Everyone has already said their thoughts on this game before, so I'll get into what really stuck with me with the game, it has nothing to do with the addicting gameplay, or the killer soundtrack, it's what two of the major characters represent, Jacket and Biker.
SPOILERS for both the first and the second game.
If you know anything about this series, you know what Jacket represents, he's committing horrible acts of violence, just following orders.
For the 50 Blessings operatives, this either is out of nationalism like Jacket and Jake, or out of fear of the threats 50 Blessings has otherwise like Richter, even though at one point said threats were probably lies.
For the players this is just how the gameplay goes, you're presented in the level and your goal is to kill all these enemies, so you should do it.
Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty dull "VIOLENCE IS BAD?!?!" thing, but it's executed quite well in practice with the ambience as you walk through the viscera you've left behind in your wake on your way to your not-Delorean, and it was very profound for its time.
What interests me more is Biker, though.
Biker is a very interesting character, especially how he ends up in the second game, that it's kind of an unrepresented criticism of player behavior, the one who can engage with the game past just the gameplay, but still refuses to engage with it as a piece of media because they're too busy looking for answers.
For Biker it absolutely consumes him, until he's faced with what probably is the ghostly figure of Richard, who I can only assume in the events of 2 represents death and finality, that he's powerless and he's wasting away in the process, and continuing in senseless violence isn't going to get him the answers, nor the retribution he wants.
For the players, they'll look up and down combing through the story piecing together events, when really there's not much to it, it's not all this intricately put together plot, it all just revolves around these characters and what they mean, the real answer is that the violence just to find out what's behind it all, what happens after the collapse of the Russo-American Coalition, what happens after the nuke, isn't worth it, you shouldn't be engaging with the violence just as senselessly as someone just doing it for "the fun of it" because you want to know "what will happen"
I love Hotline Miami, I love how the series pieces together story, gameplay and symbolism, into a total crowd-pleaser, and Hotline Miami 2 ends the series off well.
Please never make another one of these, Nothing official, no fan-games, if you really want to use the level editor, go ahead, but what should be taken away from the game is how our culture is strongly connected to violence, and how violence will always lead to more violence, the series has said what it needs to say, the gameplay is too connected to what the game is trying to tell about violence, let it rest.
SPOILERS for both the first and the second game.
If you know anything about this series, you know what Jacket represents, he's committing horrible acts of violence, just following orders.
For the 50 Blessings operatives, this either is out of nationalism like Jacket and Jake, or out of fear of the threats 50 Blessings has otherwise like Richter, even though at one point said threats were probably lies.
For the players this is just how the gameplay goes, you're presented in the level and your goal is to kill all these enemies, so you should do it.
Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty dull "VIOLENCE IS BAD?!?!" thing, but it's executed quite well in practice with the ambience as you walk through the viscera you've left behind in your wake on your way to your not-Delorean, and it was very profound for its time.
What interests me more is Biker, though.
Biker is a very interesting character, especially how he ends up in the second game, that it's kind of an unrepresented criticism of player behavior, the one who can engage with the game past just the gameplay, but still refuses to engage with it as a piece of media because they're too busy looking for answers.
For Biker it absolutely consumes him, until he's faced with what probably is the ghostly figure of Richard, who I can only assume in the events of 2 represents death and finality, that he's powerless and he's wasting away in the process, and continuing in senseless violence isn't going to get him the answers, nor the retribution he wants.
For the players, they'll look up and down combing through the story piecing together events, when really there's not much to it, it's not all this intricately put together plot, it all just revolves around these characters and what they mean, the real answer is that the violence just to find out what's behind it all, what happens after the collapse of the Russo-American Coalition, what happens after the nuke, isn't worth it, you shouldn't be engaging with the violence just as senselessly as someone just doing it for "the fun of it" because you want to know "what will happen"
I love Hotline Miami, I love how the series pieces together story, gameplay and symbolism, into a total crowd-pleaser, and Hotline Miami 2 ends the series off well.
Please never make another one of these, Nothing official, no fan-games, if you really want to use the level editor, go ahead, but what should be taken away from the game is how our culture is strongly connected to violence, and how violence will always lead to more violence, the series has said what it needs to say, the gameplay is too connected to what the game is trying to tell about violence, let it rest.