Tang fell silent.
He seemed to have never seen a game like Hotline Miami.
It blatantly and nakedly presents players with pure, violent aesthetics.
Tang fell silent, but his fighting spirit also flared up.
Fuck it!
How can a game be this fun?
It's somewhat like "Quake," but it's completely different.
Despite not being a 3D game, it delivers a level of exhilaration that rivals "Quake".
The catchy background music "Hydrogen" played from the speakers.
Although Gamenova didn't equip this arcade machine with a high-end sound system, a single subwoofer with a rich and full bass was enough to showcase the charm of the " Hotline Miami " album.
"Shark! Shark! Shark!"
Tang immediately perked up, immersing himself in the game and trying to move forward. He wanted to be like Keanu Reeves, wreaking havoc and wiping out all the thugs here.
only...
This is not a mindless hack-and-slash game.
Shooting can really kill people.
Tang picked up the stick and quickly wiped out all the enemies in the scene.
The signs indicate that you should go up the stairs to the second floor, where the person with the briefcase should be.
The game does not use a fog of war design; the layout is clearly visible from a top-down perspective.
Behind the corner at the end of the corridor stood a fully armed enemy, who appeared to be holding a samurai sword.
He's blocked the only route; it seems he has no choice but to take it.
Hmm... okay, even if he hadn't been blocking the way, Tang would still have made a special trip to find him and beat him to death.
Having pinpointed the enemy's location, he didn't waste any more time, grabbing his stick and sprinting away.
However, just as he began to move, two other fully armed samurai swordsmen at the edge of his field of vision seemed to have also begun their patrol, heading towards Tang. Perhaps due to the convex surface of the CRT television, or perhaps because the edge of the screen was stuck to the arcade machine's frame, Tang did not notice them immediately.
"Smack!"
Taking advantage of his superior field of vision, Tang darted out from around the corner and immediately struck the other man on the forehead with his stick, cracking his skull open.
However, this has really stirred up a hornet's nest.
The moment he made his move, two enemy figures suddenly appeared a few steps away.
This time, with no poor visibility, the two instantly discovered that a daring individual had stormed into their base!
"Puff--"
Two fists can't beat four hands. Although Tang reacted quickly, he ultimately suffered from his unfamiliarity with the game and was accidentally hit on the head with a club.
In traditional games, getting hit isn't a big deal, especially in action games, where getting injured is perfectly normal.
After all, how skilled can someone be to play a game without taking any damage?
Those are advanced techniques that only skilled players use when taking on challenging tasks.
Even a classic arcade game like Contra has its limitations; as long as you have a badge, you can stand up again. But...
Hotline Miami clearly doesn't intend for the protagonist to simply resurrect on the spot and continue fighting.
Tang watched helplessly as his character collapsed to the ground, his head exploding into a mushy mess like the thugs he had just beaten up, and remained motionless.
But the music didn't stop at all; it kept looping its incredibly hallucinatory and brainwashing tune.
Accompanied by the rhythm, two lines of text were displayed in the upper right and lower left corners of the screen, flashing Japan colors and swaying in rhythm with the music.
[You're dead!] (You're fucking crazy!)
[a to restart! (15 left)] (Press the 'a' key to restart! 15 coins remaining)
"Huh? Just die?"
Tang Weiwei was taken aback.
One coin just went down the drain.
Keep in mind that although he used game tokens from this arcade, they were still worth 50 cents according to the store's prices.
50 cents! You get three lives in Contra!
If it were anyone else, they would definitely be cursing right now.
But Tang was different from the others.
He was only slightly surprised, but without hesitation, he took another stack from the basket and pushed it into the coin acceptor.
He'd seen this kind of thing many times before.
Even if he had only fought a few people for 50 cents and died, or even if he hadn't done anything at all and just died suddenly, he could accept it perfectly well.
After all, a coin pusher is just such a device.
Compared to those real money pits, at least Hotline Miami gives you some enjoyment for a while, which is incredibly generous.
Not to mention that you can enjoy an ultimate audio-visual feast for such a small amount of money, there's really nothing to complain about.
"Slap"
Without hesitation, he pressed the revive button.
Because of a moment of carelessness, someone cracked his skull open. Tang's pride would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen. The screen flickered almost imperceptibly.
After a very brief fade-in/fade-out effect, lasting less than half a second, the protagonist [jacket] was standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor again.
Everything that just happened felt like a dream, as if it had never occurred.
It was all just a figment of his imagination after he climbed the stairs.
Both the enemies and the state of the scene have been completely restored to the state at the beginning.
And all of this took only a short time, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
If it were an industry insider, seeing the footage would surely have once again amazed by Gamenova's incredible hardware and software capabilities.
But Tang didn't understand any of this.
He just thought, "Hey, this is pretty convenient; I don't have to start from the beginning downstairs."
The game has very interesting level design.
Tang's eyes widened slightly, and he became a little more serious.
Each level is designed to be very small. Although it's called a subway station, the space downstairs isn't actually that big; it only has the tracks on both sides, a lobby, and a small restroom.
The dimensions upstairs are also largely the same.
For skilled players, a single level can be completed in just a few seconds.
This design is very subtle.
Tang couldn't quite put his finger on what was going on, but he clearly sensed that death in this game... didn't seem to be something that came with a "punishment" aspect.
As long as you have coins, the game actually encourages you to try and fail more.
The death just now hardly aroused Tang's disgust.
Or rather, a sense of frustration.
There was no sense of defeat from working hard only to fail in the end.
Instead, it was a kind of... strange sense of sudden realization.
"Oh, there are two more enemies there. Be careful this time."
He had only one thought in his mind, not the anger that followed his death. This kind of design is extremely rare, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's unique.
In the past, in order to maintain flow, Gamenova often chose to design some very clever "almost" traps.
By using the goal gradient effect, players are kept in a state of "what a pity!" regret, thus enticing them to keep trying.
But The Hotline Miami seems to be a little different.
Tang had absolutely no idea that "if I had been more focused just now, I could have done xx".
There is nothing to regret about dying.
Death is like a cool summer night... No, no.
Death is a process of unraveling a mystery.
Death has value; it's a means of passing through barriers.
Gamenova intentionally designed it this way.
Instead of relying on psychological traps to keep players engaged, it allows players to take initiative.
"Watch me slay them all!" Tang Weiwei sat up straight and decisively resumed her actions.
Same as always, sprint, ambush the enemy around the corner.
Having learned from his previous experience, this time he swiftly threw a flying stick, knocking one of the approaching enemies unconscious, and then followed up with a punch, killing the other one as well.
keep going.
"Pfft--"
The new enemy's knife, though shorter in range, is significantly faster.
Tang was caught off guard and his abdomen was ripped open again, his internal organs spilling out onto the ground.
This time, he didn't even think twice before pressing the revive button.
This time, he didn't even stay in place; the moment he revived, he started running towards the enemy around the corner.
"Smack!"
Two people are flanking from both sides; we need to lure them out and defeat them separately.
"Sss--" The knife and katana came mixed together, so you need to keep your distance and hit them back.
"Smack--"
Once I got used to the beginning, I accidentally forgot it.
"Thump--"
He was quick; he threw the stick at the first person he saw around the corner.
Tang had lost count of how many times he had tried again.
Or perhaps he simply doesn't care.
Because the process was so smooth.
Encounter enemies, die, start over.
It would happen every few seconds, and he didn't bother to keep track of the exact number of times. He only knew that he was becoming more and more skilled and had a clearer understanding of the scene.
Let's start over. Jacket strolled leisurely down the corridor, casually knocking down a katana with a stick, then swung the stick again to pick up the enemy's weapon that had just fallen to the ground.
He was like a truly well-trained assassin, eliminating all the enemies here with skillful and elegant fighting techniques.
They even intentionally time themselves to match the rhythm of the music, just like playing a rhythm game.
[stage clear]
As he kicked the man in the trench coat so hard his head exploded, a notification finally popped up on the screen that the level had been cleared.
The briefcase had already fallen to the ground, waiting for him to pick it up.
"Call--"
Tang let out a long breath, his chest tightened suddenly, and then Panasonic abruptly.
It was a kind of sudden enlightenment that was hard to describe.
Although death is devoid of negative emotions, tension is still unavoidable throughout the battle.
In that kind of rapid, completely unconscious resurrection, this tension becomes increasingly numb and normalized.
Only at this moment did it all come out with a roar! So exhilarating!
After a moment of melancholy, Tang suddenly felt an even more peculiar sensation within his body...
My legs are sore!
It's so sour, unbearably sour.
He then noticed that his legs were shaking and tapping wildly.
After a long period of focused concentration, his ears had long been switched to passive mode by his brain.
But his legs are fully automatic.
Tang silently watched the score calculation on the screen, frantically pressing the 'a' key to skip all the tedious details.
Don't give me any of that drama plot stuff; I don't care what I'm fighting for.
"I no longer care about right or wrong. I just want to... open the shark!"
Combat is awesome! Boring! I want to see rivers of blood!
Tang seemed to have had some kind of switch activated in his soul by this game, and he simply couldn't control his desire to continue playing.
until...
"Hehe--"
Tang's fingers landed on the basket used to hold the tokens, but found nothing.
"Huh? We've already used it all up?"
He then suddenly realized that he had used up all the tokens in that large basket.
Tang was silent for a moment, then stood up and waved to the staff members not far away.
"You, yes, you, move this machine to my place. Tell the boss it's for me."