Max Payne 2 is a continuation of the first game and pretty much improves upon everything thanks to a higher budget, with Remedy being picked up by Rockstar Games.

• The gameplay and gameplay loop is what you know and love from the first game, with improvements - Enemies deal less damage on the game's first difficulty, you can move at normal speed whilst in bullet-time, bullet-time slowly regenerates by itself on top of killing enemies, and you can shoot while being on the floor. Huzzah!
  
  
• The story follows up from the first game, with the game taking more of a film-noir love story side approach, as Mona Sax pops up whilst answering a dispatch call and the past comes back to haunt him once again. I won't spoil too much for those that haven't played it, but it's really good, told in comic strips and top tier voice acting from everyone involved (R.I.P James McCaffrey :( )
  
  
• Graphically, looks levels from the original, and runs good straight out of the box. There is a Max Payne 2 Fix Pack you can download if you wish from this steam guide, just a quick drag and drop files into the game's main directory
  
  https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1633394421
  
  
• Good weapon variety - Weapons are the same as before, with some new ones - The dual deagles (I was so happy when I learnt these could dual wield because they SLAP) the AK and the M4 carbine just to name a few (you can argue the carbine is pretty much just the commando from MP1 but reskinned). MP2 encourages you to use different weapons for different scenarios, so don't expect to be using the same guns over and over again
  
  
• Game uses projectiles and a bloom system as opposed to hitscan to give the game a bit of a skill gap, where movement, timing and dodging bullets is key to coming out unscathed. I like this a lot, it helps balance the "BS" deaths that you'd get in other games, where you just die to ridiculous hitscan enemies. (I'm looking at you Call of Duty on Veteran)
  
  
• OST never fails to disappoint. Nuff said. Masterpiece
  
  
• The addition of NPCs helping you was pretty cool. There's a moment in the game where two people can help you gun down cleaners, and even though it's short and sweet, I can appreciate it being a thing for its time. It felt more like an experiment to me, and it worked, so huge props to Remedy for trying something different
  
  
• More deep, hard-hitting Max Payne one liners. "Death is inevitable. Our fear of it makes us play safe, blocks out emotion. It's a losing game, without passion you are already dead."
  
  
• Set pieces are really good. My favourite one would have to be the construction site, where you play as both Mona and Max, especially when you get to Mona, as you defend Max from hostiles and work your way through different sides of the site to get the drop on enemies. May seem like a simple, one-off escort type of mission, but for its time, very fun to play!
  
  
• Unlockable difficulties, allowing multiple replays and just making the game harder for yourself
  
  
• I learnt that this and MP1 use an "self-adjusting skill level system," where the difficulty changes based on how good you're doing. This is only available on Detective, but I thought it was cool to mention because it'll be a mix of easy and hard moments when you play for the first time. This is why.

• Game was too short!!! I completed this two hours quicker than MP1 (MP1 took me 6 hours, MP2 took me 4), which is a shame because after I finished it, I felt like it more of a showcase or tech demo than an actual game, despite being a full game. Maybe it's because of the numerous difficulties you can complete it on, so that's why they decided to make it shorter
  
  
• Story could've been fleshed out a bit more, felt a bit confusing at times and didn't get the full picture until I watched a video on it

Max Payne 2 is a great sequel to the original game, building upon what they've established and making it more stylish, visually pleasing and question life. That last part is on Max, given how dark and sad this story gets.

"The past is a gaping hole. You try to run from it, but the more you run, the deeper, more terrible it grows behind you, its edges yawning at your heels."

Max Payne is a third-person shooter set in New York that for its time, invented the "bullet time" or slow-time mechanic we know and love today.

• The story is fantastic! It makes use of comic book strips and voiced dialogue to tell its story, with Max speaking as if he's saying a monologue, though it's just a recollection of the events that occur right up to the very end (A.K.A in retrospect). Amazingly detailed and helps to give the world that dark, noir and grim flare that it nails so well. Story starts off strong and gets darker the deeper you go
  
  
• Atmosphere is incredible, with New York getting hammered by a blizzard, forcing people to stay in their homes, and sort of gives Max Payne a reason to kill and give justice without any sort of consequence. I loved navigating through the apartments, streets, sewers and buildings of New York, it felt gritty, dangerous and scary, not knowing what could be lurking around each corner
  
  
• The bullet-time mechanic is the most important mechanic that everybody remembers and loves for those who've played it - It slows down time and lets you dodge, move and shoot at the same time. Great back in 2001, still great now! Always felt satisfying to gun down a group of mobsters with my dual ingrams
  
  
• Good weapon variety - Your usual array of weapons, shotguns, sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and throwables, and the game incentivises you to change weapons depending on the situation. Don't expect to be using only one weapon for the entire game
  
  
• The nightmare sequences are something else in this game. It's so... ominous, eerie and creepy that you'll probably feel uncomfortable when you play through them, and that's a good thing. Had to highlight this because I think these sequences are some of the best done in gaming, period.
  
  
• Combat is very, very good. The guns in this game are projectile and not hitscan, and there's bloom attached to each of these weapons to give them randomness so the same encounters aren't the same, unlike MP3. Adds a bit of a skill gap in that should you push higher difficulties, it's all about positioning, swerving around to dodge said bulllets and knowing when to peek someone from a wall or some sort of cover
  
  
• Level design is fairly linear, but good for what the game is going for
  
  
• Max Payne's one liners. I'll just leave it at that. "One thing you can count on: You push a man too far, and sooner or later he'll start pushing back." He hits you deep pretty much all the time
  
  
• I learnt that this and MP2 use an "self-adjusting skill level system," where the difficulty changes based on how good you're doing. This is only available on Fugitive, but I thought it was cool to mention because it'll be a mix of easy and hard moments when you play for the first time. This is why.
  
  
• Unlockable difficulties, allowing multiple replays and just making the game harder for yourself

• Shoot dodging can feel underwhelming at times - I only ever used it to kill one guy rather than kill a group because of the dodge distance, which is very short. You also can't shoot while you're on the floor, something that would get improved on in MP2 and 3
  
  
• Game can feel a bit difficult at times, but it's nothing a quick save and quick load can't fix. And the enemy damage is a bit ridiculous
  
  
• Some of the sequences are annoying to the point where you'll get frustrated. I'm looking at you nightmare sequences, as good as they are
  
  
• Can be a pain to run on modern systems given its age, but thankfully darkje and Lethal Placebo made an installer that installs all the fixes you need to get Max Payne up and running. Only took a few minutes and the game ran like butter for me! If you want to be as vanilla as possible for whatever reason, just download the Max Payne Widescreen Fix and thank me later :)
  
  https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1633394421
  
  
• If you live in Latin America, Asia, Oceania, or the Middle East, the game unfortunately is no longer available on Steam, so you'll have to buy it from a third-party website. So we can buy MP2, but not MP1...

Despite its age, Max Payne is a must play and easily one of the most influential games of all time. It'd go on to influence other shooters, such as F.E.A.R, Timeshift and Sniper Elite. Fun, sweet and nostalgic, despite it being my first time playing it. No Payne, No Gain.