Ring, ring. Hope you’re doing well. I need a little favor. Could you head on down to 154th street, put on an animal mask, and then go on a murderous rampage? Great, make sure you grab a snack on the way back. Bashing people with blunt objects is tiring work as you traverse a neon fever dream of violence in Hotline Miami.
Episodic levels play out like fast-paced puzzles as the nameless “Jacket” busts down doors, hucking knives and bullets, into a swarm of Russian mobsters from a top down view of 8-bit bloodshed. Like the 1980’s coke infused city it takes inspiration from, this game is an exhilarating hit after hit offering tight and compact game design that allows players a variety of approaches. At the start of each level, you don an animal mask which grants abilities like doors being lethal, surviving an extra hit, quieter gunshots, or having all the dialogue poorly translated into French. Combined with your extended view of the floor layout, “Jacket” must kill every henchman to complete his mission, but just as nearly every opponent dies in one hit, so do you.
The balance between melee and ranged weapons allows you to cater your attack throughout each run. Melee attacks are quiet, but require being up close and personal, with one mistake easily becoming fatal. Guns have the range, but each shot draws attention to your location as hordes of adversaries descend upon you. Any weapon can be thrown at an enemy to knock them unconscious for a few seconds, giving you the opportunity to bash their head against the floor or perform a brutal glory kill, but leaves you open to another enemy’s assault. This can all be used in a mishmash of ways to advance a room. I would fire a gun to attract people towards me, using a wall as cover, then switch to a bat to dispatch five guys in an instant or I would charge in, bludgeon a dude, launch the bat at an enemy on the far side of the area, and race over to finish him off. Regardless of more conservative or upfront tactics, each scenario has multiple solutions that makes replayability an ocean breeze.
What keeps pushing you forward though, is the soundtrack. Every time Moon’s Hydrogen came on I was amped to take any risk, sitting on the edge of my seat as I stormed a room trying to avoid having my brains be a color swatch on the wall. It perfectly matches the vibe of tropical clubbing, white suits, and gold chains of excess that became iconic imagery of the decade. With the surreal storytelling and considerations about what begets violence and the effect trauma plays on our own being, this game is just straight fun.
Hotline Miami is a meaningful, diabolical time that snorts a fat, fun line before partying into the wee hours of the night to the throbbing bass of south beach as Horatio Caine discovers the trove of bodies in your wake, takes off his sunglasses, and says “looks like this party... was a hit.”