Stranglehold is advertised as a sequel to the John Woo movie Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-Fat as Inspector Tequila. The movie boasted a gritty storyline and over-the-top gunfights, which Stranglehold continues in earnest. Chow Yun-Fat has also contributed his likeness and voice to the game, thus establishing continuity. Sadly, the story soon begins to feel tacked-on since the gunfights clearly dominate the entire game. The vast majority of all the levels in the game involve shooting lots of people and destroying lots of stuff.

Though this sounds simplistic, it actually manages to be quite a lot of fun. Borrowing a mechanic from Max Payne, Tequila can slow down time and perform many acrobatic feats, such as ?shootdodging? and wall-jumping. In addition, there are tons of environmental objects to interact with; you can swing from lights, slide across tables, kick tables over and use them as cover, ride on roll-carts, slide down railings?the list goes on.

Stranglehold pushes the line when it comes to a family-friendly perspective, but less so than other shooting games. The violence is quite bloody, but hardly ever gory; you will never see dismembered limbs or the like. As Tequila takes damage, blood splatters and scuffs appear on him until you heal with a Bomb or health pack. There is some language, but it appears only during cut scenes and is never strong. The female characters featured wear tight clothing, but nothing very revealing. There is a level which has you destroy drug tables and drug-shipping freighters. Finally, Tequila?s very name refers to the fact that he drinks tequila, and he does so on-screen, but never to excess.

Stranglehold is a solid third-person action game which looks great and is a lot of fun. But the fun soon wears out, and you begin to get bored by the campaign?s halfway point. In addition, the bloody violence and drug references may make the game less desirable. While not a bad game, Stranglehold could certainly have used a little more depth and sustainability.

» By Joe Severyn, Plain Games. Published 1/1/2008 10:16:24 PM.