90%Xbox

This game improves on the first one significantly. The narrative does a great job showing how Max's revenge in the first game only made him feel worse about his wife's death. That ending line was the perfect set of words to wrap up the story of Max Payne... wait what do you mean there's a Max Payne 3?

75%PC

This is as fun as the first one, but not better. While the mechanics are nicer, I think the story is a bit less gripping and there are too many gimmicky levels, but it is still a fun game nonetheless.

80%Xbox

A great sequel to the first, but it's story is not as mysterious as the first. The sequel is bigger and sexier, but not necessarily better. Max Payne 2's story is easily it's weakest link and explains why Rockstar tried something different with Part 3, even if everyone didn't enjoy it.

100%PC

*Warning: Spoilers*

Great sequel with some new features.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is an excellent sequel to the first game. The story picks right up where you left off. After the events in the first game, your name has been cleared, as you were a dangerous lone wolf that needed to be arrested or killed. Now, you are a NYPD Detective. You are investigating a hostage situation in an abandoned warehouse when you quickly learn that the “cleaners” in the area are actually some new gang that work for the mafia. You dive into it to get to the bottom of this new threat.

In this game, you meet Mona again, a Russian Assassin that was shot in the first game and presumed dead. Both of you still hunt for the answer to where the Cleaners came from, who leads then and why they are targeting specifically you and Mona. After a while, you learn that Vlad, your “friend” from the first game, is actually behind it all. You and Mona chase him and eventually, after many explosions kill his @ss. That is the short version at least, but, like the first game, it is another great “revenge killing game” that reminds me of the John Wick films.

The mechanics, gameplay and controls are identical to the first game. You search for weapons, painkillers, ammo throughout the levels, use Slow-Motion for difficult fights and murder everyone that stands in your way.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne introduces some new features like new weapons and an improved Slow-Motion setting. You can now use Slow-Motion while walking and running normally, instead of making the mandatory dive to the left, right or straight.

You can now also play parts of the story as Mona, who uses her Dragunov Sniper as the primary weapon. Sometimes you need to escort and protect Max, other times you work to the point where you previously played as Max.

I have to say that I liked the graphics somewhat less than the first game. Although the detail is fine and more polished, the faces and facial expressions are now stiffer and “doll” like, instead of the real pictures that they put on enemies, your character and NPC’s in the first game. Still, it looks almost just as nice as the previous game. The L.A. Noire comic strips are still here and a are still an excellent way for telling the story.

The music and sound effects are just as good as in the first game. Other than that, no special new features can be named here. The same goes for controls.

In Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, I could only find one annoyance, namely a bug in a specific level where you need to escort someone. This person gets stuck on the door, which is a bug that has never been fixed. Nowadays, the fascinating world of the internet could tell me that I “just needed to press ALT + TAB and back”, but when I played this as a kid/young adult, I would never, ever have figured this out.

Overall, I liked Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne and its story. It was a little cliché here and there, but I will not complain one bit.

Definitely recommend this game.

70%PC

Better version of the first game in every aspect. 7/10

70%PC

The game doesn't change much compared to the first entry, the story has still the same generic detective noir vibe, but this time it explores more of Max Payne's psychic and his survivor's guilt. Overall the game is a bit more fleshed out than it's predecessor. In this one you can feel Sam Lake's trademark getting more apparent, using TV Shows to represent what's happening in the protagonist's head.
There are some bugs that are annoying and break the flow of the gameplay but luckily I didn't need to install any fix just to boot up the game. And an extra point because you can play with Mona naked.

Mirrors are more fun than television.

90%PC

9/10

80%PC

This game was much better than the first one, even though it still uses the comic style for presenting the story. Playing this felt like watching a very long movie, or maybe a trilogy even. Also it is a perfect example that shows that not everything can and must have a happy ending. The title is not joking, it really is "The Fall of Max Payne".

Because the first one was a tragedy on PS2, I chose to play the sequel on PC. It has it's issues, but they can be mitigated by installing the "Definitive Fix" mod.

55%PC

помню мелким пробежал по сюжетке на пиратке а запомнил только прикольный геймплей
не хочу занижать или завышать игру так что поставлю 5.5\10

90%PC

Кращий і комфортніший ігролад за першу частину. Все ще крута нуарна пригода, але її плавність мені подобається менше за шаленство першої Max Payne.

75%PC

Improvement of the first. Missed the Sam Lake face tho

75%PC

The game is unplayable on modern PCs without a fan made patch/fix, so installing that is the first step in making Max Payne 2 work. Other than that, it's still a good experience, and even though outdated, slow time mechanics still work and offer a lot of fun. And the story and the writing are as great as they have always been.

However, the game is not without its drawbacks. It has arguably the worst NPC escort mission in the history of videogames, and dream scenes have so much blur you'd want to puke. Moreover, level design seems like a step back compared to the first Max Payne: there's too much backtracking and many locations are reused later in the game. And even though MP2 is rather short, you will definitely notice that. Thankfully, its length is actually a plus: just as you get tired of the gameplay, the story comes to an end. And if you want more, there are higher difficulties and an arcade game mode where you have to kill endles waves of spawning enemies.

100%PC

A short, cheap and amazing experience.

75%PC

Better level designs and overall combat, but the story is worse. An odd reliace on general slow-mo versus the bullet dodge as enemies felt way more accurace and better spaced making the dodge a great way to die and reload your save.

70%PC

Very Good - Very much a continuation of the first part with all its perks and struggles, though a bit more rounded overall. The writing is a notch better and level design as well as mission variability is slightly improved.

100%PC

no payne no gain

80%PC

Max Payne 2 is a huge step up from the original. Sure, I loved the way OG Max looked, but this one’s more realistic. The gunplay feels similar, but the added ragdoll physics make it way more satisfying. And visually? It’s a massive improvement—everything looks and feels 10x better.

The story is a major upgrade too. It’s darker, more complex, and it nails the whole “tragic tale” vibe. The ending? Sad but predictable—bad choices don’t lead to happy endings, and Max Payne is all about that. It’s what makes the series stand out.

Honestly, I’m so hyped for the remake. If they keep what made this game great and polish it up, it’s easily gonna be a 9 or even a 10. Overall, this game is fantastic, and I’d recommend it to almost anyone. 8.5/10

80%PC

Better than the first installment. Liked the story and how it played, but disliked dream sequences and non-stop enemy action. Remedy games are like that, story + easter eggs + hard-core gunplay. The first two are OK, the last one is not for me.

100%PC

The true conclusion to Max Payne's story. I don't consider the 3rd one canon.

75%PC

A good sequel to the first Max Payne, improving gameplay, graphics, and especially physics. The story is now taken more seriously, and as is customary in the saga, Max's narration is a delight to listen to. However, in my opinion, I consider it the weakest of the three due to its story, which, while having some very interesting moments (especially those related to Max's psychology), overall fails to be memorable. The conspiracy and main mystery don’t manage to be engaging enough, and it only gets interesting in the final hour, but by then it’s too late. Nevertheless, due to its historical significance, its mechanics, and because it’s fun, I recommend it.

75%PlayStation 2

Buena historia, mecánicas entretenidas, aunque le falta algo de variedad en las misiones. Sin embargo, buen juego.

95%PC

Formerly it was a 80%, however the ending and how it closes the story kept going around my mind since a finished it but now... i get it.
Almost a 100%

90%PC

Great noir game. A true classic

95%PC

Max Payne 2 is a great improvement from the first one in terms of graphics shootdodge mechanics and gameplay in general. The amount of detail in the game is also a great addition. The amount of objects you can interact with is amazing. You can kick around every bin and box, even pizza slices can be shot around. The default difficulty is a lot lower than Max Payne 1, a bit too easy in my opinion. The voices are a great improvement. The random people and enemy you encounter say more interesting things. Also, all the locations are different, and some are pretty cool, such as a place called the fun house, which is like a hollywood mental asylum movie set with a bunch of props. The classic max payne madness parts returns, except the puzzles in these segments are a lot easier than max payne 1. In conclusion, for a 2003 game, this was outstanding.

100%PC

The gunplay and action still holds up.

75%PC

Os diálogos canastrões, a linguagem em quadrinhos e a história meio exagerada e brega trazem esse clima pulp que combina com a estética noir do jogo.
Meio no início pensei em largar, não tava me empolgando. Ainda bem que não fiz isso, ao longo do jogo fui me envolvendo com a história e com o romance, no fim acabei me arrepiando todo.

95%PC

24:18

95%PC

Must Play Classic, along with Max Payne 1!

70%PC

very satisfying in terms of a narrative end cap, of course. not the complete slam dunk iterating on the first game was ideally going to lead to otherwise.

combat gameplay sees an improvement if only because the adaptive difficulty feels less overbearing (i'm pretty sure it's still here, though) which makes getting through the thing less of a headache. unfortunately level design takes a hit with everything feeling a bit less creative (especially the nightmare sequences) overall. the game ending on reusing shooting small parts of the environment to progress the final boss was a bummer. it was bad in Max Payne and it might have been even worse here due to the external pressure of enemy fire making the already finicky hitboxes worse.

looking forward to playing Max Payne 3 someday even though i expect the story to be a shit show. the gameplay looks to be like a powerhouse among third person shooters.

90%PC

This game really felt like an improved version of the first. I thought the story was a lot better and the gameplay was more fast paced, which took getting used to but was fun once I learned what was doing. The level design and enemy placement were also a lot more fair in this game. It's cool to see the dynamic of Max and Monas relationship and I thought it was interesting how they are almost reflections of each other. Overall, it was a really great game that I know I will for sure replay.

80%PC

Great classic shooter with a good story. Worth checking out!

80%PC

Contrary to the title, the second part of Max Payne is not the fall, but the rise of the series. That gameplay, that storytelling, those "movie" techniques that were in the first part remained in this one, but this time they work. That wild pathos of the narrative is a little slowed down, which allows you to finally see the story behind the endlessly absurd epithets and analogies. That clumsy gameplay backbone has grown meat: bullets fly where they need to, enemies die as they should, the environment dynamically reacts to the firefight. Those "movie" tricks, forcing you to press "quick save" before every turn in the first part, are no longer fatal - they are no longer annoying. The plot is really interesting to watch, locations are interesting to explore, enemies are interesting to kill. Max Payne 2 gives the very sensations you expect from a noir action movie, this part, not the first one, is worthy to be considered a classic of the game industry

80%PC

straight out of old school action movie. great story telling, great characters, funny dialogues, and serious dialogues. I enjoy.

50%Xbox Series X/S

Such a disappointment after the first game. Instead of a real sequel, it's an indoors GTA clone.

Cons:
- For some reason they replaced Sam Lake as Max Payne actor. The new one is bland.
- The aspect ratio of comics is not right.
- The level design in this one is weak. You come back to the same areas again and again, and they are gray lifeless corridors. Meh.
- The music is too generic.
- The story is predictable and weirdly cut. Love story with Mona looks laughable with this oldschool graphics. W/o insane Valhalla references it's just not crazy/dark enough. In a sense it's a bad prototype for Control game that will become great with Control.

Pros:
+ We can see glimpses of Control: flamingos, weird ads, janitors.
+ Janitors were menacing.

100%PC

This game is a good standard for the quality of a sequel. It improves upon every element of the first game, and makes good on a lot of plot elements from it as well. Sam Lake's beautiful face may no longer feature on our fair protagonist, but his face is plastered on TV shows and posters throughout the story. Fantastic.

60%PC

Superior to the original in every possible way technically, yet inferior in every possible way creatively. TV parodies notwithstanding.

My main issues with Max Payne 2 are the gameplay changes, and the story. The narrative is just bad. Not much to say about it. The new and “improved” production quality takes a way a lot of the charm the first game had. I would be able to overlook that easier if there wasn’t such a heavy reliance on bullet time, making the combat bland as a result. On the surface that seems like a strange complaint to lobby against a Max Payne game, but allow me to explain.

In the first game, bullet time was a tool used to overcome especially difficult situations. It was the punctuation of the encounter, not the entire sentence. In Max Payne 2 you spend almost the entire game in bullet time. In the first game, I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to get through encounters without having to slow time, but the sequel throws so many enemies at you it is essentially impossible to not rely on the bullet time. This mechanic is also significant buffed from the original, to the point where it just completely removes all sense of challenge the first game possessed. To make matters worse, the iconic shoot dodge is useless in this game. In the original, the shoot dodge was an essential move. Here, it slows down time way too much to be useful. It is also completely outclassed by bullet time so there is no real reason to use it. This all adds up to a combat model that is mindless and boring. In the original each encounter felt like a twitchy test of your reactions, or its own puzzle to solve. In the sequel, every encounter boils down to: 1 activate bullet time 2 Shoot everything. Repeat.

Incredibly disappointing.

80%PlayStation 2

A masterpiece in narrative and lots of fun in shooting, Max Payne 2 is the meta sequel to the already excelent first game. It's revolutionary on how it handles its cool script and it would impact future Remedy titles. The story, writing and acting is fantastic; the game is short in a way that I wish more good games were, the story stays focused. Just don't do like I did and play the crap PS2 port.

75%PC

16/03/2008
7h00min
78%

90%PC

Влад виявився зрадником, він вбив Водена і Мону, а Макс вбив Влада. Макс нарешті змирився зі смертю своєї дружини і став щасливим. (ПРОЙШОВ БЕЗ АЧІВКИ)

80%PC

While the game may be shorter I enjoyed this quite a bit and was a huge improvement over the first game

85%PC

Graphics - 7/10 (classic)
Music- 10/10 (Perfect)
Voice Acting - 9/10 (Okayish)
Story - 6/10 (Not my type)
Controls - 10/10 (Slo-Mo)
Gameplay - 9/10

OVERALL - 8.5/10

Played Max Payne 1 in my childhood. Tried Max Payne 2 now and instantly nostalgia hit back.
Amazing game. Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar really set a strong hold on the franchise with this game.
Will be playing Max Payne 3 soon, and waiting for Max Payne 4 with the next-gen graphics.

80%PC

While the gameplay is an upgrade in every way from Max Payne 1, the story is not as strong as its prequel.

The level design is also fantastic. Every level is unique and plays out great.

This is a must play after the 1st game.

85%PC

Solid classic what first game did very good this did it 2x

70%Emulated

İlk oyundaki kötü platforming, dağınık hikaye, rahatsız kontroller gibi eksik yönleri giderip en azından iyi diyebileceğimiz bir oyun ortaya çıkartmışlar.

60%PC

Max Payne 2: История симпа.

90%PC

Fantastic game that took everything that the original game had, improved on all of the positive qualities, and fixed all of the issues I had. An updated engine and budget really made this shine despite the short length, and all of the little details in the environment are great. The shooting is stunning, the combat is perfected, the voice acting is stellar, and overall this is one of Remedy's best games, and an argument for their magnum opus which is saying something.

70%PC

Enjoyed more than the first game as I felt it had more variety in levels and story. You can definitely see the elements of world and story building that would make Alan Wake, Control and Quantum Break such great experiences.

90%PC

95%