Stranglehold: A Benchmark for Destruction
May 4, 2008 2:08 am Games for Fun, Gaming
After finishing Stranglehold a while ago, I’m still impressed with the amount of destruction the player is able to do. Pretty much all prop models, and a good portion of environment can be destroyed in one form or another, all of which goes into physics. If you’re into destructible environments, Stranglehold is your cup of tea.
Stranglehold borrows a lot of it’s design from the Max Payne series. Tequila is able to jump and dive around and slow down time, all which were awesome features of Max Payne. In addition, Max Payne had a “follow the bullet” cam on sniper rifles, which in Stranglehold has been mapped to an ability you can use at any time (on the d-pad) assuming you have enough energy stored up.
The combination of the cool Max Payne abilities with all the destructibility adds up to be a pretty decent experience. Unfortunately, the game really falls short due to the art. The lighting on objects is either very flat or very contrast-y, especially on characters. Don’t get me wrong, the artists did a great job with the variety of destructible objects, but the over all “look” of everything in the game is pretty noisy which ends up being distracting for gameplay.
I had mixed feeling about the boss fights. Once again, I think the team did a great job with destruction. The environments are usually pretty controlled when fighting a boss (you’re generally in one room) so the team went nuts with making the environment come apart. Walkways, walls, pillars, and pretty much everything besides the stairs (probably for gameplay reasons) will deteriorate. One of the more memorable fights is against a guy in a helicopter who fires rocket launchers into an office building you’re in. The environment starts out pristine, but towards the end it feels like the building is going to collapse.
Another stand out series of moments happens in the Chicago Museum of History level. There are some great set pieces involving T-Rex skeletons and other artifacts. Blowing them is something you almost feel guilty about, but is fun nevertheless.
In general, the combat was pretty repetitive. The enemies don’t vary much and only get harder as time goes on. The AI feel like they pretty much behave the same with the exception of snipers and fast roping guys. The fun part comes from slowing down time and trying to get headshots to take enemies out quickly.
There are a bunch of other features in the game which set it apart from Max Payne. The sliding down rails and such is a nice interactive element but one I couldn’t get into. Riding on the carts was fun, but sometimes a little silly, especially when you’re going around in circles, completely exposed, just owning guys. The cover system was awkward and wasn’t especially useful, even in higher difficulties where I thought it would be useful.
The sound design I think is really well done and rewarding, even if it’s a little in your face. Lots of “bleep, Bleep, BLEEPS” when you start getting multi-kills gave me a nice, warm feeling. The sound when you pick up a paper crane is nice and welcome as well. The weapon sounds were average. I wanted them to be a little meatier.
In all, I thought the game was decent, and probably should have gotten slightly higher scores. However, the scores were lower most likely due to game length (4-8 hours depending on difficulty) and the overall look. Therein lies the catch 22 – if the game was any longer it would have more repetitive, and probably would have been a lesser experience. Damed if you do, damned if you don’t I suppose.