Max Payne 2 -- Slow Motion Dodge, Rinse, Repeat.

The combat in Max Payne 2 is identical to the original game. It's a third person action game where you control Max with the left stick, and aim a reticule with the right stick. The A button will make Max jump. The X button will make Max use an object, like opening a cabinet or flicking a switch. The Y button will make him use the secondary weapon. Which involve pistol-whipping someone, grenades, and Molotov cocktails. The B button will initiate prolonged bullet time. You can run around in slow motion and aim and fire at regular speed. The enemies move and fire in slow motion. The right trigger fires the primary weapon. The left trigger causes Max to dive in bullet time in whatever direction the left stick is pointing. You can click on the left stick to make Max crouch, therefore presenting a smaller target.  The D-pad is used to select the primary and secondary weapons. The controls are simple and responsive. It's not like you'll need them to be though. The game consists of running around from room to room, finding some enemies, diving out from behind cover taking them all out, and then checking all the corpses for new guns and ammunition. That's it. Over and over and over. Is that it then? Yes, and no. The game uses the overly exaggerated ragdoll physics that are all the rage with programmers these days. So the items and enemies go flying every which way when they die. Crashing into items and causing chain reaction scenarios of crashing corpses and debris. It's not deep. But there is some satisfaction to be had in trying to create these scenarios. Trying to make the bodies fold and fly in the most extreme ways possible. We'll see how it holds up by the end of the game. I've completed the first section, and am now just into the first chapter of the second section.

Next up will cover hard-boiled storytelling.