@@paulino58 Late in 2023 just after Alan Wake 2 was released. Sad times man... Dude voiced some of my fave characters. Honestly when I heard his voice in Control I knew IMMEDIATELY who it was. I was like "FACKING YES, McCaffrey!" He worked on some fan Max Payne stuff in the background over the years and it's just an iconic voice.
I recently replayed this on PC. I was really impressed at how well it works on a modern system. RIP James McCaffrey, I've been hearing his voice since I was a kid. He'll be sorely missed.
Compared to first game that needs entire fixpack it works much better but you still need widescreen fix without it game is awful stretched in widescreen.
And why is Alex playing it on Win XP if it run so well on modern PCs? Microsoft is not quote renowned for caring about game conservation. Even now some Win10 games don't run on Win11. And with drm dependencies like ms "gaming services" it gets just worse and worse.
@@znubionek I’ve played it on deck too, sticks were used with stock controller profile, you just need to turn sensitivity all the way down in the game settings or it’s too sensitive to movement. Game runs excellent on my oled deck, runs 90fps max settings even with 8x AA and at 4w even so battery life is through the roof.
You need to apply the wide-screen fix though. I replayed it too. Great gameplay and graphics but story wise the game is significantly weaker than the first one
@@znubionekI’m team trackpad all the way, have a custom trackpad+gyro setup I use for nearly all PC shooters. It’s immaculate for aiming, and feels super smooth in MP 1+2 at 90 FPS on Deck.
Audio quality (sound mixing) has really gone down the tube. Most audio in games from the Max Payne 1 & 2 era up until about 2010 was extremely crisp and a lot of painstaking effort went into it, like a fine art. Not so much anymore.
Don't forget about bullet casings permanently sticking around too. I remember Mafia 1 had the same feature. Not something you see nowadays. It think that's a shame because it made every firefight feel more impactful, even when it was over.
Top 5 best games i've ever played. This is my childhood right here. James passing was such a shock. It hit me like a train. RIP legend. I dont know how the remakes will feel now without him. Max Payne's iconic quotes will stay with me until i draw my last breath.
@@averageyoutuber1058 Both Max Payne 1 and 2 are much better and more enjoyable in my opinion. I can replay those games any time, while I still dread to finish Max Payne 3, cause it's so boring.
Trivia about Warehouse guy who tricks Max. If Max shoots him earlier, he had a dialogue that actually describes how he deduced that something wasn't right about him. 😅
I remember how mind blowing the physics and graphics looked when you shoot that first enemy into the shelf at 4:50. I was floored by the physics at the time.
I played the hell out of this game and remember being doubly amazed by the fact that no 2 gunfight scenarios are ever the same. The physics engine allow each scenario to play out differently with each encounter.
The texture on the white car to make it look shiny/glossy isn't a cubemap, it's a spheremap - and basically the same as a panoramic environment map but back then they just used whatever random texture that made a surface look shiny. These started being used in the late 90s to make stuff appear shiny when we had graphics cards that could sample two textures per pixel, and you could have one texture automatically generate its texture coordinates for a spherical environment map based on the vertex normals of the mesh's triangles, and blend it with the base texture with a number of different modes. This was used in Half-Life and Quake3 a bunch to make shiny looking surfaces but the way they were used was so that the reflection always followed the camera, instead of being relative to the scene/world, but it was always just to give the illusion of a shiny surface, not actually reflect anything. By the early-to-mid 2000s with games like Half-Life 2 they'd already moved on to proper cubemaps for environment mapping geometry that was supposed to look reflective.
I remember running this on my family PC as a kid without any graphics card back in the late 2000s and it still ran beautifully... in lower res. I'd love to see how the Xbox compared in all this as it tends to be somewhere in the middle of PS2 and PC.
26:52 I always found it hilarious how one of the cops is clearly shooting the wall in front of him in that cutscene 😂 The fact that they inadvertently(?) fixed it on PS2 by removing said cop is pretty funny too.
Sad to hear of James McCaffrey passing away. May he rest in peace. 🙏🏻 I wonder who will voice Max Payne in the coming remakes? Mr McCaffrey did such an iconic role as Max, that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.
R.I.P. Ms James, one of the very best (if not THE best) game voices of all time! Thanks for all the incredible memories of my youth and life in general!
Max Payne 2 is my favorite third person shooter of all time. I still remember stumbling upon it as a kid in an internet cafe back in 2006 and it was Max Payne's shadows that really shocked me. To me it look eerily real and looking at it now, they are actually simulating soft shadows that is far beyond the standard stencil shadows being used back then. When I was finally able to install the game at home, the physics just hooked me and it was the most addictive thing to tinker with. I would quicksave a lot and replay every combat encounter that has lots of objects around to see how cool I could get away with knocking their lifeless bodies. The cherry on top is the story and theme with just oozes and style. It also made Max Payne as my favorite game protagonist of all time.
and the reflection in the mirrors is real. impressive for 2003. funny just yesterday I installed the pc version on the phone. both mp1+2 runs in real 4k resolution everything maxed settings. lol
Thanks for sharing! I used to reload the encounters too. It was so awesome watching everything fly around when hit. Both MP2 and FEAR had the coolest background interactions.
@@reloadedspade176 i know it might be hard to believe, but yes. Emulating pc games on mobile devices running ARM chips is now a thing. just look up mobox or winlator emulator. i promise you its working 100%. im using a 2023 samsung tablet. I have 1 video on my channel emulating unreal tournament 2004. and yes I mean full 4K 2160p 60hz from phone/tablet to display. Max payne 1 gets well over 100fps atk 4k. max payne2 is around 60fps.
What a perfect timing! I was playing this and MP1 just few days ago. Amazing classics that still hold up to this day, with incredible attention for details. R.I.P James McCaffrey, you will be missed as you will forever be Max Payne/Alex Casey/Thomas Zane/Zachariah Trench.
@@pfannkuchengesicht42 No, it's a single channel texture. It's not the same thing. (And even then you'd mean grayscale, which is just one type of monochrome.)
There needs to be a DF Lets Play Rule: Anytime you play an old 90's 2000's era game, assume that it doesn't have autosaves! Someone please sticky note that to the DF Crew's Monitors!
"Can Consoles cope"? The Xbox could. Ran it pretty well, in fact. The PS2 version wasn't even using the Max Payne 2 engine. It was basically remade in the Max Payne 1 engine... And had awful loading times. Xbox version in 03 on a CRT over s-video was pretty great. Wasn't a bad port at all.
What can u expect from these ppl, they´re PS fanboys and it has been demonstrated many times before, any retro, current of whatever video is all about "glorious" PS version of anything vs PC, like xbox versions never existed
That lamp casting a shadow from Max is interesting because it looks like just a directional shadowmap (like the kind you would use to cast shadows from the sun, with an orthographic projection when rendering the depth buffer for the shadowmap). The shadow of Max doesn't change size or distort as he gets closer to it. His torso's shadow should be much larger because it's closer to the light than his legs, but instead his shadow is proportioned just like his model which means the depthmap of the scene isn't being rasterized with a perspective projection. It's like Max is walking around an infinitely far light source.
The first time I ever played this game was an an AMD Athalon 2700+, with 1GB RAM and a GeForce FX 5700 ultra with Windows XP. The PC game uses an upgraded version of MaxFX, which is Remedy's proprietary game engine, and it added Havok physics, cinematic models during real time cutscenes and it is DX9. Remedy even released the development tools for the game online months later. Including the level editor and such. From what I have been told the Xbox and PS2 ports are actually using Renderware and not Remedy's game engine. Rockstar did the ports for the home console versions, as they bought the Max Payne franchise from Remedy and 3DRealms not long before Max Payne 2 released.
I agree just played it it looks great on my 4k tv great atmosphere only issue I had was a few places that had very bad frame drops but it didn't ruin much for me
I didn't have the language for it as a kid, but Max Payne 2 on PS2 was when I first took notice of just how much unstable frame rates could impact gameplay. Diving into destructible props never got old.
We really need a df retro devoted to the 6th gen consoles and their wildly varying architectures. I find it so fascinating hearing about techniques devs used to overcome certain deficiencies
I remember eagerly awaiting HL2 and getting to experience Havok in it and this comes out and I just no idea it had Havok physics. I was so enamored by all the objects flying around everywhere
I played these first two games on the PS2 as a kid so seeing the PC version now for the first time has blown me away. It's a warm feeling seeing you two play this title again. In terms of details, something as small and silly as turning on a tap just makes the world feel real and not just a collection of 3d models. The physics as well, just what a joy to see in action and something I miss in newer games (see GTA IV compared to GTA V).
Since Alan Wake 2 I have been diving deep into the Remedy extended universe. So perfect timing for this video. Sam Lake is a true genius. And James will be greatly missed in future Remedy games
first, RIP James McCaffrey; amazing actor and a VA with a strikingly distinct and memorable voice. I lost it at the double doors "I'mma big boi" Great content as usual. The Max Payne series has been in my all time faves bucket since experiencing MP1 on the OG Xbox. Edit: this has some of my favorite commentary, lol.
Oh no I didn’t know that James Mccaffrey passed away !?! That’s so sad to hear, Max Payne 1 & 2 are some of my All time a favourite childhood games, it’s the series that made me realise how cinematic and gritty Videogames could be ! RIP to a true legend
Finally!!! THIS is exactly what I have been wanting ever since the very first episode of the "Console vs PC Time Capsule" series. Thank you so much guys!!! The PS2 version I first played back in mid 2004 and I thought it was pretty bad. Played through it again on Xbox a in 2005, and finally once again on PC in 2011. I decided to play it again on PS2 back in 2018, and it's actually not THAT bad of a port considering the hardware limitations. In fact, the PS2 port has actually become my preferred version to play due to the sheer fact the PS2 was able to pull it off as well as it did.
Great video and a nice trip back in time, such an incredible era of games. I had a similar setup to your retro PC, Alex, but with a 9600 XT (which I actually bought for Max Payne 2!) and I remember being absolutely blown away with the visuals in this game. The card came with a code for Half-Life 2, which didn't come out for nearly a year after I got the 9600. By that time I'd switched over to an Athlon 64 3500+, and stayed on an AMD/team Red combo until a series of absolutely craptacular, bugged-out drivers (I think I had a Radeon HD 2600 by that point... got it for Oblivion!) caused so many issues across a bunch of games that I gave up in disgust, and grabbed an 8800 GT. Now THAT was one hell of a card.
I was waiting for the moment of realisation from John that you had to Manual Save. It was just how I felt back in the day, I got hours in, Died and had to start from the beginning, it was at that point I returned the game. Alas as a Result I don't have Max Payne 2 on PS2.
"The way I see it there's two types of people, those who spend their lives trying to build a future and those who spend their lives trying to rebuild the past."
It's going to be awesome when the Remedy Remake of Max Payne 1&2 comes out. I hope they stick closely to their original versions of the games. But update what is needed like graphics and animations.
Despite visual fidelity being a major downgrade on ps2, I am genuinely impressed by the fact how much of the original game is left intact. Especially so, in comparison with the first game's port which just turned the game into a collection of loading screens.
I honestly think the PS2 version looks better in some ways. The darker lighting and more monochromatic colors fit the noir tone and make it look a lot closer to the comics in the cutscenes.
I had this game upon release! I had just won $1000 in a casino, so I bought the best nvidia card at the time. To my memory, that series of Nvidia cards was the first to support DirectX 9.0c full feature set, and this game required that for all visual features! It had, by far, the best graphics I'd ever seen. It was a sight to behold! Not to mention, if you downloaded the official level editor, there were fully nude models of Mona in the game files. It doesn't look as good as todays games, but lets be real, it still looks pretty good.
i'm not sure how exactly max payne 2 did its shadows, but i remember how some other old games did: they make stand-alone flat models, (or just use flattened character models) attached to the characters' feet, meshed by a point of reference to change direction/shape, (to match the light source) shaded with different degree of 'black', (to create the 'fade out' effect) then rendered with transparent pass, (to blend with background) this method could be really fast, (like having a lot of shadows all responding to different light sources, which shadow map can't easily do) and could look quite good by simply tweaking colors of different part, (coloring 'feet part' darker and 'head part' lighter to do 'fade out') and could also do penumbra effect easily (sorta like cartoon-shading) down-side of this method is, the shadows don't really project onto anything, (they are actually models floating very slightly above ground), so they could look wrong on complex environment, (or just not-flat ground, like on stairs) or slide under some geometry and become invisible, or overlap each other then create a 'darker shadow'. also the 'light sources' can't get lower than the characters' head level, or the shadows would just break. (as the 'stretching range' becomes infinite)
17:07 The 'Ragnarok' is an import environmental clue that needs to be there (in contrast to some wooden boards in the yard). The hall and gun workshop is owned by Vladimir Lem who acquired the former Ragnarock club in Max Payne 1. The next location/level you'll reach is his restaurant 'Vodka', the renovated and rebuilt former Ragnarock club.
This was a great trip down nostalgia lane. The "in memory of" bit reminded me that, yes, he passed away recently. Felt a bit shocking. While animals have little to no object permanence, humans have too much. Not that James was an object, just. We get used to things we know \ have and then suddenly it's not there and coping is super hard. Anyway, great video. The mono textures killed Jim Bravura's eye color, which was interesting!
4:45 is one of my favourite moments in gaming. I remember quick loading this moment over and over and seeing all the different ways I could get him to fly into the shelf.
Maxpayne has such a special place in my heart. I remember trying to for YEARS to play it. I had a pc, but it couldnt run it for shit. i think even on its lowest settings, the game ran at like 5 fps. lol then over time i was able to get better hardware as soon as i had a pac strong enough to play max payne 1, max payne 2 came out and completely obliterated my pc. same deal. Took me years to finally play max payne 2 the right way. and its a masterpiece. The tone and forboding this game gives, the excellent noir presentation. The amazing gameplay, top 5 storytelling a in a video game, and of course most importantly, the voice actor for max, James Mccaffery. It hurt me a great deal to learn he passed before the max payne remasters could release. i really hoped for a max payne 4 with james. This is now impossible. ;(
Despite the low clock speed, the Vector Units in the PS2 are pretty potent (certainly not enough to get close to a 3 GHz P4, but you can have physics). I imagine the physics are probably leaning greatly on a VU. The VUs are also used to handle Transform and Lighting, so having them pull double duty explains why the devs opted not to use reflections.
RIP Mr. James McCaffrey, I didn’t know he passed away! Such an iconic voice. 🙏🏻
i been mad no ones was talking about it.
Holy crap really?!?
When?
@@paulino58 Late in 2023 just after Alan Wake 2 was released.
Sad times man...
Dude voiced some of my fave characters. Honestly when I heard his voice in Control I knew IMMEDIATELY who it was.
I was like "FACKING YES, McCaffrey!"
He worked on some fan Max Payne stuff in the background over the years and it's just an iconic voice.
@@zedfragg4134 ): max payne is one of my fav games
I recently replayed this on PC. I was really impressed at how well it works on a modern system. RIP James McCaffrey, I've been hearing his voice since I was a kid. He'll be sorely missed.
Compared to first game that needs entire fixpack it works much better but you still need widescreen fix without it game is awful stretched in widescreen.
Same I'm playing through every single rockstar game right now and I'm on max payne 3 and I can't lie I like 1,2 a little bit better
I heard there are Max Payne remakes coming. Is it true?
Yes@@LostUkraineGirl
And why is Alex playing it on Win XP if it run so well on modern PCs? Microsoft is not quote renowned for caring about game conservation. Even now some Win10 games don't run on Win11. And with drm dependencies like ms "gaming services" it gets just worse and worse.
Thanks for the acknowledgment of James. I recently came across recordings I made of my pal and I playing MP1 from 2001. Such great memories.
It is hard to think about Remedy will move forward without James, he had such an iconic voice and he was such a talented person.
@@CVoYagerespecially since they're still working on the Max Payne remakes, I hope they got all of the voice work done before he passed
Upload that!
@@thequinlanshow3326I hope they're still making it since Rockstar is currently suing them for having the letter R in their logo.
Upload em! ❤
On Steam Deck compatibility, I fully completed this for the first time a month ago and can confirm it runs like a dream.
did you play with sticks or with touchpads?
What controller profile did you use?
@@znubionek I’ve played it on deck too, sticks were used with stock controller profile, you just need to turn sensitivity all the way down in the game settings or it’s too sensitive to movement.
Game runs excellent on my oled deck, runs 90fps max settings even with 8x AA and at 4w even so battery life is through the roof.
You need to apply the wide-screen fix though. I replayed it too. Great gameplay and graphics but story wise the game is significantly weaker than the first one
@@znubionekI’m team trackpad all the way, have a custom trackpad+gyro setup I use for nearly all PC shooters. It’s immaculate for aiming, and feels super smooth in MP 1+2 at 90 FPS on Deck.
I remember that beginning rain scene, I also had a 9800 Pro and an Audigy 2, EAX enabled and a 5.1 surround system. The rain sounded amazing.
Audio quality (sound mixing) has really gone down the tube. Most audio in games from the Max Payne 1 & 2 era up until about 2010 was extremely crisp and a lot of painstaking effort went into it, like a fine art. Not so much anymore.
Rest in Peace Max Payne
I love the fact that the game has bullets with geometry. Also the guns have slides moving with each shot
Most devs back then actually cared about the little details in games.
Don't forget about bullet casings permanently sticking around too. I remember Mafia 1 had the same feature. Not something you see nowadays. It think that's a shame because it made every firefight feel more impactful, even when it was over.
Top 5 best games i've ever played. This is my childhood right here. James passing was such a shock. It hit me like a train. RIP legend. I dont know how the remakes will feel now without him. Max Payne's iconic quotes will stay with me until i draw my last breath.
Same here
Playing Max Payne 3 right now, wow it still amazes me... the gunplay is so cool
max payne 3 is really bad
Max Payne 3 is a great game
@@phalxoryour crazy as hell
Max Payne 3 is the best 3rd person shooter ever made
@@averageyoutuber1058 Both Max Payne 1 and 2 are much better and more enjoyable in my opinion. I can replay those games any time, while I still dread to finish Max Payne 3, cause it's so boring.
Trivia about Warehouse guy who tricks Max. If Max shoots him earlier, he had a dialogue that actually describes how he deduced that something wasn't right about him. 😅
Great game, RIP James! Fantastic atmosphere and voice acting.
I remember how mind blowing the physics and graphics looked when you shoot that first enemy into the shelf at 4:50. I was floored by the physics at the time.
I played the hell out of this game and remember being doubly amazed by the fact that no 2 gunfight scenarios are ever the same. The physics engine allow each scenario to play out differently with each encounter.
The texture on the white car to make it look shiny/glossy isn't a cubemap, it's a spheremap - and basically the same as a panoramic environment map but back then they just used whatever random texture that made a surface look shiny. These started being used in the late 90s to make stuff appear shiny when we had graphics cards that could sample two textures per pixel, and you could have one texture automatically generate its texture coordinates for a spherical environment map based on the vertex normals of the mesh's triangles, and blend it with the base texture with a number of different modes. This was used in Half-Life and Quake3 a bunch to make shiny looking surfaces but the way they were used was so that the reflection always followed the camera, instead of being relative to the scene/world, but it was always just to give the illusion of a shiny surface, not actually reflect anything. By the early-to-mid 2000s with games like Half-Life 2 they'd already moved on to proper cubemaps for environment mapping geometry that was supposed to look reflective.
Thanks for revisiting this absolute masterpiece guys!
I remember running this on my family PC as a kid without any graphics card back in the late 2000s and it still ran beautifully... in lower res. I'd love to see how the Xbox compared in all this as it tends to be somewhere in the middle of PS2 and PC.
It's a shame James left us before the Remakes , I really wanted to see him play the games. Rest in peace 🙏
I hope they can still somehow use James Mcaffreys voice for the remakes, it would just not be the same without him:(
26:52 I always found it hilarious how one of the cops is clearly shooting the wall in front of him in that cutscene 😂
The fact that they inadvertently(?) fixed it on PS2 by removing said cop is pretty funny too.
My favorite game when I was a kid, it's oozing with atmosphere.
LOLI think this was the first game I got called out on at the Fred Meyer... I had to double back and get my sister to buy it for me.
Sad to hear of James McCaffrey passing away. May he rest in peace. 🙏🏻
I wonder who will voice Max Payne in the coming remakes? Mr McCaffrey did such an iconic role as Max, that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.
R.I.P. Ms James, one of the very best (if not THE best) game voices of all time!
Thanks for all the incredible memories of my youth and life in general!
Just binged every PC Time capsule video based on how entertaining this was, no regrets! keep them coming!
This is honestly the game I’ve been waiting DF to cover since the day I learned what DF was.
we get too few DF Retro videos
Max Payne 2 is my favorite third person shooter of all time. I still remember stumbling upon it as a kid in an internet cafe back in 2006 and it was Max Payne's shadows that really shocked me. To me it look eerily real and looking at it now, they are actually simulating soft shadows that is far beyond the standard stencil shadows being used back then. When I was finally able to install the game at home, the physics just hooked me and it was the most addictive thing to tinker with. I would quicksave a lot and replay every combat encounter that has lots of objects around to see how cool I could get away with knocking their lifeless bodies. The cherry on top is the story and theme with just oozes and style. It also made Max Payne as my favorite game protagonist of all time.
and the reflection in the mirrors is real. impressive for 2003.
funny just yesterday I installed the pc version on the phone. both mp1+2
runs in real 4k resolution everything maxed settings. lol
Thanks for sharing! I used to reload the encounters too. It was so awesome watching everything fly around when hit. Both MP2 and FEAR had the coolest background interactions.
@@nBasterdhow the heck did you do that
@@reloadedspade176 i know it might be hard to believe, but yes. Emulating pc games on mobile devices running ARM chips is now a thing. just look up mobox or winlator emulator. i promise you its working 100%. im using a 2023 samsung tablet. I have 1 video on my channel emulating unreal tournament 2004. and yes I mean full 4K 2160p 60hz from phone/tablet to display. Max payne 1 gets well over 100fps atk 4k. max payne2 is around 60fps.
@@nBasterd Winlator? MP2 could not start for me. PS2 ver. runs great on Android tho.
works perfect on steam deck by the way. 90fps at 4w (5w for no dips) max settings (8x AA included). looks great.
With the passing of James McCaffrey, I'm wondering which VOs are being used for the the Remakes. RIP, Legend.
The dirt bag route would be using an AI voice over or Remedy gets someone who sounds similar if they aren't going to recast Max's voice.
it's possible they might end up using the same audio and lines from the originals. that's been a persistent rumor
They will use the original lines and use AI to clean up the audio quality.
AI will probably help with that
The 9800 Pro is a hall of fame video card. One of the absolute greats. I’d love to see the DF crew do a hall of fame video cards video.
9700 Pro.
What a perfect timing! I was playing this and MP1 just few days ago. Amazing classics that still hold up to this day, with incredible attention for details.
R.I.P James McCaffrey, you will be missed as you will forever be Max Payne/Alex Casey/Thomas Zane/Zachariah Trench.
A small correction: palettised textures are not monochrome, they store palette indices instead of direct color values.
from a data perspective it's pretty much just a monochrome texture.
@@pfannkuchengesicht42 exactly
@@pfannkuchengesicht42 from a data perspective there are no colors. Why do mental hoops?
@@pfannkuchengesicht42 No, it's a single channel texture. It's not the same thing. (And even then you'd mean grayscale, which is just one type of monochrome.)
More of these types of video! Exploring the different technological approaches to different games throughout history. Its pretty interesting!
Hearing John bring up the ford taurus SHO gave me a new found respect I didn’t know I needed always the best from DF
I unrionically still think Max Payne 2 looks good. It's got that photo realistic vibe to it, kinda in the same vein as GTA V
In some ways I agree. Not uncommon for 6th gen games to hold up in some manner
Where tf gta5 realistic, its cartoony compared to 4
Gta V is a Looney Tunes cartoon compared to IV or MaxPayne 2.
@@DIMON13585 or you using an alt account why tf are you saying the same stupid thing?
@@nenadarkpaw are u drunk?
There needs to be a DF Lets Play Rule: Anytime you play an old 90's 2000's era game, assume that it doesn't have autosaves! Someone please sticky note that to the DF Crew's Monitors!
"Can Consoles cope"? The Xbox could. Ran it pretty well, in fact. The PS2 version wasn't even using the Max Payne 2 engine. It was basically remade in the Max Payne 1 engine... And had awful loading times.
Xbox version in 03 on a CRT over s-video was pretty great. Wasn't a bad port at all.
What can u expect from these ppl, they´re PS fanboys and it has been demonstrated many times before, any retro, current of whatever video is all about "glorious" PS version of anything vs PC, like xbox versions never existed
They keep the ragnarok sign because it's a callback to Max Payne 1 and foreshadows the story of 2, it is a narrative choice.
We need a full on DF Retro Max Payne episode!!
That lamp casting a shadow from Max is interesting because it looks like just a directional shadowmap (like the kind you would use to cast shadows from the sun, with an orthographic projection when rendering the depth buffer for the shadowmap). The shadow of Max doesn't change size or distort as he gets closer to it. His torso's shadow should be much larger because it's closer to the light than his legs, but instead his shadow is proportioned just like his model which means the depthmap of the scene isn't being rasterized with a perspective projection. It's like Max is walking around an infinitely far light source.
I still have the 2003 PC box copy of this legendary game.
James McCaffey alone give atleast 30% of the whole vibe of this game. He was such a huge part of the atmosphere.
The first time I ever played this game was an an AMD Athalon 2700+, with 1GB RAM and a GeForce FX 5700 ultra with Windows XP.
The PC game uses an upgraded version of MaxFX, which is Remedy's proprietary game engine, and it added Havok physics, cinematic models during real time cutscenes and it is DX9. Remedy even released the development tools for the game online months later. Including the level editor and such.
From what I have been told the Xbox and PS2 ports are actually using Renderware and not Remedy's game engine. Rockstar did the ports for the home console versions, as they bought the Max Payne franchise from Remedy and 3DRealms not long before Max Payne 2 released.
Heck yes, these are one of my favorite DF vid series. Alex n John getting down w/ the hardware and games of my youth.
I love how the PS2 version looks actually. Notice how it's darker, adds a lot of mood to the scenes.
I agree just played it it looks great on my 4k tv great atmosphere only issue I had was a few places that had very bad frame drops but it didn't ruin much for me
The Max Payne series is such a masterpiece.
Damn, RIP James. So many iconic voices: Max Payne, Tom Zane, Director Trench, Alex Casey...
Classic. This was my jam back in the day. RIP James. We all owe it to him by replaying Max PAyne 3 .
I didn't have the language for it as a kid, but Max Payne 2 on PS2 was when I first took notice of just how much unstable frame rates could impact gameplay.
Diving into destructible props never got old.
I'm honestly impressed that it runs @ 60fps on the xbox
We really need a df retro devoted to the 6th gen consoles and their wildly varying architectures. I find it so fascinating hearing about techniques devs used to overcome certain deficiencies
What a game! RIP James - you will be missed 😥
I remember eagerly awaiting HL2 and getting to experience Havok in it and this comes out and I just no idea it had Havok physics. I was so enamored by all the objects flying around everywhere
I played these first two games on the PS2 as a kid so seeing the PC version now for the first time has blown me away. It's a warm feeling seeing you two play this title again. In terms of details, something as small and silly as turning on a tap just makes the world feel real and not just a collection of 3d models. The physics as well, just what a joy to see in action and something I miss in newer games (see GTA IV compared to GTA V).
Since Alan Wake 2 I have been diving deep into the Remedy extended universe. So perfect timing for this video. Sam Lake is a true genius. And James will be greatly missed in future Remedy games
first, RIP James McCaffrey; amazing actor and a VA with a strikingly distinct and memorable voice.
I lost it at the double doors "I'mma big boi"
Great content as usual. The Max Payne series has been in my all time faves bucket since experiencing MP1 on the OG Xbox. Edit: this has some of my favorite commentary, lol.
Oh no I didn’t know that James Mccaffrey passed away !?! That’s so sad to hear, Max Payne 1 & 2 are some of my All time a favourite childhood games, it’s the series that made me realise how cinematic and gritty Videogames could be ! RIP to a true legend
THIS is what i love waking up to on a rainy saturday morning. Thank you, you amazing geniuses
Finally!!! THIS is exactly what I have been wanting ever since the very first episode of the "Console vs PC Time Capsule" series. Thank you so much guys!!!
The PS2 version I first played back in mid 2004 and I thought it was pretty bad. Played through it again on Xbox a in 2005, and finally once again on PC in 2011.
I decided to play it again on PS2 back in 2018, and it's actually not THAT bad of a port considering the hardware limitations.
In fact, the PS2 port has actually become my preferred version to play due to the sheer fact the PS2 was able to pull it off as well as it did.
Great video and a nice trip back in time, such an incredible era of games. I had a similar setup to your retro PC, Alex, but with a 9600 XT (which I actually bought for Max Payne 2!) and I remember being absolutely blown away with the visuals in this game.
The card came with a code for Half-Life 2, which didn't come out for nearly a year after I got the 9600. By that time I'd switched over to an Athlon 64 3500+, and stayed on an AMD/team Red combo until a series of absolutely craptacular, bugged-out drivers (I think I had a Radeon HD 2600 by that point... got it for Oblivion!) caused so many issues across a bunch of games that I gave up in disgust, and grabbed an 8800 GT. Now THAT was one hell of a card.
I was waiting for the moment of realisation from John that you had to Manual Save. It was just how I felt back in the day, I got hours in, Died and had to start from the beginning, it was at that point I returned the game. Alas as a Result I don't have Max Payne 2 on PS2.
Man I would LOVE to se Mafia: City of Lost Heaven on Time Capsule next! Because both consoles could not cope that revolutionary game.
Just played this for the first time in December on PC! What a treat! Interesting comparison.
I can’t wait for the remake! Rip James! Your voice will forever be be remembered
I really love this kinds of videos my dudes, always give me a good laugh. Thanks a bunch ❤
Oh man, I loved my Audigy 2 ZS. I used that for many years.
When i hear James McCaffrey, i always get goosebumps. Iconict voice for sure, but for me, as a kid always be Max Payne.. Rest in peace.
I just started Playing the Old Max payne’s for the first time, and now you make This video. What a coincidence
The sun went down with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding.
"The way I see it there's two types of people, those who spend their lives trying to build a future and those who spend their lives trying to rebuild the past."
It's going to be awesome when the Remedy Remake of Max Payne 1&2 comes out. I hope they stick closely to their original versions of the games. But update what is needed like graphics and animations.
@21:19 "Oh my Gosh, that poor woman! Those textures!" 😂
I cannot wait to watch this, I love DF retro so much and the effort that goes into these videos is much appreciated
Despite visual fidelity being a major downgrade on ps2, I am genuinely impressed by the fact how much of the original game is left intact. Especially so, in comparison with the first game's port which just turned the game into a collection of loading screens.
The first game eliminated many redundant spaces from the PC version.
I honestly think the PS2 version looks better in some ways. The darker lighting and more monochromatic colors fit the noir tone and make it look a lot closer to the comics in the cutscenes.
I never played MP2, I only played 1 & 3(my favorite). That would be cool if we got the trilogy re-released & remastered.
DF retro some of my favourite DF stuff. More pls
These retro revisits are fucking awesome! Thanks Alex & John for these. Looking forward to more of this type of content :D
Max Payne 2 is one of my favourite game of all time. I had so much fun watching you guys play it. Definitely do xbox version too.
Speaking of late-PS2 era third-person shooters, The Punisher (2005) would make an interesting episode.
Oh, the memories!
Pour one for James McCaffrey. He will live forever as Max Payne.
I had this game upon release! I had just won $1000 in a casino, so I bought the best nvidia card at the time. To my memory, that series of Nvidia cards was the first to support DirectX 9.0c full feature set, and this game required that for all visual features! It had, by far, the best graphics I'd ever seen. It was a sight to behold! Not to mention, if you downloaded the official level editor, there were fully nude models of Mona in the game files. It doesn't look as good as todays games, but lets be real, it still looks pretty good.
bro im redownloading the game, I used to play it to insane degree, I loved the physics and how the world felt interactive
This game looked awesome on the pc back in the day.
i'm not sure how exactly max payne 2 did its shadows, but i remember how some other old games did:
they make stand-alone flat models, (or just use flattened character models)
attached to the characters' feet,
meshed by a point of reference to change direction/shape, (to match the light source)
shaded with different degree of 'black', (to create the 'fade out' effect)
then rendered with transparent pass, (to blend with background)
this method could be really fast, (like having a lot of shadows all responding to different light sources, which shadow map can't easily do)
and could look quite good by simply tweaking colors of different part, (coloring 'feet part' darker and 'head part' lighter to do 'fade out')
and could also do penumbra effect easily (sorta like cartoon-shading)
down-side of this method is, the shadows don't really project onto anything, (they are actually models floating very slightly above ground),
so they could look wrong on complex environment, (or just not-flat ground, like on stairs)
or slide under some geometry and become invisible, or overlap each other then create a 'darker shadow'.
also the 'light sources' can't get lower than the characters' head level, or the shadows would just break. (as the 'stretching range' becomes infinite)
Ah what a voice, glad we got a great performance one last time in Alan Wake 2
Man max Payne 2 on PC definitely has the roots of control it’s crazy
17:07 The 'Ragnarok' is an import environmental clue that needs to be there (in contrast to some wooden boards in the yard). The hall and gun workshop is owned by Vladimir Lem who acquired the former Ragnarock club in Max Payne 1. The next location/level you'll reach is his restaurant 'Vodka', the renovated and rebuilt former Ragnarock club.
Vladimir Lem comic novel actor (maxPayne1) is actually same lead singer from Old Gods of Asgard / Poets of The Fall.
I recently downloaded this and am literally playing along with you guys..great physics, gameplay and story
Ah, Max Payne 2. The central game of my childhood. This game will always be one of my favorites.
At the time I thought the ragdoll and items physics were revolutionary.
This was a great trip down nostalgia lane. The "in memory of" bit reminded me that, yes, he passed away recently.
Felt a bit shocking. While animals have little to no object permanence, humans have too much. Not that James was an object, just. We get used to things we know \ have and then suddenly it's not there and coping is super hard.
Anyway, great video.
The mono textures killed Jim Bravura's eye color, which was interesting!
Please do a DF Retro on DOOM 3 for OG Xbox. It's probably the most technically stunning port ever released and deserves its own video.
they did
4:45 is one of my favourite moments in gaming. I remember quick loading this moment over and over and seeing all the different ways I could get him to fly into the shelf.
There a guy on a lift in chapter 7 that’s scripted to die by ANY projectile that touches him.
All weapons must be tested on that encounter 😅
Jim Bravura - shortest lived named NPC of all time @7:37🤣🤣🤣
I have only played max payne 3, but his voice was so iconic, rest in peace :(
27:16 that NES Ghostbusters reference haha
in some areas, the darker and grimier look of the ps2 version makes it feel a bit more cinematic and moody...
I’ll also add. This game is the first game I played with physics, and it was on the ps2. Totally cool
Maxpayne has such a special place in my heart. I remember trying to for YEARS to play it. I had a pc, but it couldnt run it for shit. i think even on its lowest settings, the game ran at like 5 fps. lol then over time i was able to get better hardware as soon as i had a pac strong enough to play max payne 1, max payne 2 came out and completely obliterated my pc. same deal. Took me years to finally play max payne 2 the right way. and its a masterpiece. The tone and forboding this game gives, the excellent noir presentation. The amazing gameplay, top 5 storytelling a in a video game, and of course most importantly, the voice actor for max, James Mccaffery. It hurt me a great deal to learn he passed before the max payne remasters could release. i really hoped for a max payne 4 with james. This is now impossible. ;(
Oh boi, this gem is blast from the past indeed. I loved this game. I do hope Remedy does right by it in their upcoming remake.
This saga was my childhood and the game that got me hooked and made me want to learn english, mad respect for the team and brand❤
Also I remember I olayed it on Compaq presario down here in Chile, my first pc, too.
James McCaffrey will sorely be missed. The remake won't be the same without him.
Despite the low clock speed, the Vector Units in the PS2 are pretty potent (certainly not enough to get close to a 3 GHz P4, but you can have physics). I imagine the physics are probably leaning greatly on a VU.
The VUs are also used to handle Transform and Lighting, so having them pull double duty explains why the devs opted not to use reflections.
I remember the PS2 version being so rough. I had a low-med spec PC for the time and it ran like a dream though!