only played the first instruction type level so far, but it looks kind of plain. Does i get better in the looks area ? 

although the final levels got back into cavesey areas, the maps in the middle look really really cool. oh and the town maps are very nice too :) 

...looks really gorgeous in spots. I loved the cliffside levels in particular. 

Yeah, the tutorial level is really a bad indication of what follows, some very nice stuff (Even the final underground maps are great I thought). 

look forward to it, although I probably ownt play it for ages fiven how many other games I have but havent yet played. 

I finally got around playing this. Never beat the first though. I love the atmosphere, the comic sequences, the dark and depressing mood. The game is really nice, I am almost at the end I think. Story is quite thick except for some small stupid things. You've got to know the first Max Payne to follow it I think.

There are some major annoyances. First of all the scenes where you have to protect some damn stupid NPC. Why are developers still doing such things. Gah!
Then one or two re-visits of old levels, that are quite boring and annoying to play (the burning buildings...).
Some of the dream sequences, those are made good, but sometimes lenghty and not as moody as probably intended.
Also near the end you will encounter scenes where you just cannot get around quickloading a lot.
It would have been nice if the playermodel would become transparent when the crosshair is blocked by it. But that's a minor thought.

I really liked Max' strong character and the love to Mona Sax. I think I got a bit in love with her too. *^_^* A shame that it was not developed further and happier.
Soundtrack is ace! I love it. And I mean the soundtrack throughout the whole game, with themes reoccuring and reminding you of feelings and places from earlier in the game.
The voice actors were very good too, but in the comic sequences sometimes they should have add effects or different moods to them in my opinion.

The end was sad (to me). To a certain point it is good of course, good for the character Max, but rather disappointing for me. Very mixed feelings. I can't see a reward for the player.
I don't want to spoil it, so I won't write more.

I think I will replay it somewhen. I will definitely buy it (for 5 Euro cheap, heh), just to have it. It's quite short, maybe 10-15 hours. But for the strong and thick atmosphere that is ok I think. 

Yes, I feel the same disappointment about Max being a weird loser up to a point too. It was not really a nice feeling to play someone like that. 

inspired by your post, i just installed and started playing max payne (1, the better part) again. pretty fun. anyone remember the bomb scene - "is it the red or the green wire"? ;) 

That ending changes on the hard setting replays. I thought the 'protect the NPC' part was the best ever implemented in a game. The goon in the kid party costume character suit, big floppy shoes, squeeky Jersey shore accent, what's not to love?

I get RPG's point though, they give Max too much of a past. It is a wonder he doesn't play toesy with a shotgun trigger. 

The goon in the kid party costume character suit, big floppy shoes, squeeky Jersey shore accent, what's not to love?

The unending quicksaves/quickloads for one. But I do have to agree that it was highly amusing; I still laugh about him getting the giant head stuck in a door. 

Quite a graphical milestone for it's time I think. I don't know why more games don't use photosourcing for textures, it certainly helps MP2 even to this day regardless if it's dated - it still looks great.

Too bad it's not very replayable and got repetetive after awhile. 

Ha, yeah. I laughed a lot too. But the load-marathon totally killed every fun.

Gonna play on hard then, shit. :\ 

gothic3 patch 1.12 is out. among other things, it's supposed to fix the ambient sound bug (yes, there were actually hardly any ambient sounds played during the game) and make friendly npcs less prone to die like flies when fighting against monsters.
too bad i already lost interest for the most part.. :| 

uhm I think most games use photosourcing for textures in one way or another... 

I've seen more realistic looking models *texture wise* in Mafia than in Doom 3. 

the design of this scifi-game looks quite neat.

http://www.alpha-prime.com/ 

hey, maybe it cause mafia is more realistic game than doom3? just a guess... 

Silly russian 

There are obviously plenty of assets that use photosourcing in d3. You don't have to be making realistic environments to find the technique useful, and you don't necessarily get a realistic result from using photosources in the texture making process. 

Check it out:

MP2: http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8572/maxpayne2demo2006122220am3.jpg

D3: http://www.ixbt.com/games/images/doom3/doom3_02.jpg

Which of the 3 characters looks most realistic? 

which of them is meant to look more realistic ? 

Congratulations on understanding almost nothing about game art. 

Didn't know this place only allowed game developers as members. 

For telling the more experienced they "just don't get it" without having the first clue yourself?

Lame.