Great, but short. The graphics are superb, the gameplay is smooth, and the enemies are intelligent. The storyline is brilliant, often feeling more like a book then a typical game storyline. Not for people who dislike language, or moral ambiguity.
Basically Max Payne is almost a comic book in game form - and not superman, a real "graphic novel" (gah that's pretentious). You really need to play Max Payne 1 to understand the second, and it's very argueable which is the better game.