5/5 ★ – Ben_Adams1015's review of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.

(Beat on Ps5 in 8 hours) Despite how much I struggled with a lot of these levels, I’m really sad to see this series go. You know what they say… good times never last. Gameplay: 9/10 Fuck, and I thought the first one was tough. This game kicked my ass for 8 hours straight, up until the very last moment. I love all of the new ideas here- frequent character swapping keeps things fresh, and you always have a new weapon or play style to mess around with. It offers a lot of variety to HM1, and kept me very engaged. However, this game’s gameplay is held back from perfection by the more open-ended level design. It makes it a LOT more difficult. That’s not the part that makes it bad- I wanted HM2 to be harder than the first. It’s just that it feels like you shouldn’t have died a lot of the time. I was killed by something offscreen a lot. Definitely one of the toughest games I’ve tackled. Soundtrack: 10/10 The combined soundtrack of both Hotline Miami games may be the greatest of all time. Not only does this have more of the synth/dubstep greatness of the first, but a few very somber tracks that really fit the game’s tone. This is a depressing game, and there are a few songs to match it (most notably the menu theme, credits song, and even the one that plays when you hover over the icon on PS5). Visuals: 10/10 The visual style for this series always floors me. I love the 80’s/90’s aesthetic, and the pixel work is some of the best I’ve ever seen. The violence is insanely detailed and brutal for a pixelated game, and makes you feel terrible for having fun while playing the game. Story: 9/10 This game is insanely depressing. It takes a more grounded approach compared to the trippy, Lynch-esque atmosphere of the first, and makes it much more complex. The first game has a pretty simple story (that is still effective), but HM2 is just a bit more interesting to analyze. A good comparison to the Hotline Miami series is the Last of Us series. Both are brutally violent, have fantastic soundtracks, gorgeous visuals, and great stories. HM1 and TLOU1 have simple, but extremely effective stories with really solid combat and a dark, but still somewhat adventurous tone. HM2 and TLOU2 have complicated stories that have you swapping between characters throughout the story, and an overall darker and far more depressing tone then that of the first. I find that both of these games have better stories than the first when you look at them beyond a surface level. Both sequels have better gameplay that allows you to experiment with more mechanics, and give you more open areas to fight enemies.