Put on a rubber animal mask of your choice and kill everyone at an address you hear on your phone’s answering machine. This is Hotline Miami: a 2D, top-down game that mixes an eerie plot with stealth elements and extreme violence. Originally released on the PC last year by Dennation Games, Devolver Digital has now published it for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.
Set in 1980’s Miami, the visual style will be what you notice first, neon colours pulsate around the edge of the equally colourful building you’re in. You’ll soon then notice the details within the building such as a floating bottle in a pool and the armed men that fill each area. Killing every one of these men is almost always your goal and just as much effort has been put into the detail of each of these murders as has been put into the scenery around you. Blood will pool around and organs will hang out of the bodies you leave in your wake. You won’t notice this so much as you go about the building targeting everyone since you’re focusing on not getting killed yourself but you will at the end of each stage. After successfully finishing off all attackers you have to walk back through the area to the door where you originally entered to get back in your car. Only when walking back do you have time to properly see the results of your efforts as every one of the bodies are right where you left them. The game itself wants you to be aware of the violence at these points, going so far as to have your character throw up after one of the killing sprees.
All of this sounds very graphic but it’s nothing really in comparison to your average war game that uses realistic graphics. At the end of the day these little pixel guys look more like a cartoon than people and wiping them out is a blast. You can use your fists, guns, knives, bats, crowbars and even a brick. That’s not the half of what’s there to unlock, the more points you gain the more weapons become available to you. You gain points when you kill enemies and rack up more points depending on what weapons you use and chaining combos. An important aspect of this game though is that you are just as easily killed as your enemies and you can expect to become very familiar with dying. In fact the first tip that appeared to me in the loading screen was ‘Don’t be afraid of dying’. You can quickly restart the same floor you were on as soon as you do by hitting X. This will be happening A LOT. Working out your strategy of how to go through the rooms taking down enemies will involve a lot of trial and error for seeing what works so you’ll quickly lose any issues you may have about being killed in each level. Enemies can be taken down quietly or noisily by shooting guns that alert those in nearby rooms to come rushing to your location. Weapons can be thrown at them or doors slammed open on top of on them to stun them. The normal stages are broken up with some boss battles, these are honestly less enjoyable than the main game and the same goes for one pure stealth stage towards the end that just seems to feel out of place.
The rubber mask you wear will also affect how you play. These too are unlocked as you progress in the game and each one offers you different abilities such as the ability to walk faster or being able to kill with one punch. Others can change the setting or make the game more difficult like the bull mask which removes all colour from the level except for the blood of your enemies or the bat mask which narrows your vision so you can’t see as much of the level as normal. These masks can make a huge difference to how you play, I was frustrated with one particular level are dying countless times and as soon as I changed my mask the whole floor became much easier. The dog mask stops guard dogs attacking you which is really convenient but then to finish the stage you still need to kill the now harmless dogs.
These masks add to the sinister aspect of the story, at times your nameless character will appear in a room with three figures wearing his masks who speak to him cryptically. Everything about the story seems like it’s there to make you uncomfortable, after you finish each level you will go to a pizza place, bar, store or video shop and regardless of which it is, the same person is always there serving you. Even when you rescue a girl who comes to live with you, you can never interact with her in your house. She could be in the bath or sitting on the couch and her bed is eventually moved over beside yours but you will never speak with her. The further into the game, the more surreal the plot becomes.
I can’t go any further without mentioning the soundtrack to this game, it fits it perfectly. There are the slightly creepy tunes to add to the stranger parts of the plot and then there are some brilliant electronic dance ones to bop along to as you smash your way through a stage. If playing on the Vita a notification will come up before you start: ‘For maximum impact, headphones are recommended’. Listen to this advice, the sound is alright without them but you won’t get as immersed in the beat as when you play with them. This was my favourite, it picks up a minute in:
Hotline Miami is a single player game but it does have a leader board where you can see who has the highest score for each level and what masks they wore for it. There is replay value in going back and raising your high scores to unlock all the weapons and there is also a bit of a collection quest. You can attempt to collect all the masks and find different ‘letters’ scattered through the game which let you complete a puzzle near the end of the game. Two bonus levels are available after you finish the main story, one of which is a fun addition that is set at the Eurogamer Expo.
Hotline Miami is part of the cross-buy and cross-save program so you can switch between playing it on your PlayStation 3 and Vita. I would recommend the Vita as it suits the short level style and the pixellated graphics just look and feel better on it. There is slight touch functionality added, if you touch an enemy on screen you will lock onto him. It may just be a simple add on but I found myself using it a lot.
If you’re not put off by its retro style and extreme take on violence then I’d seriously recommend Hotline Miami. For €7.99 it makes an excellent addition to the Vita and is one of the strongest indie games out for the PlayStation at the moment with a sequel Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number already announced.