Hotline Miami: brutal, bizarre, retro - a bit like the original GTA
Reality depends on the rubber mask you wear.
Hotline Miami is a top-down, retro inspired game that looks immediately similar to the old and original Grand Theft Auto games.
Even the premise is loosely the same: do jobs for a voice on a phone. Well, an answering machine. And they're very violent jobs.
And you'll do them wearing a rubber mask. In 1980s Miami, in a neon hued world that pulsates as you play. Text and talking heads tell the story, and an era-appropriate soundtrack drives you along.
Hotline Miami's a game for PC, Mac and consoles (unspecified). Gameplay's fast, simple and brutal - enemies can be disgustingly dispatched and blood spurts everywhere. There's a video of this below.
There are more than 20 "multi-screen" levels, 35 weapons and 25 masks. And it's these masks that alter reality and change gameplay, depending on which one you wear.
Hotline Miami comes from the brain of notable Swedish developer, Jonatan "Cactus" Söderström. He's got Independent Game Festival pedigree: a finalist in 2008 with Clean Asia!, and a Nuovo Award winner in 2010 with Tuning.
Developer Dennaton's putting Hotline Miami together, and graphic artist Dennis Wedin's doing the pictures.
The game's due out this autumn. But you'll be able to play it at the Rezzed game show in Brighton this weekend. Tickets are available, and the event's run by Eurogamer and our best friend Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
