Hotline Miami or I am in awe.

[Overboard]

But Hotline Miami 1 is an unplayably crashy mess on my machine. I demand satisfaction!

Satisfaction grows out of the barrel of a gun.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

As far as the gameplay is concerned, it is extremely repetitive and plays largely like a puzzle game combined with a shit-AI exploitation minigame, with the added twst that the AI is somehow unpredictable in what it will and won't react to.

That doesn't even make sense.

 

[JrK]

One thing I don't like about the game is the occassional break with established gameplay. You can only shotgun the heavy guys (?), you cannot hit bosses unless you use their special counter. You cannot even punch dogs unless you use that mask afaik.

And yes, the lethal punches mask is too good. I also found the lethal throws mask quite effective as long as you can hord a few throwing weapons; you can go toe to toe with gunwielding perps and win.

 

[Destroid]

I found lethal doors pretty useful.

The biker guy is lots of fun to play. I wouldn't have minded more levels with similar restrictions, or being able to playback through the whole game with various different sorts of fixed loads like that.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

Yeah, a challenge mode, level editor, and better level selection in the menu would all be great additions.

 

[DwarvenFood]

One thing I don't like about the game is the occassional break with established gameplay. You can only shotgun the heavy guys (?), you cannot hit bosses unless you use their special counter. You cannot even punch dogs unless you use that mask afaik.

And yes, the lethal punches mask is too good. I also found the lethal throws mask quite effective as long as you can hord a few throwing weapons; you can go toe to toe with gunwielding perps and win.

You can also machine-gun down the heavy guys. Takes half a clip but does bring them down.

Bosses are just that, enemies that need special way to defeat. Don't really see the harm in that.

Ever tried to punch a dog that is coming for you IRL ? Don't really mind that restriction.

I do agree some masks are very usefull / powerfull and others are just silly or not worth it. Either way, good game for it's price. Great music on top.

 

[curry]

You can definitely punch dogs in the game.

The soundtrack is ridiculously sweet, and that combined with the weirdness, wobbly camera and the color scheme, it's no surprise all my friends who use and abuse drugs love it. Trippy, man.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

I thought you could only punch dogs with the fists of death mask.

 

[OSK]

I hate the boss battles. They're almost as bad as Deus Ex: HR's boss battles. Almost.

I spent way too long trying to kill the first boss with my lead pipe.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Good game, but fuck chapter 11 (the hospital).

 

[Angthoron]

Yeah, that was kinda annoying.

 

[Destroid]

Spoiler

Did anyone else find that it took a while to notice that your victims were not armed on that one level? I must have chopped up a good 4-5 guys before I did.

 

[ManjuShri]

Any way to stop screen tearing or increase mouse speed?

 

[SwiftCrack]

The best mask is the French translation mask .

 

[Jick Magger]

The only truly bullshit boss in the game for me was the last one. Died at least a dozen times trying to figure out and execute every step perfectly, and the first stage essentially boils down to whether or not the cats decide to do their insta-kill lunge first or immediately take a swipe at you. If you kill them both too close, the chick'll kill you instantly, if you're too far away, she'll start throwing knives at you that'll kill you if you run in any direction other than side to side, then it's a gamble on whether or not you'll be able to successfully throw and hit a fast moving target, beat her down, and hope you do all this relatively close to a pillar so you won't get killed immediately when the actual final boss starts spraying you with automatic fire.

 

[Destroid]

The only truly bullshit boss in the game for me was the last one. Died at least a dozen times trying to figure out and execute every step perfectly, and the first stage essentially boils down to whether or not the cats decide to do their insta-kill lunge first or immediately take a swipe at you. If you kill them both too close, the chick'll kill you instantly, if you're too far away, she'll start throwing knives at you that'll kill you if you run in any direction other than side to side, then it's a gamble on whether or not you'll be able to successfully throw and hit a fast moving target, beat her down, and hope you do all this relatively close to a pillar so you won't get killed immediately when the actual final boss starts spraying you with automatic fire.

Nah, once you have it worked out you can reliably beat that boss. There are some tricks you didn't discover .

 

[Haba]

Protip: Cats can't jump over water. The boss battles are puzzles, not fights.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I thought the chick was a joke boss, she's incredibly easy to kill (though if you're not careful the boss will attack as soon as his speech ends and you'll be right next to him). The cats may lunge at you but the items laying around (pieces of broken glass?) take them down quickly. The real problem is figuring out how to protect yourself from the boss' guns. So far we figured out you have to hide behind the pillars and fling the shards at him while he's reloading, is there any other way?

 

[AngryEddy]

is there any other way?

Not that I know of.

 

[Destroid]

I always beat up the cats and woman with the trophy, didn't notice any glass I could use.

Spoiler

Next time you are fighting her, don't brain her right away and see where she crawls.

 

[Haba]

is there any other way?

Not that I know of.

Spoiler

a.) Get rid of the cats at the pool or whatever
b.) Move all the way to the bottom
c.) Dodge the knives the biatch throws
d.) Throw one back
e.) Finish off the ninja biatch
f.) Throw the knives THROUGH the door
g.) Rush to the doors that are now open, grab knives, end fight

 

[Berekän]

I must be the only one that didn't have any problems with the final boss, and I suck at the game.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS THE FINAL BOSS ISN'T BAD ONCE YOU FIGURE IT OUT

GET THE TROPHY GO TO THE BOTTOM BY A PILLAR KILL THE CSTS WITH TROPHY THEN THROW IT AT BITCH AND GROUND PUMMEL HER

THE SHARDS OR THROWINGS STARS ARE RIGHT BY A PILLAR THEN AND IT IS EASY TO GRAB THEM WHILE THE BOSS IS RELOADING

 

[Eyeball]

Ooor you could just exploit the aforementioned buggy shitness of the game by standing right next to the boss, making him unable to hit you, and then picking up knives and throwing them at him while he reloads. I frankly had a lot more trouble with the Van Of Death in an earlier mission and the constant barrage of molotovs it hurled at you.

I gotta admit guys, I was wrong about this game - It actually does exactly what it sets out to do and does it very well. I simply played it wrong.

I tried playing it as a MGS-type sneaky assassin game, stealthing up on bad guys and getting annoyed when they impossibly spotted me creeping up on them from behind and killed me. Having finished the game, I now realise that this isn't really how it's supposed to be played and that the real challenge is in seeing how big a kill streak you can get going while murdering dudes left and right with bats, knives, guns and curiously lethal wooden doors. When you do this just right, it is very satisfying, and keeping it in mind makes the game a lot less frustrating than my earlier Solid Snake approach.

To pay penance for my misunderstanding of the game, I bought it legally. Half price, of course, as I'm a cheapass fuck.

 

[RedScum]

Just completed the game. It's awesome for that price i tell yah.