Hotline Miami

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Game Information:
Microsoft Windows Release Date: October 23, 2012
OS X (Macintosh) Release Date: March 19, 2013
Linux Release Date: May 28, 2013
PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita Release Date: (North America, world wide a day later) June 25, 2013
Developers: Dennaton Games & Abstraction Games
Publishers: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Genre: Action
Players: Single-player

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Story:
Hotline Miami has no fully confirmed plot, and this is what makes it interesting. Hotline Miami's story has what is called a unreliable narrator, which means that you can't take everything the narrator says to be true. It makes since because the protagonist of Hotline Miami (nicknamed by the community, "Jacket", because of his letterman jacket) or the character you play seems to be addicted to cocaine, judging by the amount he has on his table when you wake up in his house. Every morning you wake up to cryptic messages (which I believe are hyperbole's to kill people) on your answering machine, and then you proceed to go out to your car, and go to the location that was said in the call and (99% of the time) kill everyone there. You get crazier as the story continues, and sometimes you find yourself in situations such as dodging everyone while trying to escape from a hospital with a deathly headache, or going to a police station and brutally murdering every police officer you find. You meet a protagonist along the way, nicknamed by the community "Biker" for his Biking helmet, but you kill him, as he is your first boss battle. Although you kill him, at the end of the game you get to play a bit of the game in his perspective, along with killing the supposed protagonist too. This is most of the story, but Hotline Miami has a amazing replay value.

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Gameplay:
Hotline Miami has amazing gameplay. Honestly, it is the coolest I've ever felt when playing a game. The visuals, art, and sound combine together to create the best experience I've had when playing a video game. It has amazing, early 90's retro graphics, except it has modern effects and touches on it. The colors are amazing, the common pink/purple of the menu screens, and the neon green lights combine perfectly to create the dicso, retro atmosphere that the game was aiming for. I have seen no game that was able to pull of the same effects. The sound has to be the best part. Hotline Miami's soundtrack consists of modern disco-electro/electro-dance music, but they sound like they are something that would be played at an 80's disco party. I have the soundtrack on my iPod, I like it that much.

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Graphics:
As I said, the graphics are amazing and very fitting for the atmosphere. It takes the style of a pixelated 90's game, but with modern effects added on to it. You can probably compare the feel of the graphics to Minecraft. Yes, it may not be High-Definition photo realistic graphics, but that's what makes the game feel so good, and play so good.

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Controls:
If you are playing Hotline Miami on the computer, you will have no complaints about the controls, at least that is how it was for me. Just make sure you play through the small tutorial at the beginning. I haven't played the PS Vita or PS3 version, so I cannot comment/review on them.

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Ratings:
Story: 9.8/10
Gameplay: 9.9/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Controls: 9.6/10

OVERALL RATING:
9.7/10. Hotline Miami is a must buy, especially how cheap it is. You won't regret it at all. I am looking forward to seeing what this developer can pull of next.

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