Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a game so savage that it can be unpalatable to certain players. But for those who enjoy the thrill of overcoming difficult combat where a single mistake can be your undoing, I can’t think of a lot out there that’s better.

It's still as violent as ever before and best of all, it's still incredibly fun.

Hotline Miami 2 may not be as perfect as its precursor, but the mechanics is still one of the best in the genre. Besides, the soundtrack is probably worth the price of its own.

Even if its core gameplay and visuals look too similar to the first episode, Hotline Miami 2 is exactly what we could expect: a harder, better, faster, stronger chapter to the series, that feels more polished in terms of structure, violence, soundtrack and global madness. A generous, violent, and hypnotizing fun experience that action game fans should not miss, as it will surely give them the pain they want to feel.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is purposely discomforting, hypnotically visceral. It’s one of the best games released so far this year.

Hotlime Miami 2: Wrong Number offers what is needed if you loved the first episode. Incorrect, violent, crazy and extremely difficult. Not suitable for all kind of gamers, but perfect for you if you are looking for a sweet frustrating experience.

Twitch-based gameplay at its finest, with some of the best music ever featured in a game. Wrong Number ramps everything up to varying degrees of success.

In almost every way, Hotline Miami 2 is a marked improvement on an already tremendous formula. This is a game that had me pumping my fists and laughing with joy throughout my time with it, and I was left despondent by the time it drew to a close.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is more of the same, but that's not a bad thing if that's all you want out of it.

More and almost always better. More characters, more game mechanics and a luxury soundtrack are the pros of Hotline Miami 2. Unfortunately, the plot slightly darkens a game of exquisite mechanics.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a great game and a worthy sequel. It’s more confident in its style, storytelling ability, and level design than the first game.

You will find, here, more of that unexplainable experience Hotline Miami is. We miss meaningful innovations, but it's a great game you have to try, and, if you liked the first one, you cannot miss it.

True to its origins, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number repeats the formula of its predecessor by improving some minor aspects and introducing a great soundtrack, and completing the job with a really effective plot.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number goes straight to the point: it's brutal, addictive and raw. You'll be soaked in blood, even in guts, and you're gonna enjoy it. A wonderful shoot'em up, with some flaws.

A story David Lynch would be proud of, great music, and twitch-action gameplay are even more reasons to pick this up and give it a shot.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a great sequel. It innovates just enough to feel fresh but, unfortunately, takes a bit of player freedom away through its fixed characters.

More varied than its predecessor, it's unique, fast and addicting. On top of that, it adds new layers to the peculiar narration, making it way more interesting.

We could praise the gameplay, art direction, and soundtrack, one by one, but the truth is that they literally become one. They become Hotline Miami. It's not a perfect game (and it can be pretty difficult at times), but its style is so hypnotic and deep you won't forget it anytime soon.

Yes! Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is more of the same, but we love it.

Though it is not for the faint of heart, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number provides thrills at the occasional and momentary cost of your sanity. Though you’ll likely find yourself screaming at your screen on a regular basis, you’re equally as likely to find yourself eagerly loading the next level.

Hotline Miami 2 may look like its predecessor, but it’s a completely different beast.

Dark, violent, thought-provoking and powerful. Although satisfying, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is not the masterpiece its predecessor was. [Apr 2015]

'80s style and sociopathic stealth return in the bitingly hard, brilliant-but-unfocused sequel. [May 2015, p.56]

Even though not as good as the original, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a good sequel and a very fun game.

An inferior sequel to 2012’s surprise hit, Hotline Miami 2 nonetheless shares many of its predecessor’s qualities. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission and the mosaic story makes for some very weird, albeit fun to interpret scenes.

Hotline Miami 2 expands virtually everything that the first part started. The sequel is larger, more epic, has a better soundtrack and it offers even greater challenge. [Issue#251]

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is following the footsteps of the previous game, but it has much more violance and cruelty.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong number is hard, fast, bloody and insane like the first chapter. It expands the story, the characters and the situations but not always in a good way. It’s more of the same, but not in a bad way.

I'm not really a huge fan of the game's ending, but I truly enjoyed getting there, even though the game started to feel drawn out after a while, especially after I restarted some of the levels dozens of times over.

Wrong Number might not be the ambitious sequel you're expecting from Hotline Miami, but if you enjoyed the original, the way Dennaton plays with its essential formula makes for a worthwhile experience.

It’s a great game. One I almost hate. One I find spiteful and cruel and perhaps even somewhat abhorrent. A game that’s beautiful as well as hideous, that makes me feel queasy while keeping me thoroughly fascinated.

It's a very 'pure' game, in that there isn't much else past the central mechanic of combat, and those who might have wanted a huge step up from the first time around will be disappointed. But there were plenty of us out there a-hankerin' for some fresh levels, some new features, and plenty more of the tight, fast fun we all loved last time around.

Hotline Miami 2 is indeed a fun and exciting action spectacle, but also a little disappointing successor of a great game.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number didn’t make giant leaps in gameplay improvements, but the essence that made the first game great is intact and alive. Sometimes that is all that matters, especially in a game like this.

Even though Dennaton adds a few interesting elements and delivers a strangely weird and fascinating story, Hotline Miami 2 has problems to step out of the shadow of its predecessor. In the end it is more of the same with a raised difficulty level – which isn’t exactly the worst thing in the world.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is not a bad game. It is, however, a bad sequel.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is as stylish, sick and hypnotizing as its predecessor but at some points things go south. The levels are too chaotic and the characters limit your playstyle.

Wrong Number is the right call for anyone looking for just more of the same, but some problematic focus on the wrong things keep it from feeling as fresh and exciting as the original. You should still buy the soundtrack, though.

Hotline Miami 2 is the rightful heir to the previous games as nothing really changes. The games remains a good loaf of fun and it should delight those who liked the first episode.

On its own, HM2 could be classified as an ‘indie hit’: it has challenging gameplay, great soundtrack and even a nuclear blast, – but it cannot hold its ground when compared to the first Hotline Miami. [May 2015, p.70]

It’s not that I regret those couple of hours I spent with Wrong Number, but for every advantage there’s a drawback, for every ‘I had fun’ there’s a ‘but’ and for every ‘wow!’ there’s a ‘meh’. [05/2015, p.50]

New ideas are part good and part bad for the wildest action game you can get these days. When Wrong Number relies on its strengths, it overcomes the original. Unfortunately, the game does not do it nearly as often as it could.

Hotline Miami 2 boasts a much larger scope than its predecessor but to its detriment the game insists on channelling players through an optimal path. A competent follow-up.

For fans of the series, there’s a lot more Hotline Miami to play here and it still has its moments. For newcomers or people that didn’t get into the first game, it may be a difficult one to get on board with. Review copy of game provided by publisher.

It’s an audacious game that takes risks and embraces experimentation. When so many franchises seem content on retreading the same ground, Hotline Miami 2 feels like an important, if often frustrating asset.

Hotline Miami 2 offers the same bloody action puzzles as the original and is a thrill to play. Everything that is different from its predecessor is quite the opposite, they just don't work.

Wrong Number fulfills its purpose and offers a good, brutal and challenging game, but nothing more.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number lives up to original in a number of ways, even outpacing it in terms of stylistic violence. With a story that's all over the map, and constraints often placed on the player, Hotline Miami 2 takes away some of the fun from the original game -- just not all of it.

Not as good as the original, Hotline Miami 2 delivers a flawed dose of the high speed ultra violence that's fun but not essential.

Adding good new ideas to the formula, but unable to implement them without diluting the overall experience, Hotline Miami 2 isn’t a disaster, but certainly lacks the original’s fiery vitality.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is an entertaining game, at least for the majority of its play time.

Ultimately, Hotline Miami 2 improves upon its predecessor in a way that is pleasing, but non-essential. And to get there, it undercut the one thing that made the original great. Hotline Miami was nasty, brutish, and short. Hotline Miami 2, sadly, is not.

Hotline Miami’s difficulty already kind of bordered into unfair territory, so it’s likely that fans of the original will be able to forgive this sequel’s faults. It does absolutely nothing to attract new fans, but then, no one was asking it to.

Wrong Number, more than a direct continuation, is an expansion and affirmation of Hotline Miami’s themes.

In an effort to be bigger than the original, Hotline Miami 2 bloats the arcade gameplay of the original into an grinder that punishes risk-taking and frequently feels irritating or unfair, not satisfyingly tough.

Where Hotline Miami felt lithe and creative, Hotline Miami 2 often feels sluggish and inflexible. There's fun to be had with this sequel, but it's the kind that only the original game's most ardent and obsessive fans will find in great supply.

Hotline Miami 2 is a crazy, blood pounding, neon infused experience that tries to both celebrate and condemn the ultraviolence on screen. It's a high that leaves you both euphoric and nauseous at the same time, as you struggle against the unbalanced design and frustrating difficulty.

Hotline Miami 2 is certainly worth a purchase from anybody who played the original over and over, but don't expect it to hit the same heights.

It’s just not as enjoyable. The first game felt like a focused blast of adrenaline. Hotline Miami 2’s always stopping and starting, its new characters feel rough and buggy, and the new reliance on guns restricts how you can approach combat.

Restrictive design decisions sap the energy from a series that revels in it, and technical issues deal the killing blow.

Many of the new additions do not work. [May 2015, p.116]

However, these added touches and wonderful, momentary glimpses of what Hotline Miami 2 could have been only stand to make the game more disappointing.

Dennation had a hit. It was dumb, it was violent, it was addictive. What it wasn’t, was mean. It wasn’t punishing. It wasn’t gross. By trying to go further, and bigger, and better, Dennation spoiled a winning recipe

Hotline Miami 2 is a messy, aimless sequel and a step back from the original. Many of its levels feel like crafted set-pieces rather than playgrounds for violent expression, and your scope for creativity is stifled as a result.

Finally, there is a game that I can safely describe as “Even Hotline Miami was better!”