Hotline Miami 2 is the
sequel and apparent conclusion to one of the biggest indie hits of
the past few years. Its distinct visuals and thumping soundtrack, mixed with brutal top down based gameplay, made it stand out and earned much commercial and critical praise. Myself included; the
first Hotline Miami was something fresh, short and very entertaining.
It's fast pace and difficult gameplay balanced out with its quick
respawns and the satisfaction of a perfectly executed plan, even if it
did take 50+ deaths.
So some time later and
we have Hotline Miami 2, which has been in development for a
surprisingly long amount of time (the original came out in 2012).
I've had the chance to play this game two times before at a couple of
local game shows and it definitely gave me the impression that they
were heading down the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach.
It retains the much of original's style: The over the
top pixelated violence, the top down view, the exact same tight
controls, an awesome soundtrack and satisfying gameplay. Even
the (sometimes annoying) auto lock makes a return as well. This should be unsurprising as this sequel started out as DLC for the original.
