Hotline Miami Review

box art

      Hello everyone and happy Wednesday.  Today I will be reviewing Hotline Miami, a game that has received exponential amount of praise in the last two years.  Since the Steam Halloween sale happened recently, I bought it, played it, and enjoyed far more than I thought I would.  Hotline Miami is a top down action game, meaning it is seen from above and not through the eyes of the character or at a third person perspective.  As hinted in the cover to the right, the game is extremely violent, but is presented in an 32 bit action arcade format.  Meaning while the game is still extremely violent, it is lessened down by the format of the game, else it probably would be the most graphic game to ever hit shelves.  The game follow the story of the unnamed protagonist, dubbed "Jacket" by the community, who keeps receiving cryptic phone calls from the same people.  The messages are worded differently each time with new addresses that say the same thing: go to this location and kill everyone inside.    While this sounds dark, all the people he kills are Russian mobsters, so no loss.  Taking place in the late 1980s, the game captures the time period perfectly. As the game progresses, Jacket will struggle to keep hold on reality and stay sane as his world slowly degrades.  Praised for its masterful story that builds the world with the atmosphere surrounding you, making it all feel like an LSD trip sometimes.  The gameplay is fast paced and no one play through is ever the same.  With the game constantly randomizing the items that are on the map, Jacket will encounter different weapons and enemy placement each time.  The player starts outside the building and will pick a mask, each mask has different abilities and more can be unlocked as missions are passed.  Some masks let you start with a weapon while others may enable your fists to do one hit kills.  The game works through a trial and error system that is unforgiving, one hit from

Your basic location for killing Russian mobsters

bullets or melee weapons kills you dead and Jacket must start the level all over again.  Jacket has many melee weapons at his disposal, a few need to be unlocked.  Guns are also frequent weapons to appear and enemies wielding them are the greatest threat, that and big buff guys that can only be killed by shotguns.  While using a gun is the easiest way to dispatch a group of guards, it also makes noise, which draws in the other twenty guys in the room who will kill you quicker than you can kill them. All items can be thrown at enemies, incapacitating them for the moment needed to finish them off.  Doors are your best friend in the game, these pieces of wood can be knocked down, throwing enemies of their feet and allowing for a surprise attack.  Hotline Miami has a awesome soundtrack that intertwines with the gameplay perfectly kind of like Skyrim, exempt with 80s techno music.  The game spans about 13 hours long, maybe twenty if your willing to play it through again for everything their is to find and the secret ending. I consider Hotline Miami to be a great game mixing action, gore and story all into one perfect pot, 9 out of 10. I hope you enjoyed this post, I will be back back with more reviews in the weeks to come.  This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.

trailer