As we covered previously on not one, but two occasions, Stranglehold has players reacquainting themselves with Inspector Tequila, the star of Hardboiled. Played by Chow Yun-Fat, whose actual likeness has been brought into the game, Tequila’s family has been be abducted by the Russian mafia in Chicago. They are essentially being used to hold the Hong Kong crime lords at ransom. Given the connection between Tequila and Hong Kong’s tog dog, it’s up to Tequila to go wipe out a few crime syndicates and save the day. While simple on the surface, the story is much more endearing than your typical action plot. Furthermore, it’s quite well directed and features plenty of Woo-isms, which will no doubt be appreciated by fans.
We’ve covered a lot of the gameplay aspects in our previous coverage and the game has been in development for quite sometime. It’s easy to say that the final build is indeed the most polished, impressive and enjoyable of any that we played before it. It’s also the hardest. While there have been a lot of comparisons to Max Payne, the heavy arcade nature of Stranglehold makes the former look slow and technical. Given the amount of ammo and enemies that are thrown at you, the game is almost a ‘manic’ shooter.
The big fella could be trouble.
Throughout the seven levels in Stranglehold, it’s up to you make use of the copious amounts of ammunition, the environments, and the powers endowed to you to defeat anything that moves and get to the end boss, who takes quite a lot of ammo to take down. Your weapon selection may seem a little standard - duel pistols, SMG, shotgun, assault rifle, heavy machine gun and rocket launcher - but they certainly get the job done. We were (still) disappointed about only being able to carry two weapons at once, and it became particularly annoying when we had to restart with low ammo and the carnage had been cleaned up. The lack of reloads is a minor compensation.
The use of your environment is quite engaging. Diving is a prominent part of the game, as well as sticking to cover for some stop-and-pop, use of explosive assistants, rebounding off walls, running up and down rails, swinging across chandeliers and riding trolleys. All these moves are incredibly polished and intuitive to perform. The range and ability to do crazy things is quite amazing. To further add to the interactivity, rather then having a jump button, Tequila will seamlessly slide over low-lying objects - a great game mechanic from the developer. In the second level, your interactivity doesn’t work too well but otherwise, you’ll need to make good use of it if you hope to get through the game. Furthermore, you’ll earn ‘style’ points for killing enemies with the help of your environment.
Tequila also has access to Tequila time (i.e. bullet time) and the Tequila bomb. While it may seem clichéd to have this feature, it fits the game extremely well. It really gives you the feeling that you are indeed this incredibly hardboiled cop and with the way the game plays, it’s almost a necessity. It also may seem as a little odd that it activates automatically. You can activate it manually, but the game has been built around this feature and it’s handled cleverly. Sometimes it can get into a minor bother, as it may hold when you don’t quite want it to but otherwise, it is sublime and fits the game like a glove. Again, use of Tequila time will earn you style points as well.
There is no shortage of destruction.
The style points, combined with combo kills and paper cranes, will fill the Tequila bomb gauge. This gives you access to four powers. You’ve got a quick heal, precision aim, barrage and spin attack. Precision aim is very handy for snipers and houses some potentially humorous death animations, depending on where you aim. Barrage makes you temporarily invulnerable and your ammo limitless, and it’s good for getting through queues of enemies and their barriers. Spin attack will essentially clean out everyone that’s in the room at the time. All of these powers are essentially get-out-of-jail cards and they fit the arcade nature of the game. Again, given the amount of enemies thrown at you, you’ll need them.
Stranglehold is an incredibly enjoyable arcade game, but it’s also quite a challenge and demands some reasonable skill. The bosses have massive health bars and the stand-offs break up the gameplay very nicely. You’ll need to make use of all the gameplay features and you need some patience as well. Running in head first is not always the best tactic. Sometimes, depending on the level layout, our dive didn’t respond, and the enemy melee attacks are a little strong to be fair, but otherwise, the only major issue is the camera. While far from broken, it doesn’t always provide the best vantage point and it was difficult at times to detect from which direction we were being shot. Otherwise, the game is not only fun, but well built and extremely polished.
The only other real flaw in the game is the length. It can be knocked over in roughly six or so hours. However, it is the kind of game that will appeal to an old school ideology; those who love to go back, play through on higher difficulties or improve their scores. The fourth difficulty level, Hardboiled, is indeed, one heck of a challenge that will keep Woo and action enthusiasts hooked, but for the more casual audience, they may be disenchanted by such a short length and extravagant price point. There is a multiplayer mode, but it’s really a dumbed down build set in a lot of the single player levels. Tequila time is much more scarce, as everyone is slowed down when it's on. It’s not as good as the single player, but playing as John Woo is a cool novelty.
Tequila should get some frequent flyers for the amount of air time he has.
Graphically, Stranglehold is one slick and polished title, that is further aided by excellent direction. The cut scenes provide an edge that is still missing from many games in this day and age. The Woo influence is quite noticeable. While the characters look a tad exaggerated and caricatured, they are at least varied and a lot of the cronies are reasonably varied as well. The Chow Yun-Fat likeness is quite amazing. The environments are superbly built, not only in terms of visuals but a design that compliments the gameplay. It’s especially fun to get into a nice, populated room, only to leave it in utter ruin at the end. Aspects such as animations, lip-syncing and physics are suitably polished and built, and can be termed "next-gen". The only concerns is that there are a few minor inconsistencies such as clipping and while it never chugs, the frame rate gets tested.
In terms of audio, the game makes good use of audio cues. For example, you’ll get a cue that will indicate that you’ve beaten a wave of enemies or that you picked up an item. The music has been quite well composed, with numerous suitable and enjoyable tunes. It’s just what you’d expect from an action game. The voicing is passable and sometimes cheesy, but it's also just what you’d expect out of a Woo production, though it’s a little quieter then what would normally be comfortable. The sound effects are suitably destructive, but at times, are muted or have rather obvious missing bits. Thankfully, you’re unlikely to notice when fending of eight enemies.
While there are a lot of aspects to the game that may have been done before in other shooters, Stranglehold is arcade bliss. The game is highly polished, challenging and above all, a heck of a lot of fun. All the aspects of the game have come together superbly (camera aside), and coupled in with the unique cinematic direction from John Woo, you’ve got a rather enjoyable and memorable game. Unfortunately, it’s still a short experience and Australians miss out on the Hardboiled Blu-ray bonus. While it’s difficult to outright recommend a purchase given the retail price, we’d definitely call Stranglehold a must rent.
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