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. In other words, for me, what would immediately look like a good time. That said, there’s no denying it’s a bit rough around the edges. Sure, with this sort of experience you’re going to die often and sometimes even quickly but, your enemies tend to pick up on your presence and return crazy accurate shots a bit too consistently. Sure, you’re pretty well supposed to move through diving this way and that so you’ll evade shots but given the one-hit nature of your runs there are times it feels cheap. Perhaps my other issue is tied to my mental comparison to Max Payne but I do wish there was more of an attempt at a story or even just some connective tissue, even if it were just odd like in Hotline Miami. A brief cut-scene that conveys very little provides a hint of a revenge tale but I wanted at least a little more to sweeten the deal. It’s still a bit of fun but there’s an unrefined quality that keeps it at arms length from being more.