Hotline Miami Review
Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, PlayStation Vita
Developer: Dennaton Games, Abstraction Games
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Author: S.A.
If ever there was a game that was intended to waste your time, Hotline Miami fits the bill. A game that is surprisingly bloody given its 2D construction, Hotline Miami is annoyingly difficult yet oddly satisfying at the same time.
A game wherein which players will find themselves divided into various chapters and stages. All of which lead to a very bloody ending for either the protagonist or our various foes. The premise for this game focuses on our main character, dubbed “Jacket” by fans due to his Letterman jacket. He one day receives an odd voice mail about a delivery of “cookies” to his home. Upon arriving home players find a package that contains a rooster mask and instructions to kill a group of criminals with a briefcase in their possession. Granted, that usually wouldn’t be enough to get an average citizen to perform murder, but the threat of something ominous occurring to yourself due to failure is apparently enough to motivate our protagonist into a life of sin.
So on a killing spree I go.
Following our first murder we find ourselves commissioned again and again with nothing but cryptic messages on our answering machine. The developers over Dennaton games seem to believe our evolution into serial killer is a slippery slope that leads straight down. Apparently performing murder is becoming second nature and even scarier than that is the fact that…..well its fun.
With a top down view at our disposal, each level showcases a building we must navigate our way through. With occasional objectives splintered throughout each mission, and sporadic boss fights mingled in as well. The main objective is as such though, kill everyone on the floor to survive. We are given access to a variety of weapons to achieve our total annihilation of foes. This ranges from melee weapons to bash in some skulls, to thrown weapons to get them before they get to close, or even ranged weapons where you gun them down before they even pose a threat. You also have the ability to Don a specific type of mask before every level, all of which grant you a specific power up to help during your murdering spree. How well you use these weapons/abilities will determine your success in this game, for if your not careful, one can get overwhelmed quite easily by the A.I. within each room. That said, mistakes are fatal, one shot from an enemy kills you much like it does your foes.
So beware feats of heroism or stupidity.
It’s not a complicated game by any means, and often leads to hours of frustration due to dying repeatedly at every turn. With an AI that doesn’t follow the same approach each round, and seemingly works together as one heck of a fighting force on occasion, you will find yourself starting at a past checkpoint quite a few times. This is particularly annoying if you’re going for a good score performance on the level. For a good score leads to more weapons unlocked, and better masks available to you.
However it is oddly fun, if extremely repetitive in nature. It’s something to play when all other major games are beat, and as a note of interest, has an amazing soundtrack to murder all your foes too.
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