Hotline Miami and its sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number are games with a passionate cult following, fueled by their adrenaline-pumping soundtracks and low-res ultra-violence. It’s a fast-paced game with an awesome soundtrack that you can’t help but bop your head to, and is not for the weak of heart due to both its often mind-numbing frustrations and its penchant for extreme violence. I didn’t fully understand the story or the appeal of the first game but after revisiting the original and working through Dennaton and Devolver’s latest foray into mass-murder, I think I have a much better understanding of what makes it so great, and also why so much of it doesn’t work.
The real strength in both games is the gameplay mechanics. I really couldn’t get into it at first; you aim with the right analog stick, one button to pick up weapons, another to throw/shoot/swing them or punch if unarmed. That’s pretty much it. You can also lock onto enemies by clicking in R3 and then flicking it to switch between targets, but I personally found that to be helpful only rarely and too clunky to be relied upon. While the controls leave something to be desired, that’s precisely what makes the panicked reactions and befuddling combat so addicting.
Between the soundtrack–and I can’t emphasize enough how fantastic the synth-charged music is–and the high-intensity low-control enemy encounters, this game will get your blood pumping. It has one of the most thoroughly addictive gameplay loops I’ve ever played, wherein you’re spending a lot of time running trial and error on the same area, attempting step-by-step level paths until you nail it through methodical execution–or sheer luck. I would often find myself opening the same door and dying to the same 5 enemies in the same 8 second scene countlessly, before finding a path that worked and moving onto the next few seconds; this loop is seriously addictive and less frustrating than it sounds. The moments of just barely killing the last enemy to clear a level or dying to the last one from a dumb mistake after getting that far in a frenzied mess of careful planning and knee-jerk reaction plays, are both intensely satisfying and rage-worthy. This gameplay loop is Hotline Miami’s greatest strength and hence one of the most glaring problems in Wrong Number.
The level design makes some welcome improvements with more detail and varied locations, but it also expands the sizes of some levels to point of a fault. Brutally pushing through dozens of failed attempts before finding the finesse of that perfect run is challenging as all hell but also immensely satisfying, in equal parts. That balance is lost in Wrong Number with some comparatively colossal levels that lean away from satisfying and more towards frustrating as you grind through them. The overhead camera is very limited and you will spend way too much time getting killed by enemies you can’t see, which is especially frustrating after pushing through that trial and error loop clearing reasonably sized rooms, as it effectively stops that wonderful loop dead in it’s tracks.
In addition to the larger levels hindering the core appeal to the gameplay, there are some additional gameplay changes that come off as a mixed bag of better and worse. You play through Hotline Miami as the same character, able to wear a variety of masks that are unlocked through level progression, which endow you with different abilities. While it’s a neat concept, and you will dabble with different options such as faster movement speed, seeing further and finding more weapons, most players will all end up using the mask that allows you to kill enemies by opening doors into them, as it gives you an almost game-breaking strategic advantage.
While the options were a great idea, in theory, it’s made null by most players always using the same ability eventually. In Wrong Number your choices are much more limited and most often you’re not even given the choice. The result is simply that the levels with fun abilities are fun and the levels with bad ones are bad. If you don’t like controlling two mirrored characters at once or not using gun, you have to push through those levels. It’s changes like this that make Wrong Number almost feel like a prequel. It tries throwing more varied elements into the mix, but the first game just plays better overall, and while the 90’s aesthetic is an interesting change, the 80’s feel of its predecessor was a better fit.
There are a lot of people that are strongly opposed to this game because of it’s gruesome, albeit graphically crude, depictions of violence, and interestingly just as many making very intelligent arguments in support of Dennaton making a critical statement on game violence with these games. The hardcore fans will tell you all about a story that promotes a deep reflection about violence as it constantly asks the player “Did you like that, well did ‘ya?” after every heart-thumping finale to each massacre you complete and I can’t really dispell that theory. What I can say though, is that the story is so incoherent, the dialog so vague and ephemeral that I could never quite grok that theme out of it. If it wasn’t for some googling and cliffnoting my way through some analysis’ of the series, I would still have a fairly tenuous grasp on the overall themes and plot points. So while that critical thinking may be a driving force behind all that frenetic gameplay, its execution is disorienting and may fall on deaf ears.
All in all the gameplay is still challenging and satisfying, but with a balance several notches below its predecessor and the soundtrack is yet again the ultimate highlight. If you loved Hotline Miami, then you’ll still get a kick out of Wrong Number–but expect some unwelcome bumps along the way, and if you never saw the appeal of the series, just buy the soundtrack and up the intensity of whatever else you’re playing.