Hotline Miami - PS Vita Review

Hotline Miami is an ultra-violent top-down shooter whose incredible style and play mechanics make it one of the must unique games ever made.

 

In Hotline Miami you play an unnamed protagonist who receives messages from a shadowy organization of masked men telling him to infiltrate buildings, killing everyone within. The game constantly has you questioning your characters motivation and sanity as the lines between fantasy and reality are always being blurred. Are the masked men real? Why do you always meet the same store clerk after every mission who gives your superfluous items such as free pizza or video rentals? Many of these questions are never fully answered and are left to the player for interpretation.

The story is presented with dialogue boxes from various characters whose cryptic messages drive the main character on. Character progression can be gleaned from visual cues such as the state of the protagonists apartment changing over the course of the game. The main character will usually start each mission with a phone call in his apartment telling him to pay certain people "visits" which results him going on a murderous rampage in several different, multi-leveled locations.

The game is played from a top-down perspective and involves the player going from room to room in a gang infested building killing everyone in sight before being allowed to progress to the next floor. The game is presented with a 2D pixel art style that while retro in feel, can display insane amounts of violence. Your character will stomp on heads, gouge out eyes and slash throats that will results in streams of pixilated blood and viscera. The entire game is heavily influenced by the 2011 film "Drive" (so much so that the developers thank director Nicolas Winding Refn in the credits). This influence can not only be seen in the violence and presentation but also the amazing 80s themed, dark sythn soundtrack, whose thumping baseline and high-pitched whines will get your thumbs moving and your eyes twitching.

 

The player is given a limited view of his surroundings and is able to see an overhead room layout of the immediate area around him. Guards patrol in an ordered fashion and it's up to you to decide the best course of action to take on a room. Death will come swiftly to both the player and enemies as most attacks result in one hit kills. A large arsenal of firearms such as shotguns and assault rifles are at your disposal although you will have to pick these items off of fallen enemies as you usually start the level unarmed.

Smart planning is important to survival and Hotline Miami lets you take on the carnage in whatever way you deem fit. Should you go into a room, grab the nearest guard as a human shield, throw a knife at an attack dog, kill the shield, grab his weapon and quickly blast the two other baddies in the next room before they have time to react? Or should you wait until an enemie's patrol route passes by a door, kick down said door stunning the guard, pick up a baseball bat and smash open the head of the next guard as to not alert anyone else with the sound of gunfire? The choice is up to you.

 

This flexibility is what makes Hotline Miami such a joy to play. The visceral impact of bullets and streaks of blood keep you pushing forward toward the next kill. While this feeling is very empowering, you will die, over and over again. Sometimes hundreds of times during a level. An enemy out of your view will shoot you unexpectedly or a dog will charge down a hallway and rip out your throat before you have time to react. Luckily pressing "X" immediately after dying will instantly restart you at the beginning of a level to try a new method of attack.

One of the biggest problems with the Vita port of the game has to be the controls. Hotline Miami was originally made for the PC with a keyboard and mouse setup for extreme precision. But on the Vita, the twin-stick/lock-on mechanic is just not fast enough to deal with multiple enemies coming at you when a single hit means your death. The way I would have to take on rooms was to rotate my character in the direction I wanted to be facing, then run in with guns blazing hoping the spotty auti-aim mechanic would take out the enemies in a general direction.

While this lead to many more deaths than on the PC version, the fact that it never got frustrating is a testament to the games addictive, fast-paced gameplay.

BOTTOM LINE:

Hotline Miami is a truly unique action game whose variety of killing mechanics along with an incredible sense of style make for one of the most intense action games on the console.

8/10