Hotline Miami

It seems to be a very interesting time for video games. the AAA titles seem to be scaling down in terms of creativity, and a lot of the bigger names still going are trading genres for more accessible styles (such as resident evil, thats now a pants action game rather than a survival horror) . As a side line to this, the indie scene is pretty much thriving. A game like Minecraft with poor blocky graphics sold millions of copies. The indie game scene is where all the creativity is going at the moment. and to go along with that, I thought id check out one of the big names, Hotline Miami.

Recently I did a review where I complained about Max Payne 3, and how it glorified violence because the main character was a useless drunk. Here we have a game where the main character is basically a total psycopath, that goes on rampages for little or no reason. Yet...I cant argue with any of it. Hotline Miami is a top down shooter, where you infiltrate buildings and have only one goal, kill every enemy inside. you then leave in your car (which is basically a back to the future de lorean) go to the shops after each mission, grab a pizza, go home, then you wait for a phone call to go and do it all over again.

Any image you see of this game may not necessarily show you what its really about. It has much more to offer than just wanton violence. You see, when you enter one of these buildings, if you go in and shoot everybody, you alert more men, then get owned. if you miss a shot, you get owned. if your not fast enough beating up and killing the guy you just punched down, then he gets back up, alerts his mates, and you get owned. Basically, the game forces you to be strategic. It is not as simple as entering a building and taking out every guy, you literally have to memorize the map and know where each target is before you can continue. and herein lies the addiction. There is also the addition of the masks, which work like perks, such as a horse mask that means doors are lethal. or a rabbit mask which makes you move faster. Hotline miami also has a fantastic soundtrack, that basically gets you moving as your playing, and in a way, makes the game even more addictive. When I first started the game, it quickly became clear here was something a bit different, and to be honest, I feel that its a game that HAS to be experienced. Id recommend it.

Hotline Miami is pretty much the gaming version of Crack.

The Brilliance that can come from the Story Cubes.

I used these in class. Student allowed me to pass on his Excellent story. Laughed a lot. Great stuff. ha!
http://www.storycubes.com/

Throw the story cubes, get pictures of 9 items. use them to write a story. below is a students items, and his story. Just a quick exercise but damn, Thats some sick humour. Ha!

Items:
House
Bee
Flower
Sad face
Happy face
Foot
Rainbow
Hand
Cane



Two boys emerged out of the nearby bushes. One stood tall with a small teared hat with a red flower peaking out of one of the splits in the fabric. A long green shirt that drooped down to his knees. His trousers, a pair of dark blue torn jeans that dragged along the floor, One leg longer than the other, covering one of his feet. The other was a small fellow, who wore a grey jumper with a picture of a rainbow and black trousers. The boys looked lost. Confused about where they are they looked out at a field. There they both saw an seemingly abandoned house in the middle of a field. They both stood there wondering if anyone was there.
“Come on Robbie! Let’s go check out that weird house over there” Said the boy dressed in Grey
“Ok Doige, I sure hope there’s someone there who knows the way back into town. At this rate, we’ll not be home till night fall…”

The boys both waddled through the field, forcing the spiraling wheat out of their way. 5 minutes passed and they had only reached half way. The boys still plodding along were making slow progress in getting to the house. The floor was covered in dead wheat from where it hadn’t been harvested.
Crack!
The soil collapsed and Robbie fell face first into the hole, crushing his hand as he landed upon the object. He lay still… As he attempted to re-compose himself he heard a faint noise. Robbie looked down at where he had tripped. There lay a cracked shell of a bees nest. The noise started to grow. Bees every ware swarming the boy. Robbie rushed out of the hole and sprinted towards the house. The bees still following him, stinging him for destroying their home. They dug there stingers into his skin, each sting feeling like a whip of a cane being forced against him. A few minutes had past and the boy’s began to slow as they approached the front of the house. By this time, no bees were following them. They had retreated back to their broken hive. They stopped as they stood in front of the porch stairs, looking up at the creaking house seeing if there was any sign of anyone living there.

“Go on Doige, after you” Robbie point up towards the door.
Doige placing each step carefully upon the stairs as he inched closer to the door. There it was, They both stood in front of the door, looking at the bell. Robbie quickly pressed it and retreated back behind Doige. The bell ringing throughout the house, echoing off every floorboard.
To door begin to slowly creak open, the hinges squeaking as it rotated open. The sunlight reveled a tall skinny figure. From the darkness stepped out Jimmy Saville. He looked down at the boys. Robbie and Doige both looked at each other then back to the man.

“Excuse me sir? We’re lost and we need to know the way back into town. Do you know the way back?”
Jimmy stood there with a smirk on his face.
“Now then Now then, Don’t worry boys, Jim’ll fix it.”
The boys look up in terror. He grabbed their shirts and dragged them inside. The door slammed closed behind them. The boys, Robbie and Doige were never seen again.