Well, this past weekend I slogged through stranglehold, and in all honesty it was just to get it done! I had some pretty high expectations for the game, it being a John Woo game with Chao Yun Fat as the lead character (Tequilla).

That said, the first couple of hours of the game really tainted it for me, mostly because I was getting Alone in the Dark vibes from this game: in other words, nice concept, poor execution.  I decided to drop the difficulty level to Casual in order to get through the game. This actually made the game more enjoyable because I was able to progress through the storyline much quicker, and the storyline was actually much better than Alone in the Dark!

There is really no need to talk much about the story itself. If you've seen a Hong Kong police movie with all the crazy action and gang/cartel related (and honor related) plots, you've got a pretty good idea of what Stranglehold is all about.

In terms of game play, the Tequilla time (bullet time) was actually pretty good, and something that game the game more enjoyable. The thing that got pretty tiresome, really quickly, were the standoffs (see video bellow).  The first, and second time, around it was pretty exciting.  After that, the same formula was followed many, many, times, which made it just another thing to do in order to get closer to get closer to the end of the game.

At the end of the credits I was expecting some sort of wrap-up cinematic...but that never came. Oh well.

When all was said and done the game gave me a final score of "D" (hey, it's passing!) and I collected 20% of the achievements (11/55). M'eh.  Stranglehold, you gave me a "D", so my grade for you is a C.