I will warn you, the game is short, a (supposed) failing of the first that reviewers and critics were quick to jump on a few years ago. Clocking in somewhere between 10 and 20 hours divided into three acts, I finished the game in two afternoons. I’d argue, though, that the game is appropriate in length, as this style of constant run, dodge, and shoot game play wouldn’t hold up interest for an extended 60 hour story arc. I will ALSO warn you that the game is definitely targeting the mature gamer, as the dialogue is laced with as many screamed ‘f-bombs’ as you’ll hear in Reservoir Dogs. Additionally, there’s some in-game sex – fairly stylized and not too graphic, but the audio is pretty convincing.

For those new to Max Payne, the story of the first game is compressed into a graphic-novel-style synopsis available on the front menu of the game, bringing players up to speed with why Max is so cranky and has to shoot so many people during the course of his usually disastrous work days. The game play is identical to the first, with the game played exclusively in third person and following Max’s gunfights through packs of heavily armed bad guys in a multitude of urban settings. The gunfight game play relies heavily on the bullet-time play mechanic, which has only been slightly tweaked and modified since the first game – essentially, at a button press, Max can go ‘into the zone’, and do a matrix-style slow-motion bullet beat down on his surrounding enemies. Time slows down further and further as you rack up the kills in bullet time, and, in a new touch, if you happen to run your gun dry in bullet-time, you are treated to a visually spectacular Chow-Yun-Fat-style swooping pirouette of a gun reload animation, with empty magazines flying and coat spinning.

Level designs in the game are again gritty and extremely believable – I think most of us are still getting over first seeing the initial subway level in the first Max Payne. The game environments in the sequel still impress, both in their technical execution (the amount of detail is stunning, down to trickles of water running from rooftop gutters) and in their choice of subject – my favorite level concerned an abandoned funhouse based on a cancelled David-Lynch-esque television show. Your first visit to the funhouse involves no combat whatsoever, but just a slow, very unnerving navigation through the funhouse animatronics and ambient sound recordings. By the third act of the game when you’re fighting your way through the level again (now in flames and coming down around your head), it’s all the more real because it’s an environment you’ve been in before at several different points in the story.

In conclusion, Max Payne 2 is a sequel in every sense. For those who liked the first in the series, it is another generous helping of the same with improvements, tweaks, and enhancements but the same core essence – same characters, same voices, same musical themes, same technical gameplay elements. Also the same melodrama, the same short gameplay duration, and the same lack of gameplay variety return for a second go-around, so if you aren’t cool with lines like “The sun went down with practiced bravado” growled out in gravelly tones, I’d suggest that the snicker factor might kill this game for you. (Personally, I love the heavy cheese, absolutely. I don’t think it takes itself seriously and I don’t take it seriously either. It is, after all, a game.) It is very short, but it’s good, and I’d sooner drop my coin on 15 hours of game that I can’t put down, than 60 hours of game that leaves my attention wandering and makes the flaws stand out more.

Overall: 8.6 / 10
Gameplay: 8.0 / 10
Visuals: 9.0 / 10
Sound: 8.0 / 10