Hotline Miami

Hypnotizing, fast, addictive. Awesome.

Hotline Miami is a 2D top-down action shooter. The pixelated graphic style may turn you away, but you don't want to miss what is underneath. The graphics is a really drug-tripping experience and that is part of what the story is about. The graphics may not be award winning, but it fits the game and that is what matters most. And The first time I saw the bloody killing animations made me cringe, but after awhile I got use to it. But, this is not a mindless shooter. You will need to think of what is the best way to take out all of your foes by either mowing them down with a machine gun or pick them off with a pipe. A good variety of weapons that unlock during the game. The controls are very responsive and it needs to be with all of the fast action in the game. I recommend using a gamepad, but some may find that using the mouse is better. The music is goes well with the game and is very catchy. You'll be humming it after you stop playing. It really absorbs you into the game. The story is lacking, but is leaves room for interpretation. More of the story is fleshed out in the 2nd game. I really enjoyed playing the game. It has great music, addictive game play and a story with metaphors that leaves interpretation of the story to the player. The game demands great reflexes, so it may be rather hard for casual to amateur players.

The gameplay, the art, the lore that surrounds it, the entire soundtrack without exception, form an incredible whole, thus giving an exceptional video game, a complete must-play.

Run. Swing. Swing. Run. Throw. Finish. Pick up. Shoot. Drop. Swing. Throw. Pick – you’re dead! Press r to restart. And you will restart, because you want to beat this game! Hotline Miami is an action/arcade game in which you play as Jacket, a man receiving mysterious phone calls. The calls are thinly veiled instructions – ‘Got a few kids that need to be disciplined here. I’m at East 7th Street.’ You drive to the specified location, don a mask and proceed to kill everyone before moving to the next floor. It’s one hit one kill for your enemies, but also for you, so you have to plan carefully. When you finish the level, Hotline Miami does not change to a cutscene or any other such convention. Instead the game deploys the brilliant touch of requiring you to backtrack to your car, traversing the piles of bloodied corpses. The electrifying music of the level is replaced by a sombre drone, forcing you to think of your actions. One of the characters asks: ‘Do you like hurting people?’ How appropriate; killing enemies is fun – bright neon colours and excellent game mechanics make for addictive gameplay. Soon you will adapt a rhythm in your movement and actions, almost hypnotised by the beat of the music. Death for the player is frequent, but rarely undeserved or punishing. You simply start again from the floor you were on, then adapt a different strategy. Since enemies always start in the same location, the game is like a puzzle. Progression through each floor becomes an elaborately choreographed dance of carnage, with bonus points for style and swiftness of level completion. Utilise various weapons to achieve success. Kill or be killed depending on your split second reaction timing. All the while pondering the questions provoked by the game: Who are the masked personas that visit you at different stages? What are they? Is any of this real? And most of all, are we becoming desensitized to violence? Actually, don’t worry about that. It’s just a game, one of crudely rendered, pixellated bloodshed that can easily be distanced from reality. Just a game. None of it’s real. Hotline Miami brilliantly evokes a hellish nightmare of violence and retribution, thanks to its minimalist, abstract storyline and intense gameplay. Additional masks with bonuses grant replay value as different strategies can be tried. However, even without the masks I would play this game many times over. Highly recommended.

This game is really, really fun and addictive. Every map is your slaughterhouse.