Swinging on the Chandeliers...just like a normal Friday night
There are a number of things in Stranglehold that, in some part, help you to forget about the sensitive controls and the dodgy camera angles. One of those is the destructible and interactive environment. You can kill enemies by shooting objects around the environment, such as exploding canisters, wooden platforms that fall down on top of unsuspecting triads, by swinging on chandeliers or slide down banisters.If you've been following the progress of Stranglehold before release, you may be aware that the game utilises the Massive D physics engine, a heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine 3.0. There's an impressive amount of destruction that you can cause, from blasting apples in two, down at the market and shooting out light-bulbs, to bringing whole wooden houses crashing down by a carefully placed shot with your sniper rifle. The enemy AI can also cause the same damage to the environment, which means that there’s hardly a moment to rest in the game; even hiding behind a stone pillar isn't enough to keep you safe, because the enemy will chip away at it with a machine gun until it’s totally demolished.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageThe main aim, and the most fun to be had, with Stranglehold is to use this destructible environment, plus a number of special moves, to rack up as many style points as possible, which in turn fills up a metre allowing you to use one of the four, so-called,Tequila Bomb maneuvers.