Why did I play this?Why did I play this?

Posted on Feb 15th 2014 at 05:32:04 AM by (SirPsycho)
Posted under fuckem up, hotline miami, dennation games, steam, mac, osx, linux, kickass music



Hotline Miami is the game that got me to pay attention to the current indie scene. I had played some recent indies beforehand such as Minecraft, Geometry Wars, and its ilk, but this game really made me watch avenues such as Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter for indie or crowdfunded games. Hell, there's even a Suikoden fangame that I'm watching at the moment (are you even surprised by this?)

I've seen Hotline Miami described as a top down 'fuck'em up' by Eurogamer and that description is quite accurate. You play as a nameless character that the community has named Jacket as he wears a letter jacket. The gameplay revolves around slaughtering everybody on the floor you're running around on to a kickass soundtrack. Jacket wears a mask to disguise his identity, but each mask has a certain feature that changes gameplay slightly.



In terms of style Hotline Miami is a modernized version of the Playstation game Loaded, but with pixel based graphics and an even better soundtrack. You could point out elements to even old top down arcade shooters from the mid-late 80s like Ikari Warriors, Commando, Iron Tank, and many others as inspiration for some elements of design. Hotline Miami is more of a free roaming game though, with full movement and with the ability to scroll any direction you desire.

In terms of story this game can only be described as a stream of consciousness descent into sanity. The music is right at home in a dance club but some just feel deeper, and with all the face stomping and brain bashing it creates a unique dynamic.



The game even goes into a spin based on alternate timelines and how the story evolves from there. At a certain point in the game there's a confrontation between Jacket and a man wearing a motorcycle helmet. After completing Jacket's story the game switches perspective to the slain motorcycle man and lets the player control him, following the events until the confrontation with Jacket and showing what would happen if the motorcycle man won that fight and killed Jacket.

This version of 1980's Miami will leave you craving more. With a sequel on the way I am anxiously awaiting this follow up to a wonderful indie game that took some old ideas and made them stylish and new. It normally retails for $9.99 on a variety of platforms, from Windows, OSX, Linux, and with Crossplay support on PS3 and Vita. On the PC front it often goes on sale for $2.50, which is the price I paid for it. It was worth every penny.




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
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