For a time, the action sequences of most John Woo movies came to define what modern Hong Kong cinema was all about. Gritty environments, lots of slow-motion shots, and a torrent of gunfire were trademarks of classics such as "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer," and many other directors at the time tried to emulate that style with varying results. Announced nearly five years ago, The Hong Kong Massacre is the latest game to try and put that old Hong Kong action cinema formula into video game form, and while it certainly looks great, the gameplay doesn't necessarily match up.

In The Hong Kong Massacre, you play the role of an ex-cop who is going after the Triad in a revenge tour that lasts almost a whole week. It is enough to set up things, but the game doesn't do a great job of committing to the tale. It doesn't really have to do this, but when you see dialogue segments where you're interrogated, you hope that the dialogue would feel less stiff. It also doesn't help that there are several full-blown cut scenes that consist of seeing your character's face or having lots of other imagery around with no explanation at all. The scenes may be considered artistic, but you won't miss out on anything if you skipped them all.

Jumping into the first level will remind you of Hotline Miami. The top-down viewpoint gets you a nice view of the level, and most of the levels are segmented by rooms filled with a few enemies. Those enemies will be unaware of your existence until you open the door, and then they'll spring to life and take potshots at you. For the most part, your main goal is to go in and kill every person, and while your starting weapon is always equipped with a paltry amount of ammo, you can pick up any of the guns that enemies drop, so it's normal to constantly switch from pistol to assault rifle to shotgun and semi-auto.

There are two signature mechanics that make the game live up to its name and provide some advantage in each fight. The first is the ability to slow down time. As in every other game that uses the mechanic, you can hold down a button to slow down everyone's movement while your aiming movement remains at normal speed. The other mechanic is the dodge, which grants momentary invincibility until you land upright. Since your dodge is a dive most of the time, you have a good chance of landing on top of things, which sometimes leaves you more vulnerable to shots and gives the game a better sense of depth. Another interesting thing you'll see is that the enemies sometimes dodge, making some of the encounters a little tougher since enemies are also invulnerable during that time.

While The Hong Kong Massacre doesn't have another mode beyond the campaign, the game provides you with some incentive to replay levels in different ways. By going for 100% accuracy or not using your time slowdown mechanic, for example, you can earn bonus stars. Those stars can then be used to either unlock new weapons or power up any of the weapons you've already unlocked. That seems a little odd at first, considering how you can often pick up different weapons that are good enough for the job, but once you gain bonuses like unlimited ammo, it's a no-brainer to try out the extra challenges.

With a campaign of a decent length and some extra challenges to go along with it, there are only a few aspects of the title that aren't so appealing. First, the leaderboards aren't as robust as expected. You only get access to a global leaderboard, and you can only see the top 99 people at any one time. Unless you get amazing at the game, it's difficult to see how well you're progressing due to these restrictions. Another thing that you'll tire of are the relatively few changes between stages. Most of the levels look the same after a while, and the enemy roster doesn't change much as you progress. Boss fights are a little different, as you always start off running alongside them in a different room before fighting them in a more open area. It's cool to see at first, but since just about every fight follows this pattern, it gets pretty old on all five boss fights.

The last major issue that people may dislike are the inconsistent enemies. Sometimes, they'll be completely unaware of the corpse flying next to them, while other times, they'll be aware of your existence several rooms away. The levels never make it clear where paper screens are, and that's important because once they know to look for you, enemies tend to have deadly aim even from afar. Their precise shots mean that you'll initially rely on slowdown and diving to get a chance at progressing.

Despite all of this, The Hong Kong Massacre isn't easy to hate. The almost instantaneous restarts mean that you can easily jump back into the game the very moment you die. The kills are satisfying, especially when you see the enemy's body crash into a window before falling from great heights or see them stumble over furniture when shot. During the moments when you aren't getting hit by stray bullets or wondering about the title's other flaws, you'll find the spark that got you excited about shooters, and the game excels during those times.

Whether you love or hate the game, there's no denying that the presentation is mostly excellent. The audio may not have any voice work, but the music evokes a gritty vibe that's expected from a series of shootouts in seedy environments. Graphically, these same environments are absolutely packed with detail, and seeing everything get shot up is beautiful to look at, since almost everything reacts to flying bullets or bodies. The large amounts of billowing smoke give everything a haze that makes each fight feel more dramatic. There is a heavy use of blur, but it seems like it's only there to hide the character models, which look like they could be faceless or have blank stares whenever they die, something that would certainly ruin the aesthetics.

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.

Score: 7.0/10