Stranglehold is an action packed shoot'em up game. And that's it.
The story is about rival gangs, battling against each other, and Inspector Tequila was growing tired of the Police's negligence, and did something about it. Until he got in too deep, it got personal, and his family was kidnapped, and now Tequila is not only ridding the area of criminals but as well. saving his own blood.
The cutscenes are done very well, maybe because John Woo was directing them. They were really cinematic, and made you think this game is a direct sequel to the movie.
Gameplay is consisted of lots of shooting, no reloading, dodging, and did i mention Bullet Time?! The gameplay can be a little flat, it can get boring after a while. But there are many ways of killing your opponents, for example, you can start sliding down a rail, shooting enemies, then shoot dodging off the rail, landing on a moving cart.
The bigger or stylish your kill, the more points you gain. These points can be used to buy many things from the shop such as multiplayer characters, and art stills.
Adding to this, you can slow down time with Bullet Time, this acts as a multiplier and just makes your experience that much cooler.
These points also fill meter, that can be used for Special Abilities, such as healing, Aiming down your sights, going berserk, and a twirling super attack that clears the area of enemies.
The transition from going into and out of these special attacks are excellent, it brings you right back into the action with no clipping at all.
Graphics are powered by the Unreal Engine 3, the game overall looks great, except for character models which can look very last gen. The environments are the highlight, especially because they can all be manipulated, for example shoot a sign and it falls on your opponent.
The amount of destruction you can do in a level is simply amazing.
I had some slow down, but they come every once in a blue moon.
Animations are smooth and well done, such as a transistion from a rail to a cart.
The only thing that bothered me was Tequilas' movement animation, he is only able to face in 45 degree angles, which the PS2 was only capable of doing.
Audio is decent but well done, with authentic ancient Asian music, and voice overs are well done. The weapons sound a little too weak.
Stranglehold is basically a shoot every mindlessly type of game, but production quality is there, and is the type of game that takes you out of playing competitively. It is an excellent first start for director John Woo, I'd like to see what else he has up his sleeve. If your looking for a game to just relax, look no further. And besides you can get quite a few achievements!