The campaign lasts a considerable amount of time because of this difficulty, but you also get rankings based on each of your completed stages. It demands a lot, but you’ll be willing to give it your all every step of the way. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number doesn’t mess around. Using corners as cover or luring an enemy down a hall to ambush them are crucial to victory. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number might be a gory bloodbath, but thanks to its “one hit and you’re dead” gameplay, it demands intelligence as well. This makes the levels feel much more realistic in architecture, while also delivering a more diverse stage design. Some stages add atriums and foyers as large open rooms, with smaller corridors surrounding them. Levels are much more layered and almost labyrinthine in design. In addition to these styles, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number feels like a bigger game. The changes end up mattering a lot when it comes to variety much like its story, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number’s gameplay always likes to keep the player guessing. Some story characters operate even more differently, like Evan, who disarms enemies instead of killing them early on, but eventually changes his own style with something more dangerous. These subtle tweaks to the classic Hotline Miami gameplay manage to keep the player guessing, while letting them settle into their own. One has no projectile moves, but can deliver one-hit-kill punches. One character can dive roll under gunfire. These alternative play styles are where Wrong Number really shows its best colors. The masks from Hotline Miami return, granting new techniques and play styles throughout. While the main gameplay of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is practically the same, the design feels fresh and renovated. While the controls still feel a little sketchy and tough to get used to, you’ll quickly find yourself smashing up buildings and painting the town red in no time. It also has customizable bindings, which is a godsend for games like this. Wrong Number is a class example it plays beautifully on a controller. While the game plays well with a mouse and keyboard, I stuck to a controller, which is fluid and functional for twin-stick shooters. You even have a handy lock-on technique, which is invaluable in the later stages, along with character-specific moves in certain cases.
You can shoot, but only in the direction you’re facing, while melee weapons have a larger range. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number follows the template of its predecessor as a top-down shooter. The story is hypnotic in its aesthetic you’ll always want to see how far the rabbit hole goes. It’s all wrapped in a gritty, pulp wrapper, right out of noire crime drama and edgy grindhouse film. There are points where you’ll be confused as to the purpose of various events in the game, but it’s that bizarre misdirection that makes Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number’s story so captivating. These individual stories intertwine in interesting ways, complemented by a deceptive method of framing where reality is often askew. You have a group of masked vigilantes who idolize Jacket (the character from the first game), a detective with a serious “bad cop” complex, a soldier stationed in the Pacific, and many more. You’ll find a few familiar faces scattered throughout, but the protagonists each have brand new narratives to follow. Picking up after the events of Hotline Miami, Wrong Number follows thirteen characters, each with their own story. I felt confused when playing Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, but my God was I having a good time. While Hotline Miami was a surprisingly enjoyable entry point for this bizarre trip to insanity, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number cuts the crap and embraces its own drug-induced illusions completely. It’s a top-down shooter in an ’80s retro pixel-art design, but it exists outside of your typical retro throwback. It wants you to feel disoriented, but keeps your dizzy form standing with an almost artistic indulgence on ultraviolence. If I had to describe Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number in one word, it’d be “Kafkaesque.” The first Hotline Miami came out of nowhere and earned tremendous success in the crowded indie field, but Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number tears away the few safeguards that the first had.