Stranglehold

"Like a Gunshot: Short and Explosive"

If you're reading this review, I assume you are considering buying Stranglehold. And if you're considering buying Stranglehold, I assume you're partial to a bit of John Woo. Now, I will not debate that John Woo is a master of the “heroic bloodshed” genre ( has any cinematic gunfight ever truly matched Hard Boiled's hospital battle?), and Stranglehold manages to deliver on this front…for a while.

The story is certainly not going to win any prizes for originality, atmosphere, or…well, anything, really. It's a cliched tale of a lone cop, “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat, reprising his role from Woo's bullet-riddled classic Hard Boiled) going solo on a quest to take down warring crime syndicates. However, just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse, the hoods kidnap his wife and (you guessed it) feisty daughter. Tequila isn't the sort of cop who wants to interview witnesses and dust for prints. His approach is definitely shoot first, then shoot some more. And then possibly shoot the corpses so he can laugh at the ragdoll physics.

Luckily, Tequila's quest takes him through a good-looking world. The environments, including places like a Hong Kong restaurant, drug labs and opulent penthouses succeed in invoking an action-movie feel. The fact that nearly everything is destructible and gloriously over-the-top physics are employed in this leads to some exciting battles as furniture is shot to pieces, priceless artwork is blasted to dust and huge chunks of lethal masonry crash to earth (or, indeed, crash to skull).

Unfortunately, the characters inhabiting this world don't always blend in so well. They are well constructed, ad indeed look good if taken solely on their own merits, but their faces have a slightly exaggerated “cartoonish” look that sometimes sits incongruously alongside the detailed environments, not to mention the spurting and splattering blood. Added to this is the fact that you're mostly battling the same few clones (unless the bad guys are constantly being resurrected – perhaps Tequila's actually supposed to be up against a syndicate of gangster wizards).

The goons die with more style than they ever lived with thanks to the bullet wounds that splatter on their clothes and fact that the physics allow them to crash through walls, doors and furniture in true action film style. There are also several gratifying animations that accompany your enemies' demise, such as stricken foes clutching at spurting wounds or shielding their eyes from flying debris. Of course, Tequila gets all the best moves, with some exciting techniques such as dives and rolls and some less conventional tricks like sliding along tables (a cool little incorporation of the physics engine into combat), kicking back from walls or riding trolleys.

In the audio department, Stranglehold is acceptable but hardly spectacular. The voice acting is fine, though Chow delivers a few lines in a monotone. Happily, the simple fact that you're playing as Chow Yun-Fat allows you to overlook this. The villains, of course, bag all the best lines and their overacting suits the tone of the game well, while the taunts and screams of enemies are fun and fit admirably. It's too bad that the Hong Kong-set cutscenes have entirely English dialogue…a little more Cantonese would only have improved the Woo atmosphere. The music is what you'd expect from this kind of game: punchy, driving and pretty forgettable, though it gets the job done well enough. The exception is the main theme, which would not sound out of place on the opening titles of a blockbuster.

The core gameplay is the star of the show here, and it's fun but a little limited. Basically, you're playing a faster-paced version of Max Payne. Mostly it's a standard third-person shooter, with you running through levels killing everyone you meet. You don't even need to reload your practically bottomless guns, so the action never lets up. As I mentioned earlier, Tequila has a number of cool-looking tricks at his disposal, but these are often more better for impressing watching friends than battling the baddies. Springing off a wall only works with certain walls, meaning that you might end up simply running into the wall then halting embarrassingly, while you can only take cover on corners. Given the intelligent use of cover in games like the Metal Gear series, Gears of War and Ghost Recon, this looks decidedly old-fashioned and sloppy and can be downright annoying in a gun battle when you try to take cover and Tequila simply won't do it.

The most prominent gimmick is “Tequila Time” (yes, I thought the name was lame too), which puts the world into slow-motion at the touch of a button but allows you to aim and fire in real time. This system is single-handedly responsible for making you feel like a true badass, as it allows you to do some really stylish stuff such as bursting into a room, blowing a bad guy's cerebral cortex out then taking out the others before he's even had time to crumple to the ground. However, it also makes Tequila a little overpowered, a veritable dervish of destruction. Thus, you'll breeze through most battles. If you ever get overwhelmed, don't worry: you can simply wait round a corner and pick off the bad guys with slow-motion headshots as they run mindlessly into your line of fire. If you play without exploiting this little trick, though (although it's occasionally necessary on higher difficulty settings) you can have a lot of fun and could at times, especially when you pull off some particularly slick move that results in the ventilation of a horde of goons, be fooled into thinking you were being directed by John Woo himself.

Sadly, the villains also display the kind of AI that is surely eligible for some kind of anti-Nobel Prize. We already saw how they are happy to run into the mouth of your guns without a thought for their safety, but they also prove their curious mix pf confidence and idiocy by making such sound tactical decisions as standing next to conveniently-placed explosive barrels or underneath signs and wall fixtures that can be shot down to crush their empty skulls. Of course, you can avoid this hand-holding approach to carnage by simply not bothering to shoot the environmental traps. This is not a game meant to keep you on your toes by sending cunning opponents against you – the preferred enemy tactic is the human wave.

Perhaps the least enjoyable fights are those against the bosses, who simply make no effort to fight tactically and instead rely on their gigantic amounts of health to steamroller you into submission. This means the boss fights are wars of attrition that you're almost certain to win with ease because their chambers are always generously stocked with healing items and ammo.

There are mostly no objectives but to kill all in your way, with the exception of one area where you're charged with protecting some civilians so dumb they simply stand in the centre of the room (a definite low point, especially when a stray bullet only has to clip one of the fools to take him down). However, the “standoff” minigame is a lot of fun. In this, you are surrounded by thugs and have to take them down one after the other, while being able to see and dodge incoming bullets. There are only a few of these and they're quite easy, but they make a nice change from the overused quick-time button pressing sequences we see everywhere these days.

Tequila can also use special “Tequila Bomb” moves to give him a further edge. These are a quick self-heal, a super-accurate instant death shot (complete with hilarious “bullet cam” effect), the Barrage, a combination of temporary invincibility, infinite ammo and boosted damage (which can lead to some thoroughly annihilated environments) and the Spin Attack, which kills all enemies in the room. These are a little gimmicky, as health is the only one that's really of some practical use and they are fuelled by a gauge, filled by killing enemies in “stylish” ways, which can take a long, long time to fill. Thus, you're loath to part with the hard-earned Tequila Bomb juice. But I won't deny that the sense of power you get from demolishing a whole room with the Barrage, or using the Precision Aim to put a round through the crotch of a thug who's a speck in the distance (complete with excruciating death animation as the hapless grunt clutches at his sundered meat and two veg), is immensely gratifying and sure to amuse everyone watching.

This game is very short, between six or seven hours in length. It's a shame that the story is so rushed through given that the cutscenes between missions do a good job of keeping things moving and keeping you interested; one moment Tequila might just be beginning his hunt for a particular crime boss, the next he's in the villain's lair. But given the nature of the game, the length is both blessing and curse. The story is wrapped up before the action gets too stale, but it hardly justifies the price tag.

With all of this in mind, I would recommend Stranglehold tentatively as long as you are aware that you won't be getting a long or deep experience. Therefore, it's probably a very solid rental or one to search for pre-owned. It is certainly exhilarating fun while it lasts, but one cannot help wishing that it was a little tougher, a little longer and a little more varied.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/08

Game Release: Stranglehold (EU, 09/14/07)