movies themselves, but I'm still holding out in the hope that someone will put together a really great original script for a game. But again, this is a video game, and by those standards Max Payne 2 rises above the rest. I don't know about you, but I am getting a bit tired of the "aliens/monsters invade, it's your job to save the world" plot.

The idea of using comics to tell the story was a stroke of genius, as it is a perfect work around for the incapability of video game characters to act. The technology just isn't there yet, and when games try to tell a story with emotion it is more likely to come off comical than serious, as the stick figures jerk around in an attempt to appear human. Obviously comics aren't great at conveying emotion, but they certainly don't detract from it the way in video game cut scenes tend to. Film noir being the straight faced act that it is allows Max Payne 2 to flow nicely.

The atmosphere of the game is outstanding. The attention to detail put into every level is phenomenal. One wonders if the trend will be for games to become shorter in coming years, as the effort needed to build ever more realistic worlds from scratch becomes greater. There is a mad fun house level in the game that almost makes you cringe as you realize how much effort went into making all the props and setting them all up to move as a fun house does. The cringe comes from the realization that the detail must have cost the game some of its length. Apparently the developers realized this too, as you actually pass through the level twice during the games.

My gripes about the game are few. I think there could have been a little bit better enemy placement, and the difficulty of the game could have been increased to make the game both longer and more challenging. Shooting enemies in bullet time doesn't lose its charm, and with quick save and load being such an easy thing you think they would have made things a bit tougher. There were times where I would take out 2 or 3 people and turn hoping to see one more bad guy, only to find an empty corner. Another thing, I think they should have placed the bad guys in front of more breakable objects. I don't know about you, but I love to see stuff fly apart, and it just didn't happen as often as I wanted. More often they would be standing on some ledge, ready to die and give you yet another display of the physics engine. I personally don't think it is that cool to see the person you shoot instantly go limp and fall like a sack of potatoes. It may be realistic for a rag doll, but it isn't for someone who just got shot. But hey, I guess that is why it is called "rag doll" physics and not "guy who just got shot" physics. If they wanted to show it off I would have rather seen them add slow motion deaths for grenade explosions, of which there were none.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. I hope they are able to lay Max Payne to rest however, as I don't think they can really do much else with this. Hopefully their next game will be as fresh as the original Max Payne was.

Re:My mini Review

[danila]

after a while the lines start sounding a bit cheesy
IIRC, they specifically aimed for the cheesiness in the first game. All text was written in the style of a pulp detective story. I think the same is true for the second game. It's intentional and I believe it worked great for the first game.

Re:My mini Review

[James Lewis]

I thought about this, but intentional or not, it is STILL cheesy. South Park's animation is crap, which is totally intentional, but it is still crap. Still, in South Park's case they COULD have had great animation if they wanted to (they use the same system Jurassic Park was made with to animate it) but they CHOSE not to. But I kind of wonder what Remedy was aiming for if in fact they could have had a purely original, thoughtful, and non-cheesy script. Usually intentional cheesiness is intended to poke fun at the seriousness of a subject, but that wasn't the case in Max Payne. I'm left thinking that they just didn't have the talent to produce a purely original film noir script, and either the cheesiness was intentional because they didn't even want to try, or they did try, it turned out cheesy, and now they want to call it intentional. So again... it's still cheesy, so who really cares what their intention was? However, I don't fualt them for not having that kind of talent as no one else in the industry does, and it isn't likely given the lure of movies.

Re:My mini Review

[danila]

I think, for good or for bad, but the story standards for games are lower. And we, the players, set these standards. If you think about it, we totally accept it when id software makes the script in the last 30 minutes before the game goes gold. We praised the HL story, which was extremely lame if compared to movies or books. We immensely enjoyed GTA, which basically pretends that a compilation of cliches from mafia movies makes for a good story. The reason for that is that interactive fun is usually more important than the story, unless the game aims for the movie niche, like Mafia. There are some FPSes like Tron 2.0 or Splinter Cell, but they only manage to compete with Disney films and Tom Clansy's pulp. :)

I haven't seen the MP2 yet, but in MP1 the bullet-time shooting was the primary attraction. Story was important, but only as a background for the shooting. As Romero (or Carmack) told Todd Hollenshead once, in regards to story computer games are like porn movies - people expect the story to be there, but it's not what they really care about.

Re:My mini Review

[James Lewis]

Well, it doesn't surprise me that someone from id software would say that, but their time is comming to an end. People won't be satisfied with paper thin plots forever. Either they'll turn to multiplayer only, or they'll demand that single player games have more substance than a porn movie. The things that have up until now distracted people from the plot will soon become old hat. Improvements in graphics will soon become insignificant as we approach photo realism. Soon developers will run out of gimmicks, be they sunflares, shadows, physics, or vehicles. They'll all lose their charm, and the only thing that will remain to impress gamers will be the creativity of the game itself.

Re:My mini Review

[danila]

It was said in regards to the story for Doom. Tood made a great design doc with a complex plot, etc., but one of the Johns told him to scrap it, saying noone needs that in a shooter. Today id already thinks differently, judging from their goals with Doom3. You are right that gimmicks tend to lose their value, but I disagree that the story is paramount. In movies you basically watch it and do nothing. In games you are an active participant, so in addition to story there is the gameplay, there is fun, and these things tend to be seen as more important than the story (although it's also usually needed).

I enjoyed Mafia a lot, but I also enjoyed GTA, and I can't tell you which game was better. One had a nice cinematic story, comparable (to some extent) to Godfather or Once Upon a Time in America, another had rocket launchers and flamethrowers in a nice setting. ;) Creativity is important, but you don't need War and Piece as a story if you can blow shit up in a game. :)

Re:My mini Review

[James Lewis]

I never said the story was always paramount. I did say it has more importance than that given to it in porn movies. Movies are perhaps the best way to look at this sort of thing, as they have been able to create anything one can imagine for some time now. There are some movies that have their strength in the plot, and some that have a lot of action. The really great ones have both. Pure Action movies are much like most every video game is now. However, like movies, it all depends on the kind of game you want to make as to how important the plot is. That said, I personally am tiring of movies that are ONLY action and no story. There will always be a teen to twenties crowd for whom that is still entertaining. But my hope is that games will develop that have good action, but whose main motivator is not the next big gun, monster, or explosion. I want to see games where the motivation to continue through the game is to uncover the next part of the plot. As the gaming demographic matures, I think there will be a lot more demand for more than just pure action games.

Re:My mini Review

[danila]

I want to see games where the motivation to continue through the game is to uncover the next part of the plot.
Interesting point. But I think FPS is not the best genre to expect that sort of gameplay. Shooters are shooters. You shoot shit up there. Currently if you make it first (or third) person, it's expected that there will be some fighting involved (show me a 1st/3rd person game without fighting). There are already quests whose main selling point is the story (such as this one, a great game, honestly) and also some RPGs. But in 1st/3rd person games you spend a lot of time controlling character's movements and actions. And if you do that, the developers better make it fun, which means fighting (or driving). So a large part of the game is already built around fighting.

One solution is to go away from direct control (like you had screens and very simple movement in quests). Another one, well, make direct brain-computer interface so that people no longer care about controlling a character and can concentrate on the story.

Havoc

[Winterblink]

Aside of the interesting story and gameplay, one of the reasons I like MP2 is the fact it's using a licensed version of Havoc, the engine for Half-life 2. The first time I got into a major firefight involving grenades, rifles, smgs etc, the room afterwards actually LOOKED like a major firefight had just occurred there. Objects were blown all over the place, bullet marks and char marks from explosions... It makes the experience more immersive and enjoyable. Sure the overall game is short, but it's very sweet.

Re:Havoc

[Anonymous Coward]

it's sad that the fight doesn't affect the
enviroments, only the loose items littering
the tunnel. but it's a step forward to the good
direction.

Re:Havoc

[Winterblink]

Yeah, of course you get the obligatory destructable sections of the environment... it'd be nice to see Havoc with a bit of Red Faction's engine with the (more) destructable envinronments. But yeah, definitely a good step in the right direction.

Re:Havoc

[Anonymous Coward]

It's Havok, not Havoc.

Re:Havoc

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone makes a port of HL2, does that mean they could make one for MP2

Re:Havoc

[SuiteSisterMary]

See my journal entry for an idea on how to make things like that happen.

What would Old Man Murray say?

[justin_speers]

Makes me wonder how this game would stack up using Old Man Murray's Crate Review system...

http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html

Re:What would Old Man Murray say?

[rkanodia]

Actally, Old Man Murray might have a heart attack - in Max Payne 2, there are crates actually sitting on pallets.

Re:What would Old Man Murray say?

[Anonymous Coward]

::gasp:: what could this mean?

Should I start packing for the armageddeon soon to come?

Evolutionary instead of Revolutionary

[cubicledrone]

Translation: Everyone who spoke up about any new ideas has been fired and replaced with a quiet, imaginationless drone. The rest of the work was outsourced.

Maximum revenue, minimum cost, almost totally riskless, and none of those edjicated types interrupting meetings with newfangled ideas.

Just the way corporate middle management likes it.

what's the fuss?

[Anonymous Coward]

the game is a totally linear tunnel shoot'em'up.
mona sax's voice has no emotion, the plot is
simple, repetitive and uninteresting. the graphics
are great and so are the physics, but they don't
make a game. it was very easy to complete the game,
but it felt more like work than fun. a new room,
a new batch of enemies... not very cool. a showcase
for their technology, not a good game.

and the locations: a warehouse, a construction yard,
a mansion, etc... i've seen this millions of times
before.

where's the adventure? the emotions? immersive
landscapes? and not those metaphors...

The biggest problem

[abolith]

with MP2 was that it was WAY too fricking short. I finished the thing in well under a third the time I did the oridinal. it was a waste of my friends money.

Re:The biggest problem

[Anonymous Coward]

i think so too. a waste of two, good, blank CDs.

Re:The biggest problem

[Anonymous Coward]

A third the time it took you to finish the original? You've got to be kidding me! It only took me about 8 hours to finish the original... Is it really that short?!

yrs,
Ephemeriis

New /. slogan

[Cornelius the Great]

Warez for Nerds. Stuff that matters.

Rush, is that you?

[Anonymous Coward]

"or when you find yourself knocking over stacks of crates in search for ammunition or painkillers"

On the shelves?

[Anonymous Coward]

On the shelves of reviewers, perhaps.
Not on the shelves of retailers unless it's the 24th of October already....

-N

Re:On the shelves?

[Sillypuddy]

It's been on the shelves here since Thursday Oct 16

I picked up mine with the free hat thingy

-joe

Is acting improved?

[Trurl's Machine]

Too bad the review does not touch this question. While I loved the bullet-time effect and the general "noir-esque" storyline in "Max Paine", I really HATED acting in all the cut-scenes. Most of the villains are unintentionally funny, they are not scary at all. It is common among the game developers to employ theyr friends and family as stop-gap "actors", but I've never seen as horrible acting in a computer game. At least Walton Simmons in "Deus Ex" is really scary - he creates a memorable character, just like interesting villains from the movies. But do you really remember any character from "Max Payne"? The graphic novel was kitschy as well, nothing even close to Alan Moore or Frank Miller. Those cheap bastards should employ a good designer and some half-decent actors for a sequel, but did they?

Re:Is acting improved?

[Jarlsberg]

Well, none of the characters are scary, but the voice acting has improved immensly. The script is less cliched and flows rather better than the first outing.

my review:

[gl4ss]

8 hours of interactive film(it's not really a _game_, you have to play it on the easiest setting first too).

retarded boss sequence at the end(i prefer that if i can see somebody that i can kill him/her in a 'game', rather than try to guess what the script writer thought that i should make. this is the problem with games that resemble more like a film than a real game, you have to be an actor but you dont have the script). if you're having trouble there think about max payne 1's ending(and look for hotspots to shoot).

retarded plot compared to 1(wtf, hundreds of cleaners and nobody notices them ever? one local detective working on cases that have have 50 bodies and completely 'cleaned' buildings?)

havok is great in it, boxes, chairs, bodies.

they don't use too much havok for anything that really matters gameplay wise, which is a shame.

bodies don't show damage or get torn apart..

it's a good play(even if only in theatretical sense, i wonder if i got the word right even) though, looks great and more importantly also _runs_ great.

so, all and all it is a bit like unreal 2(as a gaming experience), though unreal 2 had more variety in the missions(mp2 of course has those cool comic strips telling the story, but i'd rather have the variety of gameplay. now mp2 is just 'find the open door, go in and shoot people. repeat' apart from few annoying protection scenes).

it would have been nice to include max payne 1 in the package with the new engine, if just to expand the length of the package.

easy, short

[Dysphoric]

the game imho was to short and to easy. yes i know that as soon as it was finished you could try it on a harder level, but that was too boring, because the game was exactly the same so unless the demo blows em away i think ill pass

MOD PARENT UP!

[Anonymous Coward]

hahahahahaha

Mmm... New computer game...

[nicodemus05]

I loved the first Max Payne. I played it straight through the night I bought it, and still remember the adrenaline rush that it induced. It was dark outside, it was dark in the game, and there was no feeling quite like jumping around a corner and headshotting 3 punks in a fraction of a second.

I just downloa- er, legally obtained- a copy of MP2, and I've started playing through it. Like people have said, it doesn't seem to be anything terribly new. I have, however, noticed a number of improvements in gameplay. My favorite: When you shoot/dodge and land on the floor you stay lying there until you stop shooting. This has its pros and cons, but I remember being fantastically annoyed at being so vulnerable while Max picked his ass up off the ground.

The graphics are better than in MP, of course, but to my great pleasure the game runs much smoother on my oldish Dell than its predecessor did. I still have a lot of playing left to do, so I'll get back to it. Don't dismiss this game out of hand; it builds on a very strong foundation.

Pain and Sex

[upside]

In other news, adult entertainment professional Moaner Sexx has approached Max Payne publisher Rockstar Games via her solicitor regarding the unauthorized use of her artist name in the computer game Max Payne 2.

(How blatant can u be!)

Re:Pain and Sex

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, wrestler Maxx Payne did sue over gimmick infringement.

Re:Pain and Sex

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, actually, he did try to if I recall correctly...

Re:Pain and Sex

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, that's what I said.

Heck I can't even...

[mcknation]

get past the first level without eating enough painkillers to kill Rush Limbaugh.

mck

Penny Arcade

[Jerk City Troll]

I'll leave it to Gabe and Tycho to talk about Max Payne 2.

Just finished it

[Complicity]

I just (not 10 minutes ago) finished Max Payne 2, and I LOVED it. The first game was great, and part two was equally as good.

The only problem is that it was very short, and for $65+tax Canadian, I'd expect at least twice as much gameplay.

For those who scoff at the whole 'film noir' aspect of the storytelling, that's the whole point of the game. Without it, all you have is another 3rd-person blah shooter. Aside from the story, however, the game itself is just beautiful. At times when I was safe, I found myself just walking around and admiring the excellent texture work, reflections, Havok physics, etc.

Can't wait for Max Payne 3!

Re:Just finished it

[Anonymous Coward]

You bitch about the price of the game vs what you got, but considering that your last comment was:

"Can't wait for Max Payne 3"

that means that $65 Canadian was the appropriate price for it. You're obviously willing to pay for it. Quit bitching about it. If you don't think it's worth the money, don't buy it. It's not like it's a necessity. If you don't buy it right away, but wait a bit until the price comes down, the sales figures will send a message to the game companies that the game's overpriced for what it is.

My review compared to max payne 1

[Espectr0]

Graphics: same or just a little better
Sound: same
gameplay: a little better (you get to play with some guys on your side a few times, you get to play with mona too)
replay value: worse. The game is even shorter (about 8 hours). Although it has some more playing modes.

First review...

[Homburg]

Done so quickly they didn't bother with such trivialities as a knowledge of the English language, presumably. "[T]he comic-like sequences inherent of the first game"? "To a point of dissention"? Did the reviewer write this by throwing a thesaurus at the PC and hoping it would hit the right keys when it bounced?

I hope it's better than the first one

[Anonymous Coward]

The first one was plain awful.

2004: the year of games

[master_p]

Max Payne 2, Doom III, Half-Life II...yeap, good FPS games with emphasis on gameplay and visuals are coming!!! what a good year it must be!!!

Aside from that, MP is one of the best games ever. The sequences where Max has nightmares (and the player must complete) are absolutely stunning and brilliantly executed.

By the way, am I the only one who turns bullet time off ? it is impressive, but not while really playing the game.

Was already going to buy it, but...

[WWWWolf]

...then I noted it needs a gigahertz class processor.

Maybe next summer. Or the one after it.

Well, Max Payne was good enough to make me upgrade my video card, maybe this one is good enough to make me get a new proc... =)

Max Payne 2 : The Fall of Your Computer

[rpillala]

I've been playing this a little and it has the same stuttery feel that Max Payne 1 has. I actually just got Max Payne 1 after reading about the excellent Kung Fu mod. My graphics card is pretty new though, so it should be able to run either game easily. Anyway, it seems like the major feature of this sequel is the higher system requirements. The gameplay is only slightly different, maybe the presentation is a little slicker. I don't really see new features in the graphics engine (more complex shadows, self-shadows, improved transparency, something) but I do see higher poly models. It looks like Remedy thought "don't change the game, just make it so they'll want a new graphics card to play it."

Ravi

game too short

[Sillypuddy]

I think I have to agree that the game is too short. I finish it in 2 days and there is no multiplayer, so the replay value goes down a bit

Overall it's a great deal if you can offload it to somebody else after you are done

-joe

Screenshots?

[Anonymous Coward]

Screenshots anyone?