In the indie games world, sequels are hard. really hard. No matter what you do, everything about your new game will always be compared against your first one. This is true of AAA games as well, but they're working on longer timelines and bigger scale, so there's more they can iterate on. The important thing is to recognize what made your first game popular, and find a way to capture that magic again, it's no small order.

The original Hotline: Miami was special for a few reasons. First, the music was absolutely INCREDIBLE! The music perfectly matched the look and feel of the game itself. It nicely complemented the frenetic gameplay and the drug-fueled hyper violent 80's theme oozing from every corner of the screen. That 80's theming also made Hotline Maimi special. It was like some sort of mix between Scarface and A Clockwork Orange, yet somehow worse, and darker. The gameplay was fast and rewarding, making you think and plan ahead, only to have those plans hit the wall along with shards of your skull.

Hotline Miami 2 does the best it can to build on the strengths of the first game. Unfortunately, it often builds in the wrong direction.

In many ways, Hotline Miami 2 feels like a direct continuation of the first game. The difficulty ramps up almost immediately to the point where it's all but assumed that players of this game are already well versed in the controls and mechanics. I was amazed how quickly things escalated the become pretty darn difficult. I'm talking like the 2nd level here. I feel for anyone wading into the second game as their intro to the series, you're in for a bit of an adjustment period. Now, extra difficulty can definitely be a good thing. Its the way in which the game is more difficult that bothers me.

Things are a lot harder in Hotline Miami 2 simply because everything is so much bigger than in the first game. Each level is about the size of three original game levels, meaning you need to string together a longer run of perfection to actually complete a stage, as a single shot from any enemy can still send you right back to the beginning. More than that though, the rooms themselves are also WAY bigger. They're so much bigger that getting shot by an off-screen character is a very real worry at pretty much all times. Even when using the extended look function, you are often not able to see far enough to comfortably move forward.

This change in environment size leads to a few changes in the way you need to approach each level, and they're all to the detriment of the experience. First, you're going to be using guns a lot more. In the first Hotline Miami I used guns as a last resort. I much preferred to burst into rooms with my knife flailing, taking out everyone before they even saw me coming. That's not going to work in this game, because there are often six guys in a single room, the room is too big to burst into to surprise everyone, and the enemies at the far end of the room have one-shot-kill shotguns that they're deadly accurate with.

The other change to my gameplay style that I despised was passivity. When levels can easily contain 20+ enemies and each run takes several minutes, you're going to be MUCH more careful about not screwing up and dying part way through an attempt. Part of the fun of the first game was thinking up a crazy strategy, then bursting into a room and trying it out. When it worked it felt absolutely amazing, and when it didn't it was hilarious. When each attempt is hyper difficult and dying would mean having to start all over from 20 enemies ago, I'm just not going to take any crazy risks. This led to a lot of luring enemies around a corner and stabbing them in the neck. The basic body-pile strategy is very effective, but it also feels cheesy. I felt guilty when doing this in the first game. It felt essential in this game.

It might seem a little harsh. When it comes right down to it, the moment to moment combat still feels good. The aesthetic is still cool and unique. The storytelling is hypnotic and oddly intriguing, and that's not even to mention the music. The music is unquestionably the best part of Hotline Miami 2. I applaud them greatly for deviating quite a bit from the extremely well regarded music of the first game. Between the two games there's actually quite a bit of variety. Many of the tracks this time around are a bit more mellow and slow-paced than in the first, which actually mirrors the gameplay in some ways.

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed. I loved the first Hotline Miami and was really looking forward to this one. It was kind of a harsh epiphany this time around as I started to realize I wasn't enjoying myself as much. Usually beating a level wasn't cause for excitement, but rather exasperated relief that I was done with that particular ordeal. If beating a level in a game makes me think "Oh thank god! I'm so glad I don't have to do that again" there's probably something a little off.