John Woo Presents Stranglehold (Sony Playstation 3, 2007)

John Woo Presents: Strangehold continues the story of a classic piece of hard-boiled Hong Kong action -- "Hard Boiled," starring Chow Yun-Fat. Experience a world only previously seen in movies, as you control incredible gun battles and dramatic slow motion in Tequila Time. Stranglehold redefines the action gaming experience with its acrobatic gunplay, thrilling cinematography, frenetic combat and incredible Massive Destructibility (Massive D). Chow Yun-Fat reprises his signature role as Inspector Tequila, pitting gamers as a take no-prisoners cop waging a Personal war with Hong Kong crime lords. Tequila's loyalties to the force are tested when his ex-wife is kidnapped by the Russian mob in Chicago. Tequila struggles to balance his duty to uphold the law with doing what it takes to save his family. Carve a unique path of massive destruction and use the environment as a weapon against your enemies

Stranglehold is John Woo's first foray into videogames. Whether Woo was intimately involved in guiding Stranglehold or more of a watchful father, his influence can be felt in every frame. Midway has managed to capture the essence of a Woo film -- in some ways more than Woo has over the past decade. You get everything a fan could ask for: excessive gunplay, heavily stylized cinematic moments, melodrama, slow-motion dives, dual-fisted pistols, and, of course, doves aplenty. Some have called Woo's films a beautiful ballet of violence. Stranglehold is less ballet and more a mosh pit of bullets. Either way, lots of people die and little in the environment is left standing once the smoke clears.

The spiritual successor to one of Woo's most popular films, Stranglehold puts you in the shoes of famed Inspector Tequila. Chow Yun Fat comes stateside to reprise his role (though this time in English), adding a level of authenticity. The story is convoluted -- something about a kidnapped girl, a dead cop, and drug money. The cut-scenes are sometimes dripping with melodrama. But that's a good thing. Melodrama is a John Woo signature move and, like so much in Stranglehold, it helps immerse gamers in the world of Hard Boiled.

This is a really good game. The sounds are incredible. The way the crumbling sounds when you smash through a table and the sound of bullets hitting flesh. They are almost seamless. There are so many different ways to kill a guy in that. The graphics are very good, and the physics are practically real. But what do you expect? It's unreal engine 3. They are the best physics program out there. I played the demo over and over again before i got the game. I beat it three times in a row, because it just never gets boring. It never gets old when you go into precision aiming and shooting a guy and watching him plummet to his death toward a propane tank, making it blow up, and killing tons of other guys which is unrealistic but still funny as crap. The slow motion is very well done and surprisingly easy to activate, and it is funny to his dive over a box while shooting a guy into a wall with a shotgun. If you like hardcore shooters, are good at them, and enjoy a load of unrealistic fun and are able to ignore some minor glitches, and graphical problems then this is the game for you.

PLAYED THE DEMO- FANTASTIC. BETTER THAN EVEN RAINBOW 6! LOTS OF INTERESTING MOVES, YOU GET A RATING OUT OF 5 STARS FOR A KILL. EG 1 START IS JUST SHOOTING AND KILLING. 5 STARS IS SLIDING ON A TABLE WITH ROLLERS AND SHOOTING WHILE MOVING. NEET UPGRADES, A SLOW ACTION BULLET, WHERE YOU PRESS UP, AND AIM IN SLOW MOTION, AND THE BULLET MOVES AT THAT PACE, AND YOU SEE THE BULLET AND BLOOD GUSH IN SLOW MOTION - WATCH OUT FOR SHOOTING EYES OR THE PRIVATE REGION, IF SQUEAMISH... ITS A HOOT! LOTS OF DIVING, SHOOTING SIGNS ON BUILDINGS TO FALL AND KILL OPPONENT. SHOOTING PROPANE CYLINDERS TO BLOW-UP OPPONENTS. MANY GUN TYPES AVAILABLE- SHOTGUN MOST EFFECTIVE, OTHERWISE HAVE 2 PISTOLAS THAT YOU REPEATEDLY FIRE. CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THE GAME TO COME OUT!! 5 STARS FOR SURE - EVEN THE TRAILER MAKES YOU WANT TO RUN OUT AND BUY IT!!!

It's impossible to play this game and don't remember of Max Payne, I did almost instantly.

The game runs on the 3rd version of the unreal engine, but as a first generation PS3 title it has several flaws, one of then is that weird outline on the inspector tequilla.

Overall, it's a nice game, lots of shooting, physics are well implemented, the story is as trashy as everyone could expect from a action HK movie.

As I said earlier, it's almost like a Max Payne on the PS3, so if you like this kind of game I recommend it. Enjoy...