Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2 is a game that makes you go bipolar with it: Either you love it or you really hate it. This sequel feels more like an standalone expansion of the first one, regarding not only the plot but also the singular gunplay and level design. In an overall experience is a good sequel except that it kind of "demand" you to play the first one, "and why is that?" you may ask, and I give your the answer: the curve of level difficulty. The game was designed pretending that the player already have finished the first one so, when dropping the player on it's first level, it really pushes the difficulty up to the point that can be a drop out for a novice (I own the first one on the Steam, finished it before buying this one). Despite that, the game offers some nice bullet hell/stealth-action oriented gameplay in a simplistic way that may satisfy or frustrate those who seek a quick frenzy on the PC. The story of the game is...convoluted...some nice parts help understand better the plot from the first one but generally you can't feel bounded to any of the characters due to their swap during gameplay. Also there are several different masks (players approach on the level, gameplay wise) that make it a nice replayable feature, that alligned with a beefy level editor and a plethora of fan-made levels online. Worth the buck, specially if you already played the first one.

The first installment is no doubt one of my favorite games of all time. It is brillianlty made in everyway. The soundtrack is mezmerizing, the pixelated visuals are glorious in their use color and the gameplay is so finely tuned you would swear it was made by a team of Swiss Watchmakers. Not so the second installment. To sum it all up the same strong visual style is present and has not worn out its welcome. The soundtrack is actually even better this time around. That much is fine as is the rest. It is as good as the first with the exception of gameplay. The once fine and precise controls have been replaced by a sluggish and imprecise system that will leave you cursing the designers. Your mouse arc is so severly restricted you will wind up missing your target very often. The look function is hadicapped by the large size of the levels which don't serve any positive purpose except to highlight the poor and inconsistant AI. Sadly HLM2 is utterly ruined by some of the most handicapped controls I have ever come across. If you liked the first then stick with that and avoid this one like the plauge.

I am really disappointed by hotline miami 2. And, as I said, it is a true downgrade; -The levels are too big, with off screen gunfights and loads of enemies -There are now only few levels in which you can choose your mask, also, there are way less than in the first game. This limits how you want to play through a level -Too much story, every level has a dialog longer than any dialog from the first game. The cool thing in the first game was that you did not exactly knew whats going on and also needed to complete the secret in order to know what's happening. In this game the story is brought to you on a silver plate, and also is not as interesting as the first -They didn't fix well knows "bugs" like enemy AI not sticking to their path randomly, spinning around, dogs hearing you from the other side of the map even though you did not make a sound, and, in particular DOORS The nice things in the game were the usual blood, gore and the killer music (except for the sewers that was shit). I can recommend Hotline Miami 2 only to the ones that really really really can't get enough of the first one, and for people that were already frustrated in the first one, the problem which made you frustrated, probably did not get fixed.

I bought this sequel because I wanted more of hotline miami which I had tons of fun playing and I have to say I'm disappointed. I did finish hotline miami 2 but it was between not fun and tedious at times. It seems to me this sequel did not get as much attention than the original one, it lacks in level design and polish (some bugs). Where the first one had me eager to die and try again, this one had me hoping I would not encounter a dubious thought level design and have to try again. Definitely skip this one and go for the first one if you do not own it already.

The amount of times I was killed from outside the screen... This shouldn't be happening in a Hotline Miami game. And they also seem to have added some more input lag. The movement and aiming seems sluggish and less precise compared to the original. I actually installed the HM1 to compare, which accidentally resulted in me spending about 2 hours playing it. The old one, especially the "original" version, with black bars and incurable screen tearing, feels much smoother. I can actually register a bat swing visually, instead of dialing an attack and interpolating the hitbox and the duration of the swing. Not to mention how fun are the frantic shootout in tight spaces compared to "shift" crawling of the HM2.