Lack of bosses in MP2

[Rando]

Now don't get my wrong. I loved Max Payne 2, I'm currently playing through it for the third time and taking my complete time to find every possible little in-joke and easter egg. However, I also loved Max Payne.

The main difference in my mind between the two games is that in the first you're on a homocidal, revenge-twisted warpath, fighting for your life yet at the same time losing all grip of it in the midst of pure chaos - in the second you're drawn into a plot because of attraction to a woman, then the story is about you and her trying to stay alive while unravelling the mystery.

Of course, the first one had a much deeper set-up in that you were already undercover, etc, and there were established figures to be taken out (the two brothers, then the lapino brothers, gognitti, then the trio in the mansion, as well as the going for the stiletto heeled bitch at the end), in this, there was only one real bad guy (we all know who) and there was a distinct lack of midway bosses.

I think the game loses something in this respect, as the levels resemble a large collection of gangster strewn buildings and alleys, without any one defining leader that you're going after - yes, I do know that this is the point of a mystery but still, this could've been worked on.

Anyone else think this was something that the game will suffer from in repeat playings or will they just be regarded as two different games with different gameplay pros and cons?

Also got to voice my irritation with the need to make another elaborate shoot-the-pins-out type end for the big boss person. It was okay in the first one, with the helicopter, but in the second game you're looking to up the ante a little.

That's all. I'm done. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Twiddlenem]

I made a thread about this a while ago I think. I also kinda missed the bosses from MP1...not because I wanted them to be like 'uber-cleaners' or gangsters that are stronger, but just more unique characters. There weren't too many in MP2. Whereas in MP1 you had the Finito brothers, Rico Muerte, the guy on the ship who I can never remember the name of, Vinnie Gognitti, the Trio, Jack Lupino, etc.

Oh well, it's not so bad. If you look at the big picture...I almost felt like crying at the end of MP2 so like Gamespot says, what MP2 lacks in length, it makes up for in density.

[Xenomrph]

the guy on the ship who I can never remember the name of


Boris Dime.

"Tell the Devil that Dime sent you..." http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[boondocksaint]

mp3 should have more bosses. like 15 of them. i just noticed something. kaufman was like jack lupino of mp1

[Xenomrph]

i just noticed something. kaufman was like jack lupino of mp1


How so? At least Lupino had lines of dialogue and had a personality. Kaufman is more like Boris Dime - he's got one line, you see him once, and you kill him.

[boondocksaint]

he's the first boss that is surrounded by a bunch of bad guys that u have to dig throuigh to get to him.

[Xenomrph]

he's the first boss that is surrounded by a bunch of bad guys that u have to dig throuigh to get to him.


Kinda like Boris Dime, right? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Rando]

Yes, this was a perfect example. Notice how I didn't even include Boris Dime in my original list, because he was such a throwaway non-entity boss, just like Kauffman - even though he's mentioned from the first level as though he is someone. They definitely dropped the ball on that part of the story.

THERE'S SOMEONE IMPORTANT CALLED KAUFFMAN!

*five or six missions later without hearing anything else about him*

UH THERE HE IS...KILL HIM.

Yes. Wasted opportunity indeed.

Also, another gripe, there were hardly any slo-mo deaths.

[Wamplet]

i just noticed something. kaufman was like jack lupino of mp1


How so? At least Lupino had lines of dialogue and had a personality. Kaufman is more like Boris Dime - he's got one line, you see him once, and you kill him.



Agreed. While the guy did similarly pack an Ingram, he wasn't getting a blowjob or wearing underwear with little hearts on them. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

In addition, regarding the spinning deaths, wasn't stuff like that scripted to happen in MP1 much more often than MP2? http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif In MP2, you had to more or less force it.

[FullMetalJacket]

Well, it's difficult to make a boss battle fun without simply resorting to giving the bosses 5 trillion quadrillion fifillion health points like in the first game. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

The fight with Vlad was perfect, and how all boss fights should be-- they give the boss some kind of advantage over the player, and once you can get to the boss, they're killed as easily as a normal thug. I liked that. It's more fun than just shooting them in the head until they die.

What are the other boss fights? Kaufman, and Mike the Cowboy is a sort-of boss battle, if you protected him in the first Vodka level.

I loved the story of MP2. But in the first game, you were truly driven to avenge your family and friends, clear your name, and stop the drug from destroying the nation. In MP2, on the other hand, it really just didn't feel like there was as much at stake. And in the first game there were plenty of different enemies: mafiosos, mobsters, killer suits, mercs, punks, thugs, junkies, etc. In the second game, you fight nothing but cleaners for, like, the first 2/3 of the game.

[Xenomrph]

Agreed. While the guy did similarly pack an Ingram, he wasn't getting a blowjob or wearing underwear with little hearts on them.


I think you're thinking of Rico Muerte. He was the guy armed with an Ingram (first one you see in the game, too) and was getting a blowjob from Candy Dawn (the hooker).
Jack Lupino was in Ragna Rock and was armed with molotov cocktails and a sawed-off shotgun.


In addition, regarding the spinning deaths, wasn't stuff like that scripted to happen in MP1 much more often than MP2? In MP2, you had to more or less force it.


Spinning deaths in both MP1 and MP2 were usually scripted to either specific enemies (bosses like Rico Muerte, Frankie Niagra, Jack Lupino, each member of the Trio, and Boris Dime) or to the "last enemy" in an area. Sometimes, the only way to get a "spinning death" was if you killed a certain enemy last - for example, with each member of the Trio, if you killed them BEFORE killing the other people in that room, they'd die "normally", but if they died last, you'd get a spinning death. Same thing happens with Kaufman in MP2 - if you kill him first or somewhere in the middle, you wouldn't get a spinning death for him.