Experiencing John Woo Presents Stranglehold is the equivalent of sitting in attendance of a brutal, bloodthirsty ballet - deviously breathtaking and fiendishly radiant, the epitome of beautiful violence. Watching the gameplay unfold from a spectator's seat is undeniably trance inducing, as Inspector Tequila moves around the screen with an air of grace saved for the most elite of dancers. Controlling the carnage does little to break the game's hypnotic grasp, as the choreographed slides, dives, rolls, jumps, tumbles and more have been masterfully programmed in such a loose way as to allow the player to flop around just enough to either get by or master the controls and direct Tequila with the expert touch of John Woo himself. If it were not for minor slowdown issues, closed level objectives and questionable lasting appeal, Stranglehold would have been yet another must buy title. Instead, it is left to fall into the second-tier stack of holiday season titles and the must-rent category.

In 1992, legendary action director John Woo released a movie in his native Hong Kong entitled Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-Fat as the Asian answer to many of America's hard-nosed, shoot first and ask questions later cops such as John McClane and Axel Foley. Though overshadowed in his home country when initially released, the years have been overwhelmingly kind to Hard Boiled, slowly embroiling it into the fabric of action cinema. Stranglehold picks up quite a few years from where its source material left off, with Tequila volunteering to walk right into a trap set by the kidnappers of a fellow police officer. Once he learns the fate of the police officer, a mission of revenge leads him down a path that isn't as straightforward as it seems and eventually returns him to a part of his past that thought he'd never see again. The melodramatic elements are short and sweet, instilling all the necessary circumstance without letting the air out of your attention span. The English voicework is exactly what I would expect for an Asian action flick, though I would have greatly enjoyed a completely Cantonese voice track to listen to instead.

Tequila's search for revenge leads him through the alleys of Kowloon to a boating village that doubles as a Golden Kane drug lab to a Chicago penthouse, each of which are filled to the brim with gun-totting goons. So what's an inspector to do? Blast the hell out of them with no regard to the well-being of them or their surroundings of course! Mixing lightning quick reflexes, a near endless ammo supply and the handy Tequila Time - the good inspector's so sharp that he can predict his enemies' actions and seemingly slow down time - with a sharp, improvising mind and a fully destructible environment sets Stranglehold apart from any other shooter to come before it. Don't worry if that last sentence seems like the beginning of a complicated control scheme though, because Stranglehold is anything but. Tequila runs, aims and shoots much like any other 3D action shooter, utilizing the analog sticks and shoulder buttons. And when it comes to unleashing the bevy of fancy moves from Tequila's 'Gun Ballet' arsenal, you need to do nothing more than run against an object you can slide across, such as a table or bar, hit L1 to dive in any direction or to interact with the environment or make eyes at an enemy to slow time down. Then there's the super move - Tequila Bombs - which is executed with a simple d-pad press.

Accessible controls can only go as far as the game allows them to, but this is where Stranglehold truly shines. Within the first level I was sliding across tables in an open courtyard, running up rails and diving in all directions and filling every bad guy in sight with lead - all while seamlessly entering in and out of Tequila Time - without a single hitch. Every level has been painstakingly put together with interactive objects, environmental hazards (such as loose air conditioners), destructible cover and more littered about in unique ways, just waiting for you to take advantage of them. This makes picking a favorite level extremely hard, although I do have a soft spot for the casino shootout, as running across giant, solid gold dragons suspended above the casino floor while shooting anything that moves before swan diving off to take down any stragglers is breathtaking. What all of this does is set Stranglehold up much like a puzzle game, as there is no set means to an end; you simply used the provided tools and have as much fun as you can making it through the level. Even when the objective of a level is as lame as can be - number-based objectives are so passé - the near endless flow of enemies keeps combat at the forefront, and that's what Stranglehold does best.

All this great action would be severely tempered if there was no solid presentation to back it up, much like Jerry Ying backs up Tequila in the game. A deep, vibrant palette erupts color out of every inch of your surroundings, pulling the best out of all the detailed textures, be it the host of blues and grays of the concrete in Kowloon to the magenta carpeting and golden statues of the casino. There are a few random muddy or lifeless textures that seem to be left over from a PS2 game - a common port blunder - but they are few and far between (maybe that's why they stick out so much). A wonderful set of special effects only adds to the visual experience, with the lifelike water surrounding the boating village and glass blocks in the Chicago penthouse taking the cake. That's not to say that the swirling air around flying bullets and fresh blood that collects around characters' wounds isn't impressive either, but that the water is just... wow. For the most part, the game handles all the action with only an occasional frame rate dip - except when Ty Lok starts throwing grenades, at which point the game can slow to near unplayable limits. When I killed him amidst explosions, it froze for nearly ten seconds before unlocking. Yikes.

These details are only further complimented by the game's ability to process destruction to its created world. No other game I have ever seen or played has devised a world that breaks apart as realistically or accurately as Stranglehold - it's mind blowing and truly falls under the title of next-gen. Just about every single object you can see can be shot and damaged or destroyed altogether. Hiding behind pillars, tables and nearly any other cover only lasts you as long as it takes for enemy fire to deteriorate them into nothing in no time flat (automatic weapons have a way of doing that). Even the floor can be blown away if hit with the right amount of firepower, as can be seen when fighting Ty Lok. Many of the game's puzzles are also tied to the destructible environment, as the path forward may need to be coerced open with bullets. In the end though, unless you are actually playing and watching all the carnage in person, it is hard to project an accurate picture of just what Midway have achieved with Stranglehold. I can only hope that this giant leap forward in environmental destruction and interactivity doesn't exist as a quirk of one game, but as a necessary addition to all games going forward.

The sound department isn't found lacking either, despite so much attention being paid to the visual side. The solid, if predictable, English dub of the game is complimented by the wonderful sound of bullets firing from all angles then screaming forward to smash into walls or people. The orchestrated music has a real 'man on a mission' feel to it, with subtle beginnings that erupt into passion as they progress, really embedding the frantic, powerful nature of Tequila's mission into the mind of the player. This is a game to enjoy with the volume up.

Lasting appeal though, is the one area where Stranglehold fails to impress. Maybe it's just my frantic love of the game that has me lashing out at its length - or more importantly its lack thereof - but I wasn't ready to be finished with the single player mode after around eight hours. Sure, it wraps up nicely and fits the mold of a Hollywood movie directly turned into a videogame, but it feels like there should have been a couple additional chapters, especially since the $60 price tag for the game far outweighs the price tag of seeing a movie in the theaters or bringing it home on DVD. Multiple difficulty levels are expected - and welcome - but the inclusion of another mode or two (say a survival mode or a destruction-related puzzle game perhaps) could have gone a long way to further justifying the game's purchase, rather than setting it up as a strong rental and purchase when it goes on sale or if you have the extra cash. There is an online multiplayer mode that throws up to six Tequilas (at least in prowess) into small arenas for some frantic killing action though, and these games usually borderline insanity, as Tequilas run, leap and fly around in all directions unleashing Tequila Bombs - it's just plain ridiculous! As long as this mode is taken as the bonus feature it feels like, it is a nice inclusion that can be a nifty diversion every now and then.

I worried during the development of John Woo Presents Stranglehold that it might may fall victim to the hype bug, turning into yet another example of why Hollywood and videogames are still a relationship-in-progress. The promises of fully destructible environments and John Woo signature shootouts just seemed too good to be true. But Midway stepped up to the plate and proved all the skepticism dead wrong, producing one of the most viscerally appealing videogames to be released in years. Revenge has never been more beautiful, nor has it been controlled so slickly. Don't let the lack of $60 justifying lasting appeal keep you away - even if that means renting now, buying later - as Stranglehold simply has to be experienced to be believed. This is what we should expect from our next gen gaming, so kudos to Midway for showing the rest just how it should be done.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).