Neither is having to use the game's auto-aim arrow to get a hint of the enemies' positions. Like many people said before, being shot five times in a row by an invisible enemy outside the screen–well, that's not fun at all. Most importantly, Hotline Miami 2 doesn't seem to understand what makes a game fun. The tight mechanics of the first game become a spoiled broth of ideas where the additional ingredients never quite gel together. The soundtrack, so essential to the first game's character, contains one too many bland loop. The skeletal story of HM becomes a overly ambitious mess with too many characters, flashbacks and flash-forwards. The second game pumps all the dials up to 11, and loses its way in the process. The first game had a focused, narrow scope. As good as the first game is, Hotline Miami 2 is a disaster. It's ruthless, rough, and quick, and it all holds together pretty well.

The gameplay is all about stealth and action, but sometimes it feels like a puzzle game of sorts: enter a place, then find a pattern to kill everybody in the most brutal and efficient way. Even with those minimalistic pixel graphics, the violence feels orders of magnitude more direct and vicious than it does in most big-budget action games. The graphics are in the 'so bad, it's good' category. Hotline Miami is an aggression to your senses, starting with the fantastic psychedelic menu screen. It's everything a big company wouldn't produce: a drug-soaked, demented bloodbath. In 2020, it already feels like a product from the early times of indie gaming: rough around the edges and brutal, like a middle finger to triple A gaming companies. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the sequel is so bad, it spoils the memory of the first episode. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the sequel is so bad, This collection includes the indie darling Hotline Miami and its sequel. This collection includes the indie darling Hotline Miami and its sequel.

Hotline miami 1 vs 2