It's Tequila Time... break out the lemon and salt
So let’s look at how the game works. First off, it’s a third person shooter and for once the damn camera is doing its job brilliantly. No, really, it’s bloody great. The camera zooms in when a wall in the game world would otherwise obstruct your view or, if you’re not near the edge of the map, obstacles to your view become transparent as the camera passes behind them. They don’t disappear completely, so you know there’s something there, but they do keep out of your view, letting you get on and play.At the start of the game you’re treated to the usual training level, which gives you a chance to get to grips with the controls, which are the standard shooter keys of W,A,S,D, space to jump , etc. The mouse controls where you aim and, because the camera needs to show where you’re aiming, you in effect control it with your mouse. All well and good.
Click for larger imageNow the huge upside for John Woo’s Stranglehold is the amount of interactivity within the game world. Sure, there’s the usual couple of hundred of mysteriously locked doors but, other than a few oddly indestructible ropes and scaffold bars, pretty much everything else can be toyed with. Sadly, there’s no ‘pick up’ control, so you can’t carry anything from one spot to another as in Half Life 2, so the feeling of being there is limited to just shooting stuff.
Tequila has the ability to jump, but not in the usual way. He can’t just jump, he has to dive. So if you want to clear a gap, you dive over it. Want to get over that barrier? Well you gotta dive. This can be a tad annoying when you’re off doing some exploring looking for hidden extras and can be a real pain in the bum if you happen to dive into view of an armed baddie as the ‘picking yourself up of the floor’ animation prevents you from shooting back.
Click for larger imageThat said, I’ll absolutely guarantee that you’ll spend at least 90% of John Woo’s Stranglehold hammering your space bar into the keyboard as you dive all over the shop. The reason is, if an enemy is in your line of sight when you’re diving, John Woo’s Stranglehold enters ‘Tequila Time’, which isn’t a cue to do bodyshots off a hard-bodied bimbo, but John Woo’s Stranglehold’s version of slow motion Bullet Time.
And this is just one example of John Woo’s Stranglehold taking inspiration from Woo’s films. In fact, the diving-induced Tequila Time is the move you’ll use the most early on and in later levels it’s pretty much the only way you’ll survive but there are other moves, all of which are part of the Style Move system.
When you’re watching a John Woo film you know, just from the way it’s shot, that it’s a John Woo film, even if you haven’t seen his name in the credits. Woo is all about the use of crash zooms, speeded up action jumping to slow motion close ups, sudden switches of points of view and, of course, the famous dual gun wielding hero. John Woo’s Stranglehold pays homage to all these and more.
Click for larger imageSo as you play though, you’ll be awarded style points for the imaginative ways in which you take out the enemy. The most basic move is the dive, but you can run along railings, slide down banisters, swing from chandeliers, woosh down ziplines, slide over tables or even scoot along on trolleys as you unload your guns into the baddies.
All these moves build up your Tequila Juice bar which then gives you access to special moves, all of which are enabled and explained within the first three levels. The most basic is health, which uses Tequila Juice to top up your health if you’re not near a first aid kit. Then there’s Precision Aim, which gives you a low motion zoomed in view to let you drop a distant or partially hidden bad guy with one shot. Next up is Barrage, which unleashes a slow motion volley of devastating fire with whichever weapon you’re holding whilst avoiding reloading or depleting your current ammo stock. And finally, my favourite, the Spin Attack, again a slow motion gun fest whish sees Tequila spin around firing like crazy as white doves (no, really) flutter past, ending with every bad guy in range being hit.
Click for larger imageAnd if all that weren’t enough, you can use certain parts of the environment to take down the bad guys too. If a baddie is standing under a sign, shoot the sign and watch it topple onto his head, crushing him. Maybe he’s standing next to a gas bottle? Kaboom. Of perhaps he’s under some precariously perched rocks? Shoot out the supports… All of these are usually highlighted by a shiny twinkle so you know you can use them.