if Max Payne 1 is all about shoot dodging, the name of the game in Max Payne 2 is the regular bullet time. You're heavily incentivized to use it with the changes to how it works - it starts out barely slower, but the more kills you rack up in it the slower it gets and every kill refills the adrenaline meter a bit. Combined with the bullet time reload where you do a fast little spin instead of the full reload, running into room full of enemies with a sawed off shotgun and bullet time can keep you in bullet time for a long while and is tons of fun.
Admittedly, 2 just doesn't hit as fully as 1 does for me. It does the right things a sequel should do - the narrative has a tighter focus, the character likenesses have been recast with professional actors and pretty great model work for 2003, the gameplay and setpieces are more polished - but in that it lacks the unhinged diy energy and perfect simplicity that are big parts of why I love 1 and I'm a bit mixed on the bullet time changes. It is a great game regardless, but 1 will always be my preferred of the two to go back to.
Admittedly, 2 just doesn't hit as fully as 1 does for me. It does the right things a sequel should do - the narrative has a tighter focus, the character likenesses have been recast with professional actors and pretty great model work for 2003, the gameplay and setpieces are more polished - but in that it lacks the unhinged diy energy and perfect simplicity that are big parts of why I love 1 and I'm a bit mixed on the bullet time changes. It is a great game regardless, but 1 will always be my preferred of the two to go back to.