Hotline 2

Hotline 2 Review

Wild Miami nights and big wins

This fantastic slot has car chases, stolen jewels, and the neon 1980s Miami style with a retro soundtrack. Welcome to Hotline 2. With a potential of 1,944 paylines during free spins, expanding wilds, and flamingo scatters. 

How We Tested Hotline 2

Our review process follows a few easy steps:

• Check the rules: We open the paytable and check the rules for playing. 
• Assess the RTP and variance: RTP is always a consideration, so we check the RTP. 
• Symbols and payouts: We look at what characters the slot has in the base game and how well they pay. 
• Bonus rounds and features: We assess the bonus rounds and game features. 
• Sound and graphics: We review the sound, graphics, and theme of the slot. 
• Share: We share our findings and impressions from the game. 

Play Hotline 2 With the Best Bonus

If you want to play Hotline 2 for real money, these casinos have it in their games library: 

• SugarHouse
• BetMGM
• Unibet
• Borgata Online

Up to $1,000 with a $25 free play welcome bonus.

BetMGM and Borgata have the best welcome bonuses of all the Hotline 2 casinos, with both offering a match bonus of up to $1,000. Bet MGM gives away an additional $25 free play, and Borgata offers $20 in their welcome offer. 

Both casinos have regular promotions for returning customers and the option to join MGM’s M life rewards program. You can gather loyalty points every time you deposit. 

Hotline 2 Symbols & Payouts

Let’s look at the different symbols in the game. Hotline 2 is one of the few slots that don’t incorporate any classics on the reels, with all the characters being central to the theme. 

The symbols

Hotline 2 has a total of 10 standard symbols with a scatter and a wild. The four-character symbols pay the highest, and the six jewels pay lesser amounts. Pink flamingos depict the scatters, and a car chase with a helicopter is the wild. Interestingly, Katie Weiss, the villain, is the highest paying symbol with an 8x payout for five ways. 

Paytable

Min/Max Bet, Autoplay Option

The minimum bet on Hotline 2 is $0.30, and the maximum is $150 per round. You can set the autoplay option between 10 and 1,000 spins with several options to stop in the advanced menu. 

RTP

Hotline 2 has an RTP of 96.05%, lower than the original Hotline slot. 

Volatility

Hotline 2 gives you a mixture of high and low payouts making it a medium volatility slot. 

Hit Frequency

The game will pay out on average every fourth spin, giving it a hit frequency of 25%. 

Maximum win

Suppose you land Katie Weiss, the maximum payout symbol, on every position on the reels. In that case, the maximum win is a potential $777,600 from a bet of $150. 

Excellent betting range, but watch your bankroll

Hotline 2 gives you a good betting range, so you can play for hours with a small bankroll or risk it all for a big win. The game is easy to play and has enough going on to keep you engaged with plenty of small wins often, though these can be deceptive and deplete your bankroll.    

Game Features

The slot doesn’t need many features to keep you entertained. Three scatters award you seven free spins, and the wilds substitute for any other symbol on the reels. 

Wilds, Free Spins, and Other Features

The wild and scatter symbols only appear on the three center reels. During the base game, the center reel is the hotline reel. Any wilds landing on it automatically expand to fill the entire reel. You can also choose to make reel four and reel two hotline reels by selecting the keypad below reel three. Adding reel four as a hotline doubles your stake, and setting all three hotlines trebles the betting amount. 

The developers also restricted the scatters to the three center reels. Three scatters earn you seven free spins. The game starts getting interesting during the free spins. Any wild symbol landing on the center reels expands it by an extra row. You can increase the 243 paylines in the base game to a maximum of 1,944 in the free spins round.  

Wilds

Wild symbols can appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the main game and Free Spins. These symbols can substitute for all symbols except for Scatter symbols. In the main game, a WIld symbol landing on a Hotline expands to cover the entire reel if resulting in a bet way win. In Free Spins, a Wild symbol landing on a Hotline always expands to cover the entire reel. Wild and Expanding Wilds pay the highest winning combo according to the paytable. 

Free Spins

Three Scatter symbols appearing on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the main game activate seven Free Spins. In Free Spins, a Wild symbol landing on reel 2, 3, or 4 increases the height of the reel by one symbol creating more ways to win. The max reel height is six symbols. A non-Hotline reel reaching its max height awards one additional free spin. A Hotline reaching its max height triggers two additional free spins. All free spins are played automatically. 

Bonus Buy

You can buy seven free spins using the “buy feature” button in the bottom right of your screen. You have three buying options:

• One hotline for $600.
• Two hotlines for$1,200.
• Three hotlines for $1,800.

Hotline 2 doesn’t have many features, but it doesn’t need them

Some games have many features to keep punters interested, and others don’t need them. Hotline 2 doesn’t have very many features. Still, the base game and graphics are good enough to keep you interested without accessing bonus rounds or jackpots. 

The slot has just the right balance to ensure you will want to play again. 

Hotline 2 Graphics & Sound

Always something new in the graphics or the soundtrack

We love the way NetEnt brought the theme, graphics, and soundtrack together. It seems that there’s a further detail to notice every time you spin the reels. From a short car-chase clip on an expanding wild to a character nodding their head. You almost want to spin the reels to see what new animation you’ll find. 

The soundtrack also changes. It starts with the 80s music, but you soon also notice the police radio chatter. Sometimes it’s louder than the music, but usually only in the background. With the theme, sound effects, and video, it’s as if the game has transported you to a 1980s Miami TV show. The developers did an excellent job on the theme for Hotline 2.  

Solutions if you have some issues with a game

A significant disadvantage of playing any game online is that sometimes you experience problems with the game. It could be an incompatible browser, unstable internet connection, or any manner of problems. 

If your game is interrupted during play, try some of these solutions: 

If your internet connection is interrupted, you can usually continue from where you left off by refreshing the page. The website’s servers typically save the game information.

If the game freezes during play, try closing the browser and reopening the slot again. Delete any cookies or temporary files from your browser to free up memory. 

Ensure that your browser is compatible with the software—NetEnt optimized Hotline 2 for the Chrome browser. 

If your problem persists and it doesn’t seem to be from your side, you can contact the online casino’s support team for assistance. 

Most importantly, don’t panic. If the gaming hardware or software malfunctions, your betting balance will still be safe. 

Verdict

NetEnt brings the 80s back to life with this slot. The theme works well, and the soundtrack is perfect for the game. Hotline 2 has easy rules to understand, and even a beginner can quickly see how the paylines work. It gives you the right mix of big and small wins to keep you interested and enough variations in the soundtrack and graphics that it becomes more than spinning reels. 

Some people may not like the neons, but the game captures the 80s theme perfectly if you’re a fan of the era or feel like enjoying some nostalgia. 

Other Slots to Play If You Like Hotline 2 Slot

Hotline 2 has an excellent bonus buy feature. Bonus buys allow players to skip the spins and jump straight into the bonus round of a game to score the biggest wins possible. If you want to find more games with bonus buy features, check out our guide to PA’s Top Bonus Buy Slots!