The Hong Kong Massacre is Hotline Miami meets Max Payne on the set of a John Woo movie, and for the most part it’s every bit as violent and thrilling as that combination sounds. While the minimalist story presentation and some repeated environments and boss fights expose its slightly limited scope, The Hong Kong Massacre consistently delivers a brutal ballet of ballistics that remains gripping from the first shot fired to the last enemy downed.
There’s some semblance of hard-boiled plot backboning the experience – you play an ex-cop out for revenge after his partner was killed by triad gangsters – but it mostly serves as a vehicle for your violent shootouts. It’s told through a series of disjointed cinematics and bar room conversations, with each of the 35 levels serving as a flashback to prior events. The storytelling may be sub-standard, but the shooting is so electrifying and addictive that the only plot you really need concern yourself with is the plot you’ll bury each of your enemies in at the dead triad cemetery.
