Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Thoroughly enjoyed it, really cool to see Poets of the Fall were doing music for Remedy all the way back in 2003. However only real complaint is that it's too short. Still think 1 has a better story as well. Either way I recommend it for Vincent alone, truly the best character in the series.

I beat this game in only 8 hours. It's short but sweet. The combat and environments are great, of course.

The only con is that the last chapter's story is way too concise. You suddenly figure everything out without any buildup at all. The game's story ends up feeling very front-loaded as a result. I also didn't like how many times we had to revisit the Funhouse.

Amazing classic game. Holds up VERY well but there are many mods to enhance graphics or do any number of crazy things. A whole lot of Matrix and Gun-Fu mods that take advantage of the game's crazy-good combat.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the best story-driven shooters ever made. The noir atmosphere, the tragic yet poetic story, and Max’s gritty narration—everything hits just right. Gameplay still holds up, and the bullet-time mechanic is as satisfying as ever.

This game took me right back to the old days—late nights, dim room, headphones on, completely immersed. It's not just a shooter, it’s a vibe, a feeling, a memory.

If you played it back then, it’s worth revisiting. If you’ve never played it before, you’re in for something special.

Side note, you NEED a mod to get this game running. Its easy to find, download and install but another case of devs not supporting older games.

I mean wow. This game. I first played Max Payne 2 through a demo software at someones house, and outside of flash games and Wildtangent it was my first real taste of a PC game. I was blown away, the physics, the framerate, the detail. I played that timed demo so much that I could speedrun through it and play all the available levels before the time expired. Those first three missions are burned in my brain forever. Using the pause button to get a cool bullet time 360 freeze of the action, I used it like some early photo mode. Eventually I got the full game and beat it numerous times on ps2 and PC, and returning years later I can say it holds up exceptionally.

If you can get passed the outdated graphics you will find there is more detail and life in this linear game from 2003 than most open world games developed by warehouses of coders today can achieve. The physics and level design have held up better than almost any other aspects, this was beyond ahead of its time. The story is genuinely great, very tight, good dialogue, with fun set pieces and twists that actually add depth. The gunplay is absurdly good, the guns sound strong, they feel powerful, come in a solid variety and the weapon and explosion effects are cinematic as hell. The physics engine makes every kill unique and adds serious weight and fun to even the most mundane enemy encounter, of which there are few. The game is short, but they never run out of surprises for you.

Every level is distinct and fun to just run around in and look at, there is a seemingly endless amount of items and furniture that you can interact with, and lots of little areas have their own stories going on separate from anything you are doing. If you are someone who enjoys exploring and looking for Easter eggs you will be constantly rewarded. The amount of times I have said "fun" and its derivatives sums it up, this game is just a good time.

10/10

Evergreen game, the rag-doll physics, the story, the dialogues and the game-play was way ahead for the time it came out in

Good shooter with a nice story, weapon diversity, *no* auto-health. Really liked playing as cool Mona too with her Dragunov. :-) They don't make them like this anymore. Refreshing retro experience.

you can finish the game in 3 hours and in this 3 hours you will Experience the best shooting mechanic and a very good story line and telling with a very goofy ragdoll the game is very good it hold will for a game that came out 22 years ago in the end the game is very fun and good you should buy the game and try it for yourself you will not lose nothing.

Great game. I personally feel this one is better in terms of gameplay, and by a pretty wide margin too. However, I feel the story is a bit weaker in this one. Still great, but its a bit too dramatic for my taste at times. It could just be a me problem, but I personally find the whole love story between Max and Mona to be boring at times. There are also numerous times where Max most definitely should have been killed, but he somehow walks away just fine. I understand that pretty much none of the story is really realistic, but some of the cases that he just walks away from are so silly and comical. In one case he literally gets a bullet straight to the head and is just fine soon after. It also was surprisingly short, and as such a bit disappointing when it ended. The ending also just didn't hit the same as the ending of the first game for me, but it's not that big of a deal. Aside from that (and that's not to say the story is bad), the game improves on much of the gameplay from the first game and an improvement in graphics. The faces were drastically improved. The bullet time is much more usable this time around and all the guns are fun to use once again. Overall, a fantastic game that is only held back by a few critiques of the story in a few instances.

8.5/10

It's simply a better game than Max Payne 1, despite the fact that the first game is near perfection

they genuinely do not make em like this anymore, damn. i do feel like the first max payne had a better story, but in terms of gameplay 2 is a different beast

Oynadıkça güzel anıların yanında derin yaralar bırakan oyunlardan biri. Oynanış olarak ilkinden daha iyi ve hikayesiden sunumuna kadar çoğu yönüyle mükemmel bir devam oyunu.

Max Payne 2 — a game that doesn’t just leave memories, it leaves scars.

I can’t say this sequel was better than the first — it’s just different. If the original felt like a gritty, over-the-top action movie with a wink, this one drags you deep into noir — cold, bitter, and soaked in rain. It doesn’t want to entertain you. It wants you to feel.

Max isn’t a hero anymore. He’s a broken man, holding onto nothing but the weight of what he’s lost. His pain isn’t just part of the story — it is the story. The bullet time feels better and more fluid now, but even in the flashiest shootouts, you’re not a badass — you’re just surviving. And that’s what makes it hit harder.

The comic panels return, still stylish and atmospheric, but with the humor stripped away and replaced with melancholy. Max’s voiceovers feel less clever this time and more like the ramblings of a man who’s tired of everything — and honestly, it works. That weight, that exhaustion — it seeps into you as you play.

Level design is mostly linear, but smart enough to make you feel like you’re not just being led by the hand. The environments are immersive, and the pacing keeps you moving forward without dragging. The soundtrack? Beautiful and haunting — especially the ending theme. It’s the kind of music that stays with you long after the credits roll.

Sure, it’s not perfect. It’s a bit easier than the first game, and some segments feel a little too guided. But none of that really matters. Max Payne 2 isn’t here to blow your mind — it’s here to sink into it. Like a dream you don’t want to wake up from, because even though it hurts, it feels real.

The game is a perfect continuation of the first and basically ends Max's story until Rockstar's third entry. The gunplay is the same with some small improvements. You can not melee and throw grenades/molotovs with the f key and bullet time is improved with some new controls like shifty to dive. The story and presentation is what has been improved greatly. The graphics are way nicer with the character models being a lot more detailed, we also get in engine cutscenes unlike the last game were it was all a graphic novel. I enjoyed this second entry greatly and will look forward for Remedy's remake on the two games.

TL; DR: Max Payne 1 was a masterpiece at the time and a great game by today's standards (which are getting progressively worse), Max Payne 2 takes a proven formula and makes it better and sadder, the result is a 3rd person shooter that can rival modern games.

I never got around to trying the Max Payne franchise ever since it came out its strange to be playing it for the first time in my 30s in 2025, but that also means I don't see it though nostalgia goggles and see it for what it is. And what it is one of the best action games of all time that more than holds up in the 2020s. Sure, the industry may have dropped the ball these days and is in a vegetative state, but that's besides the point, I can't believe how good this game is, I've only played it 22 years after its release and it became one of my top 10 favorite games of all time.

The Game
Max Payne franchise is a pure-blood 3rd person action game, no bullshit. Don't expect much except action, lots of shooting and a noire story. Unlike the previous title, there isn't a cutscene every three seconds and the story is no longer told exclusively through "comic strips" but also features traditional cutscenes, both welcome changes. Paradoxically, given the Max-Mona forbidden love noir story, I wish there were more cutscenes and story, but that's not what this game is about. Max Payne are not story-rich or story-focused games but I'd say the story in MP 2 is not only better than the previous title, but also a great one on its own and makes the entire experience that much better.
Level-design is, as one would expect, a step-up from the previous title, but it's a major one. The levels are much more diverse, retain much of that dark Max Payne atmosphere and they don't feel linear at all.
I completed the game in 13 hours on a single difficulty, don't expect much more than that, technology had its limitations at the time. But at the same time there is no filler content, the developers curated the best experience that time could provide and it's a fun ride.

Combat and movement
First and foremost, the crosshair finally has a real function and not just a cosmetic one and the bullets land where you aim. There is a wider selection of weapons and finally there is a button to quickly use throwables, so you dont have to switch to them, something games even nowadays can't often manage. The bullet time and movement are pretty much the same as the previous title without any noticeable differences, but if it aint broke... I do wish this game had a combat slide though. Not much else to talk about here, its simple, it works, its plenty of fun.

Much more easier than the first one which on some parts i felt like it was good but mostly i kinda liked the hardness of the original (when it wasn't just unfair). Story is as good as the first one and you get the bonus of not needing to install fixes yaaay. Overall a good game i like it.

“ The genius of the hole: no matter how long you spend climbing out, you can still fall back down in an instant. “

Runs great on the steam deck !

Max Payne 2, like the first game, is a masterpiece. I can't believe that it was released when it was, as a lot of it is so ahead of its time. I've only encountered a few games that capture depression with such impact like this does.

12.5/10

Very similar to the first game, only more cinematic in it's presentation and gameplay.
The mechanics, shooting and storytelling stay the same, and that's good.
If I had one thing to pick from this game that I feel is inferior is that I think this game is shorter to it's predecessor.
But still, amazing sequel to one of the best action games on this medium.

A little inferior to the first part, vastly superior to most things in your Steam library.

This game has the best shooting mechanics i have seen, i wish max payne 1 was available in Asia

max payne one is really good but it is flawed. the writing of max payne is truly unlike anything I've ever heard. one of the problems I've had with the original max payne was its unfair difficulty by the end. though I haven't completed max payne 2 yet, I can say that the difficulty feels a lot more fair than the last game. sure you might wanna try and remember to save every time you get a health kit but the bullet time feels a lot more useful now that you can weave between shots as well as it regenerating over time. I can't say if the writing is better than the original max payne, but it is certainly on par. I will say that the panels are more are way more striking than first game seeing as they actually had professional photos taken instead of the developers family members pose for photos. over all I feel that max payne is a waaaaayyy better improvement than the first game, and over all does meets or excedes my expectations from the first game so far.

Really fun shooter, Max Payne really did have the formula for great 3rd person shooters. I really enjoyed my time playing this game

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Atari

---{Gameplay}---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch video instead
☐ Just don't

---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ I'm now deaf
☐ My ears bleeding

---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ All

---{PC Requirements}---
☑ Toast Machine
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich
☐ Nasa

---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{Grind}---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isnt necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You‘ll need a second life for grinding

---{Story}---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ Better than your life

---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ Infinity

---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Cyberbug 2077

---{?/10}---
☐1
☐2
☐3
☐4
☐5
☐6
☑7
☐8
☐9
☐10

Had this game on the PlayStation 2 when it first came out, holds a special place in my list of all time favorite games. Do I recommend this game? Yes! ABSOLUTELY!

10/10
For every lover lost.
For every bullet that wrote their names in red.
For reminding us that in noir...
Happy endings are for liars.

May Payne 1 but with dating sim elements. Must shoot everyone in the face to impress foxy lady.

gameplay wise, max payne 2 is much of the same as the first game, but it doesn't need to reinvent itself when the gameplay is already so good. the real improvements come with the graphics, style, and plot. you can definitely see a major improvement in the graphics between the first and second games especially when you play them back to back. the game is also more stylish in some areas making things more satisfying. the plot also is amazing, and ties up many of the loose ends from the first game in a neat little bow. like a movie sequel that's better than the first, max payne 2 is amazing.

Not that much of playtime on the story but definitely still playable even in 2024, but you have to do some fixes for Windows 10 and 11 to play it.. Overall a great game!

A great sequel to a classic. The only shortcoming of Max Payne 2 is the story being shorter than the first game. The gameplay is still solid, its smoother and a bit more polished than the original. Also, it doesn't require any fixing before playing, you can just install it and play it.

I remember the first time I played Max Payne 2.
It was late 2003.
I was fifteen — older, but still not quite ready for the deeper cut this story would leave.
This time, the rain felt different.
The city felt colder, and Max felt even more broken than before.
But it wasn’t just a game.
It was the beginning of the end.

The game opened like a dream, a haunting blend of reality and nightmare.
I saw Max slip deeper into his own madness.
The world around him was chaos, and he was stuck in it.
I wasn’t playing.
I was spiraling with him.
The lines between love, loss, and vengeance blurred like smoke.

The gunfights were even more frantic than before, but this time, it wasn’t just survival.
It was something darker.
Something that felt inevitable.
Max wasn’t trying to save himself anymore.
He was just surviving the fall.

Every moment in Max Payne 2 felt like a confession — a whisper in the dark.
Max’s pain, his loss, they were no longer just part of the story.
They were part of me.
Every bullet he fired was another piece of his soul leaving him, and I felt the weight of each one.

Sometimes, I’d pause.
And just watch Max stand there, looking at nothing.
A man caught between two worlds, trying to make sense of a life that had already shattered.
The game wasn’t just about revenge anymore.
It was about trying to survive the things that you couldn’t outrun.

Sometimes I wish Steam had a "eh" option for reviews because I found it hard to choose between a positive or negative recommendation for Max Payne 2. The first one had a pulpy originality to it which I found charming and enjoyable playing it even 24 years later. Max Payne 2, by contrast, just feels like more of Max Payne 1. That's fine enough, I liked Max Payne 1, but the greater technical art I feel lets it down in the pulpy noire storytelling department.

Max Payne 1 was sufficiently low budget that I felt like I was laughing along with a crunchy student film. It took itself seriously, but that endearing sort of way where it's taking itself so seriously, it almost wraps back around to being parody. This game is just a little bit higher budget and that makes how pulpy the story still is a little bit harder to enjoy. There were times where I felt I was laughing at the game, rather than with it.

It's still fun, it's more Max Payne, and it makes an interesting reference point to see Remedy's earlier attempts at the themes of predestination and meta-genre that they went on to explore in Alan Wake. However in terms of within the Max Payne franchise, it feels like a middle child that you wouldn't be missing huge amounts to skip.

When I try to launch the game, the game is not appearing, but when I go to steam it is running. Please fix this issue.

Personally i don't like it as much as the first one. It has a really good story and solid gameplay, but it sometimes feel to easy. The soundtrack was a banger and the ending was great.

10/8.5

A great game with a nice atmosphere, lore goes deep and the artworks are stunning.

- One of the best games of the era. Fun bullet time hell and a decent story to get you through

This is the sh8t game at all I did everything but nothing happens this game is dead

Very short, unfortunately. Gameplay has been vastly improven and it is great fun.

Great story. Great atmosphere. Great action for its time.

Definitely one of the classics that time sort of forgot. Do yourself a favour and try it out.

I think I prefer this to the first one tbh. While the first game is phenomenal, the sequel has a couple of improvements, such as chapter select, bullet dodge doesn't use bullet time and a fancy reload animation that ducks under bullets while in bullet time. The final boss fight is probably the only bad part of the game imo, it just wasn't a good fight.

The first game was great, but this one is better. Definitely worth playing.

achei um jogo muito bom a forma do jogo e interessante e por algum motivo me lembra o filme matrix

Really good game with a few levels that seem a bit rushed, particularly the final boss fight. But still worth the price

Max Payne 2 brings more of a love story into the mix of an action-noir story. The concept really works out. Big step up in graphics during this era of video games. Mostly, this game is a big step up in every component to a video game. It's not as good as the first Max Payne game as in terms of story in my opinion. Overall, this game is a good game with a thrilling story. Rating: 8.5/10

For its time, this game was a masterpiece. Even today I didn’t feel it was soo much outdated or clunky. It runs perfectly on modern hardware (you just need to install a widescreen fix), so if you’ve never played it before, I highly recommend giving it a try!

An improvement on the first in every way. Especially because this one actually worked for me right out of my box. I ended up playing the first on xbox and I still enjoyed. Still a great game but I think this one just really dials everything in perfectly.

Max Payne 2 is an excellent sequel to an already great game. Nothing but improvements are added as an addition to the original source. Gameplay is heavily improved with physics changes to the engine, improvements to bullet time and character swapping in the story. Bullet time is improved by allowing the meter to be filled up with each kill instead of having to wait for it recharge. There are now explosive items to shoot that fly around the room and cause chaos thanks to the physics changes. As for the story, it's more of the same except with a different focus. The graphic novel cutscenes make their return and the story has the same presentation. While the foundation of the plot is still a neo-noir crime conspiracy, the main focus of the story is actually the mental anguish of Max and his relationship with Mona Sax. The story will explore how the trauma and ptsd from the death of his family and the events of the first game effect Max. It will also explore his love and falling for Mona. Overall, I thought it was a great continuation of the First game and I'm curious to see what Max Payne 3 has in store. It functioned perfectly fine on my steam deck with no patches or tinkering. Buy on sale.

Love can turn into anger when deep emotional investment leads to disappointment or hurt. When trust is broken, such as through betrayal or dishonesty, it creates pain that, if unaddressed, transforms into anger as a defense mechanism against further hurt. This anger often stems not just from the action itself, but from the fear of being hurt or abandoned again. At its core, the shift from love to anger is driven by emotional imbalance, where one partner feels unheard, unloved, or disrespected. In these cases, anger becomes a way to cope with the pain, though it can often push the individuals further apart rather than healing the relationship.

Good game. Check out PCGamingWiki for some fan patches such as one for widescreen support. Game seems to have (almost) native support for 120+ FPS without any game breaking glitches, besides one, where a character will get stuck while trying to walk out of a room. This can be fixed by quicksaving (F5).

AWESOME! It was the real final max payne game for me. Max Payne 3 is just so different.

A great follow-up to the critically acclaimed prequel, this delivers more on basically every front that the first game had set the standard for; gameplay has been improved in subtle ways that greatly enhance the experience, the graphics have seen a considerable step up and the storyline, despite being a bit confusing to navigate at first (perhaps intentionally so) takes a lot of interesting twists and turns.

Just like the entry before it though, you will have to do a bit of patching to get it running on modern hardware; this time the only thing you'll need is the Startup Hang Patch, though I have heard some people may have audio issues here as well, of which there is also a readily available fix for that, too.

If you wanted more Max Payne, this delivers in spades. I highly recommend!