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Developer:
Take 2 Interactive
Release Date: Out Now
RRP: £34.99, $49.99
Finally the long awaited sequel to the Oscar winning game
Max Payne is here, and what a game it is! By now everyone
must have heard of the “Great game with the awful name,”
where you play a former NYPD come DEA criminal nemesis with
nothing to loose and more bad guys to kill than brain cells!
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Producing
a sequel to match the original brilliance of Max Payne is a
daunting prospect, and generally a hard one to achieve. Take
2 Interactive however have done it, Max Payne 2: The Fall of
Max Payne is not too far off perfect |
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Buy from Amazon.co.uk! |
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With
crisp, clear and detailed levels and realistic looking
player models, graphically this games is not to far off
stunning. Looking back, the original was very resource
hungry but Max Payne 2 surprisingly, doesn’t seem to be so
demanding. The game engine is so well coded it makes you
wonder why some games these days demand so much from our
machines, when a game that looks this good can run so
smoothly at max detail! With the incorporation of real world
physics, where items that are moved around move as if they
are actually moved, and fall believable, it feels like you
are in the story! Death’s are not coded either, they are
left up to the Rag doll effects where no death sequence is
the same! |
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Max Payne
was the first to introduce bullet time into game play, and
since then many games have followed suit. In your second
encounter with Mr Payne the bullet time has been improved,
where in the first when bullet time is activated in makes
aiming a lot easier hence making the game easier to play.
However the new improved bullet time doesn’t do this, once
it is activated time only slows down to actual bullet time
if your bullets are hitting home. So if you’re a poor shot,
using bullet time won’t make things any better. When playing
the game, you automatically reload, and when auto reloading
in bullet time Max does a little rather impressive dance. It
made me go “wow!”
Bringing cinematic gameplay to the next level, the story in
Max Payne 2 is just as interesting, and enthralling as the
first. This time though, they have added a twist to the
story, this time Max Payne has something to loose. Always
feeling guilty about the death of his wife and baby, he goes
through a hard time when falling in love again. The story
keeps you interested right to the end, unlike most American
films, the story isn’t predictable and throughout you always
need to know what happens next.
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The story is told in a
similar way to the original, with comic strip style cut
screens, and max narrating the story. The story begins at
the end, and you play the game as max explains what happened
and why. Sadly though his story isn’t long enough, making
the game too short, which sadly was the problem with the
first, and they haven’t improved on that area. To give
replay value though, they still have the additional playing
modes, like “A New York Minute” where you have to complete
the game within a certain time. A new mode for the game
though is “Dead Man Walking,” this you get when completing
the game and it is a number of different levels where you
see how long you can stay alive!
You enemies are quite intelligent, throwing grenades,
running for cover and working in teams. They call to each
other, letting there fellow criminals know that you are
there, with some shouts of fear and some of anger. There is
also some interaction with other characters in the game, and
some teamwork needed with the love of your new life. Every
now and then you don’t play yourself, which is a nice little
touch to make the game different.
Sadly again Max Payne 2 doesn’t have any multiplayer,
although the bullet time in multiplayer wouldn’t work, there
should be some sort of multiplayer option. As we all know,
even without bullet time, being able to play the game
against your friends is always a lot of fun and adds a
longer life time to a game. |
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| Graphics
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10/10
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Detailed, clear and
crisp looking graphics, it just looks lovely! |
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| Game play
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10/10
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A top notch game here,
engrossing and incredibly interesting story, with
and excellent style of gameplay |
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| Sound
& Music : |
10/10
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With the typical sad
Max Payne title music, and in game sounds and
background effects. With the low grown of Max’s
narrating voice the sound and music are perfect for
the game! |
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| Longevity
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7/10 |
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Sadly the game is too
short, and this is the only real drawback to the
game, although the little additional game modes are
great, and increase the games playability. Also the
replay value is very good! |
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| Learning
Curve : |
9/10
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It takes a little
getting used to the controls, although, if you’ve
played the first game you’ll have no problem as they
are pretty much the same. |
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Overall
: 46/50
Max Payne 2,
a slightly too short game of pure
excellence, the wait really has been worth
it. And to anyone who is thinking about
getting this game, and even if your not,
it’s well worth going out now and buying it. |
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