Remedy Entertainment’s Max Payne is one of the most fan-beloved and consistent franchises of all time, but the IP has remained dormant ever since Max Payne 3 underperformed on a financial front. The franchise recently celebrated its 20 year anniversary, and the original model for Max and lead writer Sam Lake jumped in to recognize the occasion with voice actor James McCaffrey.
That left me thinking – how does Max Payne 2 hold up today? The original holds a special place in my heart, having played through the campaign dozens of times on a rusty old computer in “the olden days.” However, the sentiment doesn’t translate to the sequel; I had only played it once prior to writing this feature – and thought it’d be great to revisit and see how it holds up 17 years later.
Max Payne 2 is a thunderous thrill ride through the dark and grimy streets of New York – or Noir York if you’d like that. Surrounding a story of redemption and leftover revenge is a love plot that never fails to keep one guessing. Sam Lake’s writing is in full force here – and every dialogue that comes out of Max’s mouth is a metaphor that surprisingly never feels obnoxious. As the man himself says,
After what happened to me, you can’t help but talk in metaphors.
Something Max Payne said
The presentation is peak Remedy stuff, with a number of nuances and parallels that immerse you deeper into its narrative. A number of TV shows – Dick Justice(the original name for Max Payne), Lords and Ladies, and Address Unknown all run parallel to the narrative; each focusing on one aspect of Max’s story. Max Payne 2 is the last Max Payne with nightmare sequences, and the game makes great use of them to help understand Max’s twisted psyche and make some sense out of this layered narrative with a number of moving parts.
On the gameplay front, Max Payne 2 still shines. Max is certainly quite nimble when compared to the third game, and the bullet-time mechanic is cranked up quite a bit from the original. It’s always great to pop off headshots while slowing time, as each kill fills up the hourglass and slows time even further – allowing you to chain together killing sprees without breaking a sweat.
The shooting still feels great to this day, although some weapons such as the Ingrams can be quite inaccurate when aiming at the head. Thankfully, precision isn’t required to have fun – and the game’s massive arsenal of weapons always keeps things fresh and exciting. Its pacing is meticulous, and you are never stuck on the same level or the same setting for too long. Everything happens exactly when it should, and it’s entirely possible that you might end up completing the game in a couple of long sessions – like myself.
One of the biggest triumphs of Max Payne 2, in my opinion, is how effortless it remains to replay to this date. As opposed to any modern game with side-quests and a billion other distractions, Max Payne 2 is laser-focused on doing what it does best – delivering a great narrative with equally great shooting mechanics which never outstay their welcome.
It’s a rarity that games leave us wanting more – often saturating open-worlds with a checklist of content and arbitrary progression systems with mechanics that can barely remain interesting until the end of the game. Replaying Max Payne 2 in 2021 helped me realize how much I value this feeling, which by extension makes me grateful that Xbox Game Pass allows developers to tap into this very sentiment. Games like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and A Plague Tale: Innocence are similarly short experiences, and I’m glad that both games are now receiving sequels in the not too distant future.
