Hotline Miami How not to suck

To Start Off

Before you even start playing the game, just accept the fact that you're going to die. ALOT. Now that we've got that out of the way, just know that you need to be incredibly patient. Don't get frustrated, just enjoy the sweet music. Also, you need to have a lot of situational awareness to beat this game, as well as godly reaction time. If you get shot, you're dead. So don't do that.

The Main Strategies

In Hotline Miami, you pretty much just run into a room filled with armed men and kill every single one of them in the most brutal way possible. However, there are many ways that you can do this, which I will explain here. These are only the main strategies which can be used, and I will explain different strategies you can use in multiple scenarios later.

The Badass way

To acheive this strategy, you run into a room with the loudest weapon possible and shoot everybody in the face. That way, you don't have to bother cleaning up any people with finishers. I find this strategy works really well in some situations, but not so well in others. For example, if there's a lot of people in an open room, bull out your machine gun and spray down everybody you can see. However, if there's only one or two people in the room, use precise aim to take them down. Just be warned that using this strategy attracts alot of attention, and you may have everybody swarm you at once. Just make sure that you use cover properly, and if need be, maybe even a meatshield or two.

The Stealthy way

Pretty much, this way involves accurate timing, as well as the use of melee weapons and finishers. Also, silenced weapons work. Pretty much, you pick your target, make sure nobody can see you, and beat the guy down. If you use a melee weapon, there's no need for finishers, but if you just use your fists, make sure there's nobody around to kill you when you go in for the finisher. This way may take longer, and may not work in all situations, but I find this is the best way to finish the levels with the least amount of deaths. Just remember, take it slowly and you should end up beating the level easily.

The Pansy way

Honestly, this strategy is a cop-out, but if you're really stuck on a level, by all means, use it. Pretty much, all you need is a loud gun, a melee weapon and an enclosed room with one entrance. Start by waiting by the door inside of the room, but make sure that the room is empty. Just shoot the gun, switch to the melee weapon, and wait for the enemies to start running into the room. Just a side note, this strategy does not work when the large enemies are in that area

The Different Enemies You'll Encounter

During the course of the game, you'll encounter many types of enemies which you'll have to massacre. Of course, there are many different ways of doing this. In this section I'm going to explain the different types of enemies and how you can kill them all.

The Melee guy

You all know who this guy is. He's that one guy who kind of just runs at you with a baseball bat or something like that. The easiest of all enemies to kill, you should have no problem dealing with him.

Strengths: - He can come out of nowhere - He's incredibly fast - He often comes with his squad

Weaknesses: - Has to be right beside you to do harm - Isn't really a threat, honestly

How to deal with him: To kill this guy, you can pretty much do anything to take him out. For example, you could shoot him in the face, beat him with a melee weapon, or knock him down with your fists and perform a finisher on him. Anything you do works, but just remember not to get swarmed by a bunch of these guys.

The Gun guy

This guy is literally the bane of my existence. He has a gun, and can shoot you from anywhere, provided he has a clear field of view. Overall, this guy's a beast and can outplay you if you're not careful.

Strengths: - Can kill you from anywhere (Even if he's off of the screen) - Is devastating in groups

Weaknesses: - Takes a while to aim his gun - Dies in one shot

How to deal with him: So pretty much, there are a few things you can do to take him out. You can shoot him from a distance before he notices you, or you could pop out around a corner and shoot him quickly. Another thing that you can do is if you have a melee weapon, you can throw it at him before he shoots, then perform a finisher to finish him off.

The Fat guy

This guy is a real pain to take out. First of all, melee weapons don't work on him, so you absolutely need a gun to kill him. Pretty much, if you don't have a gun and he comes after you, you're screwed.

Strengths: - Is only killed by being shot - Runs extremely fast once he sees you - Cannot be stunned

- Takes more than one bullet to kill

Weaknesses: - Is a very large target - Bleeds out with time - Has to catch up with you to kill you

How to deal with him: To deal with this guy, you can do a number of things. You can shoot him once, and then dangle him out until he bleeds out, you can foam him down with a machine gun/pistol, or you can shoot him with a shotgun. I find that the shotgun works best, because you only have to shoot him once. Also, it's quite easy to maneuver around him because he makes very wide turns, so you can just do a small movement one way and then shift directions to make him run past you. Also, you can't knock these guys over with doors.

The Dog guy

Okay, I know the dog is technically not a guy, but still, it's quite a common enemy that you'll encounter throughout the course of your playthrough, and onestly, these are the worst. You can't kill them with your fists, so if you have no weapon, you're guarenteed to die.

Strengths: - Is incredibly fast - Will never miss - Can only be killed with a weapon -Throwing items at them does nothing - Guarenteed to startle the hell out of you - Hard to hit

Weaknesses: -Is melee only -You can see them coming most of the time

How to deal with them: Pretty much, you can do one of two things, depending on what type of weapon you have. If you have a melee weapon, you just need to wait for it to charge you, then time your swing correctly. If you have a ranged weapon, wait until it charges at you, and then just shoot it in the face. Also, the dogs are unaffected by doors

Running Through Some Scenarios

In this section, we're going to be running through some scenarios that occur often during the game. There are multiple ways to survive through them, and sometimes you can use more then one of the strategies at once and it works well.

Scenario number 1

Somehow, you've managed to attract the attention of literaly everybody on the floor. They're all coming for you, but you manage to hide around a corner. There are many ways to go about this situation, but here are just some of the more effective ones.

The Beatdown way

This strategy works exactly like you would expect it to. Pretty much, if you already have a melee weapon, just spam it while you're standing by the open area. I guarantee you'll kill anybody who comes at you, provided they don't do a ridiculous quickscope before you get a chance to beat them down.

The Spray and Pray

This strategy is for when you have a gun with a reasonable amount of ammo in it. As the title suggests, you kinda just spam down the entrance whenever somebody walks in. The only problem with this is that you may run out of ammo quickly, so you may have to change your strategy to the next one, which I call the Swap and Chop

The Swap & Chop

This strategy works if you have a gun, but you're out of ammo. Pretty much, you throw the gun at a guy's face. Once he falls to the floor, take his weapon (whether it's a gun or a melee weapon) and proceed to murder the hell out of everybody else who comes your way.

The Fisticuffs way

This strategy is actually incredibly effective when there's a large number of enemies coming at you. All you have to do is punch everybody to the ground (because for some reason they stay on the floor for like five seconds), do a finisher on one or two of them, and, as soon as the rest start standing up, punch them to the floor again. Repeat this until everybody is dead.

Scenario number 2

You're in a room with a few enemies in it, and you have a gun. These enemies have an assortment of weapons, both guns as well as melee weapons. You're about to shoot them all, but then you realize that you have no ammo.

The Kobe method

In this strategy, you have to have quick reflexes, and godlike accuracy. Pretty much, you have to throw your gun at somebody who also has a gun, take their weapon, and then use them as a meat shield. Once you pick them up, feel free to shoot everybody else in the room and then snap you meat shield's neck, if he isn't already filled with lead. This strategy is incredibly difficult to pull off, but if you can do it, it can save your life, as well as making you feel like a badass.

The Gump method

Pretty much, you go full Forest Gump and just run away as quickly as you can. You'll most likely get shot as you're running, but hey, at least you tried. Also, throwing your gun at somebody who also has a gun before you run away increases your chances of not being shot.

The Mask Selections

In this section, I'm going to be telling you what the different masks do.

Richard (Chicken mask) - Grants no special abilities

Rasmus Rasmus (Owl) - An Eye For Secrets * Necessary for True Ending

Tony Tony (Tiger) - Fists of Fury

Aubrey Aubrey (Pig) - More Guns

Don Juan Don Juan (Horse) - Lethal Doors

Graham Graham (Rabbit) - Walk Fast

Dennis Dennis (Wolf) - Start With Knife

George George (Giraffe) - Look Further

Ted Ted (Dog) - Dogs Don't Attack

Rufus Rufus (Elephant) - Survive One Bullet

Rami Rami (Camel) - Extra Ammo

Willem Willem (Monkey) - Rip And Steal

Peter Peter (Unicorn) - Quiet Gunshots

Zack Zack (Frog) - Longer Combo Window

Oscar Oscar (Mole) - Darkness with red filter

Rick Rick (Fox) - Good Shot

Brandon Brandon (Panther) - Walk Faster

Charlie Charlie (Octopus) - More Melee Weapons

Louie Louie (Chameleon) - Hard To Spot

Phil Phil (Fish) - French Translation

Nigel Nigel (Bat) - Reversed Controls

Earl Earl (Walrus) - Survive Two Bullets

Jones Jones (Alligator) - More Gore

Carl Carl (Locust) - Start With Drill

Jake Jake (Cobra) - Killing Throws

Richter Richter (Rat) - Start With Silenced Uzi

General Protips

Here, I'll just share some of the general tips and tricks that I've learned through my hours of playing this game.

- Throwing weapons is a great way to give yourself some extra time.

- Finishing enemies off right away works, but wait until you're certain there's nobody coming over. You can always just punch them down to the floor again.

- YOU CAN ONLY SHOOT THE FAT PEOPLE, MELEE DOES NOT WORK. (SHOTGUN IS MVP HERE)

- Watch for glass walls. Enemies love to surprise you with those, but you can use them to your advantage

- Be aware of your surrounding before you charge into the area like the masked lunatic you are. You never know where people are waiting to blow your face open if you don't check.

- Don't be afraid to die. It lets you know the location of different enemies, what weapons they have and if certain strategies work.

Conclusion

Now that we've gone through pretty much everything you need to know, I'd say that you're better off now than you were before. Proably.

Go forth and slay!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=688358900

How not to suck