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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