I base this on the PC version. I will be comparing this to the first throughout. The journey of the brooding cop goes on, and he hasn't lost his touch. This has improvements over the one preceding it: One of the very noticeable ones being the new physics engine, Havok, that makes almost everything(that ought to) be able to move, in stark contrast to the admittedly rigid nature of the environment in the one before this. Now you can affect your surroundings, knock over stuff, break things and such. The game-play is varied, as well, with bits where you provide cover, defend someone or similar. The structure is intact, with the order altered somewhat, making it less predictable without losing the arc. I am of course referring to the plot, which again is brilliantly written, unfolds and develops incredibly well, and is another well-crafted mystery, perfect for the genre. The system for throw-ables is considerably freer, now it's a secondary attack, and the alternate to it is "melee", something that in this is code for "pistol-whip", and you can do that regardless of what you're packing. Finally, beating this doesn't only unlock the next difficulty setting(there are three, that should help ensuring that anyone, regardless of expertise at these will be challenged as well as enjoy it) and the New York Minute mode(in a word: run), but now also the Dead Man Walking one, where you can choose one of five locations where you have to try to stay alive for as long as you can, through the shootouts with spawning enemies, and it'll list your best time for each, and you get a mission selector, as well. These add to the re-playability, a good thing, since this is short, 10-12 hours I would say. However, not all of the changes are positive. I don't know if people found the original too complicated in that aspect, but this one has hints, in case you forget what you're supposed to do, or you can't quite figure it out. That's part of the things they did in this one to make it easier, as one of those recent releases where the start of the series was thought to be too hard and thus they made the follow-up less so(another case is Hit-man, and Commandos is one where it did work out). Another step is that this is less snippy about the amount of Bullet-Time(and it looks better still, and now, you get to reload during it! To top it off, they gave it a wicked and fitting animation) that you get to use, you can sorta "store it", and it regenerates over time. I am personally not fond of the choice of villain, though I do not know of the general reception of it. In what I can only imagine must have been an on-going attempt to keep this from becoming too depressing, this has a bunch of humor not in the other one, not only that, no, even made from things that were disturbing in it. Then there are parodies of things in that one, including the overall, well, the entire thing. There's a self-awareness to it, maybe they were trying to prevent themselves or others from taking these too seriously, and I'd say it hurts the experience at least a little, it gets too silly at points(and that is tough to accuse the 2001 title of). Not all of this aspect is bad. Whilst this is potentially a tad less dark, the potent satire on the US, American life, etc. is going strong as ever, in the ads, on TV and otherwise. Moving away from the new... this continues an excellent Noir piece, as directed by John Woo. In fact, that may describe this one spot-on. You've got a femme fatale, a tale about love, and this one, ahem, does not end up going high-tech and modern. The time-line is more non-linear, as well. The story-telling remains mainly in the comic book style(including the brief and great summary of the past adventure of Max, for those who've just joined us), and is astounding. Thus, the nicely articulated facial and body movements of the characters are not used as often as they could be(and that's fine). The graphics are magnificent, and I'm not sure it even puts that much of a strain on the video card. Level design is marvelous, and you're seldom lost. The audio is all top-notch, with qualified voice acting that never lets down, well-composed score music, and sound effects that are all fantastic. There's only really one Boss Fight in this, I would say. The AI is well-done, they may follow you, they'll try to get you and they use grenades and they'll even try to avoid those you toss at them. The weapons are well-chosen, most of them are returning favorites. They still include sidearms, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles and snipers(no, the Grenade Launcher does indeed appear to be gone). The realism is impeccable, ammo and the likes are always found in places where it makes sense, there is recoil, and so on. The tone is bleak. There are mature themes in this, and material(nudity and what goes beyond sensuality) and that is certainly not for younger audiences. The amount and harsh nature of the language is gratuitous. I agree that it can be used in works of fiction to establish what type someone is, or display growth(like someone becoming not as crude, or the other way around), but in this, it does honestly come off as "we get to use it, so we're sure as heck gonna do so". Like John McTiernan apparently putting a sex scene in Die Hard: With a Vengeance just because he knew it would be rated R. It's immature and stooping to the lowest common denominator. Nevertheless, this is an immensely well-done effort, and helps dissolve the myth that sequels have to suck. I recommend this to any fan of the game that got this franchise going, and the ingredients. 8/10.
