The Therapist Gamer

Hotline Miami 2 is pretty much just like Hotline Miami 1, which is a great thing.  There are many more levels and the story is more complex, but the basic gameplay, which was already perfect, is pretty much the same.  It's brutal and bloody, and the slightest mistake means instant death.  There's a trophy for dying 1,000 times and I got it only partway through the game.  Fortunately you can respawn almost instantly and try again - it's the perfect example of a "just one more try" game. 

 

The story was pretty difficult to follow at times because it frequently jumped between different protagonists and different time periods.  Even though the graphic style is fine for the gameplay, I actually thought the basic graphics were problematic from a storytelling point of view because I wasn't sure if the person talking was someone I was familiar with or not. The characters looked similar and there wasn't really any way I could tell if a pixelated face was supposed to be the ten year older version of someone I'd already seen.  This isn't really that big of a deal, though, but I thought I'd mention it since it's likely to impact a person's enjoyment of the game.

 

Hotline Miami is not for the faint of heart, but if you can handle a little pixelated blood and are ready for a challenge, it's hard to go wrong with Hotline Miami.  The ending was all sorts of crazy, though. . .