Stranglehold could not have picked a worse time to be released.  Between BioShock and Halo 3 is almost certainly suicide. Nevertheless, this is one of Gamefly’s most rented games. Does it deserve to be considered a top title of  2007?

Presentation and Graphics:   Stranglehold has some incredible detail when it comes to the faces of the characters.  This is almost and exact replica of Chow Yun Fat.  Shooting a man in the face from afar never seemed so real.  The level design varies a little.  Sometimes there is incredible detail as in the Mega restaurant and other times as in the outdoor sea town, they seem generic. The destructible environments are a blast and enemies cover their face when shrapnel is near. There is not much to the menus; the design is creative but there is not much to do besides play the game.  There is some DVD content stuff if you are really into John Woo. The animations are a little bland though. Enemies fall the same  way everytime  it seems. The enemies are also cookie cutter which takes away some style points.  4 of 5

Sound and Music: The sound can be broken into two departments: voice and action. The battle noises are lights out. Bullets whizzing by and hitting whatever they may. They really nailed this aspect. As far as combat noises, this game ranks near the top. Besides Chow, the voice overs are pretty beat. These guys are Chinese. They should be speaking Chinese, not English with a Chinese accent. I cannot speak Cantonese, but if they wanted the real feel of a John Woo movie, subtitles would have raised the authenticity meter. 3.75 of 5

Gameplay: This game does not hide what it is, an over the top shooter. Realistic it is not. You dive and shoot your way through endless enemies, which did get very repetitive. After awhile, the novelty of diving around like a madman can wear off, but the various Tequilia bombs(far shot, rampage, spinning attack) do add some strategy.  Its better to save your meter for health sometimes, but also, sometimes you just have to kill everyone and do it quickly.  I wished the game kept up with the interactive environments. The first board was littered with signs to shoot and tanks to explode, then, not so much.  Using the same button to dive and interact with the environment got very frustrating. You will try to climb a railing, but dive like a man on PCP into the wall if you are not super careful. This alone is a major gaming flaw and keeps the game from not being great, but very good. 4 of 5.

Lasting Appeal: The enemy AI gets a lot tougher when you play the game on the hardest levels.  The single player campaign is a tad short. A good player on normal can get through in about 6-7 hours. Multiplayer, not really worth it. I tried to get a game in and there was not many people in the lobbies. Its worth a try, but it won’t keep you playing for long. 3 of 5

Final Word: Midway made a very good single player game, just not a great one.  Some of their ideas will be emulated and we all know that emulation is the highest form of flattery. The game could have been longer and has a better variety of weapons. After the second board, not much else is to be discovered weapon wise. I really hope they stick with the franchise. A second installment would improve on the first. Its just tough to buy a game this short.  . Overall: 3.75 of 5

1 = Not worth the bandwidth.

2= Demo is enough, not worth your money.

3= Game is good, depending on the price, seriously consider picking it up.

4= Worth your money. Should provide some good times for quite awhile.

5= Buy the game. Lock your door. Pick up a case of beer. This could take all night.