Max Payne, a man barely alive: with his wife murdered, he stalks the mean streets of New York City muttering obscenities to himself. Such an odd premise didn't stop 2001's Max Payne from being one of the most innovative games of that year. Lifting the Bullet-Time gimmick from The Matrix, it enabled you to leap sideways through doorways, dodging bullets and meting out double-pistolled justice to all and sundry.

Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne extends that formula - and the story - further. Max is back, and the years have been kind to him. Gone is the constipated grimace, replaced by a slicker, smoother Payne. His body count is far greater though, bludgeoning into virtually every scenario with all guns blazing.
Console gamers can now see what the fuss was about from
the safety of their sofas. Don't expect to be sitting too comfortably though, as this is edge-of-the-seat stuff. In a month where every movie is fairly rattling with swords, it takes a cyber-tramp to remind us of the glory of guns. Ch-chk... boom!