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There will be doves: impressions on the PS3 Stranglehold demo

Posted Sep 7, 2007 at 2:57AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3 Tags: Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong, John Woo, Max Payne

I consider myself a die-hard fanboy of John Woo and his trademark gun-toting "ballet of death" movies. There's a kind of poetry in his films that even the most peace-loving pacifist cannot deny. So imagine my excitement when I found out that I would be the one giving out QJ.NET's first impressions on the new video game lovingly directed by John Woo. Throw in Chow Yun-Fat as the main protagonist and you've just got yourself one happy little fanboy jumping up and down while he mows down hordes of gangsters in Midway Game's John Woo Presents Stranglehold.

Right off the bat, after the initial loading screen, you instantly feel like you've just been pulled into a John Woo film as the opening cinematics roll. All the basic elements of his films are there: gangsters, enough blood to fill a small lake, and an excessive amount of dynamic camera angles enough to make anyone's head spin. The character design for Chow Yun-Fat himself makes him instantly recognizable as he reprises his role as the hard-boiled (pun intended) Inspector "Tequila" Yuen.

In the opening scene, one of his fellow police officers in the Hong Kong police force is summarily dispatched by a local Triad gang. Tequila then steps up to the group's challenge to send a lone cop to meet with the gangsters in the Kowloon market area. Of course, what follows is a series of gunfights, excessive fatalities and stand-offs that's enough to fill any action movie buff's testosterone-powered needs. Little does Tequila know however that the Triad already has a little insurance in their pockets against the gung-ho cop...

The demo itself has everything the developers have promised. From totally interactive and destructible environments, bullet-time action scenes (Max Payne has got nothing on this game, trust me), and a host of gun-fighting tricks in Tequila's arsenal, even seasoned veterans of shooter games will appreciate it as the game is pretty challenging with all the fast-paced action scenes will leave players scrambling at the controls, wondering when the seemingly endless stream of gangsters will end.

Though the demo itself is relatively short, the replayability factor is enough to keep you going for a good hour. As you finish the game in one of the initial difficulty levels, a new one pops up, as well as giving Tequila a new "Tequila Bomb" move you can use in your next run through of the game. The demo scales up from Casual, Normal, Hard and Hard Boiled (a pleasant reference to the movie in which the game was based on) difficulty levels.

The Tequila Bomb moves are all tributes to the trademark action maneuvers you'll definitely see in a John Woo film. And while a lot of games have incorporated the patented "bullet time" action scenes, John Woo reminds us all why he is the grand daddy of the entire "gun ballet" concept. Practically everything in the game's environment is just waiting to be blown up. The way Tequila interacts with the various objects around him, leaves no doubt in your mind that this is indeed a John Woo production. So expect to see Tequila slide down stair handrails, swing across chandeliers and more.

I really just have to mention the coolness factor the precision shot Tequila Bomb maneuver gives for the game. It puts a whole new meaning to the word "cinematic" in a shooter. After activating it, everything goes into bullet time and you get a chance to make a single fatal shot on a target's body part of your choice. Nothing says "ouch" more than a well-aimed shot in someone's crotch. I still remember the cheering in the background when I pulled it off with sadistic glee.

The only complaint with the demo I could think of is the same interactivity that Tequila's character seems to overly abuse in the game. With all the bullets flying across the screen, everything blowing up here and there, you end up cursing Tequila when he decides to conveniently slide across a small table right into the sights of a gangster's shotgun. However, you eventually get used to the controls after a while and just learn to sit back and enjoy the endless amount of mayhem the game offers you.

Also, it seems to slow down a bit in Hard Boiled mode when too many baddies, bullets and explosions just seem bog down your console. Asides from that, this is definitely one game any fan of John Woo or even shooter games will want to pick up. With September finally here, you can expect that the game will be on the local shelves soon (if it's not there already). My only other hope for the game is that they make a Stranglehold movie; after that I can die happy.

Oh, and did I mention there were doves in the game?

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first time i tried it , it was okay..then i got a good hang of it..and it got addicting to see how well things get destroyed ,and then the percision bullet thing was fun to knock off a few shots at individual body parts to see good outcomes, then the next crazy power shooting off bang bang bang was awsome, but the last spinning shooting thing felt like i was left out........they should have givin you a way to participate in that instead of feeling like a cutscene thing

i was all set to wanna buy this game cause its soo much fun...........but at the end it only says it has 7 levels

and a stuntman-ish replay mode would have given it more value to the experence

# Too xboxy — Guest 2007-09-07 00:24

Cool game.. but it just doesnt look good... at all. Bad in fact. Like I was playing PS2.. Xbox1 at best..

The games visuals suffer horribly for being cross-platform. I have a feeling PS3 owners are going to have to suffer through such things for a couple years until everyone realizes the Xbox is just not up to par. If this game had come out in the last generation, it would be the best game ever.. as it is.. its too late for it.

I expect to suffer through mediocre looking cross-platform sports titles, but something like this deserves better. So far, at least Assassin's Creed appears to be working through it.. but I fear for GTA4..

Cool game.. not next gen at all.. and there for not worth 50 bucks.. let alone $70 CDN.

# french canadians are gay — Guest 2007-09-07 00:50

whats this have to do with 360 and ps3?

the ps3 got the better version since it was built from the beggining to use us extras the ps3 has

# i know this is the internet but... — Guest 2007-09-07 00:56

Learn how to use punctuation. You didnt have a single period in your post! It was actually painful to read and makes you look like an idiot.

By the way, Stranglehold blows. I'm not spending $60 for the game when I got all I need from the demo.

# It doesn't feel too short. — Guest 2007-09-07 01:02

Don't let the '7 levels' scare you off. I picked the game up for the 360 and though I'm not finished yet, it feels like it'll be somewhere between 12-15 hours of game play on a single run through.

If that's not enough game play time for you, it's definitely worthy of a rental. This game is hilariously fun.

To the people who haven't played the Demo yet, but are wondering about it; If you enjoyed Max Payne game play and Asian Action Flicks(John Woo's in particular), then this game is for you.

# john — Guest 2007-09-07 01:42

Yeah shmuck. This has nothing to do with the 360 you ***** fan boy.

# waz da ***** — Guest 2007-09-07 01:57

man i hv been waitn 4 da ***** and still not on da european PSN and Japan PSN also man i cant wait no more shhh

# Both versions are the same — Guest 2007-09-07 02:42

There are no extras in the PS3 version of the GAME. From what I remember, the collectors edition on the PS3 will have a HD movie of 'Hard Boiled' on the disk (and will cost about $10 more).

# Right — Guest 2007-09-07 03:39

Yeah.. I guess you're right. It's the market trend of devs to release crappy games with outdated graphics regardless of platform.

My mistake...

# Crap — Guest 2007-09-07 04:29

I played it. Things exploded. There was slow motion. I couldn't get over the fact that when a bird cage was knocked over the bird kept dancing about seemingly unaware of the fact that it was sideways. Once released from its cage it flew into the ground and disappeared! The next generation is now!

(In case you don't understand my sarcasm, this game looks like garbage and no I will not spend on more Midway shovelware)

# whats the big deal — Guest 2007-09-07 04:44

i dont get it, every one is talking about 360 vs ps3, people listen 360 owners are mad that they've seen that their console in inferior than the ps3, guys, just sell or trade the god **** thing and stop talking ******* about it, buy the game if like max payne, or dont,

# Stranglehold 360 vs PS3 — Guest 2007-09-07 05:21

Well I demoed the 360 version then I demoed the PS3 version. The 360 version has slightly better framerates in certain sections of the game(and I mean very slight) but the PS3 version looks more detailed for some reason.

# That's nonsense Keith K — Guest 2007-09-07 05:21

Being multi-format does not mean inferior. UT3 is also a multi-format game, and it's looking as good as any console exclusive game (released on the Ps3 first followed by the 360 next year). This is all thanks to the game engine which powered Gears of War (a game engine which is improving all the time).

Also, your assumption that the 360 is holding the PS3 back is wrong. For multi-format games, each format has it's advantages and disadvantages, and devs have to cope with the strengths and weaknesses of each. Blu-ray is an advantage for content on the PS3 (if the devs use it), but the 360 has more RAM for games and has a slightly better GPU. For games that rely heavily on floating-point power, the PS3 should have the edge over the 360, but overall, they're about the same.

# jjj — Guest 2007-09-07 06:00

this game is god awful.

the graphics bad

and when the slowmotion is activated you see the graphics go from bad to down right embarrasing.

the gameplay is horrible and the surround sound does not work. run around tapping R1 instead of the trigger R2 like it should be , no reason for the duck button cause every thing you try to hide behind you keep getting shot in the head..

worst game ever by far, i put t right there with sonics lowsy next gen wannabe game

# LOL — Jx1 2007-09-07 07:11

love the part where the birds fly into the ground. xDD i so imagined the clipping of that happening.

# wow — Guest 2007-09-07 08:50

i love this game! true the graphics aren't the best, damn was it fun to play!

# ill consider buying it after i rent it then — Guest 2007-09-07 08:53

thanks for not giving me some fan boy response like 360 RULEZZZ888 + PS3 Iz TEh SUXXORZ!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

# R1 is the best — Guest 2007-09-07 09:04

i *****IN hate the trigger to shoot feels annoying like a F.king nail running against a chalkboard

i hate driving with the trigger on xbox' and some games you cant even change it

i hope to god gta4 doesnt mandatory make you use the triggers to drive

r1 is for shooting X is for gas and square is for braking

# Hilarity at it's best — Guest 2007-09-07 09:37

Ok, so the visuals were cool, and the gameplay wasn't bad. I thought shooting the neon signs and having it fall on the enemy was cool.

One thing that bothered me, which I hope they fix for the final PS3 game is the sliding mechanism. Mr. Tequila would slide on table tops, bustin' everythin in his path. Well ok, that sounds fine, but sliding on a table the opposite way? Weird...

Needless to say, I tried the demo, I thought some parts were neat, but I won't be spending my money on it.

just my two cents.

# Keith you silly fanboy — AoxomamoxoA 2007-09-07 11:38

ps2 didnt hold the xbox back last gen with the many cross platform games, what makes you think that is the case now? oh right, because sony claimed the ps3 was 100 times more powerful and you bit in like the idiot you are.

# Shovelware.. — Guest 2007-09-07 14:54

Midway has to carve out a niche somehow. If it were only funny you might consider it a parody. Poor graphics, worse animations, no humor, bad pacing, weak level design.. Sure its supposed to be destructible, but its not like there is anything left worth destroying. I mean really its such a drag that they had to lock all the doors behind you to try and keep you moving forward.

I'll wait for the movie to release without the game to drag it down, thanks.

# give it a rest!! — Guest 2007-09-07 19:18

Problem with this gen is that EVERYONE is a critic bla bla bla

the game rock period.

# I likea the doves — Mentality 2007-09-08 01:18

Great Game great review I have to agree with everything you said, even the slightly bad parts.

# you're right! — Guest 2007-09-08 02:49

why oh why have games devs decided that R2 is the best button for accelerate/shoot?! every time i start a 'next gen' game nowadays i either don't know how to accelerate or brake (which is now a totally random button, L2? circle? square? X even!?) or i don't know what shoot is...

why !?

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