Hotline Miami Review

Played on PC

Developed by Dennaton Games

Released 23rd October 2012

'Hotline Miami' has been often regarded as one of the most influential video games out there, from its innovative storytelling and messaging on anti-violence, bolstering Devolver Digital's career success, revitalising the synthwave genre, to the increased burst in indie development in the 2010s, the title has had a significant impact on how a plethora of games have turned out. Even with this badge of honour, I was able to engage with the game for what it was in the moment rather than the effect it resulted in as I didn't have a clear understanding of the monumental legacy it has had. Whether with or without the prestige, the game is a masterclass in so many elements that it would be difficult to discount the respect it has gathered to some sense of "overrated nostalgia".

The development background of 'Hotline Miami' is quite awe-inspiring. Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin began working on a project initially titled 'Cocaine Cowboy', which was one of Söderström's scrapped projects he worked on when he was 18. 'Cocaine Cowboy' would eventually turn into 'Hotline Miami' as the project needed to be commercially successful for the pair as they faced financial, mental health and developmental problems along the way. The whole idea of making the game "commercial" does seem backhanded to me as the entire purpose from the beginning of the game's lifespan was to deliver something artistic with something to say, rather than something that would please the charts. While the gameplay is straightforward and replayable, its main focus is on what you see rather than what you control. It is probably why I got so enamoured with several documentary videos discussing this game and its genius. Many others felt the same way with how much this game is praised for its ingenuity.

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Story

The story here is quite undeveloped, but all for the right reasons. The lack of information we get behind the protagonist's purpose, why we're killing groups of X, Y, and Z and even the antagonist's motives (which are revealed in the true ending) are all clouded in the unexplained. The story is so enigmatic and disturbingly focused on the themes of senseless violence that it makes so much of this game worth it. The interludes in between each chapter, where the player's psyche talks to him about murdering and "Do you like hurting other people?" fuel this narrative of killing for killing's sake. The fact that it's simple yet complicated made me adore this so much and the pacing for this 4-hour journey is constantly strong; with the city falling to an increase in brutalities and the massacres becoming more ambitious, all while the protagonist becomes more of a mindless machine. I haven't dived down the rabbit hole far enough (or played the sequel yet) to give a thesis explanation as to why the game's storytelling feels so nuanced and potent, but I can definitely applaud its quality.

Gameplay

While gratifying in its own right, the gameplay wasn't as much of a highlight of the game as I expected it to be. This top-down beat'em functions on the efficiency and chaos of everything dying in one hit - most of the time. You obviously get the exception here and there such as the player's bare fists only knocking enemies out temporarily or the beefier enemies taking two hits rather than one, but the general layout is that it's a test to see who will strike first; you or the enemies? The combat, the fast movement of the player, the enemy placements and the scattered location of weaponry create this smooth and slick rhythm where you die and die, again and again, until you find the right combination of rooms and enemies to kill. Since 'Katana Zero' is in my top 10 favourite games of all time, playing something that essientally fathered its stylistic duo of bloodshed one-shotting and amped-up club music resulted in me having a much better time than I expect some would have.

This flow isn't entirely without faults though. While fun, the AI for the enemies can be summarised as barely functional, with how much they get stuck on doors or run into walls. While my 4-hour playthrough didn't experience this as much, I have seen plenty of playthroughs that do have this issue occur frequently. Another problem is that the level design isn't always flawless with many rooms or sections having this disgustingly stagnant pacing to them because every enemy is equipped with a firearm making it feel like your only option is to peek around corners and shoot them, rather than use this game's momentum. What makes this worse is how the enemy's line of sight far extends past the camera's scope, meaning that you'll get shot offscreen. Like the AI, this issue isn't persistent throughout, but the times it does crop up here and there did dampen my time with the game.

Lastly, the balancing of the masks does ruin an otherwise fun system. Before each level, you get to equip a mask which grants you a bonus ability. Equip Aubrey the Pig and the level will spawn in more weapon pick-ups, but if you equip Ted the Dog, dog enemies won't attack you and so on. I tried to use as many of these masks as I had for each level, aiming to switch up my playstyle here and there but I never found myself sticking with them due to 2 masks. Tony the Tiger (the main one I used) makes your punches lethal and one-shot enemies like any other weapon, while Rasmus the Owl reveals secrets in the level needed for the secret ending. There really is no reason to use any other mask in the game due to how overpowered Tony feels (or if you want the secret ending), and that inevitable moment where I restart the level and switch back to the Tony mask isn't an overwhelming flaw, but removing a sense of experimentation and curiosity in a game is never a good thing.

In terms of how this game has aged since its 2012 release, it still works amazingly. The core mechanics are incredibly strong and work gracefully throughout (albeit with a couple of hiccups along the way), and even though it's only 12 years old; when a game pioneers or pushes forward an idea into the mainstream, you'll often find the originator feeling left behind and undercooked in comparison to the newer titles that take inspiration. Not here though. It might be because it's an indie game and indie games generally age like fine wine, or it might be because 'Hotline Miami's fundamentals started as highly polished already.

Bossfights

For some reason, there are bossfights in this game which could've been exemplary duels if they utilised the mechanics more fruitfully, but this definitely wasn't the case. In the beginning, I found the bosses to be interesting in how they attempted to transform the one-hit-kill nature into a puzzle where you need to use the right combination of picking up items, throwing them and going in for an attack, chalking up any failed attempts to me simply not being good at the game yet. But as I got closer to its completion, the bosses stayed the same in terms of annoyance: incredibly unclear as to what the pattern was expecting me to do and how rapidly the boss would run up to me and kill me. This is already a minor inconvenience, but what makes this worse is how you're forced to repeat the cutscenes/dialogue leading up to the boss every time, with no option to skip them. Safe to say, the bossfights aren't all that well-executed and it was a brave idea even to include such encounters.

Characters

The characters share a similar pleasantry to the story, as their often shortened screen times, ominous dialogue, and cryptic presences fuel much of the enigma circling the story, which fuels the anti-violence message perpetrated throughout the game. The protagonist, referred to as "Jacket" by the community, is mute so he alone doesn't offer much here. Still, all the mini interactions you share with the side characters, whether with the cashier at the VHS store, or the bartender at the bar, all contribute to fleshing out the world-building I greatly enjoyed. The only other character of note here is "Biker" who shares as much of the encrypted allure as "Jacket".

Atmosphere

The reason the gameplay wasn't the highlight as I expected it to be, was because the atmosphere came in and stole all of that glory. As mentioned in the Story section, the game thrives off of its themes of senseless violence. This is a case where the game being artsy works massively in its favour - the ramped-up music during a killing to enter a flow state followed by an immediate drop into silence as you walk back out of the level, past all the dead bodies is amazing in conveying that senseless and obsessive violence. The whole art style also compliments that deranged identity - pixelated and unfocused, but clear and cut on intention - so do the colour palettes. The music does the same to a similar effect. It has roots in this synthpop to channel that 70s-vaporwave fusion aesthetic while remaining extremely energetic and almost chaotic as if drown out the noises while you flawlessly slaughter only for that drop in silence to be so much more impactful. Hyperviolence nowadays is definitely drawn out in media with it being the norm, but it doesn't make this storytelling or visual & audible appeal any less effective. Lastly, while I didn't have these issues come up for me, there are cases of this game being quite buggy, with your character and enemies running out of the level area or not progressing. Still, most of these problems can be solved by either restarting the level or game.

Story - 8/10

Gameplay - 8/10

Bossfights - 5/10

Characters - 7.5/10

Atmosphere - 9/10

Great

A cult classic that is deserving of its praise.