Hotline Miami 2 is a bad game, and wouldn't get any attention if it wasn't for the name.

Let's start with the good. The graphics are nicer and more detailed, the music is still great, and there's a bunch of small changes (such as the UI) that make the game feel more polished than before. But it's all for naught because for every step forward, the game takes serveral massive leaps backwards.

Story-
There's probably a dozen different ways you could expand on the world and/or story of Hotline Miami and have it be interesting. The problem is that Hotline Miami 2 goes for pretty much all of them at once. The result is a jumbled mess of under developed story lines that aren't interesting and don't go anywhere.

Gameplay-
As with the story, the gameplay suffers from a lack of focus, and poor execution of good ideas.

A good example is the character "Alex and Ash", where you play as 2 people at once. You control the melee character while the gun character follows you and will shoot on command. The problem is that your ai buddy is unreliable, often shooting into walls when near corners or doorways, which is pretty much all the time. Sometimes he will get stuck in a way that can work to your advantage (enemies won't target him), but most of the time he only serves as a noise maker. When a character/game mechanic could be effectively be replaced by a whistle, I think it's safe to say something has gone wrong.

The level design is also a problem. Levels are large, with long sight lines, which is a problem for a top down game like this. Getting killed by off screen enemies happens frequently, and maps are seemingly designed to encourage you to exploit flaws in the games ai.

The game also has a serious issue with hitboxes, with attacks going through enemies as if they're playing with the cheats on. Enemies aren't so hampered.

Overall-
The result is a game that fails in every way, which is a shame, because I really liked Hotline Miami 1, despite it's flaws.

Hotline Miami 2 is a bad game, and wouldn't get any attention if it wasn't for the name. Let's start with the good. The graphics are nicer and more detailed, the music is still great, and there's a bunch of small changes (such as the UI) that make the game feel more polished than before. But it's all for naught because for every step forward, the game takes serveral massive leaps backwards. Story- There's probably a dozen different ways you could expand on the world and/or story of Hotline Miami and have it be interesting. The problem is that Hotline Miami 2 goes for pretty much all of them at once. The result is a jumbled mess of under developed story lines that aren't interesting and don't go anywhere. Gameplay- As with the story, the gameplay suffers from a lack of focus, and poor execution of good ideas. A good example is the character "Alex and Ash", where you play as 2 people at once. You control the melee character while the gun character follows you and will shoot on command. The problem is that your ai buddy is unreliable, often shooting into walls when near corners or doorways, which is pretty much all the time. Sometimes he will get stuck in a way that can work to your advantage (enemies won't target him), but most of the time he only serves as a noise maker. When a character/game mechanic could be effectively be replaced by a whistle, I think it's safe to say something has gone wrong. The level design is also a problem. Levels are large, with long sight lines, which is a problem for a top down game like this. Getting killed by off screen enemies happens frequently, and maps are seemingly designed to encourage you to exploit flaws in the games ai. The game also has a serious issue with hitboxes, with attacks going through enemies as if they're playing with the cheats on. Enemies aren't so hampered. Overall- The result is a game that fails in every way, which is a shame, because I really liked Hotline Miami 1, despite it's flaws.