The Hong Kong Massacre

As a John Woo fanboy, this game is right up my alley. As a non speed runner/achievement chaser, it is not for me. This is an indie game, which I think $10 is fair for what is offered here. Great visuals, some really basic music but it fits perfectly. The story... who cares! The game is fun with a bunch of nods to asian action cinema. My first task was to upgrade to dual pistols, self explanatory, no? Diving and (you don't really run) walking through the levels is fun, lots of particles and exploding doors. The AI is almost non existent. I might be hard on it but I just played through F.E.A.R. and that game is close to 20 years old and the AI was amazing. The lighting and overall visual style is great. As a mentioned Woo fan, my goal is to shoot as many bullets and destroy as much as possible. After each level you are graded on your accuracy, slow mo used, number of shots, speed etc. It's the opposite of what I want. I'll never replay the game to try and get the highest rank because it's at odds with the whole style/setting. IF you are someone who wants to tick all the boxes and speed run through the levels then this is likely your game. As a Woo fan I appreciated it for the nod to the old action movies but ultimately wasn't my type of game.

A top-down shooter inspired in equal measure by Hotline Miami and John Woo movies, The Hong Kong Massacre is everything it promises: it’s a fun and brutal slow-mo-infused rampage where you clear room after room of goons, jumping around like a madman, leaving a trail of blood and broken glass behind you. It’s stylish and badass, challenging but not too frustrating. The visuals are good: the environments are detailed and fairly varied (at least considering the urban theme), and the effects in combat are gorgeous and very satisfying to look at – who doesn’t love to see objects explode in smoke and sparks fly everywhere each time a bullet is fired? The story is alas neither interesting nor well-told (plus the texts are full of typos), but it doesn’t matter all that much. The major issue with THKM is that it’s... bare-boned. Don’t get me wrong, this simplicity is a good thing overall: it’s totally fine for an action game to have a minimalist control scheme and visceral combat rather than complex mechanics, but simple gameplay still needs some diversity and depth, and I don’t think the game does a great job at it. The combat quickly gets repetitive. Besides the slow-mo mode and the possibility to dive-roll, there isn’t much to play and experiment with: there are only 4 guns with basic upgrades options (the basic pistols arguably trump them all), and few enemy types that all behave the same. The game wrongly assumes this will be enough to entertain you for its whole duration, and as such elects to dispense itself of melee options, explosive weapons, or alt-fires for your guns. THKM mostly fails to renew itself, and struggles to keep you invested. Still, while THKM could have been better, it’s a very competent and satisfying romp. If you love Max Payne, Stranglehold, F.E.A.R., My Friend Pedro and want to see them mixed up with Hotline Miami, I see no real reason not to recommend it to you. I may replay from time to time, and look forward to the developers’ next project!

The best Hard Boiled type game since Stranglehold (which if you don't already own on GOG ... go buy it now) If you've seen John Wick 4's top-down building shoot-out scene, this is exactly what you will get. Stop reading, buy and start playing.

Run, slowmo, dodge and fire to your enemy, that's it. The challenge system will make you replay all the levels just for the pleasure of upgrading your loadout and the leaderboards are all for us guys! The story could have been better, but you don't really need it.