John Woo Presents Stranglehold – PS3 – Preview

E3 2006 First Look Preview

Legendary action film director John Woo is taking his expertise to the interactive medium with a title called
Stranglehold from Midway. To keep the feeling authentic, actor Chow Jun Fat reprises his role as Tequila
from the movie Hard Boiled. John Woo’s other well known Hong Kong films include The Killer and A Better
Tomorrow. He has also made a few Hollywood movies including Broken Arrow, Face Off and Mission Impossible
2. However, the Hollywood movies don’t carry the intensity, violence and overall style that John Woo
is known for.

After being treated with cuts from the best action scenes in his movies, we got to see live play action
on the 360 from the familiar restaurant scene. The interaction and amount of damage that can be handed out
during gameplay is amazing. The dual gun wielding moves can be strung together to include a scene where you
slide down a banister and then roll across the room on a food cart. After a few minutes of the massive gun
fight you are left with a room that is mostly demolished, showing all of your handy work. This even includes
items like a chandelier that is still swinging, because you used it to get to the other balcony. Also worth
noting was the accuracy and overall variety of the physics that is part of the Unreal engine used for this
game. Good examples include your enemy’s bodies smashing into walls causing damage, and even your gunshots
causing debris that stuns your opponent.

We were told to expect a wide variety of indoor and outdoor levels, as well as other
game elements like driving. The expected launch window given was Winter 2006 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It
is also listed as a possible launch title for PS3. Let’s hope Stranglehold is more Hong Kong Woo,
and less Hollywood Woo.

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