John Woo Presents Stranglehold for Xbox 360

Stranglehold is based on a John Woo movie named Hard boiled which many of us Hong Kong action movie buffs have probably seen. The plot of the movie -like the plot of this game - focuses on the relationship between a cop and an undercover cop taking on HK's triads. The stories in John Woo movies are typically nothing more than a backdrop to show off extravagant and ridiculous gunplay that would most likely result in the hero being killed in real life within about 5 minutes but, the incessant violence and the *holy sh^t* moments are usually enough to keep his movies afloat.

The runtime of the movie was about 2 hours and the body count was 307 dead.

I don't think this many people died in 'Saving Private Ryan'.

The problem with Stranglehold, which tends to be a problem with many other games is "timing". You may not know this but in 1999 there was a film called The Matrix which revolutionized action movies with a special effect called "bullet time" which slowed all action around fired rounds to infinitely slow time-lapse shots which were meant to punctuate how fast a character could dodge them in virtual reality.
A few years later, 2001, Max Payne was released for Windows – which was a 3rd person shooter game whose gameplay centered around the bullet time effect. Later still, a sequel to Max Payne was released and in 2003 ENTER The MATRIX was released for all systems, with gameplay reminiscent of Max Payne.
Later Still, Namco released Dead to Rights which was basically a clone of EtM and MP.

Along this long timeline of video game releases, the bullet time gameplay mechanic has grown old and overused. Many more games, such as F.E.A.R use it to eccentuate the game's exotic weaponry and what you end up with is a bunch of games who'se gameplay gets repetitive after a few hours because the developers think you'll still be interested when you score your 30,000th kill on an enemy who couldn't move as fast as you could.

Stranglehold is basically Max Payne with updated graphics and a slightly more interactive bullet time mechanism.



THE GAMEPLAY

You control the character, Jon Tequila (Chow Yun Fat), from a 3rd person perspective just like you did in Enter The Matrix and Max Payne. Similar to these other games, there is a button which allows you to slow time down to the bullets pace. This allows you to carefully aim at the enemies who are shooting wildly at you while they are running back and forth since they can't aim at you as fast as you can now aim at them.

The slowdown, referred to as "Tequila time" can be activated by the RB button, however, it is really unnecessary as time will automatically slow down the moment you perform a jump/dodge maneuver and have set your sites on the enemy. This automatic activation of Tequila time helps make the game ridiculously easy. In fact, this game is arguably far easier than Max Payne and Enter the matrix.

It just so happens that Jon Tequila has special moves he can perform which replenish themselves as you rack up what the game calls "stylish kills".
Why shoot someone point blank, when you can run up a hand railing for a staircase and then jump off sideways while spraying them with bullets?
Well, if you choose to do the more complex and visually exciting maneuver, you'll be rewarded with a small addition to your special move meter. From this meter, you can choose to add health to your health bar with the push of a button. No med kits required !
If you however choose to use your special move powers on actual gunplay moves, there are still health packs scattered around the environments.

Other special moves include the "Precision Kill" shot which allows you to zoom in on a distant enemy and fire a single round that the camera will follow. When this special round hits the enemy, it will most likely kill him since you have most likely aimed at a critical body part. Precision Kill is fantastic and is most likely going to raise eyebrows of observant parents. Similar to the movie Robocop you can aim at someone's genitals from 500 feet away and hit them. When you do, the now- neutered unfortunate will fall to the ground holding his groin and moaning in severe pain.
Shoot a guy in his neck and he'll grab his neck coughing and choking on his own blood.
Shoot him in the head and he'll (unrealistically) moan and groan as the force of the bullet throws him backwards. Someone shoulda' told the creators, people don't moan and groan when you shoot them in the head with a high caliber bullet.

Another special move is the "Spin" which allows you to automatically spin 360 degrees killing everyone around you with your two pistols. There is also the "Barrage" which makes you invulnerable with infinite ammunition for a few seconds – but, considering you reload off of every single dead body and have the ability to heal yourself, this isn't really necessary.

The coolest addition besides the "Precision Kill" is the "Standoff" which is typical Hong Kong/Hollywood bull done right. No matter how badly you are outmatched or surrounded, in the standoff situations you will go one on one with each gunslinger one at a time. They will fire a bullet at you that you can clearly see and dodge with a quick flick of the analog stick – then you shoot them dead and move on to the next guy. If you miss the kill shot too many times, you will automatically shift to the next guy waiting in line to kill you (read: get killed). This will go on until you've either killed everyone or they have killed you. Most likely, they won't win cause you've got more health than Master Chief.
If the enemy was smart enough to shoot you simultaneously, you'd be done for.

THE GRAPHICS of Stranglehold are a mixed bag, and will likely be criticized (or applauded) differently by different observers. On the one hand, I applaud Midway for presenting full, lush environments that are highly interactive – reminding me immediately of Dreamcast's Shen Mue. The backgrounds really look just like they actually do in Hong Kong movies and the interactivity – being able to cause devastating damage to wood, concrete and other materials is fantastic. My only problem is, the game doesn't look or run as good as it does on a high-end computer (2 Gigahertz + 3D accelerator). On the 360, the skin tones of both Tequila and the enemies he's wasting look velike cheap plastic. Also, when there's too much action on the screen, the framrate tends to drop noticeably.

The slowdowns and plastic skin is overlookable because when played on an HD TV instead of a regular tube tv, the graphics are noticeably sharper for the 360 version. You will also be so fascinated with the blood sprays from head shots and the player-environment interactivity that you may not notice the shortfalls either.

THE SOUND is spot on. Guns sound violent and loud, yet when the world is slowed down to Tequila time, they still retain their deep bass voices yet, you can now witness the *whiz* of the slugs as they pass by – as well as the painful moans of those you are emptying clips in. Violence in this game benefits greatly from 5.1 surround sound. Turn up the volume and you've got your own private little war.


SO WHAT SETS STRANGLEHOLD APART FROM THE OTHERS?

The only thing that sets Stranglehold apart is the developer's focus on interactivity. The levels as I have mentioned are full of environments that have special areas designed to be damaged by gunfire. Sometimes enemies will present themselves by blowing a fence up with a shotgun to get at you, or blowing doors off their hinges. The moments are dramatic and even more so once you quickly target them and go slow-mo.

The interactivity is taken a step further. If you are near railings, Tequila can hop on them and run up or down them while shooting enemies like in a typical Woo movie. If you're near a wheeled cart, you can hop on it and roll left or right while blasting away at enemies.
Running near walls may allow you to hop on the wall – defying gravity – to do acrobatic attacks against your ground planted foes who are ill- prepared for your stunts.
Tequila will also automatically slide onto, over or under tables when he gets close to them in the heat of battle. This is done automatically so there is no need to plan for it.

That makes the game just as fun to watch as it is to play.

XBOX Live offers multiplayer and achievements but the game is extremely sloppy for this style of play. It feels unnecessary to slow time down when you are more used to Gears of War, Socom and Ghost Recon style shooting systems that allow you to simply shoot the person without all the special effects.
Collision detection also gets really "wierd" here. Sometimes two players will get in a gunfight with one jumping directly over the head of the first and this ugly "clipping" starts to occur where body parts permeate other polygons.

OVERALL the game looks great and plays good, but, once you get used to the game's bullet time mechanics, its ripe for the shelf. It looks like a John Woo movie and plays like one as well. If you're a parent, just keep in mind, the game is overly and unapologetically violent. No real person can survive gunfights like these and its important kids don't get the wrong impression about violence.