I was extremely excited to hear of the release of Max Payne 2 because I was a huge fan of the original. I really enjoyed the dark, brooding tale of Max's psychological downfall into near-insanity, and it represented to me the pinnacle of interactive storytelling. A pang of doubt marred my enthusiasm, however. Could Remedy actually write and produce another story as poignant, along with gameplay as memorable as the original? The answer is a resounding yes, and I only could come up with one word to describe what I felt when I completed the game: Wow.

It's been two years since we last plunged into the depths of the New York night with our tough-as-nails protagonist, Max Payne. When we last saw him, he had just killed the leader of a notorious drug ring that was responsible for killing his wife and newborn baby. Now, Max has left the DEA and rejoined the NYPD in order to restore a semblance of normalcy to his shattered life. All is not well however, and the forces of the New York underworld are trying to do Max in again. Using his uncanny bullet time ability and a bonanza of weapons and explosives, he must take to the streets again after a seemingly routine investigation puts him on the trail of a group of shadowy all-powerful city overlords engaged in a violent mob war. He also risks losing his head in a tumultuous love affair with a foxy contract killer whose motives are dubious at best.

The game's look is once again top-notch. If you have a high-end video card you will really enjoy the smooth and detailed graphics. What I found very impressive was the extremely detailed modeling of the characters' faces, which are some of the most realistic CG faces I've even seen. Features like furrowed brows, bad makeup and facial stubble are done very well and realistically. I was also quite pleased with the enhanced ways that Max can interact with his environment. If you run into a chair, it goes sprawling. Jump onto some garbage cans and they will wobble and maybe fall. Of course, this makes it look like Max is falling down drunk from all the things he knocks over, but it's still impressive.

Remedy also didn't get stingy with the weapons and gunplay available throughout the game. Pistols, high-powered assault rifles, hand grenades and Molotov cocktails are all at Max's disposal. I got quite adept at the "grenade bounce" tactic of ricocheting a grenade around corners to take out hidden foes. Enemies also have a decent AI to them, using obstacles for cover and at least knowing to run away from live grenades, even if they don't get away a lot of the time. Max also has the use of his bullet time ability, which makes gunfighting a whole lot less frustrating. When he enters into it, Max enters an almost dreamlike state as the screen takes on a yellowish tinge and we hear his ominous heartbeat in slow motion. Everything slows down except for Max's aiming ability which stays in real time. Bad guys eat hot lead as you zero in on each one and fire the kill shot.

While the action sequences and gunplay are the crown jewels of this game, the crown itself is the stellar method of storytelling that the game employs. Fans of the original will recall the gritty, almost comic book-like graphic novel and its gritty voice-overs. Remedy decided not to mess with a good thing and used the same graphic novel system, even bringing back the original voice of Max Payne, James McCaffrey. I've never seen a better way to bring out the dark, brooding emotions that are the staple of this game. Predictably, there is a lot of swearing and some racy content, so the game more than deserves its M rating by the ESRB. Parents, keep your young kids away from this one.

This is one outstanding game. The action keeps you on the edge of your seat, and the story keeps you enthralled. I only had one problem with the game: it crashed my machine a few times at random, and I have a pretty decent PC so I was a bit mystified by this. So perfection was not achieved, but Remedy got as close as a developer possibly can. If you are a PC gamer aged 17 or older, you should consider it your duty to pick up this game as soon as you can. You will definitely not be sorry.