Someone over at Joystiq was able to score some time with John Woo’s Stranglehold, an upcoming game for the Xbox 360 that has John Woo’s name attached to it.
Take the gun out of your mouth folks. John Woo’s Stranglehold looks like more than just a shot-to-sh-t cash-in on the Hong Kong action auteur’s single-syllable last name. Senior Game Designer Patrick Curry (a loyal Joystiq reader) pulled me out of the crowd for a little quality time with Midway’s homage to Woo’s bullet ballets and I came away impressed. This 360 game is from the same team that did Psi-Ops: Mindgate Conspiracy, an awesome Xbox title that was on everybody’s “best game that no one played” list. After commiserating with the staff over the inexplicable disappointing sales of that game, I picked up the controller to try out its “spiritual” next-gen sequel. Stranglehold plays like Max Payne with, better graphics, more style and more ridiculously cool slow-mo moves. Midway’s pitch focused on the destructable environment, which allowed me to blow up everything from wall tiles to frozen pigs.
I will hold off on giving it a thumbs down until I get a chance to play it, but so far it does not sound as though there is really anything innovative in this game. Red Faction mixed with Max Payne…yawn.