Underrated Games: Stranglehold

John Woo is one of my all time favorite directors. Action movies would not be what they are today if it hadn’t been for him, and with good reason. His films The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Face/Off, and Hard Boiled are all classics of the action genre because they brought an emotionality to the table and changed what people ask for in action movies. His action signature of slow motion, a hail of bullet fire, heroic bloodshed, and leaping through the air are all mimicked by other directors, as well by video games such as the Max Payne series. Since other games were knocking off his formual, Woo tried his hand at a video game that seeked to capture the action packed nature and style of his films, and with that we received the game Stranglehold.

Stranglehold is unusual because it is a direct sequel to Woo’s movie Hard Boiled. Both Hard Boiled and Stranglehold focus on a police inspector called Tequila (because it’s his favorite drink). Tequila is played in both the movie and in the game by Chow Yun Fat, and Tequila is basically the Asian Dirty Harry. He has complete disregard for authority. The plot is secondary to the stunning gameplay, but it basically focuses on Tequila investigating a massive crime war where his kidnapped daughter (whom he’s never met) is caught up.

The gameplay in Stranglehold will get you pumped. It does not let up, and the opportunities to strategize are few and far between. What makes the game great is the ability to interact with environments to make for some interesting ways to dispense with the bad guys. There are also some awesome power ups that, while suspending realism, will make you feel absolutely awesome.

The game does have flaws, however. The story, as previously stated, is massively lacking. Even though the focus of the game was the gameplay, a stronger story couldn’t have hurt. Another problem comes from the fact that the game moves so fast that you rarely have a moment to gather your wits. There is no such thing as playing a “perfect” round in this game because you will lose health. The game is also a bit too short. A bit more level variety would’ve massively improved it.

Under normal circumstances you could probably say that Stranglehold is a mediocre game, but too much of the John Woo charm shines through. Each level feels like you are playing a scene from a John Woo movie, and that means that the game succeeded in what it set out to do. There’s a pretty high replay value, in terms of finding new ways to beat the same levels as well as find a few hidden extras.

If you want to pick it up, you can do so here. There are two editions: regular edition and Special Edition which comes with the full Hard Boiled movie (which I think justifies the higher price).