I have been looking forward to playing The Hong Kong Massacre since it was shown back at Paris Games Week in 2017. The style of the game immediately caught my eye but I did have a healthy amount scepticism as the months went on. We got very few updates about the game from the companies rarely used website and Twitter account. Couple this together with it being developed by a new two person studio in Sweden called Vreski Games, it was difficult to know if they could follow through on such an ambitious vision. Let’s break down how they got on, shall we?
GRAPHICS
One of the first things that struck me about The Hong Kong Massacre was how detailed it was. The perspective is top down but the game is still rendered in 3D. As you dive around and bullets fill the room the seemingly static environment comes to life. Glass smashes, wood splinters and papers fly through the air adding to the chaotic nature of the game. I had seen short gameplay clips in the trailer but that really doesn’t do justice for how much effort has went in to the games aesthetic.
Set in Hong Kong (obviously), the game has the tone and feel of a John Woo film. It is incredibly gritty and stylish both in gameplay and during the irregular low res short cutscenes. Throughout my time with the game I kept getting vibes of the like of Sleeping Dogs. It felt like it could almost have been a shared universe. I have heard some complaining about screen tearing on PS4, but I can’t say I have noticed many issues.
GAMEPLAY
Gameplay is where The Hong Kong Massacre really shines. Vreski Games have in my opinion created of the very best twin stick shooters ever made. This is a genre that I am usually poor at. I just never seem to have my coordination down fast enough to progress deep into these type of games. The addictive nature of the game and instant restart ability negated any potential frustrations though and allowed me to focus on improving. Despite only being able to take one hit, death after death, hour after hour I could see my progress.
The controls are pretty simple. Left stick to control your character, right stick to control your aim. Holding L2 enables slow motion, where you can buy yourself some time in tricky situations and dodge bullets. R1 performs various environmental dives and R2 shoots. The game is frantic at almost all times so it comes as a god send that when diving you cannot be hit. What all this results in is the perfect mix between Hotline Miami and Max Payne. Two games I have great admiration for.
AUDIO
The music perfectly fits what you are seeing on screen. In a game like this you don’t want to be distracted by the score. Instead, you want it to compliment the speed and feel of the gameplay and Vreski Games have accomplished that. All the music is instrumental only which was a wise choice as given how often you will find yourself restarting levels this would have definitely added a sense of repetition.
STORY
The story is the games weakest element. It feels almost tacked on in post-production as an afterthought. This doesn’t detract from the game overall, as the gameplay more than makes up for any shortcomings in this department, but it would have been nice to have a narrative worth investing in. It made me think back to 2018’s Out of the Box, which managed to add a surprisingly deep story to a game you would have expected to focus solely on gameplay.
All story aspects in the game play out via in gameplay text dialogue along with the odd low-res short clip. The game starts with you in a police station explaining what happened over the last four days. Each day has 6 levels and a boss. The first 21 levels take you up to the present day and the last 7 rounds out the story.
VALUE
The game is made up of 28 levels. 24 normal levels and 4 bosses. If you were the worlds best at twin stick shooters this could be completed in about 3 hours, but the vast majority of people will get a minimum of 10 hours from their initial run through the game. Even once you finish there are still 3 stars to achieve on each level. One is for completing the level in under a certain time. Another is for not missing a single shot and the last one (and hardest of them all) is for completing the level without using slow motion at all.
VERDICT
The Hong Kong Massacre is an excellent game. You could pick it up for 5 minutes and lose hours to the addictive gameplay. How the new two person team over at Vreski Games was able to put out such a high quality product is truly baffling. I sincerely hope that word of mouth spreads now that the game is out, because it would be a tragedy for this not to get the recognition it deserves. If you have ever enjoyed an action game, I urge you to buy this immediately.
-Craig 🧐
Reviewed on PS4. A review code was provided by the publisher.
