Recent reviews by Beaglebites

In a review of the first Max Payne, I criticized the game on it's execution of it's mechanics, the bullet time, and the just RANDOM and artificial way enemy difficulty would spike and fall out of nowhere.

Max Payne 2 fixes all of this in brilliant form. It is such a breath of fresh air after finishing Max Payne 1, a liberation from an ambitious but broken fighting system.
Have you ever had a bad headache break, and you can think clearly again, and it feels wonderful? That's the first couple hours of Max Payne 2 hot off the heels of playing Max Payne 1 - it's just... .such clarity. It feels good. It's amazing how much better this is then the first game.

But, without spoiling anything. The narrative takes a back seat here.
Well, to be honest, it wasn't invited along for the ride at all. It's HOT GARBAGE. All of the positive storytelling achievements of the first game are either muted or just stepped on.
Interesting characters are turned to cliches. The twists and turns of the story are predictable at best, or outright contrite and racist at worst. Every character's motivation is eye-brow raisingly thin and flimsy. Revelations in the plot are so half-baked you kind of just don't care.

The plot here is a mess, it's bad, and despite all of the mechanical advances of the game, the overall experience is somehow worse then the first game.

Which, is a hard place for me to settle. It really is. I've been going back and forth on this for about 24 hours now.

I'd break it down like this:
Max Payne 1:
Vision: A
Gameplay: D/C
Story: A
Overall: C

Max Payne 2:
Vision: D
Gameplay: S+
Story: D
Overall.... C/D

I can understand Why Remedy wouldn't helm the third game after this one. It's clear they wanted to advance their game play mechanics and start making video games that really push the envelope that way. But they clearly had no interest in the Payne franchise or it's characters, and it shows, with painful cringe.

And now, that we're here, in a post 2020 world? The game-play is great, but the rest of the package is so lacking, it's hard to recommend. Even at $3.50, I'd only recommend you to pick up this game if you were nostalgic for it, or had already decided you wanted to play it. If you're mildly curious? Move on.

And thanks for reading. :D

P.S. Honorable mention to one particularly inventive and super unique level. If you've played the game already - you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was super cool, I wish they had done a little bit more with it, and hopefully 10-20 years down the road a studio will get inspired by this level and re-create the idea and go nuts with it. Super cool.

A friend of mine recently posed a question: Why does the Game Awards have a category for Best Direction? Isn't the Best Directed game also going to be the Best Game?

And, I was stumped by this question. Like my friend, I couldn't come up with a game that wouldn't fit in both categories. Dark Souls? Brilliantly directed, GOTY material. Breath of the Wild? Clear execution on it's ideas, great 90 degree bend in the Zelda gameplay loop, GOTY material.

Playing Max Payne in 2021 and beyond, is a game that will wow you with it's great Direction, the bringing in and combining of genres into a melty oozy philly cheesesteak. But all the good stuff falls out of it when you go to take a bite, and it's up to you to scoop it up off your plate with your fingers now that it's cooled, rather then enjoy it as intended.

Praise: The blend of graphic novel, in game narration, John Woo action, and the Noir Genre all laminated with a sheet of late 1990's/early 2000's gamery edgelord gloss is a real gem.
The standout here is the story and the narrative, and how the use of the action mechanics pushes you the player through a tangled, seedy mess at such a rapid pace your brain never has time to stop and think "well this is a bit ridiculous isn't it?"

The game has a sense of tongue in cheek humor, and isn't above taking potshots at it's own flaws. Well, the ones that were intended anyways.

The Ugly:
Up to this point, I've been pretty positive here, because, the game deserves the positive attention.
The game's execution on it's ideas - the graphic novel storytelling, the in-game narration, the action mechanics?
It falls apart.

Hard.

The biggest issue is the game's control, especially in areas that require you to platform. The jumping in the game is punishingly stiff.
The other issue I had was getting in and out of "bullet time", with Max constantly flopping on the ground like a fish just before the intended cover, or the bullet time refusing to turn off randomly, draining the whole meter.

The main issue I had though? I'm not sure if it was that similar looking enemies had wildly-variable health pools, or if the programmers just made certain random enemies harder or easier to create artificial choke-points, or if it was bad luck.
But every so often you'd come up to an enemy that would just one-shot you. And you'd reload, and they'd one-shot you again. And again. And again. And again. It felt forced, and wasn't a pleasant experience. It happened not every level, but definitely every few levels, especially in the later parts of the game.

I would say, instead of playing Max Payne, if you have access to a ps3/ps4/ps5, play the uncharted series. Fairly similar controls, good narrative, cheap to procure, and all around a more balanced package.

On PC? (as this is being reviewed on steam) Hrrrrrrm, the age of the run n' gun shooter is coming to a close.
See if you can find Vanquish. That'd be my recommendation.