Monday 16 March 2015

Hotline Miami 2 Wrong Number (PS4) Review - The Brutality Returns.

 
By Sam Coles:
Hotline Miami 2 Wrong number is one of the most fun and adrenaline pumping games that I’ve played in a long time; it evokes the feeling of the old school top down shooters such as Alien Breed and turns it up to 11 with the violence and art style.
 
 
Hotline Miami 2 is a top down shooter with a bright neon look evoking the style of 1980’s Miami with lots of pinks and neon signs in the same vein as Grand Theft Auto Vice City or Miami Vice. It is a joy to look at with its throw back look of a 16 bit of top down shooter which makes you think that this is standard until you hit or shoot someone and you see blood go everywhere.
 
 
The story this time round takes you through different and varied locales so one minute you’ll be in a grimy apartment building and then you’ll be in the jungles of Hawaii. The levels don’t pull any punches and you’ll find yourself hitting the respawn button over and over again, but most time when I die I don’t feel as if it’s the game cheating me I feel that it’s my fault for not hitting the right button in a split second or I don’t observe my surroundings properly. This game will make you it’s bitch sometimes as you can’t soak up damage like you’re made of steel like in other shooters because most of the time it will only take one shot or one swing of a bat to kill you.
 
 
The graphical style is beautiful with its colourful pallet flashing neon lights and the pixelated characters, coupled with the over the top violence with blood everywhere with bone crunching sound design with the impact of lead pipes to the sound of the guns everything sounds like it hurts rather than them sounding like pee shooters or paddles hitting you.
 
 
At the start of each level when you are taking control of the various selections of psychopaths you can choose several masks that will give certain accolades or stipulations for the playthrough of the level. You’ll have masks like the tiger mask which doesn’t let use weapons which really ramps up the difficulty or you have the swan mask where you control two people, one has a gun and the other has a chainsaw. The different characters really add variation to the game and all the levels feel different and it never gets stale and it gives you an incentive to reply those levels with different masks.
 
The games music is fantastic with its mix of techno and 80’s style which keeps up with the fast pace of the high octane gun fights and brawls, but when you finish a level the music dies down and you walk back through the level and you see all the destruction you’ve caused. It made me feel a bit ashamed because it gives you time to pause and reflect on what you’ve done, but then you jump into the next level and do it all again.
 
Hotline Miami 2 Wrong Number is a fantastic and challenging game that will keep you on your toes and if you own a PC, PS4, PS3 or a Vita I would highly recommend playing this game if you want something to challenge you.

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