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Hands-On Stranglehold
Product: John Woo Presents Stranglehold
Company: Midway
Date: 07/17/2007
Avaliable On:

John Woo Presents Stranglehold is one of the most anticipated titles getting ready to be released in the next few months. Since its announcement last year, gamers have been chomping at the bit to take control of Chow Yun-Fat and tear through wave after wave of baddies in a John Woo style.

At Midway's meeting room, we were able to get our hands on a controller and see just how good this game is, and let me tell you, it's going to be a blast. Controlling Fat's character feels like most standard shooters, but pulling off the very Woo-like moves like diving while shooting, sliding across tables, running up banisters or spinning around and shooting everyone in the room (with the expected flock of doves, of course) is all there and feels natural.

As you perform these stylistic attacks, you earn points and eventually build up enough power to perform one of the Woo-styled moves. One of these moves is the ability to slow down time so that you can take better aim and send a bullet down your opponent's throat, or in his eye or in 12 other special locations throughout the body. Another power is the ability to double your fire-rate while taking everybody out as fast as possible (you are temporarily invulnerable when this happens). Besides the spinning around and shooting everybody move, you can also rebuild your health.

The highly destructible environment matched with the crazy arsenal means that taking down all of the enemies will not only be fun, but very explosive. Stranglehold is scheduled to be released this August on the PS3, 360 and PC. As an added bonus, the Collectors Edition of Stranglehold for the PS3 will also come with the Blu-Ray movie Hard Boiled for which this game is the sequel.

Action and shooter fans shouldn't pass this game up. With its intense graphics and high-impact action, this game is what next generation is all about.

J.R. Nip aka Chris Meyer

GameVortex PSIllustrated