Review: Stranglehold
The iconic Inspector Tequila, as portrayed by Chow Yun Fat, is back in this video game sequel to John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action classic, Hard Boiled, and the intervening years haven't done much to soften his penchant for shooting stuff up.
Though a missing policeman's corpse gets things rolling with a bang, the contrived plot and awkwardly delivered dialogue exist as a paper-thin foundation on which the gunplay is built. It's disappointing but when was the last time you demanded Oscar-caliber performances from an action film, let alone a video game?
Heroic Bloodshed Redux
As ham-fisted as the facial contortions of these digital actors might be, there's no denying the pleasure of glossy style unhindered by complicated substance. Every last area is completely devoid of civilian presence, so there are no innocent bystanders to protect or moral ambiguities to weigh. The result is initially jarring in its sterility, making you feel more like an actor on a sound stage than a super-cop on a mission. Once the lead starts flying, though, the proceedings are so drenched with cinematic flair that you'll cease to care.
Environmental Destruction Agency
The truth of the matter is that the environment isn't just a character in Stranglehold: it's the true star of the show. Whether you're pounding through a Hong Kong Marketplace or racing down rows of terra cotta soldiers in the Chicago History Museum, damn near every last inch of scenery is just waiting to be laid to waste. Bullets streak through the air with visible trails and slam into walls and obstacles, disintegrating anything unfortunate enough to be in their flight path.
The little details also shine: hit a wall near an enemy, and the plaster launched at his face might force him to cover his eyes. Take out a support beam bestowed with a tell-tale glint sparkle, and tons of concrete could crush your foes, or trigger a fiery explosion that sends rubble and bodies flying. Not even enormous marble statues and dinosaur skeletons are immune from being pounded into a fine dust. This all makes for rich and detailed visuals, but the fact that precious little cover lasts long also keeps the action moving.
Brutal Ballet
The controls behind all this gunplay is interesting as well. Running and gunning is simple enough, thanks to the omnipresent reticule in the center of the screen that lights up red any time a fleshy target rests behind it, but Tequila interacts with the environment in ways no other action character can. Run into a table, and he'll slide across it like a greased-up Duke of Hazzard. It's hard to shake the feeling that you're skating when you start diving through the air and grinding down banisters with the left trigger. Think of it as Tony Hawk with submachine guns.
Everything you can exploit lights up when you're in range, from banisters to rolling service carts to crystal-laden chandeliers, and doing so automatically kicks in slo-mo Tequila Time, letting you perforate scumbags before they get close. The more you take advantage of the environment during each prolonged slaughter, the more style points you'll rack up, which in turn fill up a Tequila Bomb power meter you can tap for health, a long-range slo-mo precision shot, a temporary god mode uber-ammo rampage, or a dove-releasing spin attack that drops every fool in range.
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