Review - Hotline Miami
Jon Evans
SPRINT! HIDE! SPRINT! WALLOP! SHOOT! SLICE! DIE!


Hotline Miami is an acid-fueled, retro styled, Daily Mail-baiting, gloriously addictive, looping 80's dice 'em up with a sound track you never, ever want to stop. This is the reason why I have been falling asleep at the wheel and shouting grumpily at my kids. My sleep patterns have taken a proper beating. Be warned, this is going to be like bumping into those couples at the bus-stop eating each other's faces off. I'm utterly, fatuously in love with it and I don't care if it offends you.
Hotline Miami probably has offended someone. It is very violent. It took ages to be classified by our prudish friends in Oz, and frankly I'm surprised, it's much worse than an alien probe. Visually it takes it's style from top down shooters from the past with a vibrant palette that gives it a unique feel. The game starts with you facing a cartel of strange looking characters in a dark room, all wearing animal masks. The dialogue is ambiguous and unsettling. It pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the game.

Set in 1989, your base is your dingy apartment where you receive cryptic phones calls sending you on a variety of missions. Essentially the end objectives link to the storyline in some manner, usually, 'disappearing' someone or picking up an item, but this does not matter. You have 19 levels of blood and mayhem to work through, with a curious and twisted narrative weaving itself around the death and destruction.
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As you progress through the game you earn points based on your style of play; how many people you kill, how bold you are are when rushing around the levels, how many combos of kills you can make and how quick you think on your feet in intense situations. This works well, and goes towards unlocking new weapons, but also Masks. Mask are a pervasive theme in this game and have become quiet an icon in popular media. Each Mask grants you certain skills which can be a benefit in certain levels. The trick is finding which Mask gives you the most advantage depending on the layout of the level and the types of enemies therein.



I mentioned before that there are 19 levels in total. This is, by no means, a quick game to complete. You will die frequently. Much like the mechanics of Super Meat Boy, you can play a level 10, 20 or even 30 times over (and don't get me started on the boss levels). Thankfully, each 'mission' is broken up with checkpoints so you don't feel too unfairly penalized for dying. In fact I felt this was better balanced than Super Meat Boy, I always knew where I was going wrong and quickly adapted my gameplay as I learnt accordingly. Towards the end, you become more brash, zooming round levels in a murdering frenzy and the movement and killing becomes almost poetic.
Weapons are retrieved from the enemies you kill, and choosing what you use becomes a nice tactical element. Pick up an MP5 or shotgun, and you can take out a satisfying number of enemies, however each gun has limited ammo and invariably runs out before all your enemies are wiped out. Be warned, the gunshots draw attention to you and usually ends up in a wave of enemies chasing you to your death. There is no health here. One shot is instakill, so you need to be clever how you pick your enemies off. 
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Alternatively you can pick up one of many melée weapons and take out your enemies silently. They don't seem too concerned by the rapidly growing piles of corpses leaking blood around them, and so you can quite easily lurk and bash until each level is empty. Tweaking your weapon usage with your Mask perks becomes an interesting planning process. Boss levels are brutal, and I played one particular one at least over a hundred times. These are definitely old-school difficulty, but I resolutely resisited the temptation to refer to the Internet to solve them. Once you do beat the bosses, the feeling of achievement is tangible and worth the effort. 
Each level's points contribute to a global leaderboard, if that's your thing, and once you have completed the game, you can go back with all your hard earned perks and try and replay the levels to push yourself up the list of mass murdering killers. Being the time starved-old git that I am, and not a trophy hunter, I'm less concerned about the leaderboards, but it's a welcome feature, and these days an essential addition to the game. Upon completion, this becomes one of the facets of replayability, along with being able to replay all the levels with your unlocks. You also get a grading, forcing to to relive the thrill of school reports, after each level on the variety of combos and style of game play you use. For those platinum hunters, there are plenty of objectives here and will keep the perfectionists happy.
I haven't mentioned much about the story. It's strange, and I'm not sure I still understand it, but the developers do acknowledge Nicolas Winding Refn, director of 2011 film, Drive, in the credits of the game. There's certainly a lot here inspired by the film, including the references to your character as 'jacket', and it it's worth searching around for hidden notes in the levels to help clarify what's going on. Nevertheless, personally I was more than happy with the gameplay, which was addictive and gratifying enough and people will inevitably look at Wikipedia if they get confused.
This review is for the Vita version. Being a cross-buy product, you also get the PS3 version  (the game capture footage you see here is from the PS3). The game is identical in all ways except for control. You need lightning fast reflexes, especially if you want to grab the master combo trophy, and the PS3 has a slight lag, which is noticeable after putting in many hours on the Vita. It's great to get both games, but the Vita version is by far the superior. Considering the quick disposable pick up and play style of the game it's perfect for a mobile platform, in fact perfect for the Vita. It wouldn't work on a completely touch interface as you couldn't get any where near the control you need. The only touch input you have for the Vita is marking enemies by tapping on them, to auto aim your weapons. This was very useful in certain situations, but I used it sparingly as it limits your directional fire when dealing with a mass influx of enemies.



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This is a great game and a flagship ambassador for the Indie games market. It won't suit all players, and, although challenging in parts, isn't unbalanced in its difficulty (heck, I completed it, me!) The soundtrack is divine, and actually worth listening to independently, with visuals that are a dazzling technicolor treat. The Vita controls are as tight as the rectum of a freshly robbed bank clerk and If you're a fan of top down stick shooters, you'll love it. If you're a brutal carnage loving nutter, you probably already own it.



Wrap Up

The Good - Great visuals, addictive, snappy, instant gameplay, quirky style, excellent soundtrack.

The Bad - Slightly confusing story, PS3 version has slight lag on with controls. 

4.5/5
Game bought by reviewer
Images courtesy of SCEE and indigo pearl
Videos captured from PS3 version