Every now and again you hear of games being blamed for incidents of real life violence, who could forget such tragedies as Columbine & Sandy Hook being blamed on games like DOOM and Mass Effect. But there is one game that hasn't, or at least to my knowledge, been blamed of real life violence, despite it being one of the few games that people who are anti-gaming could have a field day with! Enter Hotline Miami, a game where brutally murdering is the premise and a motive is nowhere in sight.
You play as a character who has no name, its 1989 and you are contacted by an unknown caller, instructing you to take care of some things in certain places. What you are then thrust into is a 2-3 hour murder spree with no motive, context or sanity behind it. It is pure, unadulterated violence and it is mind numbingly good to play. The story that is pretty hard to follow, but what is easy enough to piece together is that three figures, wearing the heads of a chicken, horse and owl know who you are and what you have done; your girlfriend has also been murdered and that there is something wrong with what you are seeing; and so its up to you to solve these mysteries and piece together the complex story.
Gameplay is extremely simple to pick up and learn, but is hard to master; it reminds me a lot of the Trials games in that respect. The game is viewed from a birds eye, top down, two dimensional perspective, much like a twin stick shooter or the PS1 GTA games. Movement is handled by the left stick and direction with the right, to attack its R1, swap weapon (you can only carry one at a time) is L1, L2 allows you to look at the map from a larger radius which is often a life saving mechanic and R2 locks onto a nearby enemy.
Hotline Miami is the definition of a twitch shooter if there ever was one. It is best played by never stopping your movement and needs reflexes akin to superhero 'The Flash' and the precision of a military trained sniper. You're going to die...a lot playing this game due to its unforgiving and difficult design, though much like Super Meat Boy, the game never feels unfair and success is only mere seconds away thanks to an excellent checkpoint system. You can only take one hit before you die and besides occasional special enemies, so do most of the A.I. You can approach a situation stealthily or guns blazing, though noise will attract attention. Its a game where dying multiple times, actually helps you out as you get to learn enemy spawns, their movement patterns and what weapons they hold.
Weapons take the form of anything from a small knifes and broken bottles up to samurai swords and double barrelled shotguns, though every weapon is a one hit kill, you'll find that some are more useful than others, whereas some just look extremely cool to kill with.
Murder is something to be embraced in Hotline Miami, so you may as well do it in style; this brings in to play the masks system. Each time you start a new mission you can choose what mask you want to wear out of those you have unlocked. The majority of these give special abilities such as super speed, ability to take two hits before dying and score multipliers, not to mention making your killing spree ultra stylish.
If any game is the epitome of sensory overload its Hotline Miami thanks to its soundtrack and art direction.
The game is reminiscent of old arcade games due to its 80's style look, but mix this with a dose of cocaine for some ultra flashy neon lights and super contrast on the environment to really make the colours super bright, so much that its kind of hypnotising to look at.
Mix this with the superb soundtrack consisting of 80's style electronic synths, both slow and fast, making this 80's arcade game on coke seem like its on acid as well, its one hell of a trippy ride and it'll no doubt engrave itself into your brain...kind of like Max Payne 3's cutscenes.
As a whole Hotline Miami is one hell of a ride, something that is not afraid to be ultra-violent with no real justifiable means but at the same time be extremely desensitising and super fun to participate in. Its control scheme is fluid and flawless on a PS3 controller, its difficulty is punishing yet not impossible, its story is a mystery to be solved and its presentation, its like firing lemon juice straight out of a shotgun onto your brain...which for those of you who need that clearing up is a good thing.
If you don't own this game now, buy it, if you do...then why aren't you playing it? Or at least pandering to the mass media and re-enacting it in real life.
Hotline Miami – 9/10
+Gameplay Is Flawless & Fluid
+Unforgiving Yet Completely Possible
+Outrageous Audio/Visual Style
+Super Ultra Mega Violence!!!
-Story Is Difficult To Follow
