Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Design of this game is horrible. It supposed to be fast top-down shooter BUT: 1. You constantly stop at poorly made collision boxes of the stages (which decides whether you make dodge or not). 2. Camera is horrible either you can see on short distance where enemies will shoot you from other side of the map (because they can see you), or you can see far but then you cannot see whats 2 feet behind you. And you also die. 3. Aiming with mouse and keyboard is bad. At the same time enemies have aim bot. Also when you press shift for far distance camera cross-hair does some strange shift adding to aiming problem in this game. 4. Game doesn't make visual distinguish what is wall what is floor and what is low-wall. On some stages you have to die 25 times just to know that those pack of pixels are just small box, and not a pillar. 5. AI is doing some random shit, sometimes you can lure enemies with shooting shotgun right next to them and sometimes not. Somehow i could go pass the cringe dialogs and plot of the first Hotline and had some nice memories. It was challenging but fair. This is just frustrating. Also menu has some fade animations making every operation take 3 seconds. Should have skip to actual game button. No one cares about this plot and those characters. Instead you have to click through the dialogs or go to main menu and take skip, but that also take time due to fade animations.

All the negative reviews here have very good points and I encourage you to check them out to make up your mind, but I just want you to know that everything about this game clicks for me. Yeah doors are buggier, dogs keep chasing their tails, rooms are bigger than in the first meaning some levels are apparently impossible without lots of guns. But I'm hooked. I didn't get hooked on the original, but this one, I don't know why, got me. Hard. Bought it day one, played it through and through and I'll keep going for a long while. I love everything about it, 5 stars, no regret. But yeah if you were more invested in the first than I was, you might want to do a bit of research.

HM2:WN is Hotline Miami pushed to it's breaking point. I feel the reason the devs opted out of doing a 3rd installment is because at some point while making this game they realized there was no where left to go gameplay wise for another full entry of Hotline Miami, and judging by the more lukewarm reception this game got over it's predecessor I would say they were right to end it here. Hotline Miami 2 is everything you love and hate ramped up to 11. Where 1 focused more on tight level design and melee combat, 2 goes wide and demands you to go guns blazin. Where 1 was very cryptic in it's story, 2 is filled with lore and explains everything. It's because of this ying-yang design between both games that I believe 2 is the perfect sequel to the first. It takes the original formula and does everything it can with it. Anything else quite frankly would have simply been a rehash and lesser game. 2 is complimentary to 1's experience in every way imaginable. I love both of these games and fully reccomend them to anyone who can handle the punishment they dish out, because underneath the "unfairness" lies some two very rewarding games.

Fun, stressful, fast-paced, difficult and overall very satisfying. I really enjoy how the story played out and how that affected the characters. It's less arcadey than the first but this makes sense in the character / level design interactions. I am very happy to say that I wasn't disappointed by this sequel I highly anticipated.

This second installment in the series lags in the following areas: 1. Hit detection: You will be baffled at the many misses you will make, even point blank 2. The story: The story is confusing and seems to be a nod to MKULTRA stories which is fine but the delivery is ALL over the place. You feel NO connection to the characters. I found myself feeling a little weird wondering if I was being subject to subliminal messages and just wanted to finish the game. 3. Weapons: You unlock certain weapons and items to be used in a second playthrough but during the first it just feels like they are teasing the player instead of adding to the experience. I ended up using melee weapons most of the game because of the lack of ammo. 4. Level Design: It just felt like there were no chances to use the most incredible weapons, double uzis. There were solid wall hallways with enemies behind them so you just end up wasting all the ammo straight on. Things I liked: The jungle levels, the Miama Boss levels especially the drug part. Some of the music is fun. I just felt like the first game was an overall better experience. Get it on sale.