While some people embraced Hotline Miami 2 as a welcome return to the ultra-violent world of neon lights, excellent soundtracks and hazy psychedelia, I found its hyper-expanded levels a bit agoraphobic - making it awkward to keep track of enemies who could be lurking just out of sight down the corridor, and extremely frustrating to replay levels when you die (which, in classic Hotline Miami style, you do very often). Reaching the end of Hotline Miami 2's scenes often felt like a relief rather than an achievement, and no level embodied this better than Scene 24, Take Over. While the gameplay is addictive and satisfying as ever, you could easily be picked off by an enemy two rooms away who snipes you through the windows, or by a dog running at you down a corridor while you're hacking down four enemies with a machete. Rather than approaching each room in Take Over as an individual puzzle and thinking 'I'll hit this guy with the door, then throw a spanner at one of them, shoot the other guy, and pop the unconscious guy on the floor's eyes out (such are the charms of Hotline Miami 2)', the best tactic is to lure whole rooms of people around corners, then slice them up as they come chasing you, which just lacks that feeling of action-movie satisfaction. Take Over is trial-and-error taken too far, to the point where you feel like you spent so long replaying the level that completing it eventually feels inevitable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XbMdvVcidk
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
