It’s difficult to accept that Hotline Miami – the sound of the future – was three long years ago. It’s more difficult still to accept that there might not have been anything which put quite such a fire under me since. This foul-mouthed ‘guide‘ is one of my favourite things I’ve ever published here, and I’d love to know how to commune again with the part of me which made it. I can’t see Hotline Miami 2 [official site] doing it, because despite controversial content the surprise factor probably isn’t going to be there. I’m sure it will be an interesting evolution of HLM’s rhythmic brutality, but can it manage OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS again?

Anyway, there’s a free prequel comic out on Steam. I probably should said that to start with instead of picking fluff from my navel. … [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

The second game in this hyper-kinectic retro-violence series keeps making headlines for all the wrong reasons, and I’m not at all willing to make any sort of judgement about all that until I’ve played the thing. What I do want to do is flashback to when Hotline Miami, Dennaton’s hallucinogenic Drive-like stealth-murder game came out of nowhere rather than was any sort of known quantity. I’d so love to be able to play it again with knowledge or association, to be back in that ‘what the hell is this / this is incredible’ mindset. … [visit site to read more]

This makes sense. Co-operative bank robbery manshoot Payday 2 is getting a new piece of DLC which is themed around the propulsive, topdown, ultra-violent manbeat Hotline Miami. It’s called Payday 2: Hotline Miami, and there’s a live-action trailer below which contains little detail, followed by some further sentences which contain similarly little detail.

… [visit site to read more]

I’m not sure if Mother Russia Bleeds will set the world on fire, but it sure looks cool. It’s a beat-’em-up that I can verify with utmost certainty contains Russia and sloshing, spattering gallons of blood. Maybe there are mothers as well, but I can’t say for sure just yet. What I do know is that this one looks stylish as all get-out and violent as all something else, because they already used up every last drop of get-out on the style. The Hotline Miami influence is pretty overt, what with all the drug usage, psychedelic imagery, and adoration of the color pink. Impressive (and frighteningly violent) trailer below.

… [visit site to read more]

Sometimes all you need is a headline.

A headline, and a death wish>.

… [visit site to read more]

Oh my god, it’s a mirage, I’m telling you all it’s sabotage. Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” is apparently a big inspiration for LA Cops‘ overall attitude/look, but I’m even more pleased that it describes the top-down shooter strategy’s moment-to-moment gameplay. Inspired by Hotline Miami‘s gore-spattered thrills and (classic) Syndicate‘s cold strategizing, this one puts you in control of two hard-boiled eggs law enforcement professionals at any given moment. Positioning is key, but so are split-second smarts and reflexes. So you might, for instance, use one cop as bait and then run them right into a bullet firehose – aka, your partner. SABOTAGE. This looks like one to watch, and watch it you shall in a pair of videos below.

… [visit site to read more]

Though the name might suggest a pulsating, acid-hazed version of Oregon Trail, that’s not quite what I had in mind when I said “opposite.” Shame, but Hotline Trail is nonetheless sublime in its simplicity. The infinite biker takes clear aesthetic inspiration from Hotline Miami (or perhaps the same sources as Hotline Miami), but its immediate vibe pulls an engine-roaring 180. Instead of ratcheting up the stakes and drowning the proceedings in schizophrenic chaos, Hotline Trail’s soothing electronic soundtrack and voiceover encourage you to find a groove and lose yourself in it.

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I think I might be very easy to please. A simple parody, a few jokes, an old music video, some great games made cheap. It’s Forkstarter, in which Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker pitches to gamers as to why they should “contribute to the phenomenal wealth of Mr. Parker and usher in a new age of extravagant spending and unmitigated opulence the likes of which the video game industry has never seen.”

I am pleased. Also, Hotline Miami is only £1.74. (more…)

This is probably the most exciting game-related anything> I’ve seen in months. And yes, as the headline suggests, it’s entirely bonkers. Remember Zineth developer Arcane Kids’ Tribes-meets-Tony-Hawk thing Perfect Stride? Well, it’s just one of 30+ games (23 of which are already finished and playable) that’ll immediately be yours if you hand LA Game Space a pithy 15 of your bacteria-and-filth-ridden Human Dollars. Experimental Game Pack 01 also includes entirely new projects from the likes of Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, Adventure Time (yes, the TV show) maestro Pendleton Ward, Hotline Miami madman Cactus, Kentucky Route Zero devs Jake Elliott and Tamas Kemenczy, and sooooooooooo many more. I’m not even going to pretend to be impartial on this one. Buy it. Buy it because duh.

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BOOM. Stop. BOOM. Stop. BOOM. Stop. That was the entirety of my Hotline Miami fan fiction. Do you like it? Personally, I think it falls apart a bit in the third act, but I suppose I am my own harshest critic. The reason I mention it, though, is that I imagine there’d be quite a few more BOOMs in the mix if multiplayer were part of the equation. And since some kind of divine sequel mandate writ large upon the holiest of Dorito bags demands that it show up in all games with numbers higher than two in their titles, I had to ask Dennaton’s Dennis Wedin if he and Cactus were feeling the pressure with Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. His response? Not even a little.

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