Taking a quick look at the modern shooter genre, one may quickly notice a distinct lack of innovation in recent years. With generic FPS releases and bland remakes, it might seem like there is no hope left for a genre that was once at the helm of game innovation and design. It's for these reasons that the gems of the genre shine so brightly, and, make no mistake, the Hotline Miami series is a diamond. It's a dazzlingly stylish and entertaining series that combines beauty, design, and gameplay together to create a nail biting experience that is sure to push players to their limit, and Wrong Number is no exception.
While the first Hotline game may have been an excellent entrance for the franchise in to the market, the story left many fans of the game wanting more in terms of content and depth. While the story of wrong number may carry much more meat, it may be biting off more than it can chew. The game follows nine separate characters, some of which work in groups, through nine distinctly different stories in a non linear order, all tied to each other in a strange over arcing plot. While each story plays out, for the most part, with enough sense and skill to be called entertaining, the plot is jumbled at its best points and near incomprehensible at its worst. The constant character shifts and perspective changes, combined with multiple hallucination sequences make it difficult to discern what is occurring during many important plot points, and the frequent jumps in time will leave any viewer not paying close attention quite confused. This issue is only hampered by the games style. While the pixelated retro style is by all means great for gameplay, it doesn't seem to hold up quite as well during plot points, leaving you to wonder when some characters are there or what is occurring at some points due to the games top down 8-bit perspective. Even with the information on the correct order of events and character motivations, it's hard not to walk away from the story without feeling a bit stood up, and with more questions than answers.
While the story of Wrong Number may be lacking in plot strengths, the chaos and mayhem that the series is known for are used in full force. The game itself plays very similar to its predecessor, with each level containing a room full of guards that the player must dispatch before completing the level. While the classic mask selection of the previous game makes no return due to the strange nature of the games character appearances, the gameplay is still nothing short of exhilarating. Each kill makes you feel more powerful than the last, and each level presents a new challenge to overcome. As one may soon learn, Hotline Miamis levels can not be completed using the typical run and gun style of most modern shooters, that is, unless you have the reflexes of a cat. Each gunshot will alert all nearby enemies, and with the amount of windows and wide vantage points for armed guards to see you make the planning of each attack essential. Each kill has to be done accurately and efficiently, and event the slightest mishap can send your entire plan into disarray. But in this chaos lies the true fun at the heart of the Hotline Miami series. Each level is laid out before you with almost no guide. The game treats you with respect and gives you almost no advantage over the guard you're soon to face. The design if these mazes of terror start out simple and, as expected, become progressively more elaborate as the game progresses. While you're first chapter may take you only two hours to complete a group of four to five levels, by the time you reach chapter three you may find yourself throwing an hour in to each level. It was often that I would sit down to play the game, look up after two levels, and realize that I had just wasted four hours. Regardless of how good you think you are or how well you think you can predict the design of your upcoming challenges, the game always seems to find a way to turn your expectations on their head and throw you into the worst situation imaginable.
Entering a new level or room, one might think that they will never complete it, but, through a complex pattern of trial and error, you soon learn to master each level, and by the end you feel like you've over come the impossible. It's in these moments that Wrong Number truly shines brightest, when your palms are sweating with stress, when each move is planned and executed with precise measurement, and when you finally see the massive FLOOR CLEARED sign flash across your screen that you truly feel like you've beaten the odds. And who could forget one of the series hallmarks, it's fantastic techno-synth soundtrack. The initial influence for the series, the highly stylized action drama Drive, left its mark on the first game, a mark that persists in to the second. Each level feels bursting with energy, and each step is accompanied by pounding base beats and sharp chords. When combined with a headset and a bloody level, what might seem like a standard shooting challenge soon becomes an electronic gathering of blood and neon as you tear your way from level to level. the music, combined with the bright lights and bursting gore of the game make every encounter in wrong number feel unique, with each attack and strike adding a new level of fun to the game. These songs and stylistic choices accent the game so well that it seems as if they are as essential as the characters and gameplay themselves, as if one can not exist without the other.
The Hotline Miami series continues to be one of the shining examples of innovation not only in the shooter drama, but within the realm of games as a whole, using sleek and stylish gameplay to present its players with interesting and unique challenges, and creating situations so daunting that one feels like a hero for finally overcoming. Wrong Numbers fast paced and chaotic pace make for a truly unique experience, that, while not standing quite withou the support of its predecessor. is still an exhilarating ride that will likely stay with you long after you've left it.