Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

 By: Robert Murphy

Back in 2012, Hotline Miami was a no holds bar shooter where players completed various stages filled with white blazer wearing goons and enemies, spraying blood all over the place, cutting people in half and collapsing in skulls. It was a brutal series of events with a mysterious story. Now, the game returns with it’s sequel Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and looks to do much of the same things it’s predecessor did before it but on a much larger scale and with more story pact into it as well. The story jumps ahead to the 90’s but still has the same grungy styling it once had before and even flashes back to the mid-80’s era that the last game was based around. New characters, guns, drug use and even a war are all involved and I plunged right on into it.

Within the first few moments of playing Hotline 2, you’re already causing a bloody mess of things and that’s really what you want and would expect if you’ve played the first game. Levels are filled with goons and bad guys; one scene even takes place in a police station full of cops. You move around the now more massive levels taking down everything in your path, picking up enemy weapons and using them to your advantage. Stealth and tactics do come more into play now though do to the largeness of some of your new levels. Where before you could see most of your enemies and you were moving through a small room or hallway, you’re now moving through huge factories, garages and beach side piers. I found myself getting killed by an off screen enemy quite a few times because just because I couldn’t see them, they could most certainly see me and shoot my brains out.

Players will need to be craftier this time around as things like moving by windows or moving to quickly will plant you right back where you started all over again. It can be a little rage inducing but to balance things out the game features a new lock on system that allows you to track nearby enemies. It may be a little cheap but it does even the score a little bit and even if you don’t use it, you can still use the other control option to look around to nearby rooms and areas to see what lies in waiting to put a bullet in you or something just as ruthless. Some of these levels are a bit daunting though, I was playing the game for more than a few hours in one sitting and some stages were truly lengthy. Levels now encompass more than one-two levels/floors to it and have multiple areas to go through, add to the fact that levels often can take a good amount of tries to get through and you have quite a challenge on your hands so be prepared.

I also never usually take too much notice or point out a games music selection but for Hotline, it’s a must. The up-tempo beats and sounds immerse you into the action taking forth in front of you. It may sound a little dark but the game really knows how to put good tunes to your slaughtering pleasure. See, that just doesn’t sound right but the beats are a trademark for the games and they’re once again back with even more tracks to choose from as you progress through the different levels.

Where things get interesting is the story, this time around you have a number of storylines to follow and character to play as. There is a run down and renegade cop, a hardworking reporter trying to write a book on the string of murders going on through town, a soldier who takes down enemy camps of Russians, a new group of masked vigilantes who are murdering the scum of the city to justify their bloodlust and a deranged actor. You will play through stories for each of these characters, giving you less freedom to choose your character like in the previous games but also opening you up to that characters specific play styles. Players will really notice this with the new renegade group in the game, each one having their own unique skills and play style. The tiger mask character only uses his fists and cannot pick up weapons, the bear mask character dual wields SMG’s and can move his arms to spray a large area with bullets. The swan brother/sister duo is perhaps my favorite, one wielding a fast paced pistol and later picks up any gun around with ammo and the other wielding a chainsaw that deals gruesome damage.

This brings me to my biggest problem with the game and that is the flashback soldier missions. The story aspect is quite interesting but the play styles for the missions are different from the fast paced action of the normal missions you’re use to. You start each mission at base camp and pick out a weapon, from here you move through the enemy encampments and dispatch everyone in the camp like usual. This is until you realize your clip is empty and you have to scour the map to find the ammo box that only gives you a few bullets. It’s a new challenge and I get what the developers were trying but it slows the action way down and doesn’t feel as fluid. Whereas the other new idea the game takes actually spices things up a bit, our reporter character doesn’t kill people in his stages. He moves through each stage disarming enemies, if you pick up a gun it activates a sequence where he empties out the bullets and magazine so nobody can use it, not even him. It plays into the games more stealthy and tactful nature and was something that I thoroughly enjoyed doing.

The final added treats include an unlockable hard mode; this adds levels with the same sort of stage layout, more bad guys and stops the new lock on system for even more difficulty. I personally already have enough of a challenge with the normal game so I don’t know how much hard mode I will be playing. There’s also a new level generator, the layout is very simple to use and adds some fun for your friends. Creating your own gruesome level to have people fight through is always a big plus, especially with a game like Hotline.

Overall, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a top notch game. Sequels often try to do too much of their own thing or ruin what made the original so great but Hotline 2 kept many of the great shoot’em up aspects of the original with some solid new ideas. Bigger levels, a new story and specific player skills all add to what the series already has to offer and made you act tactfully while still going into levels, guns blazing or knives slicing or chainsaws revved, you get my point.  

Good:

- Same fast paced killing action that you had in the first Hotline game

- A new and interesting story to follow with multiple characters

- New specific character abilities change up the play style for levels

- Those solid and memorable tunes

Bad:

- Lengthy levels

- The soldier campaign was a step in the wrong direction

Scully Rating: 8.7 out of 10