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Everything between the lines is the "long version". Because i'm a real boring person to listen to, scroll down for the short version ^_^
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only as much as any game that has a character you play... which is pretty much every game except some sports or strategy games.
To me, an RPG gives you a basic set of abilties, and allows you to build upon those abilties extensively. A game like Max Payne gives you one or two abilities (in this case shooting and slowing down time), but offers little progression of these abilites. Simply aquiring "better weapons" is inadequate for the complexity of character progression - true action-RPGs (System Shock 2, Deus Ex 1+2) allow you to make choices about what equipment you carry, and they may also let you modify the weapon's range, clip size or ammo type.
Another vital RPG element is character progression. Aside from the weapons he carries, Max Payne at the end of the game is still the same Max Payne that he was at the beginning - RPG characters usually have stats like Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Agility, Speed and the rest which improve over time, so that the character at the end of the game has evolved with the game. Failing that, a more abstract version is viable (e.g. Augmentations, that let you run faster deflect bullets or turn invisible in Deus Ex 2, that are "earned" as you play through the game)
Secondary (at least to me) RPG elements that Max Payne lacks are stuff like:
1. plenty of interactions and choices to make: including shops, branching conversations (where you choose what to say) and branching playstyles (stealthy? hacker? wizard? soldier?). These potentially make the game different each time you play, whereas Max Payne just shoots everything.
2. many RPGs have magic or some variation on that ("psionics" or powers of the mind type things). Though this is hardly a vital component, its one that most RPGs have in some form because the storyline is usually fantasy or sci-fi based. I can't give a good reason why that is, but it probably has roots going back to the early days of dungeons and dragons, and the basic fact that anyone who rolls a dice is a total Nerd.
As for the deep and involving storyline thing, that isn't a RPG thing. As Red says its a "good RPG" thing (ie. its not a requirement, but its vital in 9 of 10 top RPGs). Menus are NOT a requirement of RPGs... they're just widely adopted in Console RPGs, but not so prominant in PC RPGs (Baldurs Gate, seems to rely more on a mouse driven interface. it has menus, but they're not required for everything like in a Console RPG. Any RPG hybrid usually gets rid of most of the menus - Deus Ex thankfully doesn't require you to select "attack" from a menu when you want to shoot a soldier in the face) and certainly not the pen and paper RPGs which computer games got all their ideas from (I've never played one in my life, but i severely doubt that rolling a dice involves a menu driven interface).
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So yeah, the short version. Max Payne is not a RPG because it lacks any real character progression (aquiring more guns and getting to the end of the game doesn't count, as you can do that in most games anyway. simply controlling a character is also inadequate because the whole point about 99% of games is that you control something and fufil some kind of role).
BTW, i got Max Payne 1 for christmas as well... i've been enjoying my other presents, but am caping the ship for the russian guy. Its a pretty cool game.
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