Recently, I've been wandering Wikiquote as part of an effort to build a respectible fortune file. This led me eventually to the Max Payne quote page. Reading through the quotes (and including a large number of them in my fortune file) made me nostalgic for the game and led me to playing through both the original and the sequel again.

I had some difficulty in getting the first Max Payne to work properly. Apparently, there are some issues with Vista compatibility. I eventually found a fan patch to fix it, but I did end up having to reinstall it at least twice. The second game refused to recognize my disc image and so I had to crack it (I tried reripping my original, legally-bought disk to no effect). I find that somewhat silly.

As to the games themselves, I'd say the sequel has aged much better than the original. The voice acting in the latter is somewhat stronger, as is the gameplay itself. The first game relies heavily on the bullet time crutch to make the game playable (especially the bullet dodge immortality that is almost necessary to beat the game). The sequel, however, tightens up the general gameplay such that the bullet time is less necessary. The sequel also brings out the full potential of the weapons compliment to a much better degree. For instance, in the first game, the pump-action shotgun is basically useless except in an "around the corner, perfect-tempo" fight with another pump-action shotgun user. This is because the device is rarely a one shot kill, even at close range, and gets no more than two shots in a bullet-time dodge. In the second game, they've made the stun effect of the weapon significantly greater and decreased the spread of the weapon making it useful in normal combat.

Of course, the plots of the two games are still the stuff of film noir goodness. We still have crazy devil worshipers, conspiracy theories, crooked cops and the like. Honestly, it all makes me somewhat excited about Max Payne 3 (though it isn't being made by Remedy) and Alan Wake (which is).

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