by Ack Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:27 am
1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
We will go with the generic "action" genre for this one.
It was a brutal 25 blood-spattered level slog, but I have finally gotten through to the end of Hotline Miami 2 and witnessed the bittersweet end credits with a sense of resignation. There is still plenty to do in the game for me, but for now I have successfully finished the first run. Overall I enjoyed the experience, though I have a few mixed feelings as well. But I will get to all of these in time.
But first, the obvious point: the music is awesome. Everyone agrees the music is awesome. People who have never played the first Hotline Miami, reviewers who disliked Hotline Miami 2, old fans and new ones, all agree that the music is awesome. What's more awesome than listening to Carpenter Brut's Roller Mobster as you rush through several stories of a skyscraper, taking out the Russian mafia? Or watching the Son gyrate to the beat of Auto Delta Time's Ms. Minnie? I laughed when I realized he dances while going to the bank robbery.
But on to the actual game. The gameplay in this sequel is similar to the first, but with additional layers of complexity from the large cast of characters, as so many have new abilities and limitations imposed on them. Be it the soldier who can switch between his chosen weapon and his knife(which I vastly preferred), or Corey in her Zebra Mask who can dodge roll, or especially the twins, Alex and Ash, who the player controls simultaneously. I have yet to get the hang of the dodge roll, though it is a cool feature, but the twins I find really difficult to play. And many of these characters receive little explanation. I got brutally slaughtered on the soldier levels because I kept running out of ammunition until I finally discovered he had a knife. Still, the core gameplay doesn't change too much between them, so once you've got the basics down with one, you've got the basics down with all of them.
But this game isn't basic, it's effectively a hard mode continuation of the first. This game builds on the first one's difficulty, and there are some really tough but still inspired moments, like Richter's levels, which feel the most like the original game. Richter's first level in a bar involves you walking in and immediately hitting a guy, grabbing his gun, and unloading on the horde of men which come charging at you, because otherwise you're screwed. His second involves killing down a corridor but having to beat up one man, grab his shotgun, and take out the second in a matter of milliseconds. I managed to kill the first guy, then kite the hulking bastard for a swing around the floor before finally grabbing the gun and offing him.
Overall levels are bigger, much much bigger in some cases, and I dislike that even the far view has a limit. I spent a lot more time looking ahead in this game than I did in the first one, and I admit that I got through most levels by being cautious and playing a waiting game. Yes, my scores sucked as a result. But I got through. One personal thing I dislike about the controls is that the far look is left shift. Some of you may know that I broke a bone in my left hand a few years ago, and now extended use of my pinky on a keyboard wears out my hand and causes it to hurt after a while. I ended up switching to a controller after a bit to get around the pain, though I may experiment with new key mappings on my keyboard.
While levels are bigger and feel more like a master class in game difficulty when compared to the first, they're still really interesting to play through, though I have a few that I am not a fan of, and one that I intensely dislike: the strip club. I hate this level, at least partly because the dogs are nearly invisible on the dark floor. I'm not even sure why there are dogs in a strip club to begin with. Ds warned me about the prison level, but I actually didn't find that one that difficult in comparison and thought it was a really cool design. Enemy placement in a few is rough, and quite a few have some awesomely frantic beginnings that I learned to handle through repeated, frustrating starts. But the final level is absolutely incredible. That was definitely the highlight of the game for me.
Anyway, my scores suck, so I'll have to go through replaying levels until I get A+ or better in all of them. I also need to try Hard mode; I'm curious about what this game considers "hard" compared to what it thinks is normal. And there are a bunch of hidden videos that lead to scenes or secret levels that I missed, as well as 2 pages of the newspaper and 3 weapons that I did not use. I will likely focus more on other games now and only slowly slog my way through the rest of this, but I'm having fun, and I'm curious about the level editor I keep hearing about.