Max Payne 2 is an brilliant game, this is my review for Max Payne 2...
Max Payne 2 is an great experience, it does not change the gameplay elements form it´s predecessor. Everything feels the same, witch is an great thing, and the slow-motion action is all there, untouched.
Like I said before, Max Payne 2 tries to evolve the narrative, giving an continuation to Max Payne story, it succeeds with some flaws. Don't get me wrong, the story is amazing but there are some elements that didn't work out that well. When I started this game I clearly saw that the tone was very different from the first one. It was darker, a little bit less disturbing and had more mystery. The story was good, bad it had it's low's and high's. The story of Max Payne 2 starts of with a lot of questions, there is no introduction. If you played the previous game, you will know the characters that appear, but you don´t know why they are there, Max Payne is on a terrible shape and you don´t know why. This all happens because the game start's off right in the middle of the story. You will discover later on what happened in the beginning and also learn what Max Payne has been going through after what happened in the first tittle. Max Payne 2 starts with a lot of mystery that creates an enormous anxiety in the player. All the mystery of "what happened?" goes down when you reach the middle off the game. By the time, the game reaches an epic level of character development and action. The story gets way more brighter and less confusing, the player gets really immersed into the story. And then comes the second half... It starts greatly and then a lot of revelations start happening, and the game goes to an different route. A lot of bad things start happening to some characters, so many twists that will catch the player speechless... The game start's to have so many revelations that if the player is not careful, it will catch him unprotected and confused. The pace was an little messy... But then the last mission starts and the game picks up. It was brutal and chaotic (in a good way) until the last fight, you really get the feeling that Max is really angry But then it happens the two best revelations in the game, I will not tell what happened because it´s an heavy spoiler to the story.
When the game concludes I was wishing for more, the game ends ups amazingly with an great dark and shocking tone... It was really good. I wasn't expecting such ending, I thought that it would be a mess, with so many twists and revelations the story almost felt all over the place, but in the end, everything was explained and pieced together so well that it felt rewarding playing through all the two games together. Yes, the ending sums up the two games together really well and you feel that to understand Max Payne 2 you will need to play the first one. Like I said before, the game really needs you to be really watchful at any events, if you don´t pay attention, you will be lost in the story.
The only negative point that I can find on the story is that it´s to much short, you can start and finish the game in 4 to 5 hours.
The gameplay is still the same, there are some new weapons, the graphics are way better and the physics engine is awesome! In every level you get an great sense of detail, and the enemy A.I does an good job at challenging you through the levels. The sound design and soundtrack are really good.
Overall the game is amazing, it has it´s downs but in the end it turns out to be an great game.