Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

I liked the first Hotline Miami, and when I first played this, I was disappointed. Enemies come from beyond the screen, certain enemies will have you screaming at the screen. The story, without exterior knowledge, is nearly impossible to fully understand, it's modular pulp-fiction way of displaying a sequence of events isn't done well enough for the ending to feel conclusive. You'll sit back and think, OK, I did that. And then you'll really, really want to play more. Somewhere in the back of your mind you'll crave the game that you were screaming at before. You won't want to do anything else. So you play it again, this time on hard mode on. And you get better. And there's that adrenaline feeling flowing back. And the music is hitting you. And winning feels more satisfying. And the story makes more sense and you enjoy it. The game is amazing. Play this game, hate it, and then play it again. There isn't a single game more satisfying than this.

In reviewing this game, I feel that all I can really do is reiterate many of the complaints already made, and in doing that lend them some extra validity. My eyebrow was first raised when the game was sold as "The brutal conclusion to the Hotline Miami saga". First of all, two entries does not constitute a saga. Secondly, a saga implies a deep, winding, epic tale. The first game had a story, but it was a surrealistic trip that got you to the next bloodbath and one really bad stealth level. However, the second game shoves story down your throat; it feels like it will just stop dead in its tracks to spout extraneous dialogue at you from entirely forgettable characters. The game also misunderstands the difference between sneaking and waiting. In the first game, you mentally planned out the chaos meticulously; burst through that door, whack that guy, pick up his gun and shoot the other guy before the dog makes a full circuit of the room. Wrong Number's rooms are so vast and cluttered that the strategy consists of "peek round the corner and make the gun guy run to you". Rinse and repeat, and you have nearly every level. The number of times I saw someone twitching wildly against a door, a dog spinning on the spot, or a key item fling just out of reachable range made me wonder if the game was play-tested as well as it should have been. The idea of switching the small perks of the 1st games masks for fewer masks/items with more dramatic effects is interesting, but given how much the narrative switches between characters, you're essentially forced into adopting a specific play style, once again limiting player choice and strategy. On the plus side, the music and graphics are easily equal to HM1, possibly even better... All in all, HM2 feels like it was made by people who didn't quite understand why the first game was so great, and as such completely tore it apart it and put it back together with the same magnets that keep making everyone get stuck to the doors.

I really liked Hotline Miami but its sequel? Well, it is extremely flawed. 1. The design is very different. While in HM1, I barely needed the shift key, now I basically have to go threw the level with it pressed because you will killed from of the screen instantly. 2. In HM1, you often were planning out your melee attacks to succeed. Here, you are jsut looking for a gun because most rooms are just to big to cover it with melee attacks 3. Controlls. In HM1, I never had any problems with doors, lining shoots etc. Here, it is a different story. Controls to be very imprecise, your movement feels sluggish. And you would need way better controls as you are most of the time using the shift key. 4. Bugs. Enemies get constantly stuck in doors spinning like crazzie, guns fly out of the level so you cannot reach it etc. Really disappointing

That's the only thing this game's got in its favour is its absolutely bombastic soundtrack. Everything else is either A: identical to the original, or B: a significant downgrade from the original. Little innovation, less customization, flat and lifeless characters, and bar none the worst designed levels I have ever experienced in a video game, no joke. The game's difficulty assumes you have beaten Hotline Miami 1, and found it too easy. Every level is an exercise in frustration, and you will have the feeling of 'Thank God, it's over' instead of 'YEAAAH! I'm a badass!' If you are a newcomer to the series, get Hotline Miami 1 instead. The Shift key on your keyboard is going to be your best friend and worst enemy both. Stopping every five seconds to scroll around the map to make sure you don't get killed by an invisible gunman for the 10th time gets old immediately, yet it is your only way to victory. I am a huge fan of the original and that's why it is so painful for me to give its sequel a poor review, but I just can't like this game, and I can't recommend it to anybody. Maybe if some patches come out to reduce some of the difficulty, and/or eliminate some more of the game-breaking bugs it would change my mind, but this game in its current state is best left ignored until the much-vaunted level editor comes out. That way, at least you can play your own levels or someone else's rendition of this game. The developers stated that you could recreate HM1 or make an HM3. I hope that's true, because I can't stand these badly designed levels. I have to give this game one star, because it has almost nothing going for it. The controls are wonky, the AI is buggy, the levels are bloated, the characters are completely forgettable, and the graphics are pretty much identical. My advice? Go on YouTube, download the soundtrack, and listen to it while playing HM1, or just imagining playing a much better game. My first and biggest personal disappointment of 2015.