Max Payne has already been a successful PC title, and while this port to the PS2 finds the game a bit worse for the translation, it still maintains a large amount of what made it so popular to begin with. The original spent years in development, and as a result, brings some fairly revolutionary ideas to the action genre. Even if the overall experience is a bit too short, the length to which it goes to inspire some real John Woo-style gunplay and adrenaline is impressive and definitely deserves praise.

Perhaps the most important thing to point out about Max Payne is its staunch position in terms of genre: This is an action game, through and through. Players will find very few puzzles, tricks, or platform jumping shenanigans in the game, just raw, white-knuckle gun fights. This is what Max Payne was created for, and this is most certainly what it excels at.

The game is laid out as a quest for vengeance, as Max fights against basically the whole world in retaliation for his wife and child being murdered in the prologue. The plot is pure pulp, which was obviously what the developers were striving for, and it definitely works in the gritty, hard-boiled world in which Max Payne takes place.

The controls of Max Payne have translated fairly well to the PS2, giving players the ability to control movement with one stick and aiming with the other. Strafing is, of course, of paramount importance in this game, as with most third-person shooters. Aiming at targets is fairly easy, and Max has a whole host of different weapons at his disposal, each with it's own usefulness. Players will soon determine what those uses are, depending on the circumstances. Some guns are better for close quarter fire, some for wide open rooms, and different weapons are needed depending on the number of enemies that Max is currently fighting.

The real star of the game, however, is its "bullet time" feature. This is where the John Woo/Matrix action really comes out. With the press of a button, players can slow down the fight to almost a crawl, while leaping forward, to the side or backwards. During this event their bodies are moving slowly, but they can aim as quickly as normal, making it simple to waste a single pesky enemy or multiple opponents in one jump. The effect is breathtaking, and it adds the extra edge that really sets Max Payne apart from other titles such as this.

As a game, Max Payne might have been aided by several things. Multiplayer could have been nice, but it's hard to imagine how bullet time would have worked in that arena. It also could have been helped by some more interesting enemies, as even the bosses are fairly bland. But the levels themselves are highly detailed, and perfectly illustrate the dark, wicked world that Max inhabits. The surroundings are almost haunting in their bleakness, but detailed enough to feel as if they are alive, crawling with the vermin of the streets.

There are several PS2 specific problems, however. The translation doesn't feel terribly optimized, as the frame rate suffers in many parts of the game. Often the slowdown will hit at the worst times, when multiple enemies are gunning for players. The environments also aren't quite as detailed as the PC version, and the textures are not quite as pure. Even the plot is affected, as the original comic book scrawl used on the cut-scenes have been replaced by giant, ugly letters. All in all, the PC version is clearly superior, but for action fans that don't have access to that title, Max Payne on the PS2 isn't much worse.

Max Payne probably suffers the most from being so short. Four different parts make up the game, and these are broken up into different levels, but there's at most ten hours of initial gameplay if played straight through. The good news is that, during those ten hours, things hardly ever let up, aside from some particularly bad levels that take place in Max's head, where there's no action and plenty of awkward jumping. Action fans without a PC will certainly want to give this one a rental, if not a purchase. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

The stages are very detailed and really convey the scary, dark feeling of the game world. It isn't as detailed or precise as the PC version, but the visuals are still very good. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

The sound is very nice and fits the mood of the game. The voices sound stilted at first but soon blend in with the rest of the action. Especially cool is the sound of bullet time. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

For action fans, Max Payne is pure, visceral pleasure. It's white-knuckle action with the Bullet Time feature, which separates it from every other action game out there. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Unfortunately, the game is very short, and will be completed in a small number of hours. After that, only the most hardcore of action fans will want to play it more than once. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide