Do You Like Hurting Other People?: Close Reading 2

Edge Staff: Hotline Miami Review

Many games today are oriented towards violence such as the game being reviewed, Hotline Miami. The staff of Edge Magazine asks a great and prevalent question: "do you like hurting other people?". Games are not the only media to fall in this category. A Clockwork Orange uses violence in its story (Kubrick and Burgess' versions) to showcase its themes. Violence and love are contrasted in Romeo and Juliet. The Edge Staff go as far as to say that the link between violence and entertainment is the central theme of the game. The Edge Staff asks this question with the use of clever diction, an insight, through details and images, into the violence of Hotline Miami and connections with other video games.

The review of Hotline Miami uses a clever diction to get its question across to the reader. The Edge Staff uses the word "masocore" a term referring to a genre of video games design to frustrate users with difficult objectives and various trial and error scenarios. Masocore is a combination of masochist and hardcore. Players derive pleasure from the arduous objectives and the hardcore aspects of some of the killing. Describing the game as thus drives home the point of this brutal, 2-D slaughter-fest where players are meant to enjoy massacring their fellow humans. The Edge Staff also uses filleting, a word usually reserved to the killing of animals or in reference to a juicy steak. Filleting shows how little human life matters to the players and main character of Hotline Miami. With words like this, readers can clearly understand if they enjoy hurting other people. 

Violence is a centerpiece of the gameplay in Hotline Miami. Killing in Hotline Miami is very methodical. According to the Edge Staff, "Most violent games are about chewing through an endless bus queue of enemies" whereas in Hotline Miami, it is simplified into three sections: "waiting, killing, and dying when you get it wrong". They even talk about how one kills. "Death may come by katana, by wrench, or by door, but it always comes in a sweaty blur," the Edge Staff said. Not only do they describe the means of death, they describe how it is done: in a frantic manner. When reevaluating the question of "do you like hurting other people?" it is crucial to know why. Why is important because killing is presented in a different way in comparison to other games with high bodycounts. These details gives readers a look into the horrific masterpiece known as Hotline Miami. 

Lastly, the Edge Staff compares violence in Hotline Miami to violence in other games. They talk about the rhythm of the game, primarily the instant restarts after death. Super Meat Boy, another game in the masocore genre, is referenced comparing it to Hotline Miami in regard to its "instadeath" mechanic. Instead of a combo based shooter, Hotline Miami turns into a grisly, methodical twitch shooter. The Edge Staff even goes as far to call it "a glorious sandbox of gore". The Edge Staff goes even compares it to Rockstar Games' infamous Manhunt, saying that Hotline Miami "will sicken you even as it provides its murky thrills" just like in Manhunt. 

In today's society, violence is everywhere, from children's cartoons, the silver screen and even the literature we read. The Edge Staff uses these ideas of thematic violence to ask the question "do we like hurting other people?" through the use of apt diction, giving readers a first hand account into the violence of Hotline Miami, and with connections to other games with similar themes and motifs.