Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
From Free net encyclopedia
| Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Remedy Entertainment (PC) Rockstar Vienna (Xbox, PS2) {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 2003 (PC) November 25, 2003 (Xbox) December 2, 2003 (PS2) |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | PC (Windows), Xbox, PS2 {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a third-person shooter developed by Remedy Entertainment for the PC (Windows), Xbox, and PlayStation 2 systems. Max Payne 2 continues the story of Max Payne, a fugitive undercover cop framed for murder in New York City. The game, like its predecessor, is a film noir that includes very stylistic cinematography: specifically, the use of camera effects such as bullet-time. The Fall of Max Payne was published by Rockstar Games and initially released on October 15, 2003 and later in the year for consoles.
Contents |
Gameplay
Max Payne 2 is one of the first games to utilize the Havok physics engine 2.0, enabling sophisticated collision handling for ragdolls and rigid bodies, making interactions between the player and various objects feel more authentic. Most loose objects in Max Payne 2 have their own weight and mass and can be manipulated or knocked around. Ragdoll physics allows dead bodies to interact realistically with the world geometry and contort into realistic (and sometimes amusing) positions.
Max Payne 2 has a more "arcade" feel to it than the original game did, with the general play balance being closer to standard FPS games. Max is much tougher, and can now survive more than a dozen shots before dying, thanks to being able to take painkillers to restore his health. Conversely, Max's enemies are now a bit weaker, no longer able to survive as much damage as they could in the original game. Combined with the game's regenerating bullet-time, the overall level of difficulty is much less than in Max Payne. The change in difficulty may have been because the developer chose to focus more on the console market rather than just the PC. First-person shooters are considered more difficult on consoles because of the control scheme; it's much more difficult to aim precisely with an analogue joystick than with a mouse, and also consoles often do not support arbitrary saving and loading. In the case of Max Payne 2, the PC and Xbox versions support arbitrary saving and loading whereas the PlayStation 2 version does not.
Bullet-time
Max Payne 2 introduced "Bullet-time 2.0". Whereas the Bullet-time effect merely slowed down time in the original game, in this one it also can increase Max's movement speed, firing rate and re-load time. Bullet-time does not initially slow time as much as it did in Max Payne, but the player can increase its effects by killing enemies while in bullet-time. Some purists complain that the "new" bullet-time is not a simulation of heightened reflexes as it was in the original Max Payne, but has become more of a Matrix-style super-power.
Bullet-time in Max Payne 2 is not as scarce a resource as it was in the original, because it regenerates over time instead of only when the player kills an enemy. Additionally, shoot-dodges no longer cost any bullet-time at all to perform.
Graphics
Image:Max payne 2.jpg Max Payne 2 features a massive graphical upgrade over that of the original game, including more detailed character models and improvements for the faces of all the characters. In the original game, Max's character model only had one static facial expression throughout the entire game, an uncomfortable half-sneer, half-grin. Max Payne 2 makes fun of this and other elements of the original game in an in-game TV show in which the narrator, Dick Justice, says "I had a permanent constipated grimace on my face". The improved character graphics allow Max's character model to shift between multiple facial expressions during cutscenes, so this is no longer an issue.
In the original game, most of the cast were played by the game's programmers and their friends, giving the characters a somewhat informal, dorm-floor look. The actors used in the sequel's still-photo cutscenes use real actors and have an edgier, more hardened appearance. For example, in the original game the character of Max Payne was modeled after game designer Sam Lake. For Max Payne 2, however, Remedy instead used actor Timothy Gibbs as the model for Max Payne. The voice of Max Payne was again provided by actor James McCaffrey.
Soundtrack
The Fall of Max Payne features a single titled "Late Goodbye" from the Finnish rock group Poets of the Fall. The song is based on a poem written by Sam Lake. It plays during the game's end credits, and several characters in the game also sing or hum snippets of the song to themselves. One character also played a piano version of a part of the song.
The game generally does not have any music for most of the action sequences, although there are a few major musical themes that play during cutscenes or particularly intense shootouts. Major themes include a slower variation of the original Max Payne theme, a new action/love theme for cooperative firefights with Max and Mona, and finally a new version of the "nightmare" theme for nightmares and scenes involving the game's main villain.
The cello in the main theme of Max Payne 2 was performed by Perttu Kivilaakso, one of the cello players from the cello rock group Apocalyptica.
Plot
Image:Maxpaynehospital.jpg At the end of the first Max Payne video game, Max was arrested after a two-night killing spree. All charges were dropped, in part due to the intervention of Senator Alfred Woden; the fact that his victims had all been known criminals was an additional (if not publicly acknowledged) mitigating factor.
Despite his freedom, Max has not found peace: his dreams and waking thoughts are still haunted by memories of his brutally murdered wife and child. In addition, Max is inwardly disappointed that he eluded punishment for his crimes. As a policeman, the cover-up of his vigilante actions festers within his soul.
Two years have passed, and Max (voiced by James McCaffrey) has left the DEA to return to the NYPD as a homicide detective. A seemingly routine murder investigation brings him face-to-face with Mona Sax (voiced by Wendy Hoopes), a woman he last saw slumped in an elevator with a bullet in her skull. Her unlikely reappearance brings new hope to Max; maybe the dangerously attractive assassin can help answer the questions Max still has about his past and his family's death.
Mona is the suspect in the murder of Sebastian Gate, an investigation assigned to Detective Valerie Winterson, Max's partner. After Max meets with Mona for information regarding the connection between his investigation and Winterson's, Homicide lieutenant Jim Bravura, formerly a deputy chief, suspends Max for his interference. When Mona narrowly escapes an attempt on her life while in police custody, Max joins forces with her (and falls under suspicion once more). Together, they discover a gang war erupting within New York's criminal underground, apparently instigated by Vinnie Gognitti over the black market gun trade. One of the main groups fighting this war are the Cleaners, a group of vicious mercenaries that disguise themselves as janitorial staff. This shadowy organization eludes detection because they dispose of all evidence of their crimes: bullet casings, bodies, and blood.
Jumping into the back of a fleeing Cleaners van, Max is taken to their apparent headquarters: a huge construction site. He communicates with Mona via radio and she arrives at the site, where they separately battle their way across the half-finished buildings. Detective Winterson arrives and holds Mona at gunpoint; Mona says that Winterson is there to kill her. Max struggles with the dilemma, finally shooting Winterson and telling Mona to run. Assuming Winterson is dead, Max turns his back on her, but the fallen detective manages to shoot Max in the back. Winterson later dies at the hospital and Cleaners swarm the hospital to finish off Max. Image:Paynemobsters.jpg As Max and Mona fight for survival and answers, they discover that Vladimir Lem is behind the Cleaners' actions. Although Lem claims that he has given up crime to run a legitimate restaurant, he secretly controls the Russian Mafia in New York. He employs the Cleaners to destroy his competitors, including rival mob capo Vinnie Gognitti. When the Cleaners fail to eliminate Gognitti, Lem takes matters into his own hands and tricks Vinnie into donning an outfit of his favorite character, Captain Baseball Bat Boy. The oversized head of the outfit is rigged with a bomb that will explode if the head is removed; although Max protects Vinnie against waves of assassins, they are both captured upon attempting to locate Mona again.
Lem taunts Max, and reveals a startling detail that even ties this game to the plot of the first game. Nicole Horne and Lem are both members of the Inner Circle, which Lem hopes to take control of once Woden is dead. He also claims that Mona is a hired gun for Woden, and was hired to kill both Lem and Max. Lem also claims that it was Woden who sent the files on Horne's secret Project Valhalla to the DA. It was because she saw these files that Max's wife was killed. Apparently, her death was Woden's fault. Max obviously doesn't believe him. Vlad shoots Max in the head and leaves Mona's hideout. He then presses the remote detonator to the bomb, killing Gognitti and setting fire to the hideout. Image:Maxpayne2dream.jpg Lem leaves Max to die in the fire caused by the bomb, but Mona rescues him. Knowing that Vlad is going to attempt to kill Woden, he and Mona fight their way through hordes of Cleaners to protect the old senator. Just as they reach Woden's "panic room", Mona confesses that she has been hired to clean up the mess -- including Max. She has feelings for Max, however, and can't pull the trigger. Lem suddenly appears and shoots Mona; Woden emerges from his sanctuary, apologises to Max, attacks Vlad with his bare hands and is also shot. In the struggle, bombs placed throughout the manor are detonated, and Max chases Lem through the burning, collapsing structure. Finally cornering Vlad above the sprawling main room of the mansion, Max dislodges a giant spire that he compares to the Sword of Damocles hanging from the ceiling. The massive weight crashes into the observation platform Lem is on, knocking off the sides of the platform and giving Max a clear shot. The shots cause Lem to stumble onto the piece of the Sword still attached to the skylight. The force dislodges the Sword of Damocles once again, and it continues the fall to the main room with Lem in tow. Upon hitting the ground, Lem is consumed by the flames of his own explosives.
As police arrive at the scene, Max returns to Mona. On the "Detective" and "Hard Boiled" difficulty settings, she dies in his arms. On "Dead On Arrival," the hardest difficulty setting, she survives.
In-Game Television Shows and Commercials
Television shows seen throughout the game feature plots that often mirror some aspect of Max's life, most featuring the face of the original Max Payne, and game writer Sam Lake:
- The Adventures of Captain Baseball Bat Boy - a cartoon about a child superhero who wields a baseball bat, saving his not-girlfriend Bicycle Helmet Girl from the evil Maxwell's Demon
- Lords and Ladies - a costume drama/romance set in the 19th century
- Address Unknown - a fictional drama from the 90s in which the protagonist is plagued by a doppelganger named John Mirra; he eventually discovers that he is John Mirra. Mona lives in an abandoned funhouse based on this show.
- Dick Justice, a parody of the blaxploitation genre. It references a conversation between commandos in Max Payne, which in turn parodies "Dark Justice," the first name for the original game during early development.
In the various dream sequences Max goes through, there are often television shows that relate to the events leading up that point.
A Binary Choice: Seen in the Part 3 prologue, this is simply a retelling of the previous graphic novel sequence, in which Max shoots Winterson and lets Mona escape, only to be shot himself. The title references part of Max's narration in said sequence.
Dearest of All My Friends: A show featuring Lem quizzing Gognitti on Captain Baseball Bat Boy in return to freedom. If Gognitti can answer both of Lem's questions correctly, he is free to go. However, Lem asks a trick question — who the creator of Maxwell's Demon was — and Gognitti loses. (He first answers with the fictional creator, "Dr. Entropy," and then changes his mind and gives the show's writer's name, "Sammy Waters," which references Max Payne writer Sam Lake's name, but the answer turns out to be James Clerk Maxwell, who created the Maxwell's demon thought experiment.) Upon detonating the bomb, the Captain Baseball Bat Boy figurine next to the TV blows up. The title of the show is a reference to Lem's catchphrase.
One-Armed Bandit: A show in which Lem and Mona meet. Lem asks Mona to join him as a couple, and they can both rule the NY underground. Mona instead shoots Lem in the arm, prompting Lem's thugs to chase her. It should be noted that when Max asks about Lem's arm injury early in the game, Lem merely attributes the wound to a "hot date," and one of the Russian mobsters in Part 3, Chapter 2 makes reference to "the bitch that shot boss in the arm," leading to Mona's appearance in the show. Despite Max's suspicions, it is never proven that Mona was the cause of Lem's injury. Also, while in a suspect line-up, Mona says the line she and the other suspects have been given, which is, "You are nothing but a one-armed bandit," giving the show its title.
Commercials:
- Interfectum - 600mg. A "serious" painkiller, "for serious pain." It just so happens that this is also the brand that Max uses, proven by looking at the caps on the models for the painkiller items.
- Max Heat 7 - A pornographic movie. This later shows up on a television screen watched by two mobsters in Part 3, Chapter 3. The name references "Max Heat," the second name for Max Payne during early development. The voice that says, "Max Heat is back!" is that of the voiceover director. Max Heat magazines can also be found in the original game. A thug in the game Manhunt can also be seen watching a Max Heat movie, loosely tying the two games together.
- Vodka - Vlad's restaurant.
- American's Avenger - A 9mm handgun, "For the payback time!" The same ad appeared on a billboard in Max Payne, although it was then called "America's Avenger."
- Brooklyn School for the Blind - "Seeing is not the same as believing."
- Gold Touch Brandy
- Castling Insurance Companies - "Because your home is your castle!"
- CleanSing Cleaning products - "555-CLEAN!" Effective when used in crime scene clean-up.
- Dangerous Liaisons - "555-PSSY." A phone sex line, with a funny secret involving it (see Easter Eggs.)
Easter Eggs
- If you look at Vlads desk at "Vodka", a certificate can be seen on the wall behind his chair for helping the blind. During a conversation with one of the fellow police officers at the station, Max finds out that Winterson's son is blind and we can also see the same certificate by her desk. We also find out that Vlad and Winterson are a couple, and that she sees Vlad as "good to her boy".
- A conversation in the prologue of Part 2 depicts police officers "Miller" and "Broussard" arguing over an investigation. Miller emphasizes the importance of "positioning", while Broussard mutters "It'll be done When It's Done". This is a reference to a (presumably fictional) argument between 3D Realms' vice President Scott Miller and president George Broussard, who is the project lead of the long-delayed game Duke Nukem Forever, to be released "When It's Done." Officer Miller also chastises Officer Broussard for not getting his own name right, which is a reference to George Broussard spelling his name "Broussad" in Pharaoh's Tomb.
- Similarly, attempting to enter the stall in the men's restroom in the same level will cause the officer behind it to chastise the player for not allowing him privacy, and tell them that he'll be out "When It's Done."
- A woman in the Part 2 prologue voices her concerns to the receptionist that her ex-boyfriend, a video game fanatic, is plotting to kill her, having "used" the games as "practice." When the conversation is over, talking to the receptionist will cause her to sarcastically say, "Did you hear that? Guns don't kill people, video games kill people." This is a joke from the game designers about the public's tendency to blame crimes committed by teenagers on video games.
- In the Part 2 prologue, you can go to the police station lobby and enter the Briefing room. You can then use the projector to project different images. The images are from a dream sequence much later in the game, in which Max finds himself the investigator into his own murder. One of the shots seen on the projector is the corpse of Max.
- In the prologue of Chapter 2 there is a TV in the lounge with two cops watching. On this TV you can watch another "interesting" episode of "Lords and Ladies". Near the end of the episode the mother says "Ride like the wind, fight proud my son". This is a reference to the "Defender" song from Manowar.
- In Part 1, Chapter 4, using the tape recorder you come upon will play back the last phone calls Max made. First, it will play Max's call to Winterson if you used any of the phones on your way. After that, it will play Jim Bravura's call to Max chastising him for being "late again," and finally, it will play Max calling Dangerous Liaisons (see above) and mistaking a phone sex girl named "Mona" for Mona Sax with funny results. ("Mona" and Mona Sax ironically share the same voice actress.)
- Also, in the same room, there's a camera pointing at Max's apartment which will treat the player to a darkly amusing scene when used.
- After leaving the murdered housewife's suite through the window in the same level, you will find a black "M" spraypainted on the wall. Pressing the Use button three times while facing it will cause mysterious, floating fireballs to appear over once-unguarded pits in the platforms in a reference to the Super Mario games. (NOTE: The fireballs will kill you if you touch them.)
- In Part 1, Chapter 7, at the start of the level, you can attempt to open a locked door. Doing so will trigger a soundtrack of a hooker having sex with a client. This same track is later used in Max Heat 7 when you enter the room with two mobsters watching it in Part 3, Chapter 3.
- In "The Million Dollar Question", if you navigate Max around a corner on a precarious ledge below the scaffolding, you will find the developer's tribute to a fallen friend.
- Also in "The Million Dollar Question", after Kaufman and the rest of the Cleaners in the hotel are defeated, if Max backtracks to the apartment with the wide screen television and uses the television, a tribute to the original Grand Theft Auto games will play.
- In the prologue of Part 1, there are a series of drawings in crayon taped to a window that summarize the plot of the first Max Payne.
- Also in the Part 1 prologue, there is a receptionist booth near a tub of painkillers. A ringing phone in the booth gives the voice of Nicole Horne, the main villain of the first game. Before the actual caller speaks, Max hears Horne say "Is this the Payne residence?" This is the line Horne speaks in Max Payne to make sure her thugs are at Max's house.
- It is possible to complete the Part 2 prologue without calling Alfred Woden. However, in the final level, Woden's answering machine will play back your message, even if you didn't make the call. This was fixed in later versions of the game.
- In the two dream sequences in Part 3, you will find yourself in a twisted version of the NY Police Station. If you go to Max's cubicle, the glaring phrase "WAKE UP!!! YOU ARE IN A COMPUTER GAME!!!" can be seen on the drawing board there. A similar revelation was experienced in Max Payne by Max during Part 3's prologue.
- When controlling Mona in Part 2, there are a few scenes where you can shoot Max. Doing so will cause him to complain: "Quit it Mona!", "Mona, watch your fire!", and "Mona, the guy in the leather jacket that's in your scope right now, he's the one you shouldn't be shooting."
- In a few levels, pianos can be found. Assuming the cover of the piano does not fall, you can have Max play the opening notes of the Max Payne theme on it. The same could be done with the piano in Part 2, Chapter 6 of Max Payne.
- In Part 1, Level 2, you are joined by Mike the Cowboy. If you can get through the level with Mike alive (although you can complete it with him dead), in Part 3, Mission 2, he will be taunting you over the loudspeakers in the restaurant; you will get to kill him at the end of the level. If Mike gets killed, a random thug of Lem's will do the talking.
- In Part 3, Level 7, near the start of the level you enter the mansion only to have the door lock behind you. It is possible to shootdodge out the doors as they are closing. However, they cannot be opened, and doing this will trap you in the parking lot with no way to get back inside the house or finish the level.
- Also in Level 7, you can find a cabinet with a Desert Eagle in it. The Desert Eagle is Mona's primary weapon. Because this weapon is so out of place in the manor (the only weapon you can find here is the M4 Carbine), this may foreshadow that Mona is working for Woden.
- Just near the end of the game, in the final parts Chapter 7 of Part III, when the heroes, Max and Mona are getting ready to enter the panic room where Woden is hiding, we see a cutscene of a crypt with the Latin inscription "Omnia Vincit Amor" - "Love conquers all", and a statue of lovers embracing. If the player has carefully followed the game so far, by now they probably guessed that Max has feelings for Mona, but in the cutscene that follows the player sees the death of Mona (unless you are on the "Dead On Arrival" difficulty) and thus the saying seems meaningless... and yet, Max conquers his self-loathing and survivor's guilt because of his love.
Trivia
- In the first game, Max can be seen wearing a wedding ring. In this game, he is not seen wearing it. However, in Max's apartment, the ring can be seen on the coffee table in the bottom left hand corner (but only in the dream level).
- All the photos of Max and his former family displayed in his apartment show an edited version, with Timothy Gibbs face super-imposed over the original pictures from MP1, featuring Sam Lake.
- In the morgue of the hospital, closer inspection on the blackboard near Winterson's body would reveal that her age is 42.
- The Deliverator, the van Max and Vinnie escape in, is the name of the car from Remedy game Death Rally. It's also what Snow Crash main character Hiro refers to himself as while a pizza delivery driver.
- In the final level, one can turn on the television in Woden's office to hear a news report. Contrary to Max's previous dream sequences, Jim Bravura survived the assault early in the game, and is alive and in stable condition at the hosptial. Thus, Max and Bravura are the only main characters alive at the end of the game. However, in the dead on arrival difficulty, Mona also survives.
- While the first Max Payne included Norse mythology, Max Payne 2 includes references to John Milton's Paradise Lost and fate. Vlad rebels against the Inner Circle and his mentor, Alfred Woden and forms a renegade faction and goes to war with them. In the same manner in Paradise Lost, Satan rebels against God taking a third of Heaven's angel population with him. Vlad even says what Satan says: "It is better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven." Max and Mona represent Adam and Eve. In Alfred's manor, a large mural of Adam, Eve, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the serpent is painted on a wall. Also, if you wait to shoot the bolts holding up the observation deck in the final battle with Vlad, he mentions that Woden would go up there to oversee his mansion and play God. This seems one of the few references which could be linked to norse mythology, as Woden sat in his high seat to, "Oversee his dominion," so Odin sat on his high seat in Asgard and could oversee Midgard.
- "We gotta stop meeting like this" is the first thing Mona says to Max. This is also one of Mona's last lines in the first game. Similarly, Mona emerges from an elevator and disappears after re-entering it in both sequences.
- On the dream where Max is stopped by Bravura and some cops, if you look at the billboard where it said Gold Touch Brandy, if you look now it will say "everyone I touch dies" with Max on the billboard, it also says Sadim. This is a reference to Midas (Sadim backwards) who touched people and they turned to gold and died.
- In one dream sequence, Max walks through a hall of cells where other Max Paynes sit, ranting with signs above them. The one labeled "Schizophrenic" utters the line, "I didn't used to look like this!", a reference to the fact that two actors portrayed Max in the separate games.
Weapons
- Beretta 92F/FS (Single- and dual-wielded)
- IMI Desert Eagle (Single- and dual-wielded)
- Ingram MAC-10 (Single- and dual-wielded)
- Heckler & Koch MP5
- Sawn-off shotgun
- Pump action shotgun
- M4A1 Carbine
- AK-47 Kalashnikov
- SVD Dragunov/Standard Sniper rifle
- Striker Automatic Shotgun [1]
- Molotov cocktail/Frag Grenade