Fun but ... | Stranglehold

A good idea strangled by control and pacing issues | Stranglehold

pc & video games:


	• Stranglehold Xbox 360 \| Midway Entertainment, 2007 average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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interesting

i found this game in a bargain bin for 25 bucks an decided to pick it up i was actually really impressed the first hour or so playing it and really enjoyed it but after awhile there was just so much stuff goin on onscreen that i started to get a headache lol and i found the never having to reload kinda cheesy along with the endless amount of enemies flooding out of random doors a lil repetative but all in all i really enjoyed the action movie style stunts and destructable environments really fun theres just so much on screen commotion

Fun but ...

Stranglehold was fun to play but I found it too simple after playing for a few hours. I just wanted to get it over with. After completing Halo 3, Bioshock and Mass Effect I was looking for something to tide me over until the next "best" FPS came along. Stranglehold filled that spot.

I passed it along to my grandson. I think he will get a kick out of the slow motion and trick moves. It is rated "Mature" but I did not see anything that offensive, not like Gears of War anyway.

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A good idea strangled by control and pacing issues

Game Story:
A cop with a past (Tequila) finds that a escalating gang war has connections to a family that he thought he lost forever. To save his wife and daughter he must cross the line from cop to viglante in a one man war that will take him from the back streets of china to a history musem in chicago to the walled mansion and manicured garden's of china's top gang lord.
------(The following is based on my experience and since I'm reflex challenged the ratings should be taken in that context.)
Graphics:B+
Mostly realistic looking, some characters do look like they game out of the uncanny valley. The Slow motion effects are great as tequila bounces around the screen with slow mo bullets flying by his head. Also stuff does blow up real good and most of the eviroments are destructible.
Controls:C / Camera:B
The character didn't always dodge that shotgun blast I wanted him to no matter how much I pulled the trigger or in other cases would dive in some random completley useless direction that gave me absolutley no aim and the enemies a nice targe practice dummy to fire on. The crouch and cover controls are a little dectection wonky in some spots as the character would seem to rather take about a hundred bullets than crouch behind the chest high wall that was in front of him. I didn't have much trouble in this game with the camera but in some places it did have issues usually when a enemy was shooting off screen and was difficult to find.
Game Story/Progression/Difficulty:
There wasn't much story to this game besides the back story that gives a reason for all the shooting and blowing up that goes on. About the same with the stages. Your there to put as many holes in the stage and anything that moves on the stage as you can and to do it as stylishly as possible. The one thing I will say about the difficulty is that it can be like shooting fish in a barrel one second and then the game will throw a few waves of "special" foes at you that require special skills or head shots to take out and these points are usually at the worst time (health low/ammo low) or in one case in a ball room where you have to keep a band alive so you can't shoot everthing that moves for fear of having to restart. Also I must mention the very annoying circle shoot that comes up ocassionaly. One it's annoying and breaks the flow of the game and two in the later ones I just stopped bothering to shoot and dodged until the game gave up and let me bounce off walls again. It was just to hard to dodge and try to shoot while being stuck in one place.
Overall:
This wasn't a bad game. If your looking for somthing that just lets you shoot anything that moves and makes pretty good use of slo-mo then this might be the game for you if you can look past its rough edges.
If there is a sequel:
Get rid of the annoying circles of death that introduce new stages/rooms. Instead use one of those usually annoying button sequences. In this case it could be used to control moves that would be to difficult for players to pull off normally and would really put the slo-mo acrobatics to good use. If the sequence was done right then it would put the player at an advantage (less enemies). If done wrong then the player would start off in a bad spot or be outgunned and have to fight his way out.
m.a.c

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Fun but not everlasting

It's a fun game with great cutscenes and awsome game play, I loved it, the only drawback was that I beat it in a day and the replay value isn't the best, the only thing left to do was to unlock stuff for online, online play is okay, nothing great, all in all the I enjoyed the game.

John Woo Presents: Strangehold continues the story of a classic piece of hard-boiled Hong Kong action -- "Hard Boiled," starring Chow Yun-Fat. Experience a world only previously seen in movies, as you control incredible gun battles and dramatic slow motion in Tequila Time. Stranglehold redefines the action gaming experience with its acrobatic gunplay, thrilling cinematography, frenetic combat and incredible Massive Destructibility (Massive D). Chow Yun-Fat reprises his signature role as Inspector Tequila, pitting gamers as a take no-prisoners cop waging a personal war with Hong Kong crime lords. Tequila's loyalties to the force are tested when his ex-wife is kidnapped by the Russian mob in Chicago. Tequila struggles to balance his duty to uphold the law with doing what it takes to save his family. Carve a unique path of massive destruction and use the environment as a weapon against your enemies. The highly modified Unreal 3.0 engine breathes new life into game environments and characters with stunning graphics & an ever-changing battleground

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