Stranglehold

L31mr0d

OMG :eek:

I completed Bioshock there last night and what a let down I don't even know if i'll play through it again to get the happy ending (thank you youtube )

So to console myself from this dissapointment I decided that stranglehold (PC) was the next game on my list (it had been GRAW2)

...and WHAT A GAME... Now THIS is a game I can see myself replaying over and over again. Lets hope John Woo puts his hand to more game titles.

The action is excellent, each battle i've been in so far is more like a dance than a gunfight. Gone are the crouching behind crates, reloading, taking a pop shot or rolling a grenade to be replaced with bullet time sliding down banisters, shooting AC units and neon signs off walls to fall on the heads of triads out to kill you, at the end of each fight you just want to go back and do it again, and again to get a better score and make it more dramatic.

I love walking into these pristine rooms and leaving with not an inch of space that hasn't been blown up or hit by a bullet. Every battle is like the lobby scene from the Matrix.

If you liked the Max Payne series, or even are the kind of person thats plays through levels of Splinter Cell setting off no alarms and using no bullets then try out this game, except this time the more bullets and more noise you make the better

I've never seen such a game with such wanton destruction and I love it

Ciaran500

Thought it was ok at first and terrible the more I played it. I'm up to the museum now.

The game has gone mind numbingly boring with you doing the same thing over and over. There hasn't been a new weapon or got a new skill since the second level and the voice acting/script is ****.

Nailz

L31mr0d wrote:

I completed Bioshock there last night and what a let down I don't even know if i'll play through it again to get the happy ending.

Garth: This isn't working Wayne!
Wayne: Your right Garth, we don't want to end the film like this! Lets try the happy ending.
Garth: Yeaaahhh! The happy ending!
Wayne: Lets go!

Dudaloo-Dudaloo-Dudaloo-Dudaloo-Dudaloo-Dudaloo!:D

L31mr0d

Ciaran500 wrote:

Thought it was ok at first and terrible the more I played it. I'm up to the museum now.

The game has gone mind numbingly boring with you doing the same thing over and over. There hasn't been a new weapon or got a new skill since the second level and the voice acting/script is ****.

have you ever watched hard boiled? You obviously have to like John Woos way of directing to like this game, also the storyline is pretty much as good as asian cop movies get.

I'm up to the 3rd level and i'm still loving it. The barrage attack makes it a little too easy imo. But I love the precision aim feature, is it wrong that I always aim for the groin

humanji

L31mr0d wrote:

But I love the precision aim feature, is it wrong that I always aim for the groin

I thought I was the only one

L31mr0d

Huh... finished the museum level and still not bored. I personally love the gameplay in this game and can't see myself getting bored with it. Each room can be approached in a completely different way. you can go gung ho through the middle, or slowly move your way through the room using the pillers for cover.

I love how you can use the environment as a weapon also. A prime example is when you are fighting this guy whos standing between 2 statues, instead of shooting at him you shoot out the leg of the statue so it will cause it to topple onto him.

I also love the pace, its relentless, something that I feel has been missing in a lot of games lately, and i'm actually glad there is no quick saves to break it up. It actually feels like watching a movie when hes crouched behind a piller or wall and bullets are causing chunks of it to fly by your face causing you to grimish and squint.

Also, the storyline is better than I initially thought it was going to be.

Moojuice

man I am getting this asap......

L31mr0d

I've a feeling i'm approaching the end of the game now, so I stopped short yesterday to savour the finale for today. I'm really starting to get a hang of the various special moves and combos.

They have a great move called the spin attack, which you get when you max out your combo bar. Its great to activate when the action gets too intense and you're getting surrounded by bad guys. It cuts to, in typically John Woo style, a dramatic cut scene where everything goes into slow mo and doves fly out from somewhere in the background and your character, Tequila, spins around taking everyone out thats around you. Its a great move for giving yourself a breather before the next wave of badguys burst in.

MooseJam

I didn't think this was released for pc, definately didn't spot it in the shops last time I was there, will have to stick my head in again

Ciaran500

There is a PC version out.

Jack Sheehan

Oh man I couldn't dissagree more.

Pyr0

12 gigs ! Jaysus, some install this !

krudler

stranglehold better than bioshock ahahahahahaha

oh you were serious

seriously though stanglehold is great fun but it gets really repetitive really quickly, run,shoot,run,shoot,run,shoot repeat for 5 hours

L31mr0d

Its as repetitive as ANY game. Tell me a game where you aren't performing the same tasks in the last level as in the first.

Like Bioshock for example, its all plasmid, weapon, plasmid, weapon... repeat

It's all about how you approach a game though. In Stranglehold sometimes i'd scope out the most dramatic way to move through the level that will give me the most bonuses and style points. Other levels i'd use cover mainly, kicking over tables and crouching behind them, leaning out when the bad guys reload to pick them off. Other times i'd just run through the level using the special moves barrage and spin attack. What makes it great is that I can replay through the whole game and approach those levels from a completely different perspective. They also have made it so that not only can you approach the gameplay different each time but you can use any number of different routes to get through the level.

My only gripe thus far is the bullet time is way too short and usually runs out fast. I suppose they have it this way so you are forced to use your bullet time as effectively as possible.

Gizzle

L31mr0d wrote:

...and WHAT A GAME... Now THIS is a game I can see myself replaying over and over again.

Just as well, because you essentially do the same thing over and over again for every area in the game, with brief respite from the monotony for boss fights. Repetitive is an understatement.

L31mr0d wrote:

at the end of each fight you just want to go back and do it again, and again

Just as well, because you essentially do the same thing over and over again for every area in the game, with brief respite from the monotony for boss fights. Repetitive is an understatement.

L31mr0d wrote:

Its as repetitive as ANY game. Tell me a game where you aren't performing the same tasks in the last level as in the first.

Like Bioshock for example, its all plasmid, weapon, plasmid, weapon... repeat

That's oversimplifying things. Now I was disappointed by Bioshock, but at least the OPTION is there to do something a little different. No such option exists in Stranglehold.

savemejebus

Hope to pick this up next week in canada - collectors edition with Hard Boiled HD. Sooo looking forward to it. Watch HD movie then continue story and shoot people in the t&ts (testes and teeth )

L31mr0d

Gizzle wrote:

Just as well...

Just as well...

Oh... I get it. I see what you did there. You're funny.

Gizzle wrote:

That's oversimplifying things. Now I was disappointed by Bioshock, but at least the OPTION is there to do something a little different. No such option exists in Stranglehold.

Really? Take the level where you have to plant the bombs on the 5 different boats. I must of replayed through that level around 10 times and each time I chose a different route and fought differently. You can run through the level and just plant the bombs on each boat and have the explosion kill the bad guys for you. Or you can crouch down behind a window on one boat, pick off all the badguys with precision aim on the next boat and move on. They have also designed it so that there is no set order you have to plant the bombs.

A lot of the levels are very similar to this offering you multiply options to choose from to complete the level. On top of this there are multiply ways to fight through whatever option you choose.

How is this not offering you options?

If you find it repetitive then it is your lazy gaming that is making it so, because you've chosen to get yourself into a rut of fighting the same way in every level, taking the easy options and not challenging yourself to pull off the stylish combos that make up the backbone of this game.

Gizzle

L31mr0d wrote:

Oh... I get it. I see what you did there. You're funny.

More clever than funny, but whatever floats your boat. I find it illustrates my point quite well.

L31mr0d wrote:

If you find it repetitive then it is your lazy gaming that is making it so, because you've chosen to get yourself into a rut of fighting the same way in every level, taking the easy options and not challenging yourself to pull off the stylish combos that make up the backbone of this game

Right, firstly, you clearly didn't read my above post too well, because I stated that I played through Bioshock and gleaned most of my fun from imaginatively using the plasmids. My personal favourite was target dummying a group of splicers, with a couple of cyclone traps behind the dummy, launching them into about six trap bolts suspended jumping distance off the ground. Satisfying and original, far from fighting the same way, and hardly lazy gaming.

Secondly, the point I was making was there's no option for such innovation in Stranglehold, or anything similar. Shoot vent, check. Shoot sign, check. Shoot shoddy structure they're standing on, check. Rinse. Repeat. Ad nauseum. Occasionally press the D-pad after shooting sufficient amounts of thugs in the nuts. That's the depth of "stylish combos" from my experience of the game. Maybe it's your "simple" gaming that's finding it so non-repetitive. Sorry, that's a low blow, the lazy comment hit me where it hurts

Moral of the story, is that I just don't find it at all refreshing or, most importantly "fun", after the 2 hour play mark. IMHO

L31mr0d

Gizzle wrote:

More clever than funny, but whatever floats your boat. I find it illustrates my point quite well.

somebody thinks a lot of themselves. Confidence is a good thing.

Gizzle wrote:

Right, firstly, you clearly didn't read my above post too well, because I stated that I played through Bioshock and gleaned most of my fun from imaginatively using the plasmids.

huh, really? Maybe you can point me in the direction of this magical post where you stated anything remotely along the lines of that?

Gizzle wrote:

Secondly, the point I was making was there's no option for such innovation in Stranglehold, or anything similar. Shoot vent, check. Shoot sign, check. Shoot shoddy structure they're standing on, check. Rinse. Repeat. Ad nauseum. Occasionally press the D-pad after shooting sufficient amounts of thugs in the nuts. That's the depth of "stylish combos" from my experience of the game. Maybe it's your "simple" gaming that's finding it so non-repetitive. Sorry, that's a low blow, the lazy comment hit me where it hurts

But what you have detailed is only 1 of your options (which you have outlined has numerous different ways of being accomplished), using the environment to kill your opponents, there is also your 3 other special moves (precision aim, barrage and spin attack) you could also shoot the person instead of the object, use cover or go gung ho and try doing some bullet time dives right through the middle trying to get as many headshots before the bullet time runs out.

Try playing through the game and instead of just trying to finish a level by shooting at signs and nuts, get through an area and try and beat your previous style combo score.

My current best in the game is 48, and this was on the first level using the rails going down into the market.

Gizzle

L31mr0d wrote:

huh, really? Maybe you can point me in the direction of this magical post where you stated anything remotely along the lines of that?

Right, my bad on this one. I "stated" a veiled reference that perhaps I could only infer such a description from. I do all my boardsing in work, I clearly can't multitask Doesn't stop it from being true though.

L31mr0d wrote:

But what you have detailed is only 1 of your options (which you have outlined has numerous different ways of being accomplished), using the environment to kill your opponents, there is also your 3 other special moves (precision aim, barrage and spin attack) you could also shoot the person instead of the object, use cover or go gung ho and try doing some bullet time dives right through the middle trying to get as many headshots before the bullet time runs out.

Personally, that seems to me like you have to try and get blood from a stone in order to try anything innovative in the game. Like playing Tetris on the old brick Game Boy with one hand, just to put a spin on it. Too much effort for too little "reward".

L31mr0d wrote:

Try playing through the game and instead of just trying to finish a level by shooting at signs and nuts, get through an area and try and beat your previous style combo score.

My current best in the game is 48, and this was on the first level using the rails going down into the market.

I more of a throat shot man myself, but if that's you throwing down the gauntlet...

I still stand by my personal opinion that the game is repetitive and gets old fast however, but I'll take up your challenge before bringing the game back saying it was an unwanted gift.