Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Reviews
It's a great game. One I almost hate. One I find spiteful and cruel and perhaps even somewhat abhorrent. A game that's beautiful as well as hideous, that makes me feel queasy while keeping me thoroughly fascinated. Like a bizarre medical experiment, or a mime silently eating its own hands.
While not as groundbreaking as the original, Wrong Number brings more of what made Hotline Miami so great: puzzles, fast-paced action and a soundtrack that can't be contained.
'Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number' delivers the same frenzied gameplay and thoughtful approach to plotting, but the overall experience is undeniably bigger in scope.
Although Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is more narratively ambitious than its prequel, something has been lost in the transition. The levels, while good for the most part, simply do not match up those seen in the original game. Nevertheless, Wrong Number still stands as an excellent closing act for the series all the same.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is certainly worth giving a go if you revel in action and the thrill of risk/reward situations. While newcomers may be left in the dark, fans of the first game will most likely complete it feeling pleased and satisfied. All things considered, Dennaton Games' second Hotline outing isn't quite as spectacular as it could have been – thanks to some flaws in its level design – but that isn't enough to make it anything less than great.
For those of us who sit our backsides firmly in that camp, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is bloody - very bloody - good fun.
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.
So is it worth playing? Definitely. Will it shock and awe players? Only those who are coming to this series for the first time. It's more of the same, but that's no bad thing, and if you're a returning player to this franchise, prepare to be frustrated, enraged and enthralled all over again.
Despite some minor issues, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is exactly what the fans of the original want and an excellent jump-on for people curious to get into the series.
Music is superb throughout Hotline Miami 2. The synthy, high tempo soundtrack is almost worth the price of admission alone and will keep you tapping your feet as you murder, die, restart and murder again
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is the type of game that will get your heart racing and test your reflexes at each and every turn. It’s late-80s-early 90s-infused world proves that arcade-style gameplay isn’t dead — it just moved.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number didn't make giant leaps in gameplay improvements, but the essence that made the first game great is intact and alive. Sometimes that is all that matters, especially in a game like this.
The number you have dialed has been disconnected
Wrong Number is the right call for anyone looking for just more of the same, but some problematic focus on the wrong things keep it from feeling as fresh and exciting as the original. You should still buy the soundtrack, though.
There are some new elements of course, but where I expected a build on the previous game's mechanics into a brand new experience instead became the same basic feel in a different scenario.
A decent sequel that pushes Hotline Miami to the limit. However, held back from greatness by a few niggling issues.
Hotline Miami 2 force-feeds you sleaze
Hotline Miami 2 was in a very difficult spot. Had it solely done more of the same as the first, it would have endured criticism for not evolving. Instead, Dennaton has taken some of the formula that made the first game brilliant, and literally expanded pretty much everything in the game. Sometimes to its credit, but often to its detriment, Hotline Miami 2 hasn't quite managed to live up to the hype of the first game, and will often leave you feeling unfairly treated as a single bullet will come from literally out of nowhere. It's gone from a tightly paced action puzzle game, to a slightly flabbier paced action puzzler that relies much more heavily on the firepower that the first one encouraged you to shun so much. It's worth playing, if not for the soundtrack alone, but this is really the only area that it surpasses the original title. All in all, a shaky sequel that is built on extremely solid foundations.
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.
Hotline Miami 2 is ultimately a lesser game than its predecessor, one that has just as many failings as it does strengths. Yet some of its ideas are so outstanding that it's absolutely worth playing if you can summon the appropriate amount of patience. It's an audacious game that takes risks and embraces experimentation. When so many franchises seem content on retreading the same ground, Hotline Miami 2 feels like an important, if often frustrating asset.