Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Reviews
Hotline Miami 2 leaves me conflicted. There's lots to love here, but the structure makes it difficult to explore and exploit. It's still an absolute riot to play, and the urge to press on remains compulsive, despite the narrative hi-jinx. Its failings are never enough to truly spoil things - Hotline Miami 2 is definitely to be recommended. It's the sequel that everyone expected, perhaps. But I'm not sure it's the sequel the original truly deserved.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a challenging and stylish game which entertains throughout, and delights in forcing you out of your comfort zone.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is unapologetic, and unforgettable
Reloaded.
For those of us who sit our backsides firmly in that camp, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is bloody - very bloody - good fun.
Hotline Miami 2 is a messy, aimless sequel and a step back from the original. Many of its levels feel like crafted set-pieces rather than playgrounds for violent expression, and your scope for creativity is stifled as a result. When you're deep in the moment, chaining kills as that remarkable soundtrack vibrates through your headphones, it feels fantastic. But it struggles to hold onto that feeling as firmly as the first game, diluting the purity of its compelling core loop with an endless parade of under-developed ideas.
Even though Hotline Miami 2 asks much of what the original title asked of players, specifically if they "liked hurting people," the tough questions and even harsher consequences made me want to keep looking, even if it was unbearable and uncomfortable to do so at times.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is an entertaining game, at least for the majority of its play time. It takes what made Hotline Miami great and made it greater, these being the weapons and level design. It is a much longer experience too, though personal playthrough times will be dependant on your skill. However, Wrong Number also tries to do too much too quickly, and its multiple character paths don't work as well as hoped. Add in the fact there are fewer masks and it feels like a major part of the game has been stripped out. Overall it doesn't quite reach the same heights as its streamlined, bizarre predecessor.
I wanted to like Hotline Miami 2. I adored the first game, and everything the trailers promised - new weapons, enemies, mechanics, and violence, oodles of violence - looked excellent. However, it's just not as enjoyable. The first game felt like a focussed blast of adrenaline. Hotline Miami 2's always stopping and starting, its new characters feel rough and buggy, and the new reliance on guns restricts how you can approach combat.
Twitch-based gameplay at its finest, with some of the best music ever featured in a game. Wrong Number ramps everything up to varying degrees of success.
Frustration gives way to fun and fulfillment as failure turns to success
Restrictive design decisions sap the energy from a series that revels in it, and technical issues deal the killing blow.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is more of the same, but that's not a bad thing if that's all you want out of it. After beating the sequel I was immediately inspired to go back and play the original, which in turn inspired me to start playing Wrong Number again. Between the level editor and the iron-clad gameplay, I'll be enjoying this franchise for years to come.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a relentless, rhythmic, and brutal game of killing fast, and often dying even faster.
Not as good as the original, Hotline Miami 2 delivers a flawed dose of the high speed ultra violence that's fun but not essential.
Adding good new ideas to the formula, but unable to implement them without diluting the overall experience, Hotline Miami 2 isn't a disaster, but certainly lacks the original's fiery vitality.
Brutally violent, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a perfect sequel that delivers a viciously pixelated action gameplay experience.
However, these added touches and wonderful, momentary glimpses of what Hotline Miami 2 could have been only stand to make the game more disappointing. Dennaton have claimed that this will be their last Hotline Miami, but I hope we'll see a third entry in the series as this isn't the fitting finale that it deserves.
Hotline Miami 2 is certainly worth a purchase from anybody who played the original over and over, but don't expect it to hit the same heights. Wrong Number? If only.