shelved 2023: my gawd thats cool but fucking hard, like middle of the game and i feel like it takes me two hundred tries to do shit right, bashin my head against a wall until shit works
ill come back to this later aurgh

updated 2024 review coming:

Ive had to rewrite this shit like FOUR times because I keep trailing off, but I loved this game I think that it really did hit once I finally got through Assault

Ive known about Hotline Miami for so many fucking years that I think to me this was always a portrait example of an indie game that everybody fw
I never got around to it myself though until wayyyyyyyy later and I played a few levels and this gave me not just a fun arcadey feel but even reminded me of some of my favorite action flashgames id enjoy as a kid thatd be just really quick, violent and satisfying(for the time)

if its not the menagerie of all the visual sweetness that rests in your eyes with the colors, the commitment to realistic tinnitus pop, how quick it is to die and try again all working in simultaneous motion getting you to study the layout and at near-muscle memory press through

it's also the presentation of the story thats kinda cool too, ive been told things get recontextualized by the second game but to me this game was strange enough and vague enough about it to question what was going on while also havin it in the backseat and not say or do more than it needs to

Infact, i got pretty pissed when someone said "ur still playin that? its so short though!" bc ive died literally. L I I I I T ER A L LY over a thousand times at this point playing this game and I think its really just boiled down to feeling that short however much it clicks with you and you adapt

BECAUSE BY THE TIME I WAS PAST ASSAULT... honestly wasnt dying so much, i was getting into the rhythm of things again annnnnnd saw the credits. I was actually so floored by this it didnt even initially hit me that I beat this when it gave me so much trouble before and time to get use to... kindof like how when walking back out of each completed chapter you kinda see the brains splatteredddd

you see the broken glass everywhereee

you see the weapons, the shells, all of that

and you just Went through it maybe like.. in the span of a run a MINUTE.. maybe a couple more minutes in linear time not counting retries of shit with the adrenaline winding down
But it really does have that mouthfeel afterwards where youre like "oh. oh my god its over i gotta get out yes" and the dial getting turned down like that mentally and physically within the game is really well done to me

In a way it actually reminds me of when i played Postal 1 for the first time, COMPLETELY different gameplay and experience ofc ofc. But when playing Postal 1 id often be wandering the areas, the washed out landscapes of the towns or forests or caves and just kinda slightly grimacing at the thought
because when the music dies down and youre without someone to kill youre basically just sifting through the area hunting any survivors and the gravity of the situation is more felt like youre a truly desensitized guy doing all this.....clearin my throat hotline miami aint like this rlly, but the prospect of wading through seas of gore that you wrought (figuratively speakin) with the tone and tension sunk is something really palpable to me that i enjoyed

its disturbing and added to the high tension action, i mostly leaned towards using the cobra mask and the tiger one and didnt really bother with much of the rest but i could still appreciate having so many options to tackle and tough through the game with

Sometimes this game's AI is also so fucked too, like its cool how each reset they can behave diff but that also means youre gonna go up against ANYTHING happening or sometimes the doors fuck you up or sometimes the enemy can see you even when it feels like they shouldn be able to or they glitch out the rims and you cant progress
AND THIS WAS ALL RARE! dont get it twisted, i think the game is still cool but moments like this had me laughing or groaning in frustration and i felt like its worth noting that
but otherwise i rlly dont got much complaints whatsoever this game rules

I don't think ill hop at hotline miami 2 immediately
maybe give it like another week or so? im not too sure
But i did really love what was here

Reviewed on May 01, 2024


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