Hotline Miami

By: Lorne Whiting

On: October 25th, 2012

Hotline Miami is out now! The debut of Dennaton Games, composed of Jonatan Soderstrom (aka Cactus) and Dennis Wedin, Hotline Miami is a fast paced and violent overhead action game. It’s also pretty damn great, and very difficult. The game has a lot of atmosphere, sitting somewhere between Drive and Scarface, with constant 80’s inspired techno blaring over your murderous rampage.

The crux of the game is killing dozens upon dozens of gangsters, but you’re on even footing with them, dying in a single shot (or swing). Hotline Miami’s hyper aggressive nature and near instant retries create an addictive loop of shooting and getting shot until you finally hit everything just right, everybody dies but you, and then you feel pretty dang good about your ability to brutally murder virtual people. It’s extremely cathartic and that feeling of being a golden Floridian god of death drives the whole game.

While it’s easy to gush about how good the game is, the release is hindered somewhat by a large amount of bugs, though the majority of the crashes have already been patched out. It’s still frustrating to not have achievements unlocking in Steam or getting a mask that doesn’t seem to do anything. The game’s controller support was also removed in the first patch after release due to it causing some severe issues– hopefully its absence is only temporary.

Live action release trailer after the cut:

Posted in Action, Highly Recommended, Steam, Violent & Insensitive, Windows | Tags: cactus, Dennaton

Lorne Whiting

I’M EXTREMELY TIRED I HOPE I DIDN’T FUCK THIS ARTICLE UP.
Anonymous

Dude, it’s terrible. You fucked it up.
http://johnpaulroth.blogspot.com/ John Paul Roth

I’ve been seeing this game on Steam and it looks interesting. I’ll have to try it out when I get some funds.
http://johnpaulroth.blogspot.com/ John Paul Roth

It’s actually not fucked up enough. Get drunk the next time you post an article. Drunk post all your articles. Make drunk video game reviews a new thing.
Josh Reichental

This is a lot of fun, it’s one of those games where you have to play till you get into the rhythm of things, so it feels really good when you wreck the place!
http://twitter.com/dishwasherlove dishwasherlove

Stream the kickass soundtrack here: http://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-official

It’s a great game.
failrate

Bought it. Really enjoying it so far.
K

Bought it, first thing I thought after a playing a bit was “This is the video game version of the movie ‘Drive’,” which happens to be one of my favorite films. It’s got the style down, from the music to the themes to the art. It’s absolutely fantastic. I’m also glad I can finally give Cactus some money for one of the games he contributed to.
http://twitter.com/dosnostalgic Anatoly Shashkin

I still don’t understand why people say this game is difficult. I don’t even play games that often anymore and blazed through this. It’s SOOO much fun and the open ended nature of it contribute to never becoming frustrating. Quality stuff. Loved every second of it.
Lorne Whiting

I have tried this. Derek sent me emails afterwards.
Scrape Wander

i thought this videogame was, quite frankly, a fucking stunner. played the shit out of it for days. taking some time off from it but unbearably grateful that i found the soundtrack online, it’s mesmerizing. i will definitely buy it when they give it a proper release, and i’ve already thrown some money at the bandcamps of the artists selected for it.

i can’t say enough good about this game. it’s top 5 of the year, easily.
Gabriel Verdon

Agree.
John Roc

For everyone. Buy this game.