Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Review (PC)

The original Hotline Miami burst onto the scene with its neon colors, ultra-violent gameplay, and outlandish story in 2012 on PC and then made its way to more platforms such as PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and others.

Now, developer Dennaton Games is back with Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, which brings forth a more fleshed out story, bigger levels, but the same intense combat and the keen emphasis on perfection for those that want to avoid dying.

Does Hotline Miami 2 make a solid impression or has it dialed the wrong number? Let's find out.

Story

Hotline Miami's plot was convoluted, to say the least, and its successor doesn't stray that much in this regard. This time around, there are a lot of new playable characters, each with their own intertwining plots, motivations, and actions.

It's a bit hard to keep track of everyone, at least on your first playthrough, and the flashbacks do little to shed light on the whole thing. Things are even more puzzling in the first few chapters, as exposition segments end up making things worse, instead of clarifying just what's going on. Overall, the plot is enjoyable but the big number of protagonists, plus the flashbacks, weigh it down a bit.

Demolish foes in Hotline Miami 2

Gameplay

Even with all the aforementioned criticism towards the story, it still manages to offer a good motivation for the new protagonists, and most of them impact the gameplay in a positive way, as they often wield special weapons, abilities, and even mechanics.

While you begin with some rather basic characters, you soon start to control unique ones like a brother-and-sister duo that uses chainsaws to dismember anyone and everyone in their wake, a reporter who employs non-violence but can slowly be turned to the dark side, and much more.

The characters are mostly tied to their own stages, and while the masks from the original game make a return, they can't be equipped in most situations. This kind of takes away from the freedom of play style from the original title, and while the new characters bring plenty of diverse mechanics, you can't beat wearing the Tony the Tiger mask and stealthily choking everyone in a stage as you could in the first title.

“Speaking of stages, Hotline Miami 2 brings way bigger environments, often completely open, forcing players to go in a more tactical route and plan ahead.”

The new lock-on system is a life saver, literally, as it targets the nearest foe, and if it's off-screen, it just shows an arrow towards that area. While the bigger levels and increased number of enemies favor the slow-and-steady approach, the classic score multiplier encourages players to go for kill streaks, and if you want to get the best scores, you should certainly do that.

Combat is mostly the same as in the previous title, as while the stages have grown in size, you can still brutally kill enemies using your fists, bats, or pipes, not to mention shoot them using pistols, sub-machine guns, or shotguns. There are also some new items tied to specific characters, such as the aforementioned chainsaws, or a flamethrower, but you won't get to use those protagonists and their skills all that much.

Enemies are also fairly standard, as Hotline Miami 2 doesn’t make that big of an upgrade to their behavior. You can still kite them around, if you're fast enough on the controls, but they can easily shoot you from off screen if you're not careful and if you don't scout your surroundings. Some stages also feature mini-bosses that roam the environment and can't be locked on so you need to deal with them very carefully.

Of course, the difficulty is still there, as one bullet or blunt item can kill you, but that's always been the charm that got many people so addicted to the first game in the series.

For those who favor punishment, upon completing the game you unlock a Hard mode that adds way more enemies to the stages and takes away things like the lock-on system. As such, you'll be able to test your mettle in a grand way and have an incentive to play through the title once more.

Visuals and Sound

Hotline Miami 2 keeps the neon-colored visual design seen in its predecessor and that's not a bad thing at all, the vibrant pixels, the gory violence, and the pretty solid animations paint a great picture when brought together.

The soundtrack retains the ‘80s and ‘90s theme but features way more songs than the previous game. They all complement the action in the stages quite well and the new characters have their own feel and tune when controlling them.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a great sequel. It innovates just enough to feel fresh but, unfortunately, takes a bit of player freedom away through its fixed characters. Sure, many of them feel great and have interesting abilities or weapons, but it does depend on how much you favor them over picking different masks and then going to town on the poor enemies that got in your way.

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