Hotline Miami is a top-down shooter that is like some kind of drug-fueled rampage through the 80s. This is a ton of fun and while it is a game where you die a lot, it still will leave you with a smile on your face and a sore trigger finger. Even now, years later, this is still a fantastic game to play through.
How to Download Hotline Miami
To download the game from your favorite digital store, click on the Download button at the end of this review.
The Game Review
The game has a really cool style. It is like an 80s action movie where drugs, guns, and lots of dead people are what it is about. You play as “Jacket” and you get these cryptic messages that tell you to go to a certain place to do a job. No matter how it is described, what you have to do is clear each floor of the place you are going by killing everyone!
Before you start a new “job” you get to pick a mask. These masks give you a certain perk. The rabbit mask lets you walk faster and the wolf mask lets you start with a knife for example. There are plenty of masks to use and each one has something different to offer you as well as a charming name.
Each chapter sees you entering a building and having to kill all of the people inside. You can pick up various melee weapons and firearms as you go, but you better not go in all guns blazing. You want to move quickly, but you have to pay attention to the enemies as one-hit kills you. Hotline Miami is the kind of game where you die a great deal.
This is not as frustrating as it sounds, it has a good checkpoint system, and figuring out ways through each level is cool. Will you use the door as a shield? Can you sneak in and snipe a guy in the head? What about a good old-fashioned baseball bat to the head? Trying to find the right way through is a lot of fun and the high score and ranking system will make you want to replay missions to try and best yourself.
The game also throws some bosses at you and this is probably the most frustrating part of the game. It is 100 percent possible to beat a floor on your first try, the bosses on the other hand require many retries as there is so much trial and error at play. Once you get the pattern down, you have it, but getting there can sometimes be more frustrating than fun.
I love the retro art style that the game has. It gives you a very minimalistic amount of story, but I like that it’s nuts and it fits with the whole theme of the game. The soundtrack is awesome and could not fit the game any better. It has a kind of psychedelic vibe to it and it sounds like something that could have been in an 80s movie.
Hotline Miami is a game that is a great deal of fun. It is a very challenging game, but it has so much style that it is hard to ever get too frustrated with it. There is a sequel that is just as awesome, but I highly recommend that you play this before you jump into that.
