Stranglehold

The Good
Beautiful graphics; Excellent voiceovers; Plenty of destructive action;

The Bad
Threadbare plot; Limited arsenal; Very short;

The Bottom Line
John Woo, that iconic action movie director known for his stylistic violence and love of doves, dives into the video game world with Stranglehold. The game is technically a sequel to Woo's classic film Hard Boiled but you needn't bother watching that movie to understand what little plot there is to this game (although fans of the movie will probably enjoy seeing several characters and locales from the film).

The basic plot follows the rule-breaking, tough-guy cop Tequila as he fights to save his old flame, Billie, and their daughter, Teko, who have now gotten mixed up in a turf war between two rival crime families, one of which Billie's father is the leader of. This leads to much bloodletting and a big plot twist a little more than halfway through the game.

The plot is weak and pretty much an excuse to have Tequila get pissed off and shoot a lot of people, but hey, that's what you're here for, right?

You can even the odds on the hundreds of goons you'll face by utilizing your four special moves: Healing, quite useful and easily the power I used most often; precision shot, which allows you to fire one supremely powerful bullet wherever you want (hint, aim for the guys shooting at you); barrage, which makes you invincible as you unload a ton of lead into everything you see; and a spin move that will cut down anyone standing. Each special move (with the exception of healing) comes packaged with a stunning cutscene of it in action, making the game feel like one of Woo's movies.

Actually, the differences between this game and his films are negligible. The movies have slightly better plots, but the acting and production values easily compare to his better films. The graphics in Stranglehold are nothing short of amazing, with a very life-like Chow Yun-Fat taking the lead with two-pistols a'blazing.

The game is short however, and you might manage to beat it in the time it'd take you to watch three John Woo movies. With only seven chapters, Stranglehold is beatable in five or six hours if you play on a nice hard difficulty level. That said, at least there's no filler here.

You get solid action all the way through, with no interruptions and useless puzzle levels or any other artificial ways to extend the length of the game. I respect that, although I don't quite agree with your surprisingly limited arsenal of firearms. There's a always a right gun for the job, but in an age of weapon-filled games, Stranglehold's simple selection bucks the trend. For good or for ill, I'll let you decide, but personally I could've done with more delightful ways to obliterate the highly destructible environment.

Everything you see will probably break apart under enough gunfire. Walls, pillars, tables, and even, in one memorable level, some dinosaur skeletons. For sheer destructiveness, Stranglehold stands head-and-shoulders above most games.

And that comes to my final say. This is not a deep game, nor is it really moving or intelligent. But sometimes you don't want, or need, that. Sometimes, you just want to blow stuff up. And for that, Stranglehold takes the crown; this is an action junkie's dream come true.

Note: I only reviewed the singleplayer game, and not the multiplayer, so consider this review slightly incomplete.