John Woo Presents Stranglehold for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

With stylized gunplay, an over-used bullet time mode, and bloody violence, one would feel right at home if it were a movie. A run of the mill, hardboiled "vengeful cop vs dozens of bad guys" John Woo police story.

Unfortunately, Stranglehold does not compare to the action guru's film work. Instead the video game is a repetitive, inconsistant yawn-fest. A clone of so many titles this game knocks off or is it the other way around? Remove John Woo and Stranglehold could easily be another True Crime sequel.

Stranglehold starts out interesting enough, with breathtaking graphics and some innovative ideas, but fails to deliver the goods. One cop against what seems like an infinite number of stupid A.I. controlled enemies who all look the exact same, and often pop up when your back is turned. After a couple hours of gameplay that ranged anywhere from "wake me up" boring to "what the..." frustrating, I gave up and sent it back to Gamefly.

John Woo should face facts, and go back to doing what he does best: action films. Leave video game making to the professionals. He tried, so I will give him credit. Skip this game, unless you want a "no brains, no frill" tiresome ride into bloody mayhem".

Pros:

+ Beautiful, realistically detailed graphics.
+ Fully destructive and interactive levels.
+ A few different gameplay modes.
+ Some stylized movements; sliding across tables, carts, etc.
+ Decent "for what it is" voice-overs. Even Chow Yun Fat's voice at times did not even sound like him. Alas, the voice-over could have been worse.
+ Doves! Any John Woo fan knows what I mean.

Cons:

- Tiresome and repetitive gameplay.
- Luckluster, dull storyline. YAWN!
- Robotic, or stiff player movement.
- Horrible controls, "what no jump button?"
- Consistantly plagued by bad camera work.
- Player often gets stuck against objects.
- Enemy A.I. is horrible, most of the time they just stand there or get in the way.
- Seems like there is an endless amount of enemies.