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[lordcooper]

There's a toggle right at game start to skip all scenes involving sexual violence.....one wonders how much sexual violence there is in game if you need an opt-out switch. Or maybe after all the hoopla about these scenes in game, they added it as a precaution anyways.

From reviews, just the one scene that certain people decided to blow out of proportion for pageviews.

[Fniff]

Seems so.
Also, HM2 is brilliant.

[tompliss]

so... I don't know if it's just nostalgia, but I prefered the music of the first one :/

[nenjin]

so... I don't know if it's just nostalgia, but I prefered the music of the first one :/

So far, I'm in agreement. There seem to be a lot more experimental, ambient pieces in this than the first. But I haven't sat down to experience the music and the game at the same time. Maybe they work better together.

[Virtz]

It might just be me, but... I think the new level design kinda sucks. Gigantic, with hordes of ranged enemies and lots of windows. I just keep dying to shots coming from way off screen or someone charging at me while I'm trying to look ahead. And the 3+ ranged guys per room pretty much guarantee the only way you're getting through is drawing them in. Really slowly. And not doing satisfying combos.

Like I'm not finding the gameplay very fun basically due to overdone difficulty, and I can only imagine how fucked you'd be if you hadn't played HM1 (and replayed it multiple times) since the difficulty very quickly rockets past anything HM1 had to offer.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

Yeah have to agree with Virtz here. There's so many ranged enemies and I'm sure about 80% of my deaths were from shotgun blasts across the room I couldn't see. The levels are also way too fucking long. The level where you play as each of the fans was an endurance test which I think has permanently damaged my wrists, the Hawaii levels were pretty bad too.

I also seem to be getting stuck on terrain a lot more than what I remember from HL1. The walls, doors and debris seem very "sticky" and I died so many times due to it.

So far I like how the gameplay is fairly varied, my favourite character so far being the writer. I love chaining disarming guns.

[nenjin]

Not a deal breaker for me, I probably played the first half of HLM at a snail's crawl because I like being cautious. Only when I figured out that going quickly actually helps in some ways (and gets you good level score) did I start rushing through levels. Maybe they're responding to criticisms that the gameplay was pretty shallow once you figured out how to work with it.

[Graknorke]

So: Music is good as expected. The story as far as I've seen it (scene 7) is intriguing even if I don't understand it completely. The levels are... eeh. Not sure I like them. Too many ranged enemies in open spaces.
The gameplay variety is a mixed bag. I like how the non-lethal guy actually has a hard time killing anyone (the only way seems to be a stun, then a very extended finisher) and gets points for unloading guns, but on the other hand there's the swans masks. Good lord is that fiddly to control. Especially with the amount of gun-wielding enemies in the levels, not being able to shoot straight around a corner is a killer.

[Cthulhu]

Not a deal breaker for me, I probably played the first half of HLM at a snail's crawl because I like being cautious. Only when I figured out that going quickly actually helps in some ways (and gets you good level score) did I start rushing through levels. Maybe they're responding to criticisms that the gameplay was pretty shallow once you figured out how to work with it.

Doesn't increasing the number of gun enemies in open areas just make the old tactics everyone hated (e.g. getting in a chokepoint and just killing the whole level as it comes to you) even more dominant?

[scrdest]

Not a deal breaker for me, I probably played the first half of HLM at a snail's crawl because I like being cautious. Only when I figured out that going quickly actually helps in some ways (and gets you good level score) did I start rushing through levels. Maybe they're responding to criticisms that the gameplay was pretty shallow once you figured out how to work with it.

Doesn't increasing the number of gun enemies in open areas just make the old tactics everyone hated (e.g. getting in a chokepoint and just killing the whole level as it comes to you) even more dominant?

Ugh, it did in one Masks mission. Doing chokepoints was literally the only way to do it. And the Penguins' (?) gameplay is... weird. It's not, as it seems, basically Biker+, with a ranged weapon that does not discard your primary; instead, you're basically hauling a non-sentient, immortal turret behind you that uses AI pathfinding, but is fired manually.

Which is an ENORMOUS pain. During said level, where you're forced to use a specific character, I've been failing over and over because the damn gunner was not where I expected him to be, causing me to miss OVER. AND. OVER. Or where the map expects you to take on a Fatman with the melee guy and a mobster with a ranged one >_>

The story caught me completely off-guard, because it's just plain goddamn baroque. It feels like reading a regular story with anterograde amnesia, having to constantly check back to figure out how you came where you are, while so high on hallucinogens you don't even know if the parts of the story you remember were even *real*.

[Teneb]

the Penguins' (?)

They're swans, it seems.

Also the soldier's missions in Hawaii. Two guys immune to anything but bullets. No bullets, can't drop the weapon either, only switch to a knife. Need to do some crazy stuff to get to the ammo stash that gives... 10 bullets. Yay. I must've spent half an hour just on that one.

I really like the actor's missions though, even if they can get pretty hard.

[Fniff]

Personally, my favorite levels are either the Fans or the Writer's. Mainly because I totally called there was going to be a non-lethal character... Sort of. anyway, I'm stuck on a level at the moment. Has anyone gotten to Scene 20: Release yet? I can't figure out how to deal with the boss there.

[nenjin]

I'm a few levels in now.

Generally, it's been great. Same game, bigger story, more quirks and things going on than the last.

The story is ok so far, it's hard to keep track of what's going on because the date is so important and I don't remember shit from the last game.

Took me a few levels to remember how to get a good murder train going, but now that it's coming back to me I'm finding things less frustrating. I'm liking the actual level tracks pretty well. Perhaps not as good as the original ST, but still good and definitely jives with the game just like the last did. The music during the interludes....not so much.

The size of a levels is a little bit of an issue combined with the gun play, and I'm sure it only gets worse. But so far I've managed to lure guys without getting shot successfully so they'll reposition for me.

Also not really a fan of the reporter so far. It's nice for a variety of challenge but it does make levels take a lot longer.

Other than that, 'tis merry good fun. Looking forward to watching the story unfold.

[Teneb]

Spoiler: MAJOR SPOILER, SERIOUSLY (click to show/hide)

Apparently, from what I observed, the protagonist from the first game and the blonde soldier in the hawaii missions are one and the same. Probably explains how good he is at killing people.

[Farce]

My favorite characters are the swans so far.  They've got a really cool gimmick, even if it makes popping out of corners to shoot impossible.  The non-lethal guy is also pretty radical.  I vastly prefer melee to guns, so I like his levels a lot, since he can't shoot.

Green jacket guy's missions are a fucking nightmare, especially the second one's first floor.  The dude after him is even shittier.  Fucking some asshole pops me with an uzi after I clear out most of the area.  If I were smart I'd ditch the sword for a gun or something at that point, but whatever.

How the hell does dodgeroll work?  Does it make you invincible, or what?  I've not had a lot of success with it so far.


I'm not digging the level design - there are just too many open spaces and too many dudes with guns for me to get a good roll going.  I really hate how using shift-look immediately pops your dude to the edge of the screen - it makes looking around really finnicky.  Similarly annoying is how my cursor is limited to a little area around me - makes it harder to get lockons.  Being unable to see far enough to spot enemies down the way before they aggro on my also kinda blows.

The music seems to be missing something.  It's kinda ambient, not the pumping, driving stuff from HM1.  That's kinda lame.

I think my favorite level so far was the Fans one where you can first use the Tiger mask - the second floor's super tight, and it's really easy to get a good roll going.  The roof kinda sucks though... I was using the Zebra for that place, though, so I didn't have as much trouble as I might have had there.


Was someone asking about that one boss with green jacket?  It's kindw weird, but he loses some of his ability to turn when he rushes you.  It's kinda tough to give some concrete advice, unfortunately.  Dodge him twice, and someone will toss you a weapon.