Stranglehold

If you : -played Max Payne 1 or 2 (not the trash third one) and liked it -watched Hard-boiled or The Killer or any vintage John Woo movie with Chow Yun-fat and liked it You'll LOVE this. It's no surprise John Woo films and what he called "gun-fu" *heavily* inspired the Max Payne games (and The Matrix). Well I guess Woo saw MP and made his own game (he actually co-owned the game studio that made this, Tiger Hill). And this game, Stranglehold was among the best slowtime shooters ever made. Unfortunately, Stranglehold and its ilk shared the fate of a bunch of hard rock bands when grunge came out, slowtime shooters were out and co-op cover shooters were in with Gears of War in late 2006. So, one of the best examples of the slowtime genre has been largely forgotten. GOG to the rescue! Stranglehold has a lot going for it. Awesome cinematic story, very good gameplay. This has a better storyline, acting, cinematics and more mind-blowing set-pieces than Max Payne (though Max Payne 2 is pretty close), but Max Payne had better gunplay w/tighter controls, a grittier film noir vibe and originated this style. Short but sweet. Around 6-7 hours. This is one of those games like Sacred or PoE, that was a better diablo than the next actual, canonical diablo game. This is a better Max Payne than the 3rd Max Payne game. They should have hired these people to do MP3. This is basically what Max Payne 3 should have been instead of some weird, awful cover shooter. Wet for X360 was good too if you like the slowtime shooter genre. Highly Recommended.

Think of Max Payne game + Matrix bullet time. But instead you play a Chinese crime investigator. This game was so insanely awesome on Xbox 360. I played the demo back then, and it was the bomb! Highly recommend it. Lots of fun!

Данный проект примечателен тем, что это продолжение культового боевика Джона Ву "Круто сваренные" с неподражаемым Чоу Юнь-Фатом в роли инспектора Текилы. Все фирменные черты фильмов Ву соблюдены разработчиками: невероятно зрелищные перестрелки, эффектные трюки, крутой главный герой, нотки мелодрамы и, конечно же, белые голуби, куда же без них. Геймплейно это клон Max Payne от Remedy (иронично, что разработчики из Remedy во многом вдохновлялись фильмами Ву при создании своего шедевра), менее атмосферный и сюжетный, но более аркадный. Играть в Stranglehold вполне интересно и сегодня, перестрелки здесь действительно веселые и зрелищные, а вот за битвы с боссами разработчикам неуд: они очень скучные и сами боссы через чур неубиваемые. Но в целом достойный проект, вполне себе жемчужина жанра. Да и побыть немного Чоу Юнь-Фатом - как от такого отказаться?) 8/10

Yes, it is 2021 and the graphics of this game is very outdatet. But who cares? It makes a lot of fun if you like shooters in Max Payne style. And the soundtrack is really good. I bought it on sale and had a great time with this old but still great game. Thank´s to GOG for getting this.

Short and to the point: - Good story, hong kong police story style - Great gun fights, right out of the John Woo's movies - Great soundtrack with some memorable tunes made by Serj Tankian - The second act drags a big but ends on a bang. - Awesome destructible levels with a bit of trial and error. - Not so good stand off mechanics , because sometimes you're in the face of the enemy and gets annoying trying to aim. - The acting is sometimes a bit cartoony but good enough. - The shooting could be more perfected , being the main mechanic, but is good enough. Listen from 0 to 100, given some bugs and some poor choices, i'de say 85. But being a fan of John, Chow and Serj, this was made in gamers heaven. For me it is almost perfect and highly recommended.