Picking these characters allows the player to control one chainsaw wielding and one handgun wielding character, leading to extremely satisfying and skilful combat in which you are taking out multiple enemies at once. The standout characters are the Alex & Ash team. This results in an interesting level to level experience, switching back and forth and mastering each individual style leaves you feeling like an expert by the time the credits roll around. This variety of gameplay is in theory a good thing, characters having their own little perks and hold backs, such as being able to kill in one punch but the inability to use weapons, provides the gameplay variety needed for Hotline Miami 2's 6 or so hour length. As you scramble and attempt to piece together what on earth is going on, you get to brutally murder countless people with a variety of individual gameplay styles that each character posses. Hotline Miami 2 immediatly throws you in a seemingly directionless story comprised of 5+ playable characters, each with their own story and abilities. However, a lot of the changes introduced in Hotline Miami 2 only really exemplify the shortcomings of the almost perfect formula. Hotline Miami is back bigger than before. The gameplay feels the same as ever with a few nice mechanical tweaks, more content and an even more bonkers story that one would expect in a sequel. The basic formula from the first game remains pretty much unchanged. Therefore I would highly recommend you play the first game before jumping in to HM2 or reading any further. Although, critiquing a product so attached to its predecessor as an entirely separate product seems rather ridiculous. It's a nice natural transition from the first game and challenges even the most hardened of Hotline Miami fans.
The sequel pretty much assumes you have played the first, even continuing the difficulty progression where it left off. You are dropped into an even more blood soaked Miami in the wake of the murders of the first game, with copycat killers, reporters and filmmakers all infatuated with the events of the first game. 3 years later, Hotline Miami 2 picks up where the first game left off.