Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Developer(s)	Remedy Entertainment (WIN) Rockstar Vienna (Xbox, PS2)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Engine	Remedy MaxFX 2.0
Release date(s)	October 15, 2003 (WIN) November 25, 2003 (Xbox) December 2, 2003 (PS2)
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) BBFC: 15 USK: Not free for minors PEGI: 18+ OFLC: M15+
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2
Media	2 or 3 CD-ROMs (WIN) 1 DVD (Xbox, PS2)
System requirements	1.0 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB video card RAM, DirectX 9.0, Windows 98 (WIN)

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a third-person shooter developed by Remedy Entertainment for 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 effects such as bullet-time (slow motion), and graphic novel style cutscenes. The Fall of Max Payne was published by Rockstar Games and the Windows version was released on October 15, 2003 with console versions following later. Despite critical acclaim and an enthusiastic fanbase, the game was met with lackluster sales upon its debut.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Bullet-time 1.2 Graphics 1.3 Physics 1.4 Soundtrack 2 Max Payne as a character in the sequel 3 Plot 3.1 Plot similarities to Max Payne 4 Characters 5 Cast 6 Weapons 7 Easter eggs 8 Trivia 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Gameplay

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. 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. In the case of Max Payne 2, the Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions support arbitrary saving and loading. Another significant reason for the easier, arcade, feel in MP2 is the difficulty level, which is set at the easiest when you start the game. The game difficulty is automatically altered based on the player's performance, with higher starting difficulties available upon replay after finishing the game.

[edit] 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, to the point where Max is able to move and fire at normal speeds while the world around him is barely moving. Some fans 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.

[edit] Graphics

Max Payne 2 features a massive graphical upgrade over that of the original game, including higher resolution textures, high polygon count models, and a facial animation system. Shader 1.1 effects have been implemented, in reflections and high detail shadows. In the original game, the characters' model only had several static facial expression that would snap from one to the other in an instant. 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 facial animation system allows for a multitude of facial expressions, 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. The face and body of Mona Sax was based on that of a professional model, Kathy Tong.

[edit] Physics

One of the most notable improvements to Max Payne 2 over the original is the inclusion of so-called "Havok physics." 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. In addition, an enemy body will fall in different positions varying on where and how rapidly the player shoots them.

[edit] 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 during the game. One character is even seen playing a piano version of a part of the song during the game.

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.

[edit] Max Payne as a character in the sequel

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Max Payne, although not too different from the first game, does show a deepened survivor's guilt; and also, has grown increasingly more self-destructive. Although the sequel is far darker than the first game(rain instead of snow being a clear distinction), it also progresses that way in character. Although having taken his revenge, he is not satisfied with what he has - due to what he sees as his "crime" (surviving) going unpunished, and due to the fact that, even though he has claimed his revenge, his loved ones were still dead, and he was still alive.

His infatuation with Mona Sax grows deeper, even to a point of love. Alfred Woden hints at this, but does not state it for a fact. It is more dominant throughout Max's monologue, and his overall actions towards Mona. For example, he "catches glimpses of her (Mona) wherever he (Max) looks", his final act of kissing her which is shown repeatedly; his act of shooting his colleague in NYPD to prevent Mona from being harmed; his immediate obsessing with Mona when she is sighted when Max presumed her dead. And finally, his statement; "Without Mona's help, I'd be a dead man. And for the first time in I don't know how long, I realized that I did not wish to be dead."

Throughout the game Payne wavers between a base sexual desire for Mona and rejection of the forbidden love of one so closely associated with his family's murder. He repeatedly dreams or hallucinates violent sexual encounters as well as Mona hurting him or his family. Payne is so conflicted by this, initially sexual but eventually loving, attraction and the extraordinary circumstances that his sanity comes into question at points.

Also, Max's introversion progresses to such a level that he, basically, is unable to function in a normal life; however, he quickly (no matter how grimly and/or reluctantly) adapts to the conditions and is able to work his way through utter chaos in order to find peace within himself and continue to live. Although Mona is shown living and dying in different endings to the game, all the endings contain the final line of dialogue "I had a dream of my wife. She was dead. But it was alright." This illustrates that Max has come to terms with his guilt.

Max Payne has been cited as an exceptionally developed video game character,^[1] with his behaviour encompassing the exaggerated action of his situation and developing with it.

[edit] Plot

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; it was mentioned earlier in a radio broadcast in the first game, as well.

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; due to this, he's not very healthy emotionally or mentally. 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 once again 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), the only woman he has loved after the death of his wife, he thought she was dead after her body mysteriously disappeared behind closing elevator doors a second after she was shot.

Mona is the suspect in the murder of Sebastian Gate, an investigation assigned to Detective Valerie Winterson, Max's new 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 twice in the back. Winterson later dies at the hospital and Cleaners swarm the hospital to finish off Max.

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 then presses the remote detonator to the bomb, killing Gognitti and setting fire to the hideout.

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's body 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 either ending, Max has finally found some solace to his torment.

[edit] Plot similarities to Max Payne

• Both Max Payne and Max Payne 2 open at the conclusion of their respective stories, all following content narrated anecdotally.
• As mentioned below, both games start and finish with the death of a woman: Michelle Payne, Nicole Horne, Annie Finn and Mona Sax (excluding the alternate Dead On Arrival ending). Max actually notes this comparison himself in Part 1, Chapter 1 ("Like all the bad things in my life, it started with the death of a woman. I couldn't save her.")
• In both games Part II is the shortest of the three, with Parts I and III being of similar length.
• In both games Part I begins with Max being devoted to his duties but gradually being sucked more and more into his personal goals (being undercover at the beginning of Part I in the first game but growing more and more vengeful throughout the rest of the game; following his police duties at the start of Part I in the second game but growing more and more attracted, and thus more and more neglecting of his duties, to Mona).
• In both games at the end of Part I Max kills an enemy who for most of Part I he was led to believe was his ultimate enemy (Jack Lupino and Kaufman) before indirectly learning that they are not.
• In both games at the beginning of Part II Max is forced to go to a location he has already visited and travel through different parts of it (Lupino's bar and Mona's funhouse).
• In both games, Max makes an new ally out of a mobster, simply due to the fact that the individual in question is opposed to his enemy (Vladimir Lem and Vinnie Gognitti).
• In both games Part II, as well as being the shortest part, consists of a brief plot arc most of which serves no purpose to the overall storyline excepting a sudden plot revelation at the end (Max hiring himself out as a mercenary to Vladimir Lem for most of Part II before Nicole Horne reveals herself and killing Angelo Punchinello; Max and Mona both fighting their way through the construction site, all of the evidence contained inside it being destroyed, before finally Max murders Winterson).
• Several lines and motifs repeat from Max Payne in Max Payne 2. For example, the lunatic, Jack Lupino's oft spoken line, "The flesh of fallen angels" is repeated by the junkies in the first game and in tv shows which appear on televisions throughout the second game.
• In both games early on in Part III Max learns something new about a dead woman which explains a hitherto unknown plot point (discovering why the Valkyr test subjects were sent to kill Michelle; hearing Winterson's confession that she is in cahoots with Vladimir).
• In both games midway through Part III Max meets with Alfred Woden who confirms that someone he believed he could trust has betrayed him (BB and Vladimir).
• In both games in Part III after meeting with a new-found semi-alliance (Alfred Woden and Vinnie Gognitti) he is assaulted by a force ordered to attack them by his ultimate enemy (Nicole Horne and Vladimir Lem).
• At the end of each game Max kills his nemesis using a tall heavy object (the communications Tower and the Sword Of Damocles).
• At the ultimate completion of both games Max meets his arrest with satisfied indifference.
• In both games it is after the fact that Max discovers he was justified in his actions.

[edit] Characters

• Max Payne - Max Payne is the main character. Max Payne is a detective, working for the NYPD. After the incidents in Max Payne, Max was ironically transferred to the NYPD, which was after him in the first game. After encountering Mona Sax in Vlad's warehouse, he is assigned to find out who is behind the fake cleaners. Max's partner is Detective Winterson, who is assigned to solve a murder case involving a Senator; her case suspect is Mona Sax, for an unsaid reason. Mona is helping Max find out who is trying to kill them.

• Mona Sax - Mona was believed to be dead after the original game, however Max encounters her in the warehouse, the very same in which Max first confronted the Cleaners. Mona teams up with Max at various points in the game and is a playable character for four missions. She is later revealed to be hired by Alfred Woden to kill Max, however, due to her feelings for Max, she cannot kill him. She is later shot by Vladimir Lem and dies in Max's arms (or survives, depending on the difficulty level).

• Vladimir "Vlad" Lem - Vlad is the main villain who opposes Max. At first Max is a friend of Vlad's, even saving Vlad from Vinnie during a raid on his new restaurant, Vodka. However after visiting Alfred Woden, Max finds out Vlad is the leader of the Cleaners and is trying to kill him. Max then spends the rest of the game trying to find and kill Vlad. Eventually, Max finds Vlad at Woden's mansion and is killed by Max in a firefight between the two. He was a member of the Inner Circle and Woden's one-time apprentice before breaking away into his own faction. His catch phrase is "Dearest of all my friends... ", which he sarcastically uses upon nearly everyone, including his enemies.

• Vincent "Vinnie" Gognitti - Vinnie Gognitti is the leader of the mobsters and Vlad's rival. Max first encounters Vinnie at Vlad's restaurant in which Vinnie has staged an attack and is trying to kill Vlad. Later in the game, Max bumps into Vinnie finding him trapped in a Captain Baseballbat Boy (a cartoon character present in the Max Payne series) costume in which Vlad has placed a bomb that will go off if Vinnie tries to get out of the costume. Having both been tricked by Vlad, Max and Vinnie make a truce. Max must protect Vinnie while Vlad's men come from all angles. Eventually, Max and Vinnie escape to the abandoned theme park to find Mona, but instead find Vlad with the detonator in hand. Vlad shoots Max in the head and detonates the bomb inside the costume killing Vinnie.

• Alfred Woden - Woden is a member of the Inner Circle. He hired Mona to kill Max and is dying of cancer. Vlad intends to kill Woden, despite having once been his apprentice in the Inner Circle. Max, Vlad and Mona all arrive at his mansion while he is safe in his panic room. After Vlad shoots Mona, Woden emerges, apologizes to Max, gets up from his wheel chair and attempts to attack Vlad. Vlad shoots him, killing him instantly.

• Detective Valerie Winterson - Winterson is Max's co-worker and partner. She has a blind son. She is Vlad's "girlfriend", but keeps it secret and plans to kill Max and Mona for Vlad. However, while attempting that, she is gunned down by Max after trying to kill Mona. Just before fainting, she manages to shoot him. She dies shortly after arriving at the hospital.

• Jim Bravura - Lieutenant Jim Bravura is Max's boss and former deputy chief of police (he arrested Max during the end of the first game). Being fed up with Max's cooperation with Mona and interrupting Winterson's case, he assigns Max to a desk job. When Max is attempting to escape the hospital, he finds Bravura in the lobby. Bravura suspects that Max killed Winterson and tells Max to stay out. While he is talking to Max, the Cleaners open fire, hitting Bravura several times. If Max turns on the TV in Woden's office, a news report will confirm that Bravura has survived the attack.

• Kaufman - Kaufman is second-in-command of the Cleaners behind Vlad. He is killed by Max in the apartment building. Max originally believed him to be behind the cleaners killings.

• Mike "The Cowboy" - Mike is Vlad's right hand man. When Max first meets Mike, they team up at Vlad's restaurant to save Vlad from Vinnie and his mobsters. If he survives, Max will encounter Mike again at Vlad's restaurant. This time however, Max is trying to find and kill Vlad. Mike taunts Max from the loud speaker as Vlad's mobsters try to stop Max. Eventually Max arrives at Vlad's office and kills Mike. He always refers to Max as "sheriff" and to Vlad as the "boss".

• Ed The Janitor - Ed is the Janitor of Max's apartment building. Ed is the one who gives Max the passcode to get into the suites. Ed later appears in one of Max's dream sequences cleaning blood off the wall.

• The Cleaners - The Cleaners are a group of mercenaries used by Vlad to kill off the members of the Inner Circle, Max Payne and anyone else Vlad wants. Max first encounters the Cleaners in the warehouse, where they kill Annie Finn. Soon the Cleaners attack Max at his home and then at the hospital. Max is led to believe that Kaufman is behind the attacks, but a visit to Wooden confirms that Vlad is in charge of the cleaners. Almost all the cleaners are killed by Max.

• Vinnie's Mobsters - Vinnie's Mobsters are a gang led by Vincent Gognitti. They are involved in a gang war with Vlad's cleaners. Max encounters them in the city slums where they attack Max, despite wanting to kill Vlad instead of Vinnie. Max briefly teams up with three of Vinnie's mobsters by acting to be one of the gangsters against the cleaners.

• Dick Justice - A detective on a fictional TV show that appears within the game. Dick Justice is a parody of the first game ("Dick Justice" is a play on "Dark Justice", the original title for the first game) and the blaxploitation genre, and appears regularly through the course of the game as a source of comic relief. The plot of Dick Justice closely mirrors the plot of the first Max Payne game. Dick Justice is a "lone, hardboiled, fugitive cop framed for the murder of his wife on a quest for vengeance through the criminal underworld in the city's heart of darkness." Dick Justice also parodies the self-consciously campy narration of the first game. Like Max Payne, Dick Justice makes frequent and often misplaced use of metaphor: "The rain was coming down like all the angels in heaven decided to take a piss at the same time." Moreover, during the first instance of Dick Justice, he mentions, "When you're in my situation, you can only think in metaphors."

[edit] Cast

• Max Payne was modeled after Timothy Gibbs, and voiced by James McCaffrey
• Mona Sax was modeled after Kathy Tong and voiced by Wendy Hoopes
• Vladimir Lem was modeled after Peter Giles and voiced by Jonathan Davis
• Vinnie Gognitti was modeled after Stephen Gregory and voiced by Fred Berman
• Jim Bravura was modeled after Michael Arkin and voiced by Vince Viverito
• Valerie Winterson was modeled after Andrea Leigh and voiced by Jennifer Server
• Alfred Woden was modeled after Edward James Hyland and voiced by John Braden

[edit] Weapons

• 9mm Pistol (Beretta 92FS)
• Desert Eagle .50AE
• Sawed-off Shotgun
• Pump-Action Shotgun
• Striker
• Ingram (MAC-10)
• MP5 (w/ scope)
• Kalashnikov (AK-47)
• M4 Carbine
• Steyr SSG
• Dragunov
• Grenade
• Molotov Cocktail

[edit] Easter eggs

• 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.

• At the beginning of the game, if you kill the cleaner before he reveals his murderous intent, Max will remark "The perp's disguise didn't fool me. He was leading me into a trap."

• If you look at Vlad's 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".

• 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 speaking to a girl named "Mona" who calls him a weirdo. ("Mona" and Mona Sax even share the same voice actress.)

• In the same tape recorder egg, the line Max calls is called Dangerous Liaisons, the same title of a 1988 film. The commercial can also be seen and heard on the televisions throughout the game.

• In Part 1, Chapter 4, After leaving the murdered housewife's suite (near the end of the level, with the TV playing Address Unknown) through the window in the same level, you will find a black "M" spraypainted on the outside 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. Upon approaching the first of these fireballs, Max will utter the words "That's odd!". (NOTE: The fireballs will kill you if you touch them.)

• In Part 1, Chapter 6, while walking through the insane asylum part of the funhouse the voices played in the background are phrases Valkyr junkies say in Max Payne.

• Also in Part 1, Chapter 6, at Mona's apartment, a poster for Kung-Fu can be seen. The poster features Max doing a jump kick on one of the enemies from Max Payne 1. This is a reference to the highly popular Kung-Fu mod for Max Payne 1

• 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 prostitute 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.

• 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^{[citation needed]} , 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.

• A woman in the Part 2 prologue voices her concerns to the desk sergeant 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 desk sergeant will cause her to sarcastically say, "Did you hear that? Guns don't kill people, video games kill people. Jesus. Welcome to New York City." (This only happens if you haven't messed up the air conditioning upstairs in the TV room, in which case the desk sergeant will only complain about the heat, and hope that nobody would have broken the air conditioning again.) 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 "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. Kaufman is also the name of the taxi cab company you can purchase in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, dubbed Kaufman Cabs. However, Kaufman Cabs was a tribute to Andy Kaufman, the comedian featured in U.S. TV comedy Taxi.

• 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.

• 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 5 of Max Payne.

• 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.

[edit] Trivia

• Detective Valerie Winterson's hairstyle and clothing bear a remarkable resemblance to those of the model T-X "Terminatrix" robot (played by Kristanna Loken in the movie Terminator 3, released earlier in the same year as Max Payne 2) in its human disguise.

• You can hear the theme song of Max Payne 2, Late Goodbye by Poets of the Fall, many times during the game. For example Ed, the janitor in Part I, Chapter 4, sings parts of it while evidently listening to it on his headphones, Mona sings it while in the shower and a cleaner plays a small section on the piano.

• In Part I, Chapter 3, when you interrogate the janitor, he will say, "The password is 667, the neighbor of the beast. Get it?" Max will roll his eyes and say, "Yeah, I get it." This is a reference to what Max says in the first game in Part III, Chapter 3 when he finds the code to the safe "665. The neighbour of the beast."

• 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 a side table next to his wifes picture during a graphic novel, but during play it can be seen on the coffee table in the bottom left hand corner.

• 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 Part III, Stage 6: There Are No Happy Endings, a television show with Vinnie and Vlad reveals that the writer of the cartoon Captain Baseballbat Boy is Sammy Waters. A tribute to Sam Lake, writer of the Max Payne video games and model for Max Payne in the first game.

• 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.

• When you go to the website "www.addressunknown.tv", an address seen in the game, you get linked to the official Max Payne 2 page.

• 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 hospital. Thus, Max and Bravura are the only main characters alive at the end of the game, which makes Bravura a so called Wedge-type character. However, in the "dead on arrival" difficulty level, 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.

• Several lines and motifs repeat from Max Payne in Max Payne 2. For example, the lunatic, Jack Lupino's oft spoken line, "The flesh of fallen angels" is repeated by the junkies in the first game and in tv shows which appear on televisions throughout the second game.

• On the dream where Max is stopped by Bravura and some cops, if you look at the billboard where it said Gold Touch Brandy, it will now 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.

• Both games begin and end with the death of a woman: Michelle Payne, Nicole Horne, Annie Finn, and Mona Sax (however, in the "Dead on Arrival" difficulty level, Mona also survives). The series exhibits a sort of symmetry and, in that way, models the attention to detail of ancient epics such as the Aeneid or the Illiad.

• In the final dream sequence of the game (after Max is shot in the head), the writing, "V is for Vlad" can be found, written in blood. This is an allusion to Max's brief threshold of revelation in the first game, upon seeing Project Valhalla's sigil; "V for Valkyr, V for Valhalla".

• Alfred Woden's name is a reference to the Germanic god Woden, more popularly known by his Old Norse name Odin. Woden/Odin sacrificed an eye in exchange for wisdom; in the game, Alfred Woden is described as "a man who specialized in answers" and wears an eyepatch. Another connection is that the kings of the West Saxons, the most famous of whom was Alfred the Great, claimed Woden as one of their divine ancestors; after Wessex was converted to Christianity, Woden was "demoted" to the status of a mere human ancestor in the line linking the kings of Wessex to Noah. See also Max Payne, where the Norse theme is more developed.

• In Max's bathroom in his apartment, the shirt he wore underneath his jacket in Max Payne 1 can be seen opposite the washing machine.

• The TV shows which feature in Max Payne 2, seem to mirror recent events in his life in a disturbing and often surreal manner.

• 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.

• 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!", "Damn it, Mona! Stop doing the cleaners' job for them!" and "Mona, the guy in the leather jacket that's in your scope right now, he's the one you shouldn't be shooting."

• At the end of each episode of the adventures of captain bat boy a sound effect is played this is from the video game series commander keen

• In the beginning prologue Max remarks that there is a "bullet shaped hole where the answers should be." This foreshadows the fact that he gets shot in the head and survives.

• One of Vinnie Gognitti's gang members skins (the one with the white coat) was reused as a Forelli gang member skin in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

• In Part III of the game when Max is fighting through a mob-war battlefield, three of Gognitti's gansters mistake Max for one of their own and take him along with them to fight against Vlad's commandos. When going out of the door into rain one of the gangsters can be heard saying: "for I'm a rain dog too" which references to the Tom Waits song "Rain Dogs" from the album of the same name. Curiously the lyrics on the first song "Singapore" on the album "Rain Dogs" also has a line appearing on Max Payne series: "In the Land Of the Blind, one-eyed man is king", making a reference to Max's words on Alfred Woden, This was originally a quote from the dutch author and scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1466 - 1536). An e-mail a finnish Max Payne fan received from Sam Lake told that "Max Payne is a big Tom Waits fan".

[edit] See also

• Max Payne
• Remedy Entertainment
• Rockstar Vienna
• Rockstar Games
• Schizophrenia

[edit] References

1. ^ http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/maxpayne/player_review.html?id=409374 Max Payne "was as much a tale of blood bathed revenge as it was a study of Max’s sane but confused psyche"

[edit] External links

• Max Payne 2 - Official Web site
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne at MobyGames
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003) at the Internet Movie Database
• Wikiquote - Quotes by Max Payne