The Hong Kong Massacre Reviews
The Hong Kong Massacre is another example of how a game's flaws can hold it back, not allowing it to become what it could have been. The game is really fun at its core, but problems like limited gameplay and severe performance issues (on the PC version) have dragged down the overall experience.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Hong Kong Massacre is a classic case of style over substance. The beauty of the title's slow-motion bullet ballet is just a fancy cover for its frustrating, un-evolving gameplay.
The Hong Kong Massacre's inspiration is clear, but unfortunately, it doesn't have the gameplay, the personality, or the energy to stand alongside it. The slow-mo shooting can be fun, but with tough enemies and a janky dodge manoeuvre, you'll more often than not be frustrated by death after death. With a little more polish, it could've been an entertaining romp, but as it stands, redeeming qualities are few and far between.
It's getting a middling score, but I implore you: do not play this game. Do not encourage this lack of creativity with your money. At some point, we need to get off of this treadmill of worthless unartistic experiences and demand more. THKM is the perfect example of a treadmill game, a deja vu-inducing experience that means nothing. It's a pretty love letter to a niche film genre, and that's all it is. Maybe it's not meant for us, but in that case, don't make us play it. It feels like nothing, gives nothing, and doesn't advance the form in any meaningful way. It rehashes concepts that have been rehashed since 2013.
Unfortunately, The Hong Kong Massacre bode well beyond anything that came into our hands. The game seems more the son of the attempt to emulate a great success than the birth of a concrete and coherent vision.
Hong Kong Massacre tries to emulate the adrenaline-fueled romp that was Hotline Miami, but it fails to deliver the same thrilling experience.
Listen, aside from having to deal with hardware limitations, The Hong Kong Massacre on the Switch is plenty serviceable. If you’re a fan of the bang-your-head-against-the-wall experience that these games offer, look no further. But I can’t recommend this on the Switch over any other system. And then, at that point, you might as well play something better. If ever a game garnered the title of mediocre, The Hong Kong Massacre is it.
The Hong Kong Massacre is just short of something great here. But many things that works against it, and things that it lacks. And VRESKI clearly have some work to do to get the game in better shape. When it works, the game really starts to flow like a stream of blood carrying spent shell casings. This feels especially good when you finally clear a level you’ve been stuck on, as it feels truly sublime, like you’re unstoppable. And that’s when The Hong Kong Massacre is at its, and your best.
Overall The Hong Kong Massacre is a fun game that definitely delivers in the feel of those Hong Kong action movies. But input lag with controls and repetitive levels take away from it. More weapons or weapon choices that actually seemed to matter would've helped the game as well. If you like this type of game, in this setting and don't mind a few issues it's worth the buy at its budget price.
Graphically, the game is technically decent, though the frame rate could have been bumped up a bit more. From an artistic perspective, the environments and characters are all a bit ‘samey’, blending together from one level to the next, with little variation. It’s a shame, because Hong Kong is undoubtedly a visually striking city, but the buildings showcased in The Hong Kong Massacre could have been plucked from literally any town in the world.
The Hong Kong Massacre is the kind of game you'd love to love. It's a very pleasant arcade twin stick shooter that makes us more than efficiently feel like we are in a John Woo movie. But it quickly show its limits, as new ideas or mechanics never show up to give us more than expected.
Review in French | Read full review
There is fun to be had with The Hong Kong Massacre, but I don't believe it lives up to the years of hype following it. With some finer tuning and better balance, this could be a real contender for the Hotline Miami clone crown. As it is, this is an okay time that wears out its welcome well before the end credits start rolling.
Undeniably entertaining and often thrilling, The Hong Kong Massacre's chances of matching its inspirations are seriously undermined by a lack of care, variety, and an utterly lifeless story.
Borrowing heavily from Hotline Miami, The Hong Kong Massacre has some of the style, but not enough of the substance
In terms of an elevator pitch description The Hong Kong Massacre would best be described as a mix of the brief levels and one-hit-and-you're-dead brutality of Hotline Miami and the slowdown-enabled ballet of bullets and diving around of the earlier Max Payne games...
Those looking for a new way to scratch the itch left by Hotline: Miami or feel like an Eastern gunslinger would do well to give it a try.
The Hong Kong Massacre doesn’t offer much at all in terms of story and has a few rough edges, but as a to-the-point strategic gore-fest, it delivers the basic, addictive goods for the 4-5 hours it’ll probably last you.
A fun top-down shooter, The Hong Kong Massacre is a mirror for the action films it's inspired by. Entertaining, bloody, and fun, but lacking in depth and story. If John Woo is your favorite director, this is an easy recommendation. Everyone else will still find a perfectly fun and serviceable shooter, but your mileage may vary.
The Hong Kong Massacre teeters between magnificent to mediocre quite often. Its gunplay mechanics are good, but the dodgy AI will ruin the experience due to your very high fragility and their impeccable aim. The levels look awesome at first, especially when the action gets kicked up, but the environments blend into one another after a while. The trial-and-error nature can get tedious, but if you don't mind that, then you'll find lots of high-tension action here. The Hong Kong Massacre isn't a must-have, but it isn't a bad title to play, either.
The fact that it was made by just two people does show in a lot of areas such as the visuals, story, and repetitive boss battles but none of those outweighed the good times I had with it.