10 Video Games Everyone Wanted (But Nobody Played)

10. Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne

2001's Max Payne was a totally groundbreaking third-person shooter which popularised the use of The Matrix's "bullet time" effect in video games, and in addition to high critical praise it went on to sell four million copies.

The sequel seemed like a total no-brainer, then, yet when Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne released just two years later, it bafflingly cratered at retail.

The sales were poor enough that Take-Two Interactive didn't even report actual figures, simply calling its performance "disappointing," while industry estimates pegged it as selling roughly half of its predecessor.

Given the expectation that sequels - especially superior, highly acclaimed ones such as this - outperform the original, this was a shocking underperformance by a game that deserved so, so much better.

Even today the reasons for its failure aren't totally clear: the marketing was fine and it didn't release alongside any direct competition, yet players were inexplicably uneager to swan-dive back into this gritty, action-packed world.

Thankfully the series soared once again with the success of Max Payne 3 a whole decade later, and with a remake of the first two games currently in development, hopefully players won't sleep on Max Payne 2 again.