It’s maddening to die repeatedly, especially on tougher stages, but these instances are so few and far between that they didn’t impede my overall enjoyment. In very rare occasions, baddies glitched into doorways, rendering them invincible for a few seconds, only to re-materialize and take me out when I wasn’t looking. While most enemies will come running if they hear gunfire, some are oblivious to muzzle shots two feet from their face. There are still are some cases of poor AI though, where luck will win out above all else. It’s not just a shooter, it’s a thinking man’s game. It’s variations like this that cause you to think twice before doing anything, and patience ultimately wins out in most circumstances. While it may seem like going in guns blazing in a certain room is the quickest way to clear out the guys impervious to melee attacks, it’s easy to miss a window right where you’re standing that leaves you open to gunfire. Of course, plans almost never go off without a hitch, and you’ll constantly have to reinvent the way you approach every level. That’s due in part to a slight randomization for each spawn, where select enemies may not have the exact same weapons or may vary in their patrol routine - but for the most part, the maps are technically laid out in the same manner, allowing you to divine a plan of sorts. It’s still amazing to me how many different ways you can approach a room, and no two methods between players are the same. Heck, even when I proceeded to die five times in rapid succession immediately, I had a blast. It’s that simple.Īfter the very first broken-down door I was hooked again. Your goal is to simple destroy an entire floor of foes, move on to the next part, and repeat the process until everyone is dead. Each map features a host of different enemy types and weapons, all of which can be used in an almost endless combination of ways. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC, PS3, PS4, Vita)įor those of you who didn’t play the first game, Hotline basically functions as a top-down shooter with a completely open-ended style of play. Hotline Miami 2 may not be as “profound” as its predecessor, but it’s still a bloody good time. It was an experience that didn’t hold my hand at every turn, and let me be as creative as I wanted while a kickass soundtrack blared in the background. Many argued that the only way you can truly win is to not play, and it started some insightful conversations.įor me, it was a really bitchin’ action puzzle game that made me constantly reinvent my strategy for each and every level. You were told to commit random acts of murder seemingly without remorse, and at the end, you get a bit of interesting commentary on the culture of violence. For some, Hotline Miami was an existential look at the current macro-state of videogames.