It’s a different design choice from the original, making you change the way you play significantly from level to level. Instead of earning masks as in the previous game, and tinkering with the associated perks you thought were best, Dennaton decides for you this time around. One character has dual machine guns, one packs killer punches, another can roll and dodge. The new characters are indeed quite different for the series, and from one another. Multiple new characters with different and unique skill sets are forced onto the player very early on. What has changed is the structure with which the levels are designed, and there’s more constraint placed on the player to use some of the game’s new features. There hasn’t been any significant overhaul to the presentation in Hotline Miami 2 or in the gameplay. Dismembering enemies with chainsaws or bashing their heads in with a lead pipe, there’s just no shortage of hyper-violence on display.

For a game that relies on retro graphics, Wrong Number conveys blood, gore and violence with shocking clarity. Wrong Number meets the high bar for blood and gore that the original set. With certain death looming around every corner, Hotline Miami 2 gameplay is incredibly tense and violent. Are there dogs patrolling? New for this game is more usable cover. Are there windows that you can be seen through. Making sure you know the layout of each level is also very important. Managing ammunition and weapons, for one. There’s a lot going on in Hardline Miami’s core gameplay. The penalty for slipping up is always an instant, brutal death. Players will need to remember and visually recognize which enemies have melee attacks, which have guns, what are their patrol routes, and figure out what is the optimal path through each level. Hotline Miami is part memorization, part timing, and part reactionary gameplay. Players are tasked with killing all enemies in each stage, how they do that is up to them. That said, Hotline Miami 2 is largely the same game as the original on the most basic of levels.

Unfortunately, it’s where they spread their wings and try new things that don’t always hit the same high notes as the original. In Wrong Number, Dennaton Games builds on and refines their hyper-violent combat, fleshes out their story, and delivers a game that has more substance than its predecessor, with equal parts style. It does however offer about what you should expect from a decent follow-up. Hotline Miami 2 doesn’t have this same element of surprise working for it. The game literally came out of nowhere to surprise, shock, and delight. The original 2012 release garnered critical acclaim for its blending of extreme violence, compelling top-down score-attack gameplay, stylish presentation and strange twisting story. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number has a tough act to follow.

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