Playing on PS2 you’re also paying the price for the popularity of this console: as many PS2 ports, made only to capitalize on the player base, it’s not the best version of the game.
Soundtrack is pretty memorable and fits co-creates the aura of damnation Max Payne is full of. Visually… Well, just look at Max’s face and you will get the answer (and get to know Sam Lake, game’s scriptwriter who gave his face to the main hero). PS2 doesn’t make it any easier: no quicksaves in this version! Instead, levels are chopped into smaller chunks which definitely makes Max Payne more demanding but frequent checkpoints create a feeling that the game is progressing quickly. In terms of difficulty – the game is generally pretty hard, getting almost brutal in the last two chapters. The gameplay supports the story (or the other way round?) with well designed, diverse levels (prologues!), bullet time mechanics (an icon of the franchise) and looooots of shooting. Classic Remedy tropes, like occult, esoterics and multiple popculture references are there too. Besides that, some self-ironic elements are present in the narrative, so the writers did a really good job on this matter, especially that telling a badass-noir-revenge-story is not easy after it being used so many times in popular culture. Rockstar, the publisher, was so sure about it that they released an actual comic book based on the game (along with Max Payne 3). Putting anything into comic book frames changes the perspective for the better (nobody says superheroes are crap and most narratives of the superhero genre that I know are way inferior to Max Payne, believe me). How do you avoid cliché in here? Well, the exaggerated noir style neutralizes most of it, especially by how the narrative is conducted: between gameplay periods, you read a visual novel explaining what is going on and why. Gradually, he discovers how the rotten establishment of the city is responsible for his family’s brutal murder a couple years prior to the events of the game.
A DEA undercover cop, Max Payne is framed for murder and hunted by every possible organization in New York. It’s a classic revenge story dressed up in noir aesthetics. What do I start with? I guess the plot is the main feature of Remedy’s first big release. Without much thought, I jumped into PS2 port of Max Payne and I must say it’s still a hell of a game. I remembered it being a dark, gritty experience, with good storytelling and addictive gameplay (it’s a Remedy game after all). I While playing Control recently, I encountered some Max Payne references and it made me wonder how is this classic shooter holding up today. While playing Control recently, I encountered some Max Payne references and it made me wonder how is this classic shooter holding up today.