A few tweaks to the formula and a stellar plot make Max Payne 2 even better than its predecessor.
The bullet time system has been tweaked, meaning that Max will speed up as he takes enemies out, and the timer will refill as he does so. Painkillers remain the healing item of choice, and a greater variety of weapons means that sniping sections marry neatly with the expected run-and-gun carnage.
Like the first game this is driven by its story, with a returning Mona Sax on the run from the police and mobsters alike making for a femme fatale equally iconic as Max. At some points you take control of her and have to assist and rescue Max that adds to the dynamic between them. Her character is independent, with few airs and graces, but as much as she and Max don't totally trust eachother, their complicated relationship leads love to bloom between them.
Occasionally Max can be assisted by other characters which evens the odds in a tenement block shootout, but this is a rarity. The Cleaners, a gang of hitmen so-named because they clean their presence from areas they've been "working", pose a harder challenge than the mafioso of the previous game, although a returning Vinnie Gognitti is an amusing and welcome early twist.
Visually the game is a vast improvement, with big open areas detailed without being spectacular, and the enemy AI is better, as they'll now move around more tactically rather than follow the same back and forth pattern of the original. It's worth pointing out that this is largely dependent on the power of your pc, and the console ports, particularly the Playstation 2 version, suffered significantly owing to its inferior hardware.
The most surprising thing about Max Payne 2 is how poorly it has sold, and although the gameplay isn't exactly varied and this is rather short in length, its wealth of characterisation makes for classic storytelling as much as anything else, and that alone makes it a memorable game well worth playing.