Hotline Miami Review

Replay value comes from attempting to get high scores on each level. Kills earn you points, and using different ways of dealing death will get you more. You also rack up combos by killing guards within a certain time period. At the end of each level you are given a grade and a points total. Getting a high score means that you unlock a new weapon, which be added to one of the many random spawns within each location. You will also unlock a new mask, and you get a choice of which one to don at the start of each mission. These grant you bonuses such as being able to move quicker, making it so that guard dogs do not attack you, or making your gunshots silent, which is the mask I leaned towards in the back end of the game.

The gameplay is fantastic, and is backed up by a vague and confusing narrative which is strangely compelling. You often find yourself in a dark room, where three men in animal masks give you cryptic messages and ask odd questions. At the end of each mission you drive to an establishment, whether it be the bar, or the video store, or the pizza place. It seems that you are good friends with the owner of each location (all of which look oddly similar), and they give you something for free and send you on your way. As the game progresses, things become even stranger. My mind span with endless questions about where I was, what I was doing, and whether my character was on some sort of drug. Is that why the straight lines which make up the rooms are ever so slightly off center, and why the camera has a very distinct sway to it? Why is this man able to so casually kill all of these people? Who are the men behind the masks, and who is on the end of the phone? Are the masks that my character wears simply cosmetic, or are they some hidden element of his psyche? There are answers towards the end of the game, but there are various interpretations, and that is just the way I like it.

It is all topped off by a simply phenomenal soundtrack. It fits right in with the psychedelic theme and time period, and has you humming along as you bring swift death to your foes. As you kill the final person in the location, the music completely cuts out, bringing you out of a kind of haze that you have been under while playing. It is really quite jarring, and then you are forced to return to your car, silently walking over the broken bodies of everyone you have just killed. It is hard not to feel remorse over what you have just done, and definitely makes you wonder what the real reason behind it all is.

Hotline Miami is crazily gory, fast paced and amazing fun. It has one of the best soundtracks of the year, and a storyline that will have you scratching your head as you play through to see if you can unlock some answers. It is a little on the short side, as I managed to complete the story in just a few hours, but there is definite replay value here. Finally, the low price point just makes it all the more appealing. This is a game that is certainly not to be missed.