John Woo presents Stranglehold

John Woo presents Stranglehold (or short Stranglehold - . English for " choke hold ") is a third-person shooter for Windows , PlayStation 3 , and Xbox 360 , which by Midway Games was developed (Chicago Studio).

It is the first Midway game to use Unreal Engine 3 and was developed in collaboration with John Woo . He directed the film Hard Boiled , which is a direct predecessor of the game. The then leading actor Chow Yun-Fat was digitally recreated for the game and is the character controlled by the player. The guest appearance of John Woo as the bartender Mr. Woo in the film was also recreated in the game. Both characters in the game were also dubbed by the original cast, in the German version by their dubbing voices. It's the first project since Hard Boiled , in which John Woo and Chow Yun Fat worked together again.

action

A police officer disappears in future Hong Kong . The police station then receives what appears to be a ransom demand from an unknown source. The kidnappers demand that a single police officer appear at Kowloon Market. Inspector “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun Fat) volunteers for the job, only to find himself shortly afterwards in a gigantic battle with rival triads and the Russian mafia , which spreads from Hong Kong's backyards to an island used for drug production and a museum in Chicago extends.

background

Stranglehold tries to transform the ballet-like, weapon-brimming battles (see Heroic Bloodshed ), popularized by director John Woo in films such as Hard Boiled , The Killer and Face / Off , into an interactive medium.

The game includes a slow motion , the "Tequila Time" is called. During their use, the characters and projectiles move in slow motion, with the player's crosshairs still being able to move smoothly. This results in an advantage for the player when using it, without which the game would be extremely difficult. The slow motion also creates the cinematic, ballet-like effect that connects to the film. The first slow motion function used in this way in games was Max Payne developed by Remedy (see Bullet Time ).

Hard Boiled hadcelebratedthe Akimbo weapon style, in which two similar firearms are used at the same time. Both Max Payne , Matrix , and Stranglehold use this feature.

By eliminating the opponent in the most spectacular way possible (e.g. indirectly via a downed air conditioning system), points can be collected, which makes it possible to use a total of four special functions (called "tequila bombs"):

Health - this gives Tequila Yuen some life energy back.

Precision shot - this allows you to zoom in extremely on opponents and then fire a very accurate shot.

Barrel fire - Tequila Yuen can be invincible for a short time and with an infinite amount of ammunition fire continuously.

360 ° shot - the player turns once in a circle and kills all opponents with direct visual contact.

technology

Stranglehold uses a heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine 3.0 . These modifications include "Massive D", a collection of physics-based technologies that allow the player to destroy almost any item in the levels and / or indirectly use it as a weapon. So fall z. B. shot down billboards and can kill one or more opponents, or z. B. trigger a chain reaction through an explosion. In addition, a “body swapping” technique is part of the repertoire, which randomly determines some parts of the opponent models so that a multitude of different opponents appear on the field instead of always the same.

Stranglehold uses a damage model based on hit zones. The AI reacts differently depending on the zone hit. This feature is particularly noticeable during "precision aiming".

After opponents have recovered somewhat from flesh wounds, they will continue to shoot until the simulated blood loss causes them to die.

German version

The German version has been censored. All blood has been removed from the interactive (main) part of the game. Instead, small clouds of dust arise when hit. Irritatingly, the video sequences that are shown as a tutorial in a help box to introduce a new feature (e.g. precision shot (see above)) are completely uncut and contain dramatic scenes of violence and blood. Furthermore, the ragdoll behavior has been reduced: Shot enemies no longer move if they are shot further.

The German version has the USK label "No youth release ", the Xbox360 (EU) version has meanwhile been indexed by the BPjM .

reception

PC Games : "Hong Kong's coolest cop is back - and instead of the screen, your screen trembles with action." - 84%
EuroGamer.de : "Stranglehold is a masterpiece of fantastically staged firefights and brute action." - 8/10
PC Action : "If you like straight-line action, then you definitely shouldn't miss Stranglehold!" - 91% "Outstanding"
GameStar : "Like a woo movie: uncomplicated continuous action." - 81%

In Switzerland, the Bernese councilor Roland Näf filed a criminal complaint against the boss of a Media Markt branch selling the game on the grounds that the game showed cruel violence. However, the court came to the conclusion that the game does not violate human dignity and rejected the lawsuit.

Others

A “Collector's Edition” has been published in the USA and UK.
In Switzerland, a “Special Edition” was released in a tinbox with a hologram cover, which contained the film “Hard Boiled” as a bonus.
The highest level of difficulty is named after the film "Hard Boiled".
As in the movie, John Woo has a cameo as the bartender.
In the Xbox 360 version, the "Achievement" Hardboiled Killer is unlocked as soon as 307 opponents have been killed.
For the console versions (XBox360 & PS3) from Stranglehold, a map pack with additional levels can be downloaded for a fee (not available in the German PSN store ).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b GBASE.ch, September 22, 2007: Stranglehold: Indexed in Germany!

↑ Schnittberichte.com: John Woo's Stranglehold

↑ PC Games, September 21, 2007: Test: John Woo presents Stranglehold

↑ Eurogamer.de, September 11, 2007: Test report - John Woo presents Stranglehold

↑ PC Action, September 21, 2007: Blitz-Test: John Woo presents Stranglehold ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ GameStar, October 2007 edition: Test: Stranglehold
↑ Acquittal in the killer game trial . NZZ . June 9, 2008. Retrieved June 14, 2008.

[gbase-1] GBASE.ch, September 22, 2007: Stranglehold: Indexed in Germany!

[2] Schnittberichte.com: John Woo's Stranglehold

[pcg-3] PC Games, September 21, 2007: Test: John Woo presents Stranglehold

[eurogamer-4] Eurogamer.de, September 11, 2007: Test report - John Woo presents Stranglehold