Ever since the likes of the original Doom rocked the gaming world with its intense and visceral thrills, the first-person shooter genre has been a force to be reckoned with. The super-violent indie darling Hotline Miami caused a furor of its own, pairing some trippy pixel art visuals with intense and often challenging bursts of bloody violence. Neckbreak, for better or worse, seems to be the result of someone thinking to themselves that combining these two things into one madcap experience would be a great idea. While it may not reach the heights of either of its inspirations, there’s at least no question that it makes for a wild ride at times.

Starting with the positive, when the action kicks in it makes for quick, bloody, and chaotic fun. Whether you’re locked more into a mission, or just decide that you’re going to randomly pick a fight at the wrong time with the wrong people, the game is more than happy to indulge your inner berzerker. Whether you’re kicking people across the room while you’re juiced up on drugs, whacking people with melee weapons, or blowing them apart with a variety of guns, you’re either going to pretty quickly end up carving a bloody path through the level or dead. Unlike many games I’d say you’re not really able to improvise and survive very often, more often than not you’ll just die a few times to know what you shouldn’t do before working out your best path to survival. It can still be fun, but if you’re not laser-focused on success you’re not durable enough to survive for very long.

On the more negative side, while it clearly has quite a lot in common with Hotline Miami it’s also lacking some of the special sauce of its odd story, masks, and general flow that made it distinctive. Trading a top-down perspective where you could better plan out your path, for a first-person view where you’re far more challenged to know what may be coming, makes for a more frustrating time. I’m also not quite sure why they tried to have some sort of story, rather than just focusing on the core play experience and making it the best it could be. Filler where you’re walking around and not engaged in bloody shootouts lets everything cool to the point where it can be easier to put the controller down, while if they kept it all coming you might have an easier staying hooked for longer periods of time. Overall, if you’re willing to put up with some warts in order to enjoy a pretty unique take on first-person violence, it can still be a good time, just be sure to give some gameplay videos a look to understand what you’re in for.