The Hong Kong Massacre tries it best to be stylish and slick. While it manages to achieve all of those things, it also became a bloody monster along the way.
The game is a mix of Hotline Miami's top down carnage and Max Payne's slow motion bullet dodging. The levels are small and short, with only one objective: kill everyone. This is not an easy game, even with the very generous slow motion ability. The level design gets a bit more elaborate as it goes, and that only adds to the difficulty, as the enemies can show up from more angles and overwhelm you even more. This, combined with the repetitive structure of the game, makes for a fun but very frustrating game. There's also boss levels, which consists of running alongside the boss, trying to kill him while also paying attention for other enemies along the way. They're just okay.
The progression is directly tied to making the game harder for yourself. In order to upgrade your weapons, you need stars, and while you get one after completing a level, you can get more if you complete the challenges. All of the levels have the same kind of challenges, and they consist of a time limit challenge, a "no slowmotion" challenge, and a "every bullet you shot must hit an enemy" challenge. Needless to say they are not worth the hassle, and it's much better if you plan your upgrades from early on instead.
Technically this game can be pretty neat at times. While the visual design of the levels gets very samey, seeing blood splatters, gun smoke and debris fly in slow motion as you're mowing down a room full of bad guys is pretty satisfying. The weapon sound effects are also pretty solid. There are some rough edges though. Occasionally enemies will roll into a wall and never pop back out, forcing you to restart the level. There are also times where enemies blend in to the background, which makes them hard to spot, and thus in very good position to kill you unfairly.
I bought this game at 5 US$, and I wouldn't recommend this at a higher price for most people. It would be neat to see what this developer does next, as there are some promising things in this game, but it's hard to fully enjoy this game with how rough it can be at times.
The game is a mix of Hotline Miami's top down carnage and Max Payne's slow motion bullet dodging. The levels are small and short, with only one objective: kill everyone. This is not an easy game, even with the very generous slow motion ability. The level design gets a bit more elaborate as it goes, and that only adds to the difficulty, as the enemies can show up from more angles and overwhelm you even more. This, combined with the repetitive structure of the game, makes for a fun but very frustrating game. There's also boss levels, which consists of running alongside the boss, trying to kill him while also paying attention for other enemies along the way. They're just okay.
The progression is directly tied to making the game harder for yourself. In order to upgrade your weapons, you need stars, and while you get one after completing a level, you can get more if you complete the challenges. All of the levels have the same kind of challenges, and they consist of a time limit challenge, a "no slowmotion" challenge, and a "every bullet you shot must hit an enemy" challenge. Needless to say they are not worth the hassle, and it's much better if you plan your upgrades from early on instead.
Technically this game can be pretty neat at times. While the visual design of the levels gets very samey, seeing blood splatters, gun smoke and debris fly in slow motion as you're mowing down a room full of bad guys is pretty satisfying. The weapon sound effects are also pretty solid. There are some rough edges though. Occasionally enemies will roll into a wall and never pop back out, forcing you to restart the level. There are also times where enemies blend in to the background, which makes them hard to spot, and thus in very good position to kill you unfairly.
I bought this game at 5 US$, and I wouldn't recommend this at a higher price for most people. It would be neat to see what this developer does next, as there are some promising things in this game, but it's hard to fully enjoy this game with how rough it can be at times.