Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: Dennaton Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.2 GHz or better CPU, 512 MB RAM, 32 MB DirectX 8-compatible graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, 250 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Action
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Apparently thinking that the edutainment sector was looking a bit thin, Dennaton Games has made an electronic simulacrum of what it might feel like to go on a coked-up shooting rampage. With a strong retro 80s style, Hotline Miami is fast, fun, and will make you feel terrible about yourself by the end.

Hotline Miami has an odd psychedelic feel that a druggy might experience while trying to merge with his ZX Spectrum, Detroit electro playing in the background. Hotline’s Miami is built in a lo-fi, pre-PC era and painted in bright neon colors. Meanwhile, a pulsing chiptune soundtrack drones along, making the violent proceedings feel like a rave. Yet, something feels deliberately off. The world seems to stop at your doorstep as buildings float in an endless neon sea. There’s madness out there, between the flashing lights and throbbing bass. If the look isn’t weird enough for you, the story should do it. It’s told sparingly through short cutscenes, but the core idea is that you’re a hitman of sorts. After receiving cryptic messages, you don an animal mask and off buildings full of people in very brutal ways. Yet, it’s always hinted that perhaps not everything is as it seems.

In many ways, Hotline taps into the quick-but-difficult style of play that Super Meat Boy found. Any single bullet or thwack on the head will end your killing spree, but a quick tap of “R” will get you back on your feet again. Once you kick down the door, Hotline becomes a strategy game that plays out in a matter of seconds. Kick down the door to stun the guard, grab his gun, shoot the guy as he walks down the hall, and thwack (“Press R to Restart”). Ok, I forgot about that other guy; let’s try it again. Kick down the door, stun the guard, etc. More than once the game had me cursing impotently at the screen and pounding my fists as an excellent ballistic ballet was cut short at the very end by a single misstep. However, all those tears make the victory that much sweeter, until you realize just what victory means in Miami.

After each kill, points and blood spill out of broken skulls in equal measure. The more varied your kills, the more points you receive. More points unlock more weapons and masks. Beyond simply being a creepy thematic piece, each animal mask grants you a different ability to help you plan your rampages. For example, one lets you kill guards with a door bash, while another increases the effectiveness of your melee attacks.

The chilling part is when you realize there’s very little difference between “planning” and “premeditated murder.” When you return home with a fat sack of points, Hotline proceeds to rub your nose in the mess you’ve made. After every mission, you have to slowly walk past the terrible carnage you’ve wrecked, silently get into your car and drive away. After that, you usually stop at a gas station or a bar for a quick drink, and then head home. After the breakneck violence, these interludes feel incredibly jarring. Oh yeah, here’s a normal life that you’re totally not able to live. When returning home from an early mission, your character drops to his knees and retches a nasty green puddle onto the ground, only to quickly get back up again and act like nothing ever happened. This one moment encapsulates the psychosis of Hotline.

It never gets quite as pretentious or blunt about things as Spec Ops: The Line does, but Hotline is slyly self-conscious about its madness. Its garish style is part 80s period piece, part commentary on violence. As much as I admire Hotline, it’s hard to coalesce my feelings about it. I have a similar reaction to Tarantino films. I adore how they’re put together, but I feel terrible by the end. Somewhere between Little Green Bag and the camera closing in on a terrified Mr. White, I realize that a switch has been made. I offer a similar qualified recommendation for Hotline Miami: Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

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