A fun enough rental or bargain bin find

by Christopher Colquhoun

Fun factor: Average

Worth to: Rent

Some contrived elements aside, it’s a good action game based on John Woo’s cult movie, Hard Boiled, with enough gunfights to please shooter fans for a weekend or two

Movie buffs might recognize Stranglehold as the sequel to John Woo’s 1992 action epic Hard Boiled, however gamers will be more likely to be reminded of Remedy’s 2001 action game Max Payne. Regardless, Midway did well to differentiate this action romp from Max Payne by adding highly destructible environments and John Woo’s trademark style.

Spraying hot lead in style

Stranglehold’s first causality is realism. The game has our hero, Inspector Tequila, diving around in slow motion killing wave after wave of enemy mobsters in over the top fashion. He does this by interacting with the environment. He can run up or slide down rails, swing on chandeliers, slide over tables, dive onto and ride wheeled carts, and even take cover. Whenever Tequila does this with an enemy in his crosshair, time slows down, letting him kill enemies with ease.



When enemies die Tequila is awarded style points. The simple rule for racking these up is “the more badass the kill, the more points you get.” This system rewards you for using the environment to combo up kills. It’s not uncommon to slide down a rail then dive onto a pushcart all the while spraying bad guys with lead.

These style points then boost your Tequila Bomb gauge, and when each quarter is filled up it allows you to use a special ability. These abilities (with the exception of heal) are largely unnecessary to complete the game but are fun to mess around with. Barrage, for example, gives Tequila unlimited health and ammo for a short time and bullets rip apart the environments more than they usually do.

That’s not bullet-time, that’s lag

The environment is one of the most impressive aspects of the game. Beautiful settings, such as a luxury penthouse and casinos, are ripped apart under heavy gunfire. Statues will chip, glass will shatter, wood will splinter and explosive barrels will decimate everything around them when shot. Using one word to describe the chaos: it’s glorious. Tequila has a small selection of weapons to choose from; all the usual suspects are here as well as his signature dual pistols. Even though the weapon selection is small it doesn’t feel like there is any need for more, and the game is still very enjoyable if you stick with the dual pistols.

The most depressing aspect of Stranglehold’s core gameplay is the early stages that have you planting bombs and blowing up drug tables. Nothing sucks the fun out of the game quite like not being able to move to the next area because you need to find one more drug table. Luckily after a few hours into the game they stop giving you these types of objectives and the focus moves to strictly shooting mobsters. The game will also periodically set up a little standoff mini-game where Tequila will have to stand in one spot and kill enemies surrounding him while dodging bullets. It’s a fun way to change up the pace, even if it does feel very contrived.



Stranglehold also has a multiplayer mode where you and up to 5 other players can battle it out in environments from the single player campaign. Although it sounds fun in theory it’s actually very boring. Assuming you can even find people to play online with, the only modes you have are standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. Lag is also rampant; half the time you die you’ll be left scratching your head wondering what killed you.

Lazy delivery but the insanity makes up for it

Like any great action flick the story plays second fiddle to the action, and here it’s no different. The only real connection to the Hard Boiled story is Tequila, who is still a badass cop with a “take no prisoners” attitude. The story itself is a half-decent crime drama with mobsters double-crossing each other at every turn. The delivery of the story feels lazy and can be quite difficult to follow at times but works as an excuse to go from one stage to the next while ripping through a small army of thugs.

While Stranglehold only lasts about 6 hours it does have a decent amount of reply value if you’re interested in playing through the game on harder difficulty modes, as well as unlocking concept art. You can’t go back to specific parts of the game after you’ve finished them, which is unfortunate because there are a few specific stages that are a lot of fun but you will have to go through a large chunk of the game just to get there.



Stranglehold does a good job of conveying the insanity of its gun fights through sound. Gunfire is a constant and one that sounds authentic. Other sounds that fill the battlefield include the screams of enemies that have met their demise and some forgettable music. The standard of voice acting during cutscenes is bearable as some characters put out respectable performances, but others are so campy they will make you cringe.

Summary

Stranglehold is a big, dumb action game with fun written all over it. It’s a perfect rent or even a buy if it’s in the bargain bin. However the demo up on Xbox Live may be enough to satisfy some people. In all, it has good gun action, Tequila has various special attacks and he can interact with most of the environments. It’s easy to recommend Stranglehold to fans of Hard Boiled or gamers who wants something a little different out of their shooters.