Played on:
Xbox 360
If you're like me, you've played boatloads of action games. From Nazi-killing vampires to Mafia hitmen to scientists with no voice, we've done them all. We've handled countless arsenals, almost all of which consist of, at the very least, a pistol, shotgun, submachine gun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, grenades, and a rocket launcher. We've seen the same stereotypical action game crap go on over and over. We're jaded. Games need to do something special, even if it's just one thing, to keep our attention.
And here comes Stranglehold, the new game by Tiger Hill Entertainment, Midway, and action movie director John Woo. Stranglehold is a video game sequel to the classic 1992 action flick Hard Boiled starring Chow Yun-Fat, and yes, he's back as Inspector Tequila. You'll take on hordes of low-level Hong Kong thugs and then bring the pain to America as you hunt down a criminal organization that has kidnapped Tequila's daughter as well as his ex. And this is the part where you yawn and mention that you've seen this plot dozens of times and possibly discount this game completely - and hell, I don't blame you. But once you get into the world of Stranglehold, you'll see that while the developers didn't really aim that high, they are delivering a solid, authentic experience here.
Horizontal Killing
As Inspector Tequila you're going to get all those great, semi-acrobatic moves that made the action in John Woo's movies so original - especially compared to the crap Hollywood was shoveling out in the early 90s. You'll get to dive in all directions, run up or slide down banisters, hit the deck and fire from the floor, and take out ridiculous numbers of thugs while hardly breaking a sweat (although you'll notice that during the close-ups, Tequila does often actually start sweating, bleeding, and even grimacing during the more intense firefights). All it takes is a flick of the left trigger to send Tequila into a context-sensitive maneuver, often aerial, while the slow motion allows you to plug four guys almost simultaneously. Sometimes you'll have to do a little dance to get the game to agree that yes, you do want to run up this railing, but overall the system works well enough.
Tequila does have other capabilities, too, like ducking or hiding behind walls for cover. Gears of War has become the de facto standard for getting cover in an action game, and while Stranglehold doesn't take the crown, it does shoot the crown into tiny little pieces. You see, a huge amount of the nicely detailed rooms you'll be fighting in are highly destructible, and that includes the cover you're hiding behind. From museum fossils to tables to even concrete pillars, almost all of Stranglehold's interior environments can be busted up - quite realistically - in the massive amount of gunfire that goes on. Your cover can get literally blown to smithereens, exposing you, and you can do the same to the enemy. Sure, it looks great, but it also adds up to some unique gameplay as Tequila is forced to stay on the move, dodging from one fragile bit of protection to another. And if you've seen Hard Boiled recently, then you'll know that this is certainly not out of place in the John Woo world.
Reloading: merely a cinematic tool
It's not a video game without some over-the-top powers, though, and that's where Stranglehold delivers pretty well. Let's start out with the fact that the only time you'll see Tequila reload his guns are when you unleash certain abilities. Even having any kind reloading in this game is solely there to make Tequila look like a badass. And not only does the esteemed Inspector get his own version of slow-motion Bullet Time - creatively called Tequila Time - but he's got four special "Tequila Bomb" maneuvers he can bust out as well. Tequila Time paints the scene in some sepia tones and gives you the reaction time necessary to take out multiple guys while in a mid-air dive off of a staircase, and you can use it often enough that it becomes almost a necessity as you progress through this game's steep learning curve.
Tequila Bombs mostly have their uses. Kill enemies or pick up the paper cranes hidden throughout the levels to fill up a circular meter, and tap a direction on the D-pad to unleash it. The first and cheapest Bomb allows you to heal yourself a little bit, giving you that extra boost of energy in between first aid kits scattered throughout the levels. The next one allows you to take a slow-motion zoom into an enemy and fire off a single, high-powered bullet and get a pretty satisfactory close-up of the pain you have inflicted on your enemy. You'll find that this one is best used on bosses rather than on the more conventional gun-toting rabble.
Next is the Barrage, probably the best of the Bombs, as you become invincible for a short while, firing your weapon with massive speed in slow motion and with no need to worry about ammo (this ability is incredibly useful with the shotgun, as in the Barrage it fires almost as fast as an assault rifle). Finally, there's the Spin Attack, which sends doves flying out in classic John Woo style while Tequila automatically kills any normal enemy in his line of sight. This final attack is fun to see once or twice, but it's not terribly useful since there are rarely more than 3 or 4 enemies you can tag with it at once. Since the other Tequila Bombs are cheaper and can be used more often, it's better to stick with them.
