The nature of violence in a nostalgia-fueled package.
Aftertaste.
Hotline Miami games are the kind that you can (and probably should) like and hate at the same time. Love everything about the game, and hate about what it is. It may sound confusing at first, but so are the emotions you feel before the shock value wears off, as the pixelated gore and violence become just meaningless. The gameplay is pretty great, the aesthetic is amazing, but the subject matter of the game is such a contrast to its qualities that it itself becomes one of the best things about it. Hotline Miami 2 is a game that succeeds at showing the player an interpretation of violence that might just be very true.
Shocking, over the top, and unbelievable at first;
systematic, predictable, mundane in the next phase,
normal, automatic, and meaningless in the end.
In a way, Hotline Miami 2 can be a metaphor for the processes of dehumanization and desensitization, and the game makes direct references to that fact on a few occasions. It can also be experienced as an art project, and with this statement the review could pretty much end right here.
What it is.
Hotline Miami 2 is certainly a game of unique visual style, and that paired with the absolutely astonishing soundtrack is enough to sell it. The pixel perfect in-game graphics are mixed with a very nostalgia-evoking VHS effect in the menus; all of that on top of the flashy, disco-cocaine-heatwave style you already know from the first game. You play the game realizing that the people who made it have very extensive knowledge of drugs. Just saying. It's a great look and feel for a game that tries to talk about something bizarre. It makes it believable, in a way.
The best thing about HM2 is the soundtrack, and I'm sure you already know this. Somehow, it's better than that of the first game, which in no small achievement if you ask me. The soundtrack is really worth the price of the game, regardless of everything else. You don't really have to be a fan of electronic music to enjoy it, and it might just open your mind to this genre - that's how good it is. Every song in the game is paired with a mission or cutscene, and it's always a perfect match, but I wouldn't say the music complements the gameplay. Rather, it's the other way around.
As for the gameplay, it's just as good as in the first game, but on a larger scale and with a stronger focus on guns. HM2 is not a dual joystick shooter, it's a puzzle game very similar to Mario Maker in many aspects: there is a perfect sequence to beat every level, and your job is to discover the sequence step by step, until you get to that final perfect run. In short, it's like kill-get-killed-learn the pattern-restart. Nothing new, but still very addictive, and quite rewarding when you finally get it right.
What's wrong with it?
I played HM2 on the PS Vita, and sadly I have to say that it has one flaw huge enough to almost break the entire game. You use the touch screen to look around, and after a couple of minutes of playing the screen stops re-centering on the player, which results in a death almost instantly. What's even worse is that the only way to make the screen re-center again is to completely restart the game. As far as I know, there's no way to reset the camera once it starts doing this, so you can either spend a few minutes restarting the game, or manually re-center the screen on your guy, but the latter option is simply not fast or accurate enough - you'll most likely get shot while you're trying to find the player character on the screen, or you won't even be able to see him after clearing a floor and proceeding to the next one. This issue is so bad that it can completely ruin the experience, so keep in mind that on the Vita you'll have to either not look around much (not the way to play, obviously), or be really patient and careful with manual scrolling. The good news is that the game supports Cross-Buy and CrossSave, so you can continue on the PS4, if you can't handle the Vita issues. You should probably also keep in mind that the game is much longer than the original, and overstays its welcome a bit. Gameplay is repetitive enough to become tedious somewhere around the five-six hour mark, for some less patient players it may even be earlier. The price of the product does justify the end result, though.
Should you get it?
Yes, if you want to experience something weird, and unsettling. It's definitely a title that deserves to be played, maybe even understood. If you take away all the added value such as the visuals, the philosophy, and the fantastic music - it would still be a very decent puzzle game/top down shooter. I don't think that's what the game is about, though. The way I understood Wrong Number is the opposite. It felt to me, like the gameplay is just an addition to everything I just mentioned. In essence, it's get high on the audiovisuals, think about the nature of evil and violence, and shoot some guys in the face in the meantime.
