John Woo Presents Stranglehold for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

There were some good parts as well as some faux pah's (however you spell it).

Good points:
- Slow motion really helps in fire fights when you get overwhelmed with enemies.
- The Precision Aim is possibly the best option
- Graphics are decent but don't compare them to Oblivion or anything like that
- The destructable enviroments was a good addition to the game. If you were standing behind a pillar too long, the enemy can gradually destroy that pillar.

Flaw's
- It is very hard to have your back against a wall and try to look around the corner without giving away your position. You only get about a 2 inch look around the corner
- Game was a tad short. I was able to beat the game within a span of 6 hours on Normal.
- Weapon choice's was limited. There were only a total of 8 guns you could use in the game (including the Golden Pistols, Grenades, and Rocket Launcher) the grenades and Rocket launcher are only available until the last moments of the game.
- Highlighting action. When you want to jump onto a rail or a cart, you have to actually look at the objects in order to jump on them. In the middle of a fire fight, you could lose you life by jumping on the wrong thing.

Overall, Stranglehold is a great game to rent but thats about it. It is a decent shooter game if you liked Max Payne and Just Cause. Like I said before, the Precision Aim option is the best and the most fun part of the game because you can shoot people in the groin....and thats fun.

....For all the old gamers this will bring back memories to a game that started the whole slow motion effect, Max Payne. Although the creators of Max Payne probably got the idea off of John Woo's action effects in his movies to begin with.......

Game was a blast. Lots of action a little linear but I guess that was the easiest way to tell this story that could just as easily been another John Woo action film starring Chow Yung Fat. He is in the game as well, as a voice actor for his character that looks like him.

It was a little short, only seven main chapters and some of them you can go through a little too fast.

Graphics were very nice, using the UNREAL engine really shines. There were some bugs that showed up for me. Falling through to no were land beneath the floor or behind the walls and getting trapped resulting in a restart. Glitches in the hair on the characters, and sometimes the audio would start coming from only one channel. This usually happened to me when there was a LOT going on.

Overall a great game, not enough action for me to buy it. Took me less than a week to play and beat and I am not one of those "G points" freaks that have to get all 1000 points so I had no desire to repeat the levels over and over again.

Definitely a worthy play till HALO 3 hits!

Stranglehold is a great game to play on the weekend. I say on the weekend because if you play after work you will not want to put the controller down to stop playing. The action is non-stop and a boring moment never lasts more than a short cutscene, so expect to lose sleep on the first playthrough. The slow motion, "put a bullet in someones eyeball" for tequila bombs (manna for you RPG geeks) is nice but gets old after the 100th time and the levels get to a point of asking yourself havent you been there before. The graphics are off the meter (believe the screenshots) and you are free to cause massive destruction using anything that well, sparkles.

This game is pretty much a one-trick pony. You'll have a literal blast on the first go but there are more games currently out with better replay value (and more coming) than Stranglehold

At the very beginning of the game i had a lot of fun it was fast and exciting but after a few levels of the same old stuff the game kind a got stupid.
all you ever do is shoot the same bad guy i say this because all the bad guys look alike with a few exceptions
and during the cut scene when he is with his wife he steps on a puddle of water not in on and the water does not even ripple i gotta say for a next gen game its not breaking any of my expectations and i was really excited about the game over all its fun at the start but gets kind a repetitive and a lil boring but that's just what i thought rent it and find out for your self.

Graphics are pretty good, but that's about the only good part. The stylish moves and matrix style moves are good on the first level, but after that it tends to get old.

In a few occasions, I have been fighting a boss, only to dive and end up going under the world and getting stuck, which tends to cause the game to lockup.

I would have given this game a better review if they would actually had done a QA before shipping so show stopping bugs did not go live, or at least patched quickly.

Overall, the is not much depth to the story, boss fights are boring and gameplay is average (run, dive, shoot, rinse and repeat).

5/10

This game is just boring, great graphical cutscenes but has very little playing value. If you tried the demo, it is pretty much the entire game. The additional artwork on the disc is nice, though.

Although I gave this game a "7" it does not mean it was bad.

My only problem w/ this game is that it does get repetitive after a while. But I still enjoyed it. This game came out during the drought of just horrible games (minus Bioshock) but Stranglehold does not fall under that category. Dual wielding, Tequila Time, Tequila Bombs, and the Combo system work very well together. One more thing I have never played online, why? because I could never find a game. Overall I would say it is definately a game everyone should atleast try.

Story - 4/10
Gameplay - 5/10
Difficulty - 7.5/10
Multiplayer - 2/10
Easy Gamerpoints - 6/10

The demo had me star-struck right off the bat. Too bad the finished game was such a waste of time... (Please excuse my bad spelling... I'm writing this to inform you of my opinion, not be a critical S.O.B.)

It starts just like the demo only the "Tequila Bomb" elements were not handed to you all in the first 15 minutes. The tequila bombs have to be the best part of the game... Precision Shot is sweet, but that's about it. The health regeneration bomb does nothing for you, the spin attack take away 1/4 your bombs per enemy killed (total waste) and the auto-fire bomb isn't accurate at all for 10 seconds you have.

As you progress in the game the enemies get tougher, the weapons become more plentiful and still, you're stuck with the same amount of health and T-time. Where most games might make an effort to "upgrade" your health and such, you get the same health, same weapons and same semi-cheesy moves for the rest of this 10+ hour game (If you're good at it ;).

This has to be the dumbest AI until America's Army... When you stick dual MP5's on eight guys that all come charging at you from different sides and you have no T-bombs or T-time you die almost instantly (even on normal...)

On the war-torn, rainy city level, there's one point that kick me over the edge... when you get to an up-ward staircase with 2 cut scenes, one with a cell phone, you come to an enclosed bottle-neck area where a large number of constantly respawning, heavily armed enemies come down on you like the Jericho missile in "Iron Man"...

Don't get me wrong, this game may not have been at the top of my list, but that didn't mean I wasn't wanting to play it. Until the last level when I begged the game gods to let me beat it, after countless deaths/retries, so I could ship it back and get something truly worth my time.

Just beat it for the gamer points....

I don't know what it is, but this is a killer game. The gameplay is very narrow and simple, choose a gun(s) and shoot the c r a p out of everybody, no complex or revolutionary twists. Sounds lame, right? WRONG!

Like I said, it's just grab guns, shoot everyone in your way without discrimination. They add a few simple mechanisms to the gameplay tho. You have "Tequila Power" that you gain from killing enemies in cool ways. You can use that power to enter "Tequila Time" and slow down time and become un-shootable. This also automatically happens when you slide across tables and things (I should say ANYTHING), run up/down handrails, jump off walls, etc., and dive through the air. There are other abilities, but the tequila time is the main one.

Another deal-maker, everything is destructable... EVERYTHING. I know every other game ever made has said something like this, but this time it's true. You can take cover behind ANYTHING (piles of food...) and they made sure that you couldn't take cover for long by making EVERYTHING destructible. It's just so amazing to watch all the debris flying and structures collapsing in the middle of a gunfight. As a matter of fact, you get extra points (and Tequila Power) for using the environment to kill enemies.

So to wrap it all up, THIS GAME IS AWESOME!! RENT IT!!

The only reason it gets an 8, is that it's so narrow and simple. But for the game it is, it's the best.

It was fun to play for a while but got boring real fast. It’s a good game to pass a bit of time with, but it’s no keeper. I guess it wasn’t high tech enough for me, felt like an old school kind of shooter, I guess that’s why it got boring real fast, too slow and sloppy for me.

First when I got this game I really liked it. However, after playing for a while I really got tired of getting stuck...and wondering around, trying to find the way out....You really gotta think in this game, every single thing can be crucial to you!

At one point I just gave up.....got tired of getting stuck!

But somebody may might like it...)) Not me..

IF you really enjoy doing the same thing over, and over-You have found your game.
The game actually started off kind of strong with its graphics, story, and Max-Payne appeal.
I would say about 1 hour into it, is when it gets really lame. Its the same thing, over and over. Run around, use your chinese Matrix-powers, shoot the bad guy(s). I think if you shoot one bad guy in the head, and he dies, then THEY ALL SHOULD. Seriously folks, do not waste your time with this one. Do yourself a favor, and rent Halo 3.

I thought the game was alot of fun to play. The cinematics were amazing and the game play was very fun. I loved the destructible environment and all of the ways you could use it to take out the baddies. My only complaints were that the camera angles could get a but sloppy at times and that the story was VERY short.

After seeing this game on the Xbox Live Marketplace I was ver excited for its release. I had played the demo many times and I thought this game had potential to be an elite shooter. But, when i actually got the game i became very disappointed. When i played the game for the first time (the demo) it gave you the first level. It was fun but seemed like it would get repetitive and that is just how the game turned out. Every level is essentially the same. Meaning that all you do is shoot the same guys over and over again with different guns and a couple of different "tequila" moves. I mean after the first level i was already bored and had a very strong idea of how this game was going to continue.
To get away from how repetitive this game was ill talk about the graphics. The graphics were average for a 360 game. Games coming out at this time should look a lot better than this. At this day and age there is no excuse for bad graphics.
Stranglehold does add another factor to the game though, multiplayer. Now the multiplayer is exactly like the single player so it can get kind of annoying. With a number of people online in a game it can be very difficult using slow-mo especially when everyone else is doing the same.
Overall this was an average game for me and i have seen A LOT better. If you love shooter games and dont care what you do in the game Stranglehold is for you. But if you like a variety in gameplay this is not the game for you.

It's Midway, in other words, over-priced and poorly created video games. I was excited to play Stranglehold even though I hate John Woo's "work," but that excitement quickly diminshed after the first level. There is no variation in gameplay (except for level 2 where you have to blow up a bunch of drug labs and cargo ships by c4 and helicopter) so expect alot of shooting in slow-motion. I wouldn't have a problem with this if the graphics weren't so muddy. Seriously, enemies blend with the enviroments in certain levels. The level design is very nice for the most part, but this game looks like a xbox 1 game in 1080.

Pros:
Gunplay can be great at times
Some great level design
Fully destructable and interactive enviroments
Face-Off's are fun at first
The main menu is very impressive

Cons:
Muddy Graphics
Choppy cut scenes
Bad shadowing (jagged and wavy)
Uninteresting story and poorly delivered
Short game (took 6 hours to beat)
Way too repetitive (lacks any variation nor innovation)

Well this is a Game that I thought was going to be good but even though the first couple of Missions are fun as soon as you enter the Helicopter and have to try and fight using the Machine gun in the Helicopter it goes from fun to impossible. First off Whoever thought up the camera angle your expected to use wasen't thinking,then the gun moves like at maybe a third of the speed that one actually moves at and then theres the Helicopter itself i just have one question why does it move about like it was in a tornado? again the Programmers thought, which they should never do, It was a good idea for a game but again they didnt have a clue. rent this only if you want tobe ready to trash it in about 2 hours of playing it. I just hope no one actually spent money on this game

This game is fun for a while, but the novelty of constantly diving across rooms and running up/down railings wears off fast. it's an incredibly frustrating game at some points because you'll have like 15 enemies come running at you at once, only to have 15 more come out once you kill them all.

it's ok for a rental, but i would have been highly disappointed if i had bought this game.

It was pretty tough getting the 1k gamer score from this game, but do-able. Maybe not for everyone but ,..for a true gamer, its np. Likw many games i found a few flaws with the game, but not enough to dislike the game, for sure things i would change or better for a sequel if they ever make one,...which i doubt they will. The online play is alot of fun, i figured they would remove some of the special abilities in the online play but u can use all of them just the same,...they did a great job. reason for my 6 out of 10 is bcz, u couldnt just jump whenever u wanted,..lil limited, also u never get a sniper rifle,..meenwhile u get sniped like nobodies bzness. On hardboiled lvl of difficulty u lose 80% of ur health with one sniper bullet,...thats a bit much,...making u do a small part of game over and over and over again,....but if u dont care bout ur gamer score then its no biggy,..u dont have to beat it on the hardest lvl of difficulty. Either way i beat it got 1k G score and had fun playing it online. I played online for around 12 hours, that was enough to host and complete all the matches needed for achievements, plenty of ppl still play although it takes way too long get a match started. here is a tip for getting matches going faster, as u meet players throughout ur online play,...get ppl to prefer u as a player and u do the same for them,...also tell ppl to search in custom matches for u,..and only play with u,...maybe even go ez on them so they want to play with u,..lol,..unlike me. In my 12 hours of online play i got to rank 198 in the world,...and played the rank 9 in the world and owned him,..i taunted him by saying i play halo female dog lol

good game , good graphics and stuff, gameplay is alright new though. but after few levels the gameplay get boring same thing over n over again. so you just wish to get over with the game. no repeat playing value. mutliplayer sucks.

Stranglehold is a game that got low critical acclaim and it deserves a lot more than what they gave it. This game has got a generic story, and the cut scenes aren't to hot compared to the in game gameplay and action. This is basically Max Payne set in Asia with a lot of Asian people. You have the ability to slow down time at any moment and preform awesome acrobatics when ever you feel the need, such as; Dive over a table, climb up a railing, slide down a railing, run up dino bones, slide down dino bones, swing from lights, dive on roll carts, slide over tables, run up and jump off walls, and lots more all while in slow motion and killing many people at once for some style points. This game is so fun and the best edition of all is the online multiplayer with special moves and slow motion ability in tact and ready for some online pwnage! Given there is only deathmatch and team deathmatch this game still rocks it online!

The bad things about this game are it's way to short single payer wise, and there are not enough game modes online along with maps to play on. But you can play as John Woo himself which will earn you an achievement if you kill enough ;)

This game is solid and worth renting by anyone the environments are so destructible you can't not have fun! It's just so great!

Any hardcore fan of John Woo will find this game hard to pass up. Gives a great feel of Max Payne with Dead to Rights, without hand to hand combat which can be upsetting at first but the action is great. And even if you could use martial arts you'd want to blow someone up instead. If you watched the movie Hard Boiled and loved it then check this game out for sure.

This was one of the best shoot em up games i've played in quite awhile, I got a change to play F.E.A.R. and BioShock and really didn't care for the twisted, sick and demented aspect of the games, those games made me sick to my stomach. But Stranglehold on the other hand is a real shoot em up game that is very realistic, awesome graphics, awesome weapons and great story as well.
Love the slow capture effect, for sure adds much flavor to the game. Would highly recommed it to anyone who's looking for a great shoot em up game.

This game is a rip off of the old Max Payne games. The game is fun, but gets really repetitive, which means it gets really boring. Most of the missions consist of the same stuff over and over. One one mission, you have to blow up like 30 of these drug labs, on the next level you have to plant 20 C4. The next level you have to kill these people, and the next level is planting more C4. Doesn't that sound like it would get boring? Yes, it is boring... I remember a few years ago, they showed a trailer of this game, and now when it comes out, its not that great...

Not that Max Payne was a bad game, but even before I played Stranglehold, it seemed like I already played the heck out of this game 7 or 8 years ago. I was very disappointed with the second level of the game. It was alot of, "destroy 3 of these things to move on". C'mon man, I thought we were done with those kind of games 'bout a decade ago!. The multi player is shameful... probably cause it takes a million shots UP CLOSE just to ALMOST kill someone. This game had sooo much potential but somewhere along the lines it took a freakin' stockbroker's leap off the Empire State and left me flat, broken and bored. This game is ONLY for die hard John Woo fans, but even then you just might gag. Its boring... ITS freakin' BORING!