Australian Gamer Review :: John Woo Presents Stranglehold

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John Woo Presents Stranglehold

Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

This is a review for a game called Stranglehold. What are we strangling? Who is doing the holding? Why are we here? Who ate all the meat pies?

Players: 1 - 6 Players
Genre:
Release: 2007-09-13

Developer: Midway Games
Distributor: Red Ant

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This is not Stranglehold. It's John Woo PRESENTS Stranglehold. That makes much more sense and leaves us with a credible point of reference. John Woo, master of action (fuck the haters - MI:2 was good), is here to direct his first video game starring one of the most recognizable faces in cinema today - Chow Yun-Fat. Stranglehold is a spiritual successor to classic Hong Kong action movie Hard Boiled, the previous collaboration between Woo and Yun-Fat. It's a third-person shooter. Need I go on?

Strangehold is centered at the very core of what Hong Kong action movies are all about. Lots of guns, shooting, killing, drugs, hot women, car chases and explosions. Awesome. There's nary a badass on this earth who can match the badassery of Chow Yun-Fat, so it's good news to see he is back from Hard Boiled in fine form, reprising the role of Inspector Tequila with passion and style. Tequila is seemingly indestructible, and will take on any number of anonymous henchmen armed with, as he calls them, "My two friends". After all the heroic bloodshed is over, Tequila always has a moving soliloquy about how much he loves his family, or how honorable and important his cause is, regardless of the standard police procedures he seems to break at every turn. During the rolling credits, the developers thanked Yun-Fat for helping create one of the most iconic characters in movie history. After playing Strangehold and watching Hard Boiled, I would be inclined to agree - for a no-holds barred action hero, Tequila is the main man.

Two's company

Gameplay is similar to the Max Payne series, but feels far more responsive and fluid. As a third-person shooter, you are given more control over Tequila's specific movements, which usually involve some zero-gravity stunt flying across walls and sliding along rails. The controls are tight and precise, and it would be hard to fault the engine for an unexpected death. Weapons and ammo are plentiful, with a significant difference in effect depending on the situation. The SMG is handy for close-range decimation, while the one-hit-kill Golden Pistol is useful when hiding behind a wall and popping heads as the thugs come charging to seek and destroy. No one weapon is especially superior (although the Heavy Machine Gun is brutal when it makes rare appearances), and all can be useful in the right hands.

Along with old school firepower, you have the ability to manipulate time itself and gain a significant advantage. Tequila Time can be activated through a variety of means, and causes a slow-motion effect which, while seen in Max Payne, was pioneered by John Woo himself long before any video game utilized the concept. While running, the L Trigger can be pulled and Tequila will dive through the air in any direction. If an enemy is roughly in Tequila's sights mid-dive, Tequila Time will automatically activate and provide more time for aiming and accuracy. In fact, most unusual combat moves will engage Tequila Time when aiming at an enemy. You can run up walls, slide down rails, dive on rolling carts and swing from chandeliers all in an effort to overcome your numerous enemies. Tequila Time can also be activated manually at any time by pressing RB - but it's a limited resource and takes time to recharge. Use it wisely and your enemies won't stand a chance.

As a final exponent on the badassness, stylish kills will net you points, which help to fill a Tequila Bomb gauge. Tequila Bombs are insanely powerful attacks which need to be used at just the right moment to gain the full effect. The first Tequila Bomb is merely a small health bonus, but the final three moves take no prisoners. The second tier is a pinpoint bullet shot which, while powerful, only takes out one enemy at a time, and there are hundreds to defeat in every level. The second is called Barrage, and for a limited time grants Tequila invincibility and an unrelenting rapid-fire ability with any active weapon. The most powerful Bomb is merely a short cinematic, during which Tequila spins around in circles (alongside the trademark John Woo doves) and eliminates every enemy in the room. The spin attack is useful if surrounded, but wasting it on only a few baddies is a big disadvantage, as the entire power gauge will be depleted. In addition to style kills, floating paper cranes can be found in each level which add nice chunks back to Tequila's power.

The development team has crafted some solid graphics to accompany the brutal action. As an overall package it works very well, despite several notable flaws in detail. Up close, the characters are far too plastic and shiny, with awkward facial expressions when speaking. Tequila looks cool in action, but this is always viewed from some distance away. Outdoor environments are easily the best, with massive beach front shanty towns and rain-soaked, run-down industrial yards as standout locations. Head inside for some pretty drab walls and objects, but the action is always top-notch.

Yeah, I hate that shitty McDonald's ad for bacon too.

Every graphic downfall in Strangehold is redeemed ten-fold, thanks to the superb physics and destruction engine. Stranglehold was originally proclaimed to have the most destructible environments ever created, and this couldn't be far from the truth. Everything can be destroyed, and a handy statistical breakdown at the end of each level will show just how much everything you shot to pieces was worth. Shoot at a hanging shark in the fishing village to see chunks fly off, but shoot enough times and the body will actually sever in half and drop into the ocean. At times, however, the damage is a little too over-the-top. Taking cover behind a massive concrete pillar seems like a solid idea, but your enemies will decimate any structure within seconds, as if it were made of balsa wood. This is frustrating on more than one occasion, as seemingly no cover is safe from the constant rain of bullets shredding through the air.

Ordinarily the constant element of danger and need to move around makes for a far more tense and realistic shooter. In this case, the realism is skewed beyond reasoning. For example, bullets will pierce any environmental object, but have a hard time bringing down an ordinary human being. One of the bosses is particularly notorious for being tough to kill - I unloaded several hundred bullets from an assault rifle at point-blank range into this man's head, and he barely flinched. Generally that kind of firepower would liquefy any manner of flesh and bone.

Everything about the combat is upscaled, which also causes frustration. Tequila (at least on higher difficulty levels) takes large amounts of damage and subsequently requires healing very often. To accommodate this, health packs are plentiful and dotted all around the levels. The aforementioned boss battle has health packs strewn everywhere on the upper floor, so strategy boils down to: shoot guy, get shot back, retrieve health pack, repeat. It would be far more realistic to simply scale back all elements, which would be just as challenging, but less frustrating. An example could be to eliminate most of the health packs, but at the same time decrease any one of the other variables - enemy accuracy, environmental fragility, or character damage.

Online multiplayer is available, but it's a pretty awkward mess. Tequila Time abilities can be used, which doesn't make much sense when fighting human-controlled opponents, and you'll often be left wondering exactly what happened that caused you to die. Rather than draining a meter, Tequila Time must be filled in order to use it, so you'll have players hiding rather than fighting in an effort to build up a powerful one-off attack, as opposed to using straight up shoot-out skill. There's no incentive to play online multiplayer given the wealth of far superior shooters out there for Xbox Live.

BOOM headshot!

Stranglehold is absolutely worth a look for anyone remotely interested in top-notch shooting action. The pacing is somewhat erratic (the second level drags on far too long, while the beautiful final showdown is shallow and short), and the overall campaign length would never stretch longer than eight hours, but it's an intense eight hours that shouldn't be missed. This is a game that definitely achieves what it originally set out to do, and doesn't make too many claims to fame beyond the superb source material and the John Woo mark of quality. As a full-price title this may seem a little on the expensive side, but it should be very high on everyone's rental list. Hail to the Chow, baby.

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Final Verdict

Worth playing, without a doubt. Don't think too hard on exactly how you are going to get your hands on this rapid-fire shooter, just make sure you get around to it sooner or later.

Pros
Fluid combat, totally badass moves, good graphics and an awesome John Woo style.
Cons
Unrealistic (and unnecessary) damage system, overly hectic battles without a sense of direction, poor multiplayer and short campaign.