John Woo Presents Stranglehold (Xbox 360)
Filed Under Previews
Stranglehold is a third-person action adventure game based on John Woo’s “Hard Boiled†and stars Chow Yun-Fat as Inspector Tequila, the no-fear, take no prisoners, Hong Kong cop with a bad attitude and his own brand of street justice.
If that sentence, the non-stop shooting, gritty dialog or unrealistic action sequences didn’t tip you off that this is a John Woo game, then maybe the perfectly placed flock of doves will. Inspector Tequila can dodge bullets, run up hand rails, and take on the entire Asian underworld single-handedly. At least this time there’s no dueling mid-air motorcycles.
As Inspector Tequila, you have a few tricks up your sleeve to level the playing field. I mean 1 vs. 100 makes for an interesting game show, but when you’re the 1 and the 100 is made up of sketchy guys with guns, you’re going to need a little more help than Bob Saget can provide. Your best ally is bullet time. Oh, I’m sorry…“Tequila Time.†Changing the name doesn’t make it new, but that doesn’t make it a bad game mechanic. If anything, it’s one of my favorites and I feel that game designers today are afraid of being called unoriginal and so they don’t use it, which is a shame.
You can enter Tequila Time in one of two ways, either by pressing RB, which manually turns it on and off, or by pressing LT which initiates a dive or allows you to interact with objects. The latter is one of my person favorites. If you press LT while facing a railing, you will slide down it while still maintaining perfect aiming abilities. If there are enemies in the vicinity, Tequila Time will automatically turn on, slowing down the movement of all characters while still allowing you to aim in real time. Even better, press LT while facing a cart and you can dive onto the cart while it rolls towards your enemies, controlling it with the left stick while you aim with the right.
In addition to Tequila Time, you have access to four “Tequila Bombs.†The first refills your health, the second is precision aim, the third is barrage and the fourth is spin attack. The first is self explanatory, while the second is my personal favorite. Trigger it by pressing up on the D-pad and instantly zoom the camera in towards your enemy. Once you fire, watch the bullet fly towards your target and then watch as blood flies everywhere while your target desperately clutches his wound with a pleading look on his face. It’s incredibly graphic and incredibly awesome. Barrage allows you to shoot rapidly with unlimited ammo for a limited time. Finally, spin attack, while consuming the most Tequila Bomb power, automatically takes out all nearby enemies while you sit back and watch a slick animation. Although this is the most powerful ability in your arsenal, it is my least favorite. For a game that prides itself so much on making you feel like you are a part of the movie, the spin attack instantly brings you back into bystander mode.
If you haven’t been able to tell from my writing so far, the gameplay is incredibly fun and addictive. Not only that, but the physics in the game are superb. Bodies and objects move more realistically than ever before. This plays a large role, considering that almost everything in the game is destructible. If you think you’re safe taking cover behind a stone column, think again. As it takes fire, marble chunks will fly off of your cover until there’s nothing left but a wire frame. Not only that, but if you see an object above your enemy with a small sparkle, you damn well better shoot it. There’s nothing more “action hero†than taking out four bad guys with one well placed shot. Neon signs, bamboo walkways, huge balconies, pretty much everything is fair game.
You take all of the preceding awesomeness, top it all off with the promise of a multiplayer mode WITH all of the abilities you get in single player, including Tequila Time, and you’re in for one amazing experience. If you’re like me, your thoughts are often invaded by the multiplayer bullet time debate. How can you have bullet time in multiplayer? Can anyone initiate it? Do all characters slow down? If not, then does one person slow down and become a prime target for everyone else?
I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited about a game, let alone based solely on a demo. I also can’t remember the last time I’ve played through a demo twice! Note: I actually played through three times on each difficulty setting. If you have an Xbox 360 with live, download the demo now and see what I’m talking about. Otherwise, stay tuned for my review shortly after the game is released on August 27.