Game review: Hotline Miami

The game that I am going to be reviewing today is one of the most entertaining indie games that I've touched in a pretty long time, it's called Hotline Miami. Hotline Miami is a top down shooter which was developed by Dennaton Games, and then published by Devolver Digital. (The same company that also happened to publish Enter the Gungeon, a game I just reviewed recently.) The game was released back in October of 2012, and made available to play for the Steam platform. It later saw a release for the Playstation 3 and PS Vita in June of 2013, and finally being released for the Playstation 4 in August of 2014. 

Hotline Miami is a bit of an oddball as far as video games go within the shoot em up genre. Instead of your typical run and gun style of game, or even the infamous bullet hell shoot em up style like the Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon, this game relies more on stealth and survival elements which is definitely out of the typical box for this kind of game. If tearing your way through nazi's while sitting in a wheelchair with a machine gun like in Wolfenstein 2 is on one side of the scale of shoot em up, then this game is definitely on the other side of it, using a more reserved style that makes you think about your options and consequences. This is something I actually enjoy, and something I think most of everyone could as well. 

Hotline Miami's story sets us back in time, taking place in 1989 Miami with the player taking control of the unnamed protagonist only known as Jacket. (Though, this alias was dubbed via the fans for the iconic jacket that he wears in the game.) Jacket is at home when one day he receives a strange voicemail on his machine talking about a delivery of cookies being sent to his home. He goes outside finding the package waiting for him, and upon opening it up finds a strange rooster mask with instructions telling him to perform a hit on a local criminal group and to steal a mysterious briefcase from them once they're all dead. There's also threats inside of the note telling him that failure is not an option, and that he's being watched. 

Upon completing his mission, Jacket continues to receive more and more strange messages on his machine instructing him to complete more hits on different criminal organizations, most of which belonging to the Russian mob. The voice on the machine never outright says anything blatant, only addressing them as harmless problems that need to be solved at a specific address. As Jacket continues onward with his missions, he begins being haunted through random visions by three masked figures going by the names of Don Juan, Rasmus and Richard. 

Jacket eventually rescues a sexually abused woman from one of these locations, bringing her to his home. She eventually becomes his girlfriend, and is a supporting character for Jacket. Later on during one of his missions, Jacket comes across a scene of carnage that this time wasn't caused by him, but instead was caused by a mysterious, lone biker, who'm he heavily injures. As things continue moving forward, his perception of reality becomes more twisted and bizarre making you question his mental state as he sees his dead victims talking to him daily. The story keeps going in a more unreal direction as you play, with quite a few interesting twists happening towards the end. I won't delve too much farther into the story for you guys, as I don't wanna spoil too much of this rad game. 

As I mentioned previously, the game definitely puts a heavy emphasis on being stealthy and smart with your decisions within the game. You'll have one hell of a time finding health items or even a gun with more than a few rounds in the magazine. And, considering that just one bullet can give you a game over screen sending you back to the start, you definitely have to watch what you do while you play. You'll want to clear out rooms of enemies as quick as possible, often times resorting to using your melee weapon to bash a stunned enemy to death after you've knocked him down by breaking in through the door. 

Again, melee weapons are your best best a fair amount of the time, since as soon as you fire a firearm you'll no doubt draw more and more enemies to your location as they become aware of your presence. Of course, they're all going to have firearms which can put you at a big disadvantage if you're lacking in bullets or firepower. However, there are times where the guns blazing method is your best bet and will have you come out on top. You'll have to spend a fair amount of time learning the rules of the game, like when it's best to bust down a door with your gun, or when it's better to swing your baseball bat down on someone. 

The game doesn't have the easiest of learning curves, so expect there to be some trial and error for sure. The game can be especially brutal at times not only with how you execute the enemies, but with how it treats the player. Some of the levels can be extremely grueling to complete, with certain enemy types giving you a big headache as you figure out how to deal with them. Enemies such as the viscous dogs which can't be killed from melee attacks, as well as larger bodied enemies that won't go down from just a single shot of your gun. Not to mention the AI isn't the oblivious fool you come to expect through most of the game, with enemies being able to see you through windows and gaps where you'd hope they couldn't. Between the difficulty of combat and trying to solve the issues of sneaking up on your enemies, the game keeps you quite engaged. 

There's also a few things for you to unlock in the game as you play, which happens upon completing a mission so long as you've done well enough. You see, you're going to be judged after each completed level and given a score based upon the combo's you've down, the amount of time you took to complete the level, how many enemies you've killed, the characters mobility and the boldness of your killing style. Getting a satisfactory score will net you brand new weapons for you to use in future missions, which obviously is more than useful. You'll also find random masks that have specific perks to each one which can help you along as you play, so keep your eye out for those as you move along. 

Besides the gameplay being engaging and entertaining, the game also uses some pretty strange graphics that you'd expect to not go over so well considering that they're 16 bit graphics. However, the use of the neon graphics in the game just make it pleasing to the eye in a way, and gives it a nice aesthetic that matches the pacing and tone of the rest of the game. The soundtrack and sound design is another great part of the game, giving it quite a bit of it's atmosphere. The music in the game almost comes off as elecontric dance music if it were made by David Lynch. It just meshes will with everything else in the game, and I couldn't imagine a better soundtrack for it. 

Now, while there's a lot I enjoy about this game it isn't a perfect piece of delightful violence. There's plenty of things that the game doesn't really do a great job at, some of which being more important than others. The save system of the game is really hit or miss, as there are times where it won't even save the game for you upon completing a level, so should you get off and come back a few hours later you might end up having to refinish a level that you've already previously done. There's also no checkpoint system while you're playing, or anyway to save progress, so you'll have to finish everything on that level in one sitting and if you die then it's back to the start. Therefore, it's better to play this game in long sessions until you complete it. 

The controls aren't exactly the best either, and don't allow for any customization really. One thing that would have been nice is letting the player change the mouse sensitivity for aiming and shooting, alas, it just wasn't meant to be. Another thing is that you don't have a map of the surroundings by default, which I think was a bit of a mistake. The game promotes stealth and cautiousness, yet doesn't allow you to understand your surroundings, or what even is waiting for you through the next hallway. While they aren't the worst controls, there's just a bit of tweaking that could have made this game a bit better upon release. 

Overall, however, this game is an addicting piece of ultra violence that sports brutality proudly on its sleeve. The game has an intriguing plot that is engaging and will surprise you towards the end a fair amount. As the game goes on, it becomes more and more morbid and insane and will definitely not be the type of game for everyone, as I'm sure the sickening tones and certain sections of the game will be enough to turn some away. Everything is there to build up into a twisted vision of brilliance, however, something that I really appreciated. The stealth mechanics are an interesting spin on the genre, but can be frustrating at times while you play. Even still, I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone interested. Especially since we've got a Steam Winter Sale coming up, so it should be dirt cheap! 

Thanks for checking out my review! Hope you've enjoyed it!