Stranglehold (Xbox 360)

Killing is 42-percent more fun in slow-motion.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

The concept of a third-person action game that has us "tricking" our way à la Tony Hawk's Pro Skater through waves of bad guys is interesting in theory. But in practice, it falls short of the mark.

For every awesome diving-backwards-while-jacking-up-people moment the game offers, there is a stumble-trip-I-didn't-mean-to-do-that-why-isn't-Tequila-Time-working-aiiiieeeeee-now-I'm-dead? moment. In the end, Stranglehold's Inspector Tequila suffers from a chronic case of Lara Croft Syndrome: He's elegant and nimble, doing all of these wonderful moves -- and then, seconds later, he seems to be tripping over his own shoelaces.

That's a shame, because Stranglehold probably has more potential than any other release this year. Sliding to a halt across a tea house floor while shooting the shins out from under a bad guy, then rolling over and peppering a second henchman in the chest -- it was in these moments that the game made us feel like Chow Yun Fat starring in a John Woo movie; it showed us, in these moments, the kind of potential it has.

But then the camera would get stuck behind a wall, someone would start firing at us from off-screen, and suddenly, we were lying on the floor, dead, realizing that we are not Chow Yun Fat. We are not starring in a John Woo movie. We were back to being a bunch of jackasses, sitting around a gaming console, who dared, for a moment, to dream a little dream.

This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.