Hotline Miami

I also like how

Spoiler:

it's the same guy who works at all the little retail shops in the area.

How can this be coming to Sony platforms before Mac?

My bigger question is why is he announcing it for all these other platforms before he fixes the PC version which is still buggy as Hell and still has broken Steamworks support. I think this coming to the Vita is really cool but I'm not giving this guy another dime until he starts supporting his original customers on PC.

No Linux support also bums me out.

It's worth dual booting for though. Just be sure to disable steam works and your print spooler if you have troubles...

I finished the game recently. Narratively I'm not entirely satisfied, but boy this game oozes personality and it was fun the whole way through.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

How can this be coming to Sony platforms before Mac?

Probably because Sony is offering him a large sack of cash...

The reasons whe he isn't fixing what's already there and not doing ports is likely down to limitations of Game Maker, that is, he can't figure out how to do it. Much of what's already there is inconceivable to me, as a GM user of the better part of a decade. Likely the fixes/improvements would require a complete rewrite.

Just starting playing this recently. Holy sh*t, this is awesome! There is just something about wearing an animal mask and committing ultra-violence to music like this:

Unfortunately, it keeps crashing on me left and right.

Just started it this morning. Fun so far, on chapter 5.

gore wrote:

No Linux support also bums me out.

Be bummed no longer. Linux support is here.

In Steam for Linux, you need to enable the beta download by going to the game's Properties menu, Beta tab, and using the password "hlm" to enable the beta. Then it will download and you can launch it. (If you try to run it before enabling the beta, it won't actually download and you'll get the "no executable" message).

Of course, it is beta, so the usual don't-freak-if-it-doesn't-work-yet caveats apply.

*Legion* wrote:

Be bummed no longer. Linux support is here.

You can even get it DRM-free with the latest Humble Bundle! Pretty darned cool.

I haven't gone back to try the Linux port personally since I'm not feeling the need to replay this game.

This game is so great! I never knew about that soundtrack until I loaded it up and it's filled with New Retro music and a few of my favorites. So glad I got it off the Humble bundle.

The challenge is just right for me and I enjoy the "once more time" aspect to it all. It's so satisfying to pull off combos like bust through a door, toss a knife out to an enemy, grab his gun and take out 3 others.

Oh, if any of you like that kind of music I have a New Retro Playlist on Spotify

These are the Hotline tracks

I knew I would like this game, but holy hell is it awesome. The amount of expressiveness in the sprites and their animations is really impressive, even if most of that detail is in the gore. I'm fine with hyperviolence when it's this stylized. I wish I could change the sound volume ingame though, and having mash through some of the dialogue when you restart boss battles is a bit annoying.

I fired it up for the first time last night (thanks, Minarchist!).

I can't play it.

For whatever reason, it hits all the really unpleasant triggers in my brain in the same way that really explicit - and gruesome - violence in videos does. It's the same way I felt when I first read the plot synopsis of The Human Caterpillar, or A Serbian Film. Interestingly, I think the low-bit graphics actually make it worse, both because it leaves more for my imagination to fill and because the style makes me think of a cocaine-fueled deranged mutilation-fest. The random intervals of non-violence and the rubber masks all exacerbate it in, for me, the worst possible way.

I didn't sleep well last - had both trouble falling asleep and disturbing dreams - and I think it's because of the half-hour or so I played of this. It's the first time that a game has affected me in that way.

That's interesting. I also usually can't stand "torture porn" or graphic violence, but this game doesn't strike those nerves for me. Obviously the tone in Hotline is much different, but the violence feels kind of like GTA1 where you would run over hordes of pedestrians who just left a little pool of blood.

I think it may be because of the way it's presented; in Shooter#37 I'm killin' dudes to reach the McGuffin/rescue the girl/save the world, and everything I do is somehow linked to that. In this, I'm renting a movie, or buying snacks, and then - on call - I'm asked to go out and hurt people. Specifically to hurt people, for no reason other than being asked to.

I can see the twitch appeal, but don't feel it with the rest of the game.

Glad y'all are enjoying it.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:

I think it may be because of the way it's presented; in Shooter#37 I'm killin' dudes to reach the McGuffin/rescue the girl/save the world, and everything I do is somehow linked to that. In this, I'm renting a movie, or buying snacks, and then - on call - I'm asked to go out and hurt people. Specifically to hurt people, for no reason other than being asked to.

I can see the twitch appeal, but don't feel it with the rest of the game.

Glad y'all are enjoying it. :)

I think you've tapped into the exact intent of the game -- it ping-pongs madly back and forth between "ISN'T THIS AWESOME?" and "YOU ARE A BAD PERSON FOR ENJOYING THIS". Which is extremely effective, but I can definitely respect wanting to walk away from it.

Yeah, I mean I definitely think it's meant to make you a little uncomfortable. I think the mechanics do a good job reinforcing that feel as well. It feels like you're fighting for your life in a way that no other game does. It's reaching for the nearest object and beating someone with it because they're about to kill you. Often that is quite literally what you're doing, but to me the mechanics convey the same thing on their own. You constantly have to improvise solutions in time spans shorter than a second, it just feels desperate.

kyrieee wrote:

Yeah, I mean I definitely think it's meant to make you a little uncomfortable. I think the mechanics do a good job reinforcing that feel as well. It feels like you're fighting for your life in a way that no other game does. It's reaching for the nearest object and beating someone with it because they're about to kill you. Often that is quite literally what you're doing, but to me the mechanics convey the same thing on their own. You constantly have to improvise solutions in time spans shorter than a second, it just feels desperate.

The flip side of that is the end of each mission, where the driving music instantly cuts out to be replaced by a low, ominous drone, as you walk back to the car through the heaps of dead and mutilated bodies you left behind you on your way in. It's obviously intended to instill a feeling of "My god, what did I do?" and it works pretty well.

I disliked the ultraviolence motif myself. I was perfectly willing to overlook it, though, as the rest of the game is really engaging.

Man that was fun. This was probably my favorite indi game in a long time. It may be because I just finished it and had a blast all the way through but I have a feeling it will hold up a year from now.

I don't usually watch this guy's video, I think they're a little hit and miss, but I think his take on Hotline was quite interesting.

I was stuck on Chapter 9 "Crackdown" forever.
I fired it up after a long absence, and did horribly, as I remember doing when I put it down last time.

Three beers later, I tried Chapter 9 again, and beat it with a hearty score of C-.

Back in the saddle again...

To get in on the beta right click got to beta and type in code hlm.

New test version w/ online leaderboards, smoother, refinements, windowed mode

This out on PSN now.

Hotline Miami's most insightful review as written by Michael Barnes of No High Scores. Check it.

A choice quote from the review:

"I’ve never taken cocaine before, is this what it’s like?"

So this game is pretty great.

Except when it crashes three times in 10 minutes.

Strangeblades wrote:

"I’ve never taken cocaine before, is this what it’s like?"

No, but it's still pretty awesome.

Played through a couple of levels, struggled on the first one until I got the hang of the lock on and the appropriate melee timing. Yeah, this game is perverted genius.

I'm working on getting A+ ratings on every level right now. The secret to the game is (minor gameplay spoiler)

Spoiler:

to approach it not like Hitman, but more like Super Meat Boy. Meaning that you should not be afraid of dying, and try to run through the level as quickly as possible. Rely on muscle memory more than anything. And melee weapons are the best.

I played this last night and enjoyed it. I played it today and the game was hyper fast compared to the night before. So much so I had a hard time with level 3. What's the correct speed the game should be running?

Jucofett wrote:

I played this last night and enjoyed it. I played it today and the game was hyper fast compared to the night before. So much so I had a hard time with level 3. What's the correct speed the game should be running?

100%, obviously. Heh, without knowing how fast your game was running, it's kind of difficult to say. But that's why Youtube exists!