Set during the end stretch of 80s Miami, Hotline Miami has you take up the role of a nameless, voiceless protagonist, as you smash, cut, cleave, slice shoot, boot, stomp, whack, and generally eviscerate your way through a number of pixel people.
The game's premise and much of its overall narrative is intentionally left as somewhat vague, obscure, and maybe even a little obtuse. But it works within the game's themes, and does what only video games can accomplish, by primarily expressing itself via the atmosphere, the actions you as the player perform, and everything else beyond sheer exposition. The gameplay is at the core of everything, which is especially beneficial given how damn addictive it is.
Hotline Miami is divided into chapters, most of which all start the same way as your character wakes up, receives a phone message subliminally listing your next job, and you then head into your car and get to ''work''. Your work as it turns out involves slaughtering a significant number of whomever is within the buildings and locals you're sent to. The why of all this acts as one of the most important mysteries of Hotline Miami.
This is an exceptionally violent game, and the genius lies in how Hotline Miami attempts to both draw you in and push you away. The superb soundtrack, vibrant visuals, and not to mention the gameplay, all make it difficult to put the game down. Yet the increasingly heinous acts you'll perform may attempt to do the complete opposite. You'll gouge out eyes, smash apart heads, introduce many a face to your boot, and so on. This is definitely not a game for the squeamish, and it's impressive how vicious it all still looks despite the pixel-art coating.
Hotline Miami at its core is a relatively simple game. Each chapter throws you into a building full of (usually) hostile thugs, and it's your job to clean house. On the PS3 it sort of controls like a dual-joystick shooter, as you move with the left analogue stick and aim with the right. Though even with a firearm you still need to press R1 to shoot.
Both you and (most) enemies die by one hit, which gives the game a distinctive urgency to your actions. The enemy AI, while aggressive enough that they will shoot/swing at you without hesitation, have pretty poor memory. So it's not uncommon to witness the thugs idly walking over the corpses of their brethren, in the same state of mind as when you first entered the place. They often stick to rigorous and often predictable patterns as well, so they can be easy to exploit, such as luring them into a more suitable environment for you to strike. However your view is limited, so it's always a possibility for you to get caught from a guy you maybe didn't see coming; plus the game is just that fast, and there's often that many goons, that even with their rudimentary AI the game can certainly prove to be a challenge. And you will die -- a lot. But because you can instantly try again without any loading, that then creates the mentality of ''just one more try...'', and that one more try will undoubtedly spiral into another ten... and maybe even another fifty.
There are a significant number of weapons, most of which you'll procure from your prey, though they're easily divided into melee and firearms. However there are number of minor differences between even the melee weapons, which can ultimately make a surprisingly significant difference. One good example is the dagger; it's faster than the most common melee weapons of the bat or pipe, and also has a possibility of killing someone when thrown, whereas most will just knock them over. However once thrown, it will break. Firearms are of course as distinctive from one another as you would expect; you have the usual assortment of an assault rifle, a shotgun, an uzi, and ect.
Most weapons won't break just with continued use, but there's still a sense of improvisation to the game that can make the victories all the sweeter. It makes for quite a thrill to rush into a room, smash the face in of two goons simultaneously, throw your weapon at another, quickly grab his shotgun, blow the guy away as he gets up, and then quickly rush through the door to knock over the alerted goons that are advancing towards you and hide yourself away while they're left dazed and confused. The limited ammunition you have per firearm will also force you to think on your feet should you unexpectedly find yourself firing thin air. Though because of how surprisingly versatile you can be all the same, you'll likely never feel as if you don't have the tools for the job; even when unarmed you are a vicious murdering machine, and never doubt the usefulness of simply catching someone on the opposite end of a door.
There are also masks you can unlock and wear, each of which will provide a certain buff. They vary from increasing your movement speed (my personal favourite), to making you slightly harder to detect from a distance, being able to withstand more bullets, allow you to start off with a certain weapon, to even making the level darker if you want something of an extra challenge. As such, they offer multiple ways for you configure your playstyle to how you prefer; though the masks that let you run faster I'd say definitely prove to be the most beneficial.
Overall, the fast-paced, kinetic nature of Hotline Miami works to its advantage; its slick, tight as could be controls give the purest of power-fantasy. Hotline Miami isn't an easy game, and being able to quickly and efficiently clean out a room of what are supposedly Russian gangsters will undeniably give you a rush that'll only nudge you on to kill more. It may start to evoke the feeling as if you're actually nose-deep in 80s Miami it's that intoxicating.
The gameplay goes hand-in-hand with its presentation. There's a very psychedelic atmosphere to a lot of it, with the way each area is surrounded by a sea of hazy, bright colours. The soundtrack is also sublime, and fits in perfectly for when it wants to be eerie, disturbing, or when it just wants to give you a catchy beat to get your murder on.
Unfortunately, there's a pretty lousy stealth-section nearing the end parts, and knocking people over via doors can be a little inconsistent sometimes. The controls, for as tight as they are, can also sometimes make it a little tricky with weapons. Manually aiming with the right-stick doesn't quite give you the accuracy you'd want, and there have been times where I'll miss a guy with a shotgun even though he's practically a metre in front of me. Fortunately there's a lock-on option as well, though that too can sometimes prove to be unwieldy, as I found myself sometimes forgetting I had it on due to its limited representation via a small, red targeting reticule on a potentially faraway goon. Plus, who it chooses to lock-on may not be the enemy you wanted, and in the heat of a fight can be the difference between life & death.
Even with that said, it all mostly functions as intended, and upon completing it and heading back again to beat my scores, I was surprised at how natural it all felt, and it's quite a feeling to almost effortlessly cleave your way through certain chapters in a couple of minutes that may have taken you twenty initially.
The 80s as portrayed in popular culture is more often than not here to supply a backdrop of good, goofy fun -- a flamboyant framing of life where the hair was bigger, the colours were brighter, and there was a certain playfulness that no other decade of the last century quite matches. Hotline Miami on the other hand is anything but -- well, besides fun that is. It retains a lot of the vibrant atmosphere of the 80s, and dips it into a seedy, deplorable vat of violence and horror. And it couldn't have made for a more perfect pairing.